God's Word & Good Works - Tuesday Praise & Pray (for others) June 13, 2023

When we look at the Book of Acts and elsewhere, we see that the earliest Christians went about introducing people to Jesus via the preaching of the Gospel and miraculous healings. This was in line with what Jesus did while on earth because He was not only concerned with the spiritual state of people, but also their physical condition. This is why He healed and fed people's bodies and souls. The earliest members of the Body of Christ equally spent a lot of time helping others, including sharing their wealth with the group and taking care of widows, for instance. These were some of the good works they did for their fellow believers as well as strangers.

That duty to help people continues today for those who believe in Jesus Christ and consider Him to be the Son of God. In fact, it is for this reason some Christian groups and individuals give food and finances to the needy where they can. This is also why some allow the Lord to guide them to people in need of healing so they can lay hands on them. Or, the reason why God would prompt one of His children to pray consistently for someone to be delivered from whatever is keeping them from God's promise of the fullness of life.

However, did you know that to truly do good works as a believer you have to be rooted in the word of God? To learn more, look at today's anchor scripture, 2 Timothy 3:16-17 - All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

This verse teaches us that scripture is essential for many things including equipping God's people for every good work. In essence, we need to spend time in and with the word of God in order to be prepared to do good works that glorify Him. It is no wonder then that satan wants people to think they don't need to study the Bible. Or that devotionals and bite-sized inspirational messages are enough to truly feed a child of God on a regular basis. It is why so many people hear that lying voice that tells them they can never understand or enjoy scripture directly from the source but should settle for God's word aggregated by someone else. Many don't realize how they limit themselves by failing to consistently meditate on God's word as instructed in Joshua 1:8 and elsewhere.

Let me frame things differently to provide another perspective on the point we all need to learn. How many of us have heard another person pray that they want God to bless them so they become a blessing to others? Have you possibly said that prayer yourself? Well, 2 Timothy 3:16-17 essentially states that nobody can be blessed to become a blessing to another person if they are not familiar with God's word. This is not to say that God is not blessing folks who make this petition. It is also not to say you must know the Bible inside and out. However, an individual's lack of intimacy with God's word will always limit their access to the fullness of blessings that can be showered upon them from on high. The type of blessings whereby they become not only a blessing to others but a reason why people rejoice and glorify God (2 Corinthians 9:11). Also consider that God wants us to have all we need for ourselves and more to be of help to others in a multitude of ways (2 Corinthians 9:8). Thus, failing to spend time with God's word keeps us from receiving this promise and truly doing good works.

Please do not be mistaken, the terms "fullness," "blessing" and "good works" do not merely mean money or things tied to money. The fullness of blessings a person needs to do God's good works for others is multifaceted. The foundation, though, will be wisdom, which comes from the word of God. That wisdom will guide an individual to discern whether a person needs money, prayer, a helpful phone call to set things in motion or something else. The more we study the word, the more of God's wisdom is released to us so we can use the blessings He's given to us to glorify Him all the more via the good works He will call us to do. In addition, the more of the word we consume, the more of His promises we receive such as healing (Proverbs 4:20-22), deep insight into the hidden things of this world (Proverbs 2), spiritual strength (Psalm 119:28) and life itself (Proverbs 3:8) among other things.

Do you want to do God's good works on earth? Do you want to truly help others? Then it's time to commit to God's word and let Him build you into the more He's created you to be.

Join us for Praise & Pray (for others) today at Noon EST when we will worship then pray for other people. The Lord will continue to teach us in His word and we will be equipped to do good works that please Him by His grace and to His glory, IJMN, Amen.