Joshua 23:14, “You know in all your hearts and in all your souls that not one thing has failed of all the good things which the Lord your God spoke concerning you. All have come to pass for you, and not one word of them has failed.” Read also Joshua 21:45 and 1 Kings 8:56.
 

5. GOD’S GOOD WORKINGS ACCORDING TO THE WORD

Psalm 119:65, “You have dealt well with your servant, O Lord, according to your word.”

The Hebrew word for “dealt well” is “asah” which actually means “to do, to work, to make, to create, to build.”

God’s ultimate plan for us is to transform us into the image of His Son. He wants many sons in the likeness of His Son. He works in us by His Holy Spirit and by the power of His Word to change us into His likeness. The more we allow the Word to dwell in our hearts, the more we will be transformed into the way God wants us to think and live.

God’s Word doesn’t always suit our circumstances but if we know what’s good for us, we’ll put aside our desires and embrace the transforming principles of God’s Word. We will resist our humanistic reasonings and allow God to fill our minds with His life-changing thoughts that He has given us in His Word.

Everything that God has written is for our GOOD. God’s ways are for our best. Deuteronomy 6:24 says, “And the Lord commanded us to do all these statues, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always…” (Deuteronomy 10:12-13)

The Psalmist experienced God’s Words changing him for good. In Psalm 119:67 he confesses, “Before I was afflicted I went astray. But now I keep your word.” Again in verse 71 he says, “It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I may learn your statutes.”

Allowing God to change us can be painful. It pricks our nest. It is uncomfortable. But who wants to stay the same for the rest of their lives? How boring. God loves us too much to leave us in our shallow, sinful state. He wants to take us on to victory. He wants to lift us up to the overcoming life. He wants to transform our thinking into His thinking.

There can be times in our lives when God’s rhema word comes to us and yet we do not see the fulfillment of it. This happened in Joseph’s life. God revealed Joseph’s destiny to him in two dreams. He was going to be a ruler and his father and brothers would bow down to him. Wow, this was pretty exciting. But things didn’t turn out like the dream. His brothers who were supposed to serve him turned against him. They would have killed him except for the intervention of his brother, Judah. Instead they banished him from their sight and sold him off to merchantmen on their way to Egypt. He was torn away from his beloved father, his family, his country and everything familiar.

Down in Egypt things went from bad to worse. Although he walked in integrity and refused to give into the seducing of Potiphar’s wife, he was falsely accused and thrown in prison. Even when he sought to do the right thing, it turned against him and he was doomed to a dungeon.

Was God’s word false? No. God, who lives in the eternal and who is not bound by time, was working and setting the stage for Joseph’s destiny. In His perfect timing, He delivers Joseph from the prison. Joseph miraculously becomes second-in-command to the Pharaoh of Egypt. Then comes the day, in fulfillment to God’s promise and word, that Joseph’s brothers bow to him.

In that poignant moment when Joseph reveals himself to his brothers and they are reconciled together, he says these words, “God sent me before you to preserve a posterity for you in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So now it was not you who sent me here, but God…” (Genesis 45:7-8) Again, at the death of his father, he reminds his brothers again, “But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.” Read these words again… “God meant it for good!”

All the suffering that Joseph endured was ultimately for his good – and not only for his blessing but also for his family and for nations.

Have you received a Word from God? Yet everything is turning out the opposite! Don’t give up on God’s promise to you. God does not work in your time. He works in His time. He sees the future. You can count on Him that He is working everything out for your good! His whole purpose is to do a good work in you.” Philippians 1:6 says, “Being confident of this very thing, that he who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.”

Love from NANCY CAMPBELL

PRAYER:

“Oh Lord, I thank you that you are a good God. I thank you that I can trust your timing to fulfill your purposes in my life. I yield my life to you and to the principles of your good Word. I thank you that you will complete the good work that you have started in me. Amen.”

AFFIRMATION: 

Psalm 37:39, “The salvation of the righteous is from the Lord; He is their strength in the time of trouble.”

3. STRENGTHENING ACCORDING TO THE WORD

Psalm 119:28, “My soul melts from heaviness; strengthen me according to Your Word.”

