God's Word Shall Not Pass Away
In Mark 13:31 and Luke 21:33 Jesus said that heaven and earth will pass away, but His words will not pass away. He was speaking here concerning the end of time, which I believe we are living in at this moment. Let’s look at this verse in the context of the whole dissertation of Jesus’ teaching here. In verse 7 His disciples were asking Him what the signs of the end of the age would be. He told them many things regarding the end of the age. You can read it for yourself in those two chapters.
What I want to focus on today is The Word. He told them in verses 34 and 35 that they were to take heed to themselves, and be on guard, be alert. What were they to be alert to? They were to be alert to keep their heart, their spirit man from becoming burdened down, depressed, oppressed with the worries, the cares, the busyness of life in this world. They were to avoid these cares because they are a trap, a snare to take their minds off Jesus Himself and His Kingdom. And He said that the day of His coming would come on them suddenly because they were not aware of Him. In other words, they would be aware of themselves and all that they were involved in in this world instead of being continually aware of Him and His provision which is spelled out very clearly in His Word.
We are told in Philippians 4:6,7 that we are not to have any anxiety or fretfulness or worry or care about anything but rather we are to pray with thanksgiving in our hearts and give it to the Lord and leave it there. And then God’s peace is ours. His peace passes all our human understanding. His peace guards our hearts and minds. In Isaiah 26:3 we are told that the Lord will keep us in His perfect peace when our mind is stayed on Him; this means that we trust Him.
So what is the big deal about worry? Doesn’t everybody do it? Isn’t it a way of life? Worry may be a way of life for the world, but it is not to be a way of life for God’s children. Worry is a form of fear that satan has slipped in on most people as no big deal when it is the biggest deal of all. Why? It contaminates faith; it neutralizes faith because fear stops faith in God.
The Word of God is the solution to worry. As we digest God’s Word, as we focus on His Word, we are focusing on Him and His provision for us. It is a daily, continual process. Worry is a daily thing for the world. The Word must be a daily thing for the child of God. The Word comes; we hear it; faith comes. We believe we receive. And we continually see the Word done in the spirit realm until it becomes reality in our earthly realm. It is not always an overnight process, although God can do that for us. But the majority of the time, it is step by step, precept upon precept until we are confident of our God and His Word, regardless of what curve ball satan may attempt to throw our way. We must take that curve ball and make a home run out of it. Hit it out of the ballpark.
God’s Word is the only way to live, particularly in the end times. There are all kinds of things happening in our personal lives and in the world today. We are told in the Word of God that things will get darker in the world but they will get lighter for us. The darkness or the light shining in your life is dependent on what your focus is upon. If you and I focus on the terrible things that are happening all around us, we are focusing on darkness and cannot see the Light of the Word of God. God’s Word brings light to us; it brings understanding to us; it brings peace and tranquility. As the old expression goes: all hell can be breaking loose around you and me but we do not give it any attention. Our attention is on the Word of God, which is our source of peace and strength.
Everything here on this earth is going to pass away. It is temporal, temporary. Why would you worry about something that is going to pass away anyway? That is a fruitless exercise. When we begin to look at things in terms of eternal values, in terms of eternity, nothing that happens to us here is worth getting upset about. It is all temporal. We spend such a brief moment of time here on this earth, compared to the eternity we will spend with the Lord. We need to keep our perspective correct. See eternal, and don’t concentrate on earthly.
Now, I am not saying to you that you sit down, quit work, and wait for Jesus to come. No, on the contrary, I am saying that we go about the daily activities of life ever mindful that the Word of God is working in our behalf, that the Father is looking out for us, that Jesus is sitting at the right hand of the Father interceding for us and that the Holy Spirit is hovering over us, waiting to perform His Word on our behalf. But if He has no word to work with, then He just keeps on hovering. The angels are waiting for His Word to be spoken and believed so that they can go to work on our behalf. But, no Word, no working of the angels and the Spirit of God on our behalf.
The angels hearken to the voice of God’s Word. Who gives voice to that Word? You and I do. And God is waiting for His Word to come out of our mouths in faith so that the circle of Isaiah 55:11 can be accomplished. He says there that His Word will not return to Him void, empty or meaningless. How do you think His Word is going to be returned to Him? It will be returned to Him through our faith-filled mouths, full of His Word.
