Apply God's Word to yourself First!

Have you ever counseled others, prepared for a message, or studied to teach a small group and the message turned on you? Happens to me every time, and as it should.

The word of God is always first for us---and then as we allow the word of God to master our thought lives and our actions, then and only then are we qualified to "teach" others. It should only be with great humility that we would even consider or even attempt to speak into the lives of others.

I'm going to repeat that last sentence again because it is so important: " It should only be with great humility that we would even consider or even attempt to speak into the lives of others."

 The words from Mercy Me should speak very loudly to us all:

I'm finding myself at a loss for words
And the funny thing is it's okay
The last thing I need is to be heard
But to hear what You would say

[Chorus:]
Word of God speak
Would you pour down like rain
Washing my eyes to see
Your majesty
To be still and know
That you're in this place
Please let me stay and rest
In your holiness
Word of God speak

How about it folks, the last thing that we need is to be talking---oh,  but how we need to be listening!

Let me leave you with the two verses that I gave to another and came back to grip my own soul:

"Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you" (1Peter 5:6,7).

Real quick---let me offer a explanation of this marvelous verse. 

When we humble ourselves under the Mighty Hand Of God we are putting ourselves in complete submission to His will. The term "mighty hand of God" is used throughout the Old Testament to show that God's Sovereign purposes will always come to fruition (cf Ex. 3:19-20; Job 30:20-21; Exek. 20:33,37; Mic.6:8).

So, before I (we) can cast our anxieties on God, we must first place our lives under His control and allow whatever it is that He is trying to accomplish in our lives to come to fruition. The hard part is that we may not like what God is attempting to "do" in our lives, but regardless if we like it or not we must submit ourselves to His rule and authority in our lives

 Father help us to submit to Your will even when we don't want to. Help us to allow Your plan to come to fruition in our lives. Let us know that  we must be willing to be in subjection to Your will before we cast our anxieties on You. AMEN.