Application

1. Application

2. What is the driving factor when it comes to application?

3. We will be more apt to apply the Bible to our lives when we believeand embrace the promises and instruction of God within as more rewarding and more satisfying than the promises of sin & disobedience and the comfort of living for self.

4. We can study the Bible all day long, and use incredible observation, interpretation and application skills…

5. …yet, if our hearts and minds believe that the world’s prescription for life will yield more satisfaction, more joy, more pleasure, more reward…

6. …we will fail to submit to the Spirit, fail to obey the Lord and fail to make the right choices.

7. This is so pertinent to Ephesians 4. If we believe that there is more joy, more satisfaction, more reward, more value in putting on the Spirit and walking worthily of our calling…we will likely passionately pursue all avenues of application!

8. Conversely, if we believe that there is more joy, more satisfaction, more reward, more value in living in the former manner of life and living as the gentiles do/ world does…we will likely ignore the clear application that God is calling us to.

9. Our capacity to obey/apply the Word of God rises and falls in direct proportion to our willingness to believe that what he instructs in his Word is for our ultimate good and eternal joy.

10. No matter how accurately we have understood the intended principles within a passage…

11. No matter how clearly we are able to articulate God’s desired purpose of the text…

12. No matter how specifically we have labeled the inferred practice for us in our daily lives…

13. We will fail to obey the instruction of God if we do not believe that the principles, purpose and practice prescribed within are worthsubmitting to.

14. Since the beginning of time there has been an incredible battle being fought. This battle is being fought over who mankind will believe holds out the better happiness…the better promises…the better future… the better reward.

15. Satan started his prescription for superior happiness in the garden…

16. If you eat from this tree… you will have it so much better than you have it now. And you will be able to decide for yourself what is best and be able to stop relying on God to direct you in what is best.

17. In the end, Adam & Eve went the way that they believed would turn out for their ultimate good, their superior pleasure, their increased satisfaction.

18. In the end, Adam & Eve did not believe that God was for, or could or knew how to provide their ultimate good, their superior pleasure, their increased happiness.

19. And he has continued his lies of superior joy every since…

20. If you make more of this you will have more joy…

21. If you drink more of this you will have more happiness…

22. If you own more of this you will have more pleasure…

23. If you do more of this you will have more enjoyment…

24. If you look at this you will have more satisfaction…

25. And this is why so many Christians fail to believe and obey the Bible. Because deep down, they believe that the world does hold out some promise of superior joy…

26. For years I believed that God was some how against my joy…and only wanted my obedience for his glory sake etc.

27. God in His infinite wisdom and love did not put his desire for glory at odds with our desire for joy…

28. God in His infinite wisdom and love designed it so that the deepest, highest, truest possible joy & satisfaction would be found in glorifying him.

29. What is best for us and what is for our ultimate joy & satisfaction is not at odds with God’s honor and glory…

30. In fact, what is for our ultimate joy & satisfaction is intrinsically linked to God’s honor and glory.

31. When we are trusting God, obeying His word, submitting to His design and will…it will be best for us the creature, and we will have true and lasting joy, pleasure, satisfaction & fulfillment...

32. When we are trustingGod, obeyingHis word, submitting to His design and will…it will also be to the Creator’s glory, and He will be honored, praised & glorified by it!

33. It is by this glad obedience; trusting that God is not only right, but that he is also for our good…that makes God looks like the incredible all wise, all knowing, all loving, joy giver that he truly is.

34. God is actually MORE honored and MORE glorified when I obey out of desire, believeing that his design is BEST for me…then when I obey out of duty, thinking that obedience is only right and will please God and disobedience is wrong and will anger God.

35. The war over mankind is being waged in the mind. The battle is being fought over who we believe is presenting the best prescription for joy.

36. God says it is more blessed to give than receive…

37. Blessed… Μακάριος, Makarios Happy, Happiness, to be envied, the benefits of God

38. So Satan, via the world, says… there is more happiness to be had when you store up treasures for yourself… but God says there is more happiness to be had when you give more away.

39. Our capacity to be an obedient, giving Christian, rises and falls in direct proportion to our willingness to believe that God is right and that there is indeed more happiness in giving than getting…

40. Our capacity to be an obedient, giving Christian, rises and falls in direct proportion to our willingness to believe that God is right and that a giver has the benefits of God and is to be envied…and not the person with the most possessions.

41. Correct action, flowsfrom correct thinking.

42. The main reason ‘why’ many Christians aren’t activelyapplying the Word of God… is because they aren’t thinkingaccurately about the Word of God.

43. Most people feel a duty to obey the Word of God because it is the right thing to do, the thing they should do, the thing God wants them to do…

44. What they need is to feel a desire to obey the Word of God because it is in their best interests to do so, for their ultimate good, for their eternal joy…

45. In many situations, for most believers, it is not enough for them to simply know that “this choice is what God wants me to do” or “this choice is what is right” and “that other choice is what is wrong”…

46. When we believe that we will have more happiness, joy, reward in doing an action than not doing it… we can quickly neglect what God wants or what is right, or what is wrong…in order to have that perceived superior joy.

47. It is very difficult to obey God when you believe that not obeying him in a given situation will give you more joy and happiness. Matters of right & wrong can quickly fade…

48. On the other hand, it can become quite addicting to obey God when you believe that obeying him in any and all situations will give you more eternal joy and ultimate happiness.

49. In our culture and in our economy doing what is right and wrong does not necessarily coincide with what will turn out the best/worst or will reward the most/least.

50. But in God’s system and God’s economy what is right always, always coincides with what will turn out the best and will reward the most, eternally!