The Spiritual House Cleaning – Lesson 7

The Power of the Word

Did you ever try to clean a high piled rug with a corn broom?

How about washing a quilt by hand in the tub?

It can be done, but the physical labour involved is exhausting, even grueling. The extra time and energy that was used could have been put to better use somewhere else.

Therefore, most of us like to use a nice, high powered vacuum with a power nozzle to clean that rug in minutes. Much easier!

Unquestionably, the back breaking work of hand washing a quilt is done much easier with the “Hand wash” cycle in an over sized washing machine.

In these next few chapters we are going to be discussing some real power tools to help you with your spiritual house cleaning; to save you years of exhausting, grueling, backbreaking (heart breaking that is) work and pain!

At the very beginning of this book I mentioned we were just going to accept the fact that the Bible was true, just for argument sake.

Now though, I would like to take some time and explain the benefits of actually believing that the Bible is true.

Benefits – now there is a word you probably didn’t expect me to use?

Yes, real benefits.

Let’s go back to the story in Genesis that we studied earlier and look at it from another angle.

What happens to mankind if we say that the story in Genesis is just a “fable”?

First – We lose the concept of a loving God who created us; who wants fellowship with mankind.
It leaves us without a divine Father figure who deeply loves us, who has tremendous compassion towards us, who tenderly wants to hold and comfort us, who aches to correct us and teach us right from wrong, who longs to provide for us the things that we need and yes, even want. We lose the comfort and peace that comes with knowing all that.

Second – We lose our beginnings, our roots.
Where then did we come from?
Are we here because of some cosmic burp?
Did we come from aliens?
Are we the result of millions of genetic accidents from some soupy pond?
Is some ape my great, great….grandfather?

Third – We lose the real origin and meaning behind sin, sickness, pain, suffering and death.
God then is not a loving father but he becomes some sadist in the sky who delights in our pain filled lives, that is IF we believe in a god at all.
Life then becomes hopeless and man is reduced to nothing more than an animal, with a survival of the fittest attitude.

Fourth – We lose the concept of devils and demons and therefore man himself becomes the source of all the pain, suffering and death and we look to ourselves as the originator for all of our own troubles.
We become miserable, cynical; life loses all hope and meaning.

Personally, I believe we lose way too much just by taking away the first 3 chapters of the Bible.

Rarely, if ever, do we really take a look at what life would be like without the Bible in our lives as our source of truth.

What philosophies we would hold if we didn’t believe in the creation story?

Where would mankind be as a whole without the Bible?

Without the law of the Old Testament how would we know what was right and wrong, holy or unholy?

My son tells this story of a young man who was raised without any Bible knowledge in his life. He was 19 years old when he first discovered the meaning behind the rainbow in the sky. He was thrilled and amazed at the story of Noah, the flood and the promise of God.

Personally, I can’t comprehend someone spending 19 years on this planet and not knowing such a fundamental truth, it grieves me to no end.

The benefits then of believing in the Bible are great:

First – We gain the concept of a loving God who created us; who wants fellowship with mankind.
We gain a divine heavenly Father figure who deeply loves us, who has tremendous compassion towards us, who tenderly wants to hold and comfort us, who aches to correct us and teach us right from wrong, who longs to provide for us the things that we need and yes, even want. We gain the comfort and peace that comes with knowing all that.

Second – We find our beginnings, our roots.
We were created by a loving God.
We find out where we actually did come from.
We know we are not here because of some cosmic burp!
We know didn’t we come from aliens!
We are not the result of millions of genetic accidents from a soupy pond!
And some ape is not my great, great….grandfather!

Third – We gain the knowledge of the real origin and meaning behind sin, sickness, pain, suffering and death.
God then is a deeply, loving, Father who “may” allow pain, suffering and sickness to gently correct and guide our lives.
Life then takes on great meaning and hope as we grow and learn from the Lord himself.
We are then elevated to our rightful place as the children of God.

Fourth – We gain the concept of devils and demons and therefore man himself is NOT the source of all the pain, suffering and death, we know we have an enemy who wants to destroy us and we know who and what we are fighting against.
That knowledge gives us power and strength to keep fighting.

Just three short chapters of the Bible gifts us with all that knowledge, and the Bible is made up of many, many chapters contained in 66 different books written as love letters from the Lord’s heart to ours.
It is this knowledge; the truth that we gain in these books that gives us great power over the temptations that devil and his demons bring to us.

Even Jesus himself used the Word of God as a weapon against Satan when Satan tempted him in the wilderness.

Three times Satan tempts Jesus and three times Jesus comes back with, “It is written”. Read the account yourself in Luke 4:1-13.

Luke 4:1-13

King James Version

4 And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness,

² Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered.

³ And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread.

⁴ And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.

⁵ And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.

⁶ And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it.

⁷ If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine.

⁸ And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.

⁹ And he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence:

¹⁰ For it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee:

¹¹ And in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.

¹² And Jesus answering said unto him, It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.

¹³ And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season.

Read full chapter

Satan exposes much of his abusive nature here, when he torments Jesus with such everyday things such as food, power, and questions the nature of God.

In the spiritual amour that the Lord provides for his children against the enemy; the Word of God is listed as an offensive weapon; a sword! More about that in chapter 12

The word of God is powerful; the actual words themselves are truth.

Heb 4:12 (KJV)

For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

The Bible itself is Holy and many stories are told of how Bibles have saved men’s lives on the battlefield from a bullet to the heart. The Bible has protected people from accidents. An open Bible in a home will repel demons and protect against demonically induced nightmares. The Word of God can survive fires, persecution and the test of time.

