"Inheritance To Obey"

"But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves."  James 1:22

It is not enough to know the word of God, you have to do it-- you have to obey it, live by it and put it into practice in your life.  We aren't justified by our knowledge only, but by applying it to our lives.  It isn't enough to be able to quote the word, the devil quoted the Word to Jesus in the wilderness.  The Pharisees were constantly reminding Jesus of what the law said.

Obeying the Word and living by it is not always easy.  Sometimes it is a struggle.  Sometimes it is hard to do.  Even Jesus who knew what the Father had said (the Word) concerning His mission on earth-- to be the sacrifice and pay the ransom for our sins-- struggled with it in the Garden of Gethsemane.  Jesus and the Father had talked about this before the foundation of the world.  They had decided to redeem mankind before mankind sinned.  Jesus came to earth to fulfill their plan.  While here He obeyed and did everything He heard His Father say.  But then it came time to obey the Father's word/will at the cross.  Jesus prayed three times to let it pass from Him.  He struggled with it because it was not going to be easy-- it would be hard, there would be suffering involved, there would be a separation from the Father, there would be the sins of the whole world laid upon Him and the forces of darkness would be unleashed on Him.  (Talk about being a hard Word to obey.)  But He said-- nevertheless not My will but Thine be done. 

When we are faced with obeying the word, we need to say the same-- nevertheless not my will but Your will.  But how do we do that when obeying is hard?  When it goes against our flesh, our will, our wants, our desires?  What about when we have to deny ourselves, take up a cross, lay down pride and humble ourselves?  We do it by remembering what we discussed yesterday-- we are heirs of God and joint-heirs with Jesus.  As an heir everything that the Father has is mine.  The Father has grace and strength.  He has the grace and strength that I need to obey.  Therefore, I can do it-- I can obey the Word even when it is hard to obey it-- because I have grace and strength as an inheritance.  Jesus received that grace and strength in the garden.  Paul received that grace and strength when dealing with the thorn in the flesh.  You and I can be a doer as well as a hearer of God's word because grace and strength is ours.

Have a great day.  When it is hard to be a doer of the Word, your inheritance of grace and strength will help you do it.