The Psalmist is grieving. The tears pour down his face and his chest heaves with weeping. He feels his soul dissolving and dropping away. The Hebrew word ‘melts’ actually means ‘ to drop away’. It is the poetical way to express weeping.

Oh dear one, are you going through a time of grieving? Are you overcome with sorrow? Do you feel your soul dropping away because your heart is broken? You don’t have to continue this way. Even in his anguish, the psalmist knows there is an answer. It was God’s living words. He knows its power to strengthen his soul and his emotions.

Dear grieving one, get down on your knees and open the Word of God. Ask God to speak into your heart. His Word has the power to strengthen your heart. Claim His promises. Start speaking them out loud. They will restore your soul. They will strengthen your innermost soul and emotions.

God not only has the power to strengthen you physically, but to strengthen you inwardly. His strengthening Word will even put a song in your heart. Read these verses - Psalm 27:14; 31:24; 73:26; 118:14; 138:3; Ephesians 3:16.

4. MERCIES AND SALVATION ACCORDING TO THE WORD

Psalm 119: 41, “Let your mercies come also to me, O Lord, your salvation according to your word.” Read also verses 58 and 76.

God’s mercies are very great. They are plenteous. They are abundant. But they are according to the Word. His everlasting mercies line up with His everlasting Word. We cannot expect mercy when we violate God’s written laws because mercy does not compromise truth. Mercy and truth are twins. Psalm 25:10 says, “All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies.” (Psalm 85:10; 89:14)

But we can receive mercy when we repent and receive the cleansing of the precious blood of Jesus, because this promise is written in the Word. The Word is filled with precious promises, but most are preceded by a commandment. When we obey His commandments we will receive the bountiful mercies of the Lord. 

It is through the mercies of the Lord and the living Word of God that we are saved from sin and born again. 1 Peter 1:23 says, “Having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the Word of God which lives and abides for ever.” And Titus 3:5,”Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us…”

Love from NANCY CAMPBELL

PRAYER:

“Oh thank you, Lord, for your great mercies, for your great salvation and for your great and powerful living Word. Thank you with all my heart. Amen.”

 

AFFIRMATION: 

Hebrews 4:12 JBP, “The Word that God speaks is ALIVE and active; it cuts more keenly than any two-edged sword: it strikes through to the place where soul and spirit meet, to the innermost intimacies of a man’s being: it exposes the very thoughts and motives of a man’s heart.”

As I read through Psalm 119 recently I noticed seven things that happen according to the Word of God. Shall we look at them?

1. CLEANSING ACCORDING TO THE WORD

Psalm 119: 9, “How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to your word.”

We are exhorted in James 1:27 “to keep ourselves unspotted from the world.” Do you want to keep your life pure and cleansed? Come daily to the Word of God. Jesus said, “Now you are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.” (John 15:3) It is as important to wash our souls and spirits in the Word, as it is to wash our bodies. The Word of God will also keep our homes cleansed. Read it personally. Read it together as a family at the dinner table. The Word washes us from the deceptions of this world and the spots of sin that tarnishes our souls and the atmosphere of our homes.

2. REVIVING ACCORDING TO THE WORD

Psalm 119:107, “Revive me, O Lord, according to your word.” Read also verses 25, 50, 93, 149, 154 and 156.

The Hebrew word “revive” is “chayah” and it is one of those “re” words. It means, “to rebuild, recover, restore, relive, repair, refresh and revive.”

Do you feel as though you are losing strength, losing the joy of life and becoming stale? Do you need re-ing? The Word of God will “re” you! It is animating. It is life-giving. In fact, it is your very life. Jesus counteracted the devil with these words, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4 and Deuteronomy 8:3)

Jesus also said, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are LIFE.” (John 6:63)

Every mother needs refreshing. She dreams of having some time on her own, taking a relaxing bath, going out to dinner or watching a wholesome movie. But the greatest way to get refreshed is often the way we think of last! It is opening the Word of God. It is your life. It will refresh you. It will restore you. It will revive you.

When Colin and I were first married over 40 years ago, we had the privilege of living in a home owned by the China Inland Mission in Whangarei, New Zealand. The only people who had ever lived in this home were missionaries. We ourselves were waiting on the Lord and preparing to go to the mission field. When we left this home a very dear couple took over from us. They had served the Lord in China for 40 years and continued in Formosa (which is now Taiwan) after China had closed. At last they were retiring. They were in their eighties!

