PURPOSE GOD’S WAY- Exploring the Power of God's Word and Prayer

The power of the Word of God in transforming the lives of believers is an incredible phenomenon. It shapes the spiritual growth of individuals, guiding them in the right direction and fortifying them with faith and courage to face life's challenges. Today, we delve into the spiritual journey of Claire, a believer who has experienced the transformative power of God's Word and prayer.

Claire's journey from 911 prayers to a place of growth provides an insightful understanding of the transformative power of God's Word. As a new believer, she experienced how being led by God and the practice of Bible study and prayer are instrumental in spiritual growth. The Word of God, particularly scriptures like 1 Timothy 4:13 and 1 Peter 4:13, played a significant role in her spiritual maturation. These verses emphasize the importance of public reading of Scripture, fostering an environment of learning and spiritual growth.

Claire's story beautifully illustrates the transformative power of prayer. She discovered how faith can be a powerful tool in navigating challenging times. Prayer's potency is such that it can offer strength and direction when needed the most. Meditation on God's Word, she realized, provides profound insight into its truths and acts as a guiding light, illuminating the path in life.

In her spiritual journey, Claire also encountered the opening verse from John's Gospel. Its relevance in today's life is a topic worth contemplating. She moved from a superficial engagement with faith to a deep, intimate relationship with God. Her story stands testament to the life-altering power of God's Word, inspiring others to delve deeper into their faith.

The importance of allowing God to do the work of transformation is a crucial lesson from Claire's journey. Forcing new habits on others can lead to exhaustion. Instead, she learned to let God work His transformation in her life and in the lives of those around her. The power of God's Word in transforming lives is undeniable. As Hebrews 4:12 states, the Word of God is living and active, capable of discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

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Chapters

• 0:09 Power of the Word for Growth
• 11:06 Prayer for Guidance and Faith

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:09

And, oh, I'm still joined by my friend Claire and I'm so excited with this growth journey. So, claire, you said that you were tired of a certain level and a certain kind of prayers which 911 prayers and so how did you move from 911 prayers to that place of growth? And in this instance, I'd like you to talk into what the word does for you and to you as a new believer, as a growing believer, as a desiring believer, and also what a Bible believing church does to you.

Speaker 2: 0:43

I think the first step was just spring honestly to God. I actually said help me. I want to know what you stand about, I want to know who you are. I believe that what you have for me is a lot more, and I'm just overreaching at the surface. So show me your way and slowly by slowly. Like you said earlier, you talked about joining a Bible believing church.

Speaker 2: 1:03

Then I made a transition and got into a church that their style was very different. I felt drawn that it was near home and there was a lot of focus on the word of God that I didn't have initially. You know, a lot of reading of the word you know and a lot of focus there, and I began to see things that I hadn't seen before jumping out at me. It got so exciting. So, as opposed to going there, listening and saying, hey, what are you preaching now, to opening my Bible for myself to read because I didn't want to wait. Then it became all of a sudden not wanting wanting to go for events, looking at messages online.

Speaker 2: 1:41

But I remember one thing that was key and a caution, even when I was in that church was that you need to be led of God, because out there it's. It can be a mess on that, on that, if I can call it a spiritual highway, and there's good and bad and there's many things that are manipulated. And so for me, if it was in my Bible, if we were talking about the word of God and I could see we were reading the same thing, then it was okay and little by little, new things came along the way. Bible study, prayer, my prayer life expanded. Even being able to put together people to pray for common purpose became the way of life, because I've seen God moving in my life and in the life of those around me. Even by virtue of that, Amazing.

Speaker 1: 2:20

So first, timothy 4 and verse 13 says until I come and that's Jesus give attention to the public reading of scripture, to exhortation and teaching, and this is the basis for discipleship. So I've had the opportunity to be disciples. It's demanding, I mean, it's a structure. It teaches you how to read the Bible, how to read the Bible for yourself, how to actually hear God for yourself, how to get time, personal time, with God by yourself. But there's also the corporate element which the Bible talks about in 1 Peter 4.13,.

Speaker 1: 2:57

Give attention to the public reading of the word. That is a gathering together and they're coming together to exalt and to teach and to learn. So other people are able to share their experiences with you and you grow. And that's how we grow, even spiritually. You hear somebody experience here, you share your experience, you're able to encourage somebody else and in so doing it becomes growth. Ultimately, you're not where you were, you've learned a lesson you'd otherwise not have learned and escaped that journey of failure, or they add value to you and you add value to them. So I believe that even as one receives salvation, then they are able to grow.

Speaker 2: 3:39

I think there's a grace that you get initially when you choose to walk that journey, when you choose to receive the salvation from God, as the more you learn, the more even the expectation in terms of your work with God, in terms of your investment, because it's an investment in your spiritual life, an investment of time, an investment of reading the word and an investment of service to the work that God has called you to do. And when I say the work that God has called you to do, it's not necessarily everybody goes to ministry, they think about being a pastor and all those things, but I think the work God had called me to do at the time was working where I was, and his word was equipping me in how I should do his work, essentially where I was. That resulted in growth.

Speaker 1: 4:27

Amazing and I think the biggest person who was actually plunged into this and actually told most often was Joshua, and I'll read from Joshua, chapter 1 and verse 7. And it says be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my seven months gave you. Do not turn from each to the left or to the right that you may be successful wherever you go. Keep this book of the law Always on your lips. Meditate on it day and night so that you may be careful to do everything and return in it then you will be prosperous and successful.