The Word is the only thing that will remain. Then it is reasonable that the Word is what we should focus on.
What I want to focus on today is The Word. He told them in verses 34 and 35 that they were to take heed to themselves, and be on guard, be alert. What were they to be alert to? They were to be alert to keep their heart, their spirit man from becoming burdened down, depressed, oppressed with the worries, the cares, the busyness of life in this world. They were to avoid these cares because they are a trap, a snare to take their minds off Jesus Himself and His Kingdom. And He said that the day of His coming would come on them suddenly because they were not aware of Him. In other words, they would be aware of themselves and all that they were involved in in this world instead of being continually aware of Him and His provision which is spelled out very clearly in His Word.
We are told in Philippians 4:6,7 that we are not to have any anxiety or fretfulness or worry or care about anything but rather we are to pray with thanksgiving in our hearts and give it to the Lord and leave it there. And then God’s peace is ours. His peace passes all our human understanding. His peace guards our hearts and minds. In Isaiah 26:3 we are told that the Lord will keep us in His perfect peace when our mind is stayed on Him; this means that we trust Him.
So what is the big deal about worry? Doesn’t everybody do it? Isn’t it a way of life? Worry may be a way of life for the world, but it is not to be a way of life for God’s children. Worry is a form of fear that satan has slipped in on most people as no big deal when it is the biggest deal of all. Why? It contaminates faith; it neutralizes faith because fear stops faith in God.
The Word of God is the solution to worry. As we digest God’s Word, as we focus on His Word, we are focusing on Him and His provision for us. It is a daily, continual process. Worry is a daily thing for the world. The Word must be a daily thing for the child of God. The Word comes; we hear it; faith comes. We believe we receive. And we continually see the Word done in the spirit realm until it becomes reality in our earthly realm. It is not always an overnight process, although God can do that for us. But the majority of the time, it is step by step, precept upon precept until we are confident of our God and His Word, regardless of what curve ball satan may attempt to throw our way. We must take that curve ball and make a home run out of it. Hit it out of the ballpark.
God’s Word is the only way to live, particularly in the end times. There are all kinds of things happening in our personal lives and in the world today. We are told in the Word of God that things will get darker in the world but they will get lighter for us. The darkness or the light shining in your life is dependent on what your focus is upon. If you and I focus on the terrible things that are happening all around us, we are focusing on darkness and cannot see the Light of the Word of God. God’s Word brings light to us; it brings understanding to us; it brings peace and tranquility. As the old expression goes: all hell can be breaking loose around you and me but we do not give it any attention. Our attention is on the Word of God, which is our source of peace and strength.
Everything here on this earth is going to pass away. It is temporal, temporary. Why would you worry about something that is going to pass away anyway? That is a fruitless exercise. When we begin to look at things in terms of eternal values, in terms of eternity, nothing that happens to us here is worth getting upset about. It is all temporal. We spend such a brief moment of time here on this earth, compared to the eternity we will spend with the Lord. We need to keep our perspective correct. See eternal, and don’t concentrate on earthly.
Now, I am not saying to you that you sit down, quit work, and wait for Jesus to come. No, on the contrary, I am saying that we go about the daily activities of life ever mindful that the Word of God is working in our behalf, that the Father is looking out for us, that Jesus is sitting at the right hand of the Father interceding for us and that the Holy Spirit is hovering over us, waiting to perform His Word on our behalf. But if He has no word to work with, then He just keeps on hovering. The angels are waiting for His Word to be spoken and believed so that they can go to work on our behalf. But, no Word, no working of the angels and the Spirit of God on our behalf.
The angels hearken to the voice of God’s Word. Who gives voice to that Word? You and I do. And God is waiting for His Word to come out of our mouths in faith so that the circle of Isaiah 55:11 can be accomplished. He says there that His Word will not return to Him void, empty or meaningless. How do you think His Word is going to be returned to Him? It will be returned to Him through our faith-filled mouths, full of His Word.
The Word is the only thing that will remain. Then it is reasonable that the Word is what we should focus on.
posted by Rev. Kialeen Potterton @ 9:01 AM
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