A More Beneficial Use of the Word of God

A healer writes words from the Bible on a small piece of paper. Then he burns this piece of paper. He pulverizes the ash. He mixes the pulverized ash with water in a glass. Then he gives the glass to his patient. The patient drinks the water mixed with pulverized ash. The healer tells his patient that he would get cured from his sickness.

Here is another instance. A faith healer holds the Bible over the body of his patient lying on a bed. He prays. Then he opens the Bible. A medicinal capsule is found on the fold where he opens the Bible. He gives the capsule to his patient to drink. The patient drinks it and almost instantaneously she is cured of her sickness.

These are just two instances of using the Word of God in a rather strange way. In the first instance I was the patient. I had complained of skin eruptions. I was not cured by drinking the water mixed with ash from a paper with words written from the Bible. In the second instance my wife was the patient. She had an inflammation in her stomach and she had gone to many conventional doctors but she was not cured. Finally she was cured almost instantaneously by the faith healer who gave her a capsule from the fold of the Bible.

Present Uses of the Bible

The Bible can be used in many ways. Here are some of the ways people use the Bible.

1. We read it and learn some lessons from it. We consider it like any other book. The Bible contains stories, and these stories can entertain us and give us lessons for living. The Bible contains moral exhortations and following these exhortations make us live morally right in the eyes of human beings. A reverential way of doing this is called spiritual reading.

2. Some people use the Bible to guide them in their daily activities, even in minor ones. They have a decision to make. It may be a very minor decision, like drinking water or not. They open the Bible and read the first verse their eyes alight on. Then they interpret the verse whether it is alright for them to make the decision or not. This was called sortes biblicae (biblical lots) in the Middle Ages. Some people still use the Bible in this way today.

3. Other people use the Bible to defend their doctrines against those who criticize these doctrines. This is called apology. In this way they prove that their doctrines are the right ones and their church is the true church.

4. Still others use the words in the Bible to attack the doctrines of other churches and the practices of people. Almost every night in the Philippines beginning at 12 midnight there is a radio program called The Old Path lasting for an hour. This radio program primarily attacks the doctrines and practices of churches. This is the way the Bible is used in debates.

5. Theologians use the Bible in order to advance their knowledge of theology.

6. Speakers use the Bible to spice their talks and make their ideas more credible.

7. The Bible is used in worship and the administration of the sacraments.

A More Beneficial Way of Using the Word of God

But there is a way of using the Bible that is more beneficial to us. Here is the process.

We read it through from the start to the end. But instead of looking for the stories or for the moral lessons or theological truths we look for descriptions of God. Upon coming on a description of God we pause and talk with God. Let me give an example.

We begin reading the Bible with Genesis 1. The first verse says, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” God is described here as creator of the heaven and earth. Then we pause to pray with words like ‘God, you created the heaven and the earth and that includes me. Thank you for creating me.’

Here is another example. In Isaiah 24:21 we read “And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall punish the host of the high ones.” God is described here as a punisher of armies. We pause and pray with words like ‘God, you punish the violent people on earth. Spare us from your punishment.’

What is the benefit we get from this way of reading the Bible? The main benefit is that we come to know more of God. And knowing him we come to love him more and being united with him we become like him. We become godly. We become divine. Then we can do what God can do because we will have his knowledge, goodness and power.

I used this way of reading the Bible, but instead of beginning in Genesis, I began with Matthew. After I finished the New Testament I went to Genesis. When I reached the Psalms a definite transformation in my life occurred. You can have this transformation too.

Click Here!

Here are my other blogs which may be of help to you:

http://bit.ly/spiritworld for knowing more about spirituality or spiritual realities

http://bit.ly/alterhealthcare for your health

http://bit.ly/novotrends for learning about the new trends around us

http://bit.ly/bepaidonline for earning some income from the Internet

Here are your links to download the e-books for FREE. To download a copy of A NEW CHRIST by Wallace D. Wattles click this website http://bit.ly/anewchrist. To download a free copy of A NEW EARTH by Eckhart Tolle click this website http://bit.ly/ebookanewearth. I hope that you enjoy reading these free e-books and profit much from them, as I have also profited greatly from them.

How to Use the Name of God with Reverence

Most probably you have seen a scene like this. A Christian minister stands before a sick person and says in a loud voice, “In the name of Jesus, rise up” or words similar to these, but always with “In the name of Jesus.” The sentence is repeated again and again. But the sick person who cannot stand does not rise up.