Speaker 1: 5:04

And he goes. The bible goes on and on and on. But I think the biggest thing is the power of the word, being able to read it, to meditate it, to meditate upon it and allow Holy spirit to then begin to transform you as a new believer, as a believer who has been in salvation for years, to be able to allow the word of god To transform you, to be able to allow the word of god to get and to grow in you. And to transform you and to bring about this growth.

Speaker 2: 5:37

Um, I think, when I look back, initially I didn't quite go about it the right way, but then again it's a learning right, because you're excited and all and all of a sudden you're trying to force your new habits on Everybody else, trying to force it down my husband.

Speaker 2: 5:50

And my children, but you forget that, wherever you are, there's certain. Their way of life, then, is a habit. Instead, what I should have been doing was um Was allowing god, because it is his work, to do the work of transformation, just like he did in my own life. So I got exhausted and I think, uh, when I let go?

Speaker 2: 6:11

Then I let god, and that is when he stepped in and now began to work and began to show me that they would only Embrace change if I also demonstrated that he was transforming me, and Over time I have seen him do that when I look at back then and now, to a place where I had to teach my children to have devotion.

Speaker 1: 6:31

And they both do.

Speaker 2: 6:32

I had to teach them how to pray on their own and not according to my way.

Speaker 1: 6:37

It's a very dangerous thing and it's it's, you know, it's very easy to do, but from the way god had shown them, according to the way he made them so to, just add on to this and I think we've read the scripture separately, hebrews 4 and verse 12 For the word of god is living and active, shaper than any two edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, alph joint and of maru, and descending the thoughts and intentions of the heart. So it is by the word of god, then it is able to be living and active inside of you. It is able to transform you and to change you because it's discerning your thoughts, right, correct. You're able to, whatever it is. The word of god is able to do that and also the intentions of your heart, what it is that you desire to do versus what it is that you actually do or don't do.

Speaker 1: 7:25

And so, um, I think today it's to just commend god's people to the word of god and to just be able to pray and tell god May your words be a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. And also to ask the Lord that the Word of God, which is living, an active shepherd than any double-edged sword, would be able to begin to come and pierce the heart and the soul and the spirit and the marrow and the joints of my heart and discern the intentions and thoughts that I have, that then he will begin to do a work inside of me. So this is just an invitation. If you're hungaring for the Word of God, to understand the Word of God you've been reading your Bible but sometimes you just don't understand it is that God will pour out his grace today and all the days, that when you open the Bible it will come alive to you.

Speaker 2: 8:17

Oh yes.

Speaker 1: 8:18

That you will no longer just look at it as just mere stories, history and all that, but this Word will become active, it will become alive, it will live inside of you and it will transform both yourself and those around you. So, even as we pray, it is an invitation for the Holy Spirit, the Lord, to activate the Word of God. That, as you read the Word of God, it will not be the same that you will not live there bland.

Speaker 1: 8:44

You will not live there, just wondering. Oh okay, so this happened to the days of Elijah and Elisha.

Speaker 2: 8:52

No, no, no, no no.

Speaker 1: 8:53

Is it there? Does it happen to me? The fishermen?

Speaker 2: 8:57

No.

Speaker 1: 8:58

It is that God will begin to make this Word, his Word, alive in you. So let's pray Our Lord and our God will come before you this day, oh God to just proclaim that you are Lord all by yourself.

Speaker 1: 9:13

Your Word is the one that you said let there be in the beginning, and everything was formed, and it is at your Word that we are able to stand on, oh God, it is your Word that is living and active. Father, we are praying that you will outpour your spirit upon your people, they that hunger and thirst for you. Oh God, that, indeed, mighty Redeemer and mighty God, they will hear your Word, they will read your Word and they will do that which your Word says. O Jehovah, god that, looking back, even as we have shared, lord, that indeed you are doing and you will continue to grow us, oh God, in your Word, and that love and the desire of reading your Word, the Bible, in sharing your Word with our friends and our families and our one places.

Speaker 1: 10:03

Father, we thank you because of that which you're doing, that you're pouring out your spirit on all men. Oh Jehovah, that people will read the Bible with newness. Oh God, that the fire of God is coming upon each and everyone who holds the Bible. Lend like the fire, it will ignite and the stories will no longer be just stories of old, but they will be able to understand these stories applicable to them, at an individual level, at a family level, at a church level, at a national level, at the workplace. Oh God, father, indeed, do that only, which you can do.

Speaker 1: 10:41

For everyone desiring to hear your Word. May they hear it and may they read it and may they meditate on it, just as you told Joshua meditate on the Lord day and night. Oh God, may this be our desire. And for those who have a desire, oh God, may this Word quench them. Oh Jehovah, may you begin to open them up, to understand this Word in ways they've never thought of.

Speaker 1: 11:06

Mighty Redeemer, because you are good and you are God, and there is nothing anyone or the devil can do about it. May your Word continue to be a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our parts. That, indeed, as we read out your Word. It will say this is the way you walk in it and we shall walk in it and, father, indeed, we shall begin to pick the nuggets and the promises that are in there and proclaim them over ourselves and our loved ones. That, indeed, father, as we read, we shall be firm and secure and we shall know that, indeed, you are Lord and you are God. So be exalted thou out thou, oh God. Even as we've called on you in the day of trouble, and we continue to call upon you, it is that, indeed, ultimately, you will glorify yourself. We bless you, oh God, and we honor you in Jesus name.

Speaker 2: 11:55

We do pray and believe amen and must have reminded of the Word in John and maybe you can read it for us all in John that talks about in the beginning was the word John, chapter one and verse one in the beginning.

Speaker 1: 12:10

John 1 1 in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God and the word was God yeah, so amen, and maybe this word, which is was in the beginning, continue with us even as we journey on in this life, both today and forever. Amen.