Arthur Beard was such an inspiration to us. He loved the Word of God. It was his life. Every day he read The Daily Light, and without glasses, mind you! This book is a compilation of Scriptures for each day on a certain theme. The Scripture references are listed at the end of the page. As he read the Scriptures for each day, he would check to see if he could remember where each verse was found. He was nearly 100 percent right each time. Colin and I still read The Daily Light at our dinner table each evening.

At one stage, while on the mission field, Mr. Beard got cancer. But it didn’t stay in his body long. He read the Word of God out loud daily – and he was healed. His body was revived and made anew by the living Word of God! (Psalm 107:20)

Let the life-giving Word of God “re” you!

Love from NANCY CAMPBELL

PRAYER:

“Oh Lord, I thank you that your Word is life to my soul. Teach me how to read it in faith to receive your refreshing and reviving into my tired soul and body. Amen.”

AFFIRMATION:

Ephesians 2:4-6, “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us uptogether, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus…”
 

Are you living it up? Come on now; let’s get with it. God is into the “living it up” lifestyle. He not only lifts us up, holds us up, builds us up but He also raises us up! One day we are going to be raised up to the eternal realm. You can read some of the Scriptures that tell us of this glorious hope in 1 Corinthians 6:14,15:49-54 and 1 Thessalonians 4:16.

However, even before God fulfils this ultimate promise to us, He has raised us up in this life. Yes, right now. When Christ died, we died with him; when He was buried, we were buried with Him; when He ascended, we were raised with Him and now positionally sit with Him in heavenly places. This seems too awesome to believe, doesn’t it? We may not be experiencing it, but it is Bible. It is fact.

How can we experience this revelation truth? By abiding in Christ. Notice that this does not happen to us on our own. It is only as we are in Him. And one other thing: we have to be buried first! Jesus died and was buried before He was raised to reign at the right hand of the Father. We also have to die to our flesh and be buried before we can live in resurrection life.  

Dear precious mother, from what position do you run your home? From the bottom of the barrel? Are you looking up at all you have to do? Are you submerged by all your worries and concerns? Or do you run your home from your legal position (which has nothing to do with your feelings) of sitting together with Christ at the right hand of the throne of God? In this position you look down on your problems. You have victory over them. In this position in Christ, all things are under your feet. From this location you take dominion over all the inroads of the enemy that would seek to take over your marriage and your home. Read Ephesians 1:17-23 and Romans 6:4.

You were raised with Christ, not only to sit with Him, but also to reign with Him. Let this incredible truth sink into your soul - you were raised to reign! You were raised to live in resurrection life. In Christ you reign over all evil principalities and powers. In Christ you reign over all negativity, depression, laziness and sin in your home.

F.B. Meyer writes, “Abide in Him, and you are by necessity an inhabitant of these heavenly places, wherever your earthly lot may be cast… Not one foe can overcome us so long as we are in abiding fellowship with our risen Lord. If the ‘together’ of the inner life is maintained, the ‘together’ of victory is secure.”

How sad that we grovel around when we have actually been raised up together with Christ. We live the shallow life according to our feelings rather than reigning in Christ.

Can I entice you to live in your ascended state? Can I remind you that you have been raised to live in resurrection life? Can I encourage you to manage your home from your legal position of authority in Christ? It is your legal right, dear mother.

Why stay down in the dumps when God has raised you up?

Love from NANCY CAMPBELL

PRAYER:

“Oh Lord, I thank you that because you have been raised from the dead, I have been raised up with you.  Even though it is hard for me to believe with my human mind, I thank you that I am seated with you at the right hand of the Father. Help me to grasp this awesome truth. Teach me, Lord, to abide in you moment by moment, and live my life from my legal position in Christ. Amen.”

 

AFFIRMATION: 

P.S.

God also gives other promises about raising us up.

He raises the poor out of the dust. (1 Samuel 2:8; Psalm 113:7-8)

He raises those that are bowed down. (Psalm 146:8)

He raises the sick when we call for the elders of the church to pray and anoint with oil. (James 5:14-15)