Most probably also you have read this passage in the Acts of the Apostles 3:6-8 where it is recorded that Peter said to the sick man, “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.” And the sick man rose up and walked.

The Difference

The difference is obvious. In the first case cited above, the sick man does not rise up and walk. In the preceding case, the sick man rose up and walked.

Both the minister and Peter used the name of Jesus. But the effect was different in each case. So we ask: How was the name of Jesus used in each instance? Why is it that in one instance it produced a cure and in the other instance it did not?

The answer is not that in the first instance the minister lacked faith, while Peter had faith. Both presumably had faith. The answer is that in the first instance the minister did not know how to use the name of Jesus, for if he knew the sick man would have stood up, while in the account of the Acts of the Apostles Peter knew how to use the name of Jesus.

Peter used that name with reverence. He knew the power that was in that name. The minister may have known the power of that name from his study but he did not experience it, because he did not know how to use the name of Jesus with reverence.

So the question now is: How do we use the name of God with reverence so that what we expect to be done by that name is indeed really done?

The Steps

First, recognize that the name of God is the written or spoken expression of God himself. In a sense this name is God himself. It is not a mere combination of letters of the alphabet or sounds.

The Jews are so respectful of the name of God YHWH that they never pronounce it as such. Instead they pronounce it adonai, meaning Lord.

Among Christians I have not found a man who gave such great respect to the name of God than Giovanni Francesco di Bernardone who would cut the word “God” and “Jesus” from papers lying around lest these words be desecrated.

The proof that the name is the being itself that has that name is in our ordinary use of a person’s name. When your name is called, your whole being—body, soul and spirit—responds. This is because you are that name. Your name is the spoken or written expression of you. It signifies you.

Unfortunately we do not apply this to the name of God. Most of us think that it is only a name, a sound, a combination of letters. We have succumbed without our knowing it to a brand of nominalism which says that names, because they are universals, do not really exist. They are only signs to refer to concepts or ideas. Thus the word “God” has become an idea only.

If we recognize that the person is in the name, we become careful with the use of his name. If we recognize that God is in his name, whether this name be generic like “God” or specific like “Jesus”, “Abba”, “Paraclete”, etc., then we will also be careful and reverent with the use of that name.

Because this is so, that the name of God signifies God himself, is God himself as expressed in letters or sound, it contains all the power that is in God himself. Before this power we stand in awe.

Second, realize that God is greater than anything you can think of or imagine and nearer to you that anything you can feel. He is indeed greater than all this universe and all the other universes you can imagine or think of. And he is nearer to you than yourself. He knows your inmost thoughts and feelings, even the very forces working in the deepest level of your subconscious.

This realization will drive you to stand or kneel in awe before God and bow with deep respect to the one who inhabits your deepest center.

Thirdly, acknowledge your complete and constant dependence on God. Most people have a false sense of independence. They think that they are mature enough to do things on their own, that they can think, speak and do what they want. They forget what Jesus said, “without me you can do nothing.”

Fourthly, express the formula you use with God’s name in a different way so that you become extra conscious and extra cautious of what you are saying or writing.

If you are a Catholic, instead of just saying “In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” when you are making the sign of the Cross, say something like “By the power of God the origin, God the Word, and of God the Spirit”. Later vary the expression but always with the same meaning.

In you are a non-Catholic and you are accustomed to ending your prayer with “In the name of Jesus” you can vary this by saying something like “For the sake of Jesus” or “By the request of Jesus”.

If you do these steps habitually every time you hear the word God mentioned or see it written before you, these steps will become a part of your consciousness and using the name of God with deep, prayerful reverence will become second nature to you.

Click Here!

Here are my other blogs which may be of help to you:

http://bit.ly/spiritworld for knowing more about spirituality or spiritual realities

http://bit.ly/alterhealthcare for your health

http://bit.ly/novotrends for learning about the new trends around us

http://bit.ly/bepaidonline for earning some income from the Internet

Here are your links to download the e-books for FREE. To download a copy of A NEW CHRIST by Wallace D. Wattles click this website http://bit.ly/anewchrist. To download a free copy of A NEW EARTH by Eckhart Tolle click this website http://bit.ly/ebookanewearth. I hope that you enjoy reading these free e-books and profit much from them, as I have also profited greatly from them.