| Jeremiah 7:23 23 But this I commanded them, saying: 'Listen to and obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people; and walk completely in the ways that I command you, so that it may be well with you.'2 [To hear the Lord we must patiently and persistently listen in humble silence; then we must obey what he commands completely. To obey is to follow the Lord, which all must do in order to be a true disciple. From the Word of the Lord within: "Follow precisely; do not deviate."] | Isaiah 55:3 3 Incline your ear, and come to me. Hear, and your soul shall live;2 and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies promised to David. [To come to Him, we go directly to Him, by sitting in humble silence as we wait on Him, listening for His voiced commands and teachings. From the Word of the Lord within: "We go to him, and he rains help on us; well does this exercise of God purify those who do. Come to me with the hope of speaking and acting righteously."] | John 5:38-40 38 And you do not have his word abiding in you;5 for you do not believe him whom he has sent. [In this verse and the next verse Jesus makes a clear distinction between the word, and the scriptures. From the Word of the Lord within: "Why would He contrast them if He didn't want to distinguish them? Calling the Bible 'the word' is the most evil lie of Christendom. Woe be to them, for they have coupled an external form between the love of God to man. Ten words from Him are better than ten copied letters." Do not be confused; every reference to the word in the New Testament comes from the original Greek words, either logos or rhema, both of which refer to words spoken by a living voice. See the Word of God References (not being the Bible) for the details and links to every New Testament verse in Greek that contains the word.] 39 You search the scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and they are those that testify of me. [From the Word of the Lord within: "He is not telling them to repeat what they are doing," but Christendom today incorrectly looks to find salvation searching the Bible's scriptures, thinking that if they believe some few verses, ignoring all the rest, they have eternal life of God; but the scriptures only point to, and testify about, Jesus. The only assurance of eternal life is to experience Jesus bring eternal life to you. You must hate your life, and you must lose your fleshly life to gain the eternal life of God, which is the full possession of Christ that rules your heart, supplying your thoughts, words, and deeds.] 40 But you will not come to me, so that you might have life.6 [Jesus has just told us in this and the above verse that studying the Bible is not coming to Him so that you might have eternal life. Come — not to sect services, not to prayer meetings, not to the Bible, not to altar calls — but come directly to him, by sitting and waiting on him in humble silence, to watch, to listen, and hear His words he speaks to you that impart the of life of God to you as His words are engrafted into your heart. John 6:63, James 1:21. Each word you hear Him speak to you increases the life of God in you; each word you hear Him speak to you purifies you a little more. With sufficient measure of His spoken words heard from within your heart, He is formed in you so that you see Him and experience Him bringing your salvation and eternal life. From the Word of the Lord within: "Obedience leads to restoration of life."] | |||||||