“The saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works”
Titus 3:8
Years ago, hunkering down in my easy chair during Covid and enjoying my afternoon coffee, God spoke to me:
“Brian, you are becoming an armchair Christian”
It was a startling and sharp word, and I needed to hear it. How grateful I am to the One who seeks to keep me from the tendencies of my own heart.
“Your rod and your staff, they comfort me”
Psalm 23:4
In my journey of over 50 years, since He first intervened in my life, I have found more comfort in His rod than I can put into words. In these moments He interrupts my day, often when I am unaware of my complacency and true condition.
His words of correction are overwhelming proof that He is, in fact, watching over us. The salvation He offers to all is a salvation of becoming free from the self-life, our proclivities, and our own reasonings that keep us from knowing Him.
“…the Lord commanded us to observe all these decrees
and to fear the Lord our God for our own good,
so that He may keep us alive…”
Deuteronomy 6:24 (ISV)
In our compliance with His Word, He promises to “keep us alive!” It is an “alive” that is active and energized by the life of Him. It is an “alive” that is aware and cognizant of His World, His Life and His Will for each of us. It is “alive” that breathes wonder into our existence here and transcends the shallowness of all that this world has to offer.
Life is more than breathing; His Life is pulsating and invigorating. One of the names of our great God is “I AM”. As one brother centuries ago remarked, “The I AM is the eternal verb.” Even at rest, God is moving, speaking and, as the scriptures declare, “upholding and maintaining and propelling all things.” (AMP) His voice is ever communicating to His own, pressing, inviting and calling us to deeper and richer places in Himself.
“For the Word of God is living, and powerfully working, and sharper than every two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of both soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge of the thoughts and intentions of the heart…”
Hebrews 4:12 (LITV)
HIS WORD is living, sharper than any two-edged sword, dividing asunder in us that we may be delivered from our soulish ways and carnal predispositions. How is it that we hear and see so little of that wonder coming from the pulpits and the preaching of our day?
Him becoming our life necessitates a “living word” that alone can emancipate us from who and what we are. Only HIS WORD can judge and make known to us our thoughts and intentions. Things that might appear good to others may be filled with selfish intent which, left unchecked, would culminate in stagnation and error.
To live in Him is to live in His Word.
“If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you…”
John 15:7
The great deception of this life comes clothed in religious garments. It is the subtle and deadly attraction of a gospel that presents a cross-less salvation which makes the self-life acceptable and unchanged.
“Who is he that overcometh the world,
but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?”
1 John 5:5
Only by His Word can we discern true belief from that which is false.
“But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only,
deceiving your own selves…”
James 1:22
Related Post: More Than Words
The Lamp of His Word is our guide and His provision to order our steps aright (Psalm 50:23).
“The question isn’t were you challenged,
The question is were you changed?”
Leonard Ravenhill
Brian Troxel
The Dangers Of Deception
I had a dream/night vision 06/20/2015. In the dream a saw a slow-moving river. The river was called deception and there is significance to the fact that it was slow-moving as deception is patient and slow-moving. I saw an open Bible and it was floating on this river and moving along with the current. The Bible is the Word of God and contains no deception. In the dream I saw people standing on the Bible. You can stand on the Word of God. The river’s name as I said above was deception. Just as the water that destroyed mankind in Noah’s day gave the ark buoyancy so the ark in my dream, the Word of God was floating . One thing about this river is that it looked like raw sewage. I saw a person jump off and, unlike the Word of God, didn’t float but sank. People can usually float in water. I’ve done it myself, however, this was not ordinary water. One can’t float on this water. The person who jumped into the water had to be rescued by someone in the Word. One thing I noticed is that the people on the Word were standing in the middle of it and the one needing rescued had been standing on the edge before jumping and most likely staring at the water. Again, from what I saw, the water looked like raw sewage. One would most definitely have to be deceived to want to jump into such filth.
When such a one is rescued they are rescuing him/her from the filth of deception; stink and all. Those needing rescued will not be coming out smelling like roses.
The take away from this is to stay in the Ark which in this case the Word of God. Secondly one must gather with other believers of like mind who speak the same thing. And lastly have compassion on those who have chosen deception. In order to rescue such a one means standing in the place where they wilfully jumped off. In the above dream the person that jumped off was at the edge of the Word staring at the river called deception
Yes, Amen.
“Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron…”
1 Timothy 4:1
The dream is authenticated by the Word and we are seeing such delusion as never before. I like the part about standing on the edge before falling in. so many today press the edges of truth before being given over to delusion.
“And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”
2 Thessalonians 2:10-12
Blessings brother
BT