Ps 119: 97 -102 “Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long. Your commands make me wiser than my enemies, for they are ever with me. I have more insight than all my teachers, for I meditate on your statutes. I have more understanding that the elders, for I obey your precepts. I have kept my feet from every evil path so that I might obey Your Word. I have not departed from Your laws, for You Yourself have taught me.”

This is a wonderful portion of scripture to help us see just how powerful the Word of God is when it is applied to an individual’s life. All we have to do is meditate on it and allow it to take root in our lives.

Let’s look at it;
1.

It makes us wiser than our enemies

- now that is helpful, considering we are in a spiritual battle. It means we have the potential to always be one step ahead of the evil ones plans and schemes.

2.

It gives us more insight than all our teachers

- simply by studying the Word of God you can gain insight that comes from way beyond this world. In fact, some people don’t engage in life because they don’t feel like they achieved enough in school from an academic standpoint. Don’t let that hold you back - you get the Word of God into you and you will astound others by your insights on living.

3.

It gives us more understanding than the elders if we obey what it says

- this is a bit sad, but obviously the elders were not doing what the Word of God was saying so they all together lacked understanding. That need never happen to you and I.

All we have to do is keep ourselves from any evil path that would lead us away from God. All we have to do is meditate on God’s Word all day long and He will use us to bring wisdom, insight and understanding to every situation we face in life. At that point in time the world stands up and takes notice because there is someone who seems to understand why they are here and what life is all about!! It’s not hard to do - but it does have to be done!

My Prayer - Father help me to hunger and thirst for your Word until it consumes all of my thoughts and actions. So that one day my first response and reaction will be to consult the Word of Gods answer to every area of my life. Help me to keep it in my heart and mind all day long!

Psalm 56: 4,10 “In God, whose word I praise, In God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can mortal man do to me? In God, whose word I praise, in the Lord, whose word I praise - in God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?”

In this Psalm we find a wonderful spiritual principle which when applied on a regular basis can rid us of the fear of other human beings. In fact, this is so important that God felt we needed to hear it twice. Friends, there is direct link between fear and a lack of praising and trusting the word of God. This is how it goes:
• If the Word of God is in our heart,
• Then God’s praise will be on our lips, (for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks)
• This indicates that our trust is firmly placed in Him,
• The result is we fear not anything that another human being might do to us for God is our ever present refuge.

Freedom is so close!! All we have to do is pick up our bibles and read on a daily basis until God’s Word fills our hearts with love, praise and trust in Him. I guess we need the same commitment as David. Look at verses 12 and 13 - David says I am under vows to you O God, that I may walk before you in the light of life. If I am gripped with fear of people, it is because God’s word has not filled my heart with faith, hope, love and trust in Him. I feel like I am alone in the dark! I guess it’s our choice - a few chapters a day keeps fear far away!!

My Prayer: Father help me to cultivate the kind of relationship that David had with you so that no matter what circumstances may be going on around me. I will fear no-one for you are my God and shield!!

Matthew 22: 8 “Then he said to his servants, ‘ The wedding banquet is ready, but those invited did not deserve to come. Go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find. So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, both good and bad, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.”

The Father has extended an invitation to every single human being on planet earth to engage with Him, and the invitation is to be delivered by you and I. God expects us to go out and make contact with as many people as possible and extend His invitation to come in. What we have to be careful of is making sure we don’t prejudge who we think should invited. It says both good and bad are welcome!

I don’t know about you, but sometimes I look at someone and in my mind I have this little conversation trying to determine whether I think they would fit at the party. In reality I am trying to work out whether I think they will accept or reject my invitation. However, that is not my call to make. My responsibility is just to extend the invitation to all. It says the Father will determine who should and should not be there at a later stage.

Friends, why don’t we make the ask? Why don’t we extend the invitation for people to accept Jesus? Fear of rejection, fear of being shunned or outcast by society as some kind of freak. Or maybe we have just heard for so long how hard it is to share your faith with someone outside of Christ. Friends, it’s a lie that sharing faith is hard work. Sharing faith is easy if it is done God’s way! John 15 tells us that God expects us to bear fruit, and fruit that should remain. It also tells us that unless we stay tapped into God we can do nothing. Sharing faith is a work of God’s spirit within us. It is really us becoming like John in our understanding where we must decrease in order that He may increase. Sharing faith is about us losing our self consciousness and walking in God consciousness. That is part one of the process and part two is found in John 4 where Jesus models sharing faith for us in the encounter with the woman at the well. Read this chapter and just look at how easy it is.

Let me break it down:
It climaxes when a whole village encounters Jesus as Saviour through word of mouth by one individual - so how did this happen?

It says Jesus had to go - Jesus went to a place he would not normally go. He simply followed a prompt from God.

Jesus then strikes up a conversation with a woman at a well around a common interest- they both have ” thirst”

He then steers the conversation around thirst to a new level by making some intriguing statements to gather her attention.

He then receives a word of knowledge from the Father to ask her about her husband. This moves the conversation even further along.

She then takes the conversation to a whole new level by referring to him as a prophet and talking about worship.

Jesus obliges her initiation to take the conversation deeper where he reveals more of himself and she is wonderfully transformed by an encounter with the Saviour.

She then runs off to tell everyone about encountering the Messiah.

So what did Jesus actually do?

He took a walk across the room,
He started a conversation around a common interest,
He then just observed, made good statements, asked good questions and listened well for response - one ear on God as to what he should say and one ear listening to the woman to discover what she was and was not saying.
Then he just responded to how the Father and the woman moved the conversation along.

Friends, sharing faith is easy - take the pressure of yourself. After all Jesus himself said no-one can come to me unless called by the Father. The process is like having a baby. Who usually determines when it is time for the baby to be born in natural circumstance? The baby - the baby lets you know when it time. The woman let Jesus know it was time when she moved the conversation to a whole new level. Just let go of being self conscious and start to be God conscious and take a genuine interest in another human beings life. Start a conversation around a common interest and then observe, listen and ask good questions under the leading of the Holy Spirit, and God will do it all!!

My prayer is that every single Christ follower would simple engage with the people around them and extend the invitation on behalf of the Father!!

If you would like to hear a more on this you can listen to my podcast at www.pastorkev.com

Bless ya heaps
Ps Kev