Power of thy word...

Sounds like a crazy, corny title, but it’s true.

The bible is something that Christianity is based on. Everything that we need to know is in the bible.

The words in the bible are not just words printed on paper, but it is the very breath of God. So think about that book that lying on your bookshelf, it’s God’s word speaking to you.

Don’t trust what people around you are saying about God, or how you should live. You would know what is true and what is not, by reading the bible! Everything that we need to know about christianity is in the bible.

So my pastor, (he’s a great man :D) and he reads the bible heaps, and even memorises large chunks of it. While he was still young, he was a pastor of a church which was made of bluestone. Now back then in the 80's, bluestone buildings were pretty awesome, and people would pass by, asking the pastor if they could have a look at the church, he would say: “yes, go for it, the keys are over there and the front door is there just walk in and have a look.” So heaps of these people were fascinated by this building, including this one guy, who seemed to be on drugs or something, but of course, there were no drugs in the 80's. :/

So that drugged up guy was like:

“Hey, pastor?” And pastor was like:

“Yes, I’m pastor of this church,”

“Can I have a look at your church?”

Now, this pastor was a little suspicious of this guy, so he’s like:

“Yes.. Why?”

“Well, God sent me to go and bless all the churches of Australia, and when I’m done, I’m moving off to New Zealand to bless all of the churches there.”

My pastor was thinking to himself what!? Where on earth is that in the bible? (well it isn’t) he was extremely suspicious of this guy right now.

“Okay,... I’ll let you in, but I’m going to have to follow you.”

So they walk in, and this guy immediately starts waving his arms and dancing around the notice boards and the church isles, chanting under his breath , and my pastor was like oh... no, this guys evil.

“HEY!” says the pastor in a firm voice, “Do you believe in God?”

And the guy says in like a flat voice: “I do.” It was like as if someone was speaking through him. Like as if he was possessed or something.

Then he starts dancing and waving his arms again.

My pastor was like... ok, what am I supposed to do here? So he was just standing beside this guy, and he prayed for God for Jesus’s blood to cleanse this church from the evil that was happening. (the dancing guy was obviously doing something evil!)

So he was thinking as to what to do, and he remembered a passage from the bible that he read over, never really took notice of, but it for some reason it replayed in his head:

1 John 4:1-3
Test the Spirits
“1Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.” NIV

If you don’t understand it don’t worry, I’ll explain it to you.

So this passage is saying that not all who claim to be people sent from God, are genuinely people sent from God. And we can test this by seeing if that person acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in flesh, from God, (meaning that Jesus came to earth, in a human body, sent from God), and if they do acknowledge this, then they are really sent from God. For those who don’t acknowledge this, they are from the devil, or those against Christ. (Antichrist)

So my pastor was like:

“Hey! You said you believe in God right?”

He stops dancing and replies: “I do.” in a blank tone.

“Do you believe in Jesus Christ?”

“I do.”

“But, do you believe that he came to earth, in flesh, sent from God..?”

And the very second my pastor said this, the guy went into a raging fit and started swearing abuse and curses to my pastor. He said stuff like: “God will curse your family, he will kill you! He will kill all your family! All your friends!... etc.etc.” and he just walked out of the church, still yelling out, walking down the street, still yelling out and my pastor was like ‘hmm.’

It was my pastor’s first time having an encounter like this, but keep in mind he was a young pastor. And he didn’t care about the curses, because he knew that they were all fake. (Believe me, he’s still alive and well today.)

So the whole point of this long story is that the words in the bible aren’t just words in a book, but they are the very breath from God! God spoke to my Pastor at that time, through the bible. The words weren’t meaningless, but instead they were strong, and they meant something. As demonstrated by my pastor then, there is a power behind the words in the bible.

Powerful stuff.

So don’t just leave that book lying around, pick it up! Study it with friends or with the church. You’ll learn a lot from it, and who knows when you’ll need it?

example of a bluestone wall ^
WL