“So then, beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to wrath; for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.
Therefore, lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
But be doers of the word, and not hearers only deceiving yourselves.
For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.
If anyone among you thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless. Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit the orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.” James 1:19-27
Let’s break this down.
I don’t know about you but I need all the wisdom God will give me and He promises to supply all our needs. If you feel like you lack, turn to God and He will fill you.
How does God fill you? Does He just dump wisdom over your head after you pray? No. Realistically, we must Receive wisdom through understanding.
How do we get understanding? First, we must quiet our own mind, thoughts and emotions (which are foolishness to begin with). This quiet place in our soul allows God to speak.
Next, we give God permission to speak. How can we do this? By opening God’s word, expecting He will impart wisdom and revelation through it.
We can’t Hear God speak until we open the lines of communication, which is His word.
Once we Hear God’s word, we must make the choice to RECIVE it and BELIEVE it.
How do we know we are RECEIVING and BELIEVING it? When we are actively APPLYING it to our lives. This is NOT easy! For we are creatures of bad habits.
The way to create a foundation of good habits is to meditate on God’s Word. For example, in the great state of California, they are pushing us to the next level of recycling. I thought it was hard to keep up with the current standards, but here we are. The rules have changed. I’ve heard of the changes. I received them and now I’m applying them. It hasn’t been easy! So I have made a list to remind myself of what bin to throw what in. This list is getting my commitment deeper into me. This is what we do when we MEDITATE on God’s word. We are pushing it deeper into our subconscious, creating a new groove for where we want our ACTIONS to go. This will shape our lives.
Another way to bring God’s word into our current reality is to DEMONSTRATE the Word, by living in a way that is consistent with the words we are meditating on. We can’t just hear it, receive it and believe it we must activate it with application and demonstration.
This is a gift to us, God and others because the Word calls us to live higher. Everyone benefits when we take the time to live out the word.
- We must HEAR the Word.
- We must RECEIVE the Word.
- We must APPLY the Word.
- We must MEDITATE on the Word.
- We must DEMONSTRATE the Word.