God has supernaturally protected his word from destruction for thousands of years – that in itself is a miracle.

What other book in your home has been around for thousands of years?

Begin now to start a daily or weekly schedule of Bible Reading.

The benefits of just reading the Bible are many –

1. The Word of God will actually begin to sanctify (bless and make holy) you personally and the memorization of the Word will actually help to keep you from sinning.

John 17:17(KJV)

Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.

Ps 119:11(KJV)

Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.

2. The Word of God will begin to mold you into a true worshipper of God

John 4:23(KJV)

But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.

Knowing who and what you are worshipping is extremely important.

What is a Bible believing Christian?

A Bible Believing Christian is totally different from a “denominational” Christian such as: Catholic, Anglican, United, Lutheran, Baptist, Alliance, Trinitarian Pentecostal, Church of Christ, or what have you, or other churches that most people are familiar with in their neightbourhood.

No one is asking that you join a denominational church group.

When I speak of a Bible Believing Christian I’m speaking of someone who believes the Bible completely and basis all his beliefs on the Word of God; as opposed to denominational Christians who believe in creeds or an organization or the traditions of men that are held within these groups.

For a Bible Believing Christian the Bible is the source of all doctrine (teaching) and practices. The caution here is that you must properly know how to apply the 66 books to your life; otherwise you can actually do spiritual damage to yourself.

See Peter’s admonition to be cautious…

2 Pet 3:16 (KJV)

As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.

3. The word of God will actually guide you in decision making and make your life more productive.

Ps 119:105 (KJV)

Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.

Ps 119:17-19(KJV)

Deal bountifully with thy servant, that I may live, and keep thy word.

Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.

I am a stranger in the earth: hide not thy commandments from me.

Read all of Psalm 119; it is so encouraging and deals with the power of the Word of God in a person’s life.

This is my comfort in my affliction: for thy word hath quickened me.
Ps 119:50 (KJV)

How to Study the Bible for Yourself

1. Find a good version of the Bible in which to study from, we recommend the KJV or NKJV available at any good book store or Christian book store.
2. Realize that the Bible is actually 66 individual books written over thousands of years. It is actually a library of books.
3. Realize there is only one author to the Bible – God Almighty – he had many writers (secretaries) but he alone is the author.
4. Realize there are different themes, time periods, and covenants in the Bible

The Old Testament includes:

Law – The first 5 books of the Bible penned by Moses:

Genesis-Deuteronomy

History – The next 12 books of the Bible include the history of Israel & Judah:

Joshua-Esther

Poetry – The next five books are books of poetry

Job–Song of Solomon

Prophecy – The final 17 books of the Old Testament contain prophecy some of which has already occurred and some of which is soon to come to pass

Isaiah-Malachi

The New Testament includes:

The Gospels – The first 4 books of the New Testament they are a biography of the life of Jesus Christ told from four different perspectives.

Matthew, Mark, Luke & John

Acts – The only book in the Bible where you can read sermons to the lost and find how to be saved, and read accounts of people actually being saved.

The Book of Acts

The Epistles – Letters written to the real Biblical Church to folks that are already saved.

Romans – Jude

Prophecy – The only New Testament book of prophecy.

The Revelation Of Jesus Christ

Following these simple rules will help to keep you on the straight and narrow, ask your self these questions when studying any scripture text.

1. Who wrote the book?
2. Who was the book written to? I.e. The Patriarchs, Israel, the Churches, the Lost
3. What is the time period in history? Old or New Testament.
4. Does this teaching transfer from the Old to the New Testament?
5. Does this apply to me today? Is it during the church age?

Let the Bible interpret the Bible. If two scriptures seem to contradict each other; find the third or fourth scripture on that topic to make it clear.

The Word of God will never contradict itself.

Let’s look at a common misinterpretation error of the Bible:

Matt 28:19(KJV)

Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

Acts 2:38(KJV)

Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

The contradiction here seems to be what formula or saying should we use when people are baptized.

Should we baptize…
1) in the name of Father, Son and Holy Ghost or
2) in the name of Jesus Christ.

To correct this problem we look for a third or fourth scripture on the topic of baptism to see how baptisms were performed during the church age.

Acts 8:16(KJV)

(For as yet he was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.)

Acts 19:5(KJV)

When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

As a result, we now have three scriptures that say to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.

Why then do most churches baptize in the titles Father, Son and Holy Ghost if we have more scripture on baptizing in Jesus name?

What was wrong with the interpretation of Matt. 28:19?

Let’s look at it closely

Matt 28:19 (KJV)
Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

This was a commandment given to the disciples of Jesus; they were commanded by Jesus to baptize in the NAME (singular) of the Father, Son & Holy Ghost.

So what is that name? It’s Jesus Christ.
Father, Son and Holy Ghost are not names but titles of an office that a person holds.

I’m a mother, a daughter and a wife but my name is Lois.

Jesus is the Father, the Son & the Holy Ghost, these are positions or roles that he holds when dealing with mankind, but his name is Jesus Christ.

(For more on just who Jesus is see chapter 8)

By using the third and fourth scripture principle and allowing the Bible to interpret the Bible, the misinterpretation problem corrects itself. All Biblical baptisms were done in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ and if we are truly Bible believing Christians this is the only method of baptism that we could possibly endorse.

By adding the Word of God to your life you will receive so many benefits and yes, incredible blessings if you follow the teachings that are in the book.

This is your first real source of power against the Devil and his demons – The Word of God -TRUTH

NOTE: You may find it helpful to purchase a Strong’s Concordance to help you study different topics of interest in the Bible.

Proceed to Lesson 8