If God does not have our whole heart, (and He will test us on this-1 Thess. 2:4), then this book...the bible, remains a closed book to all of us. 

 That’s not to say you can’t find inspiring stories and practical truths in it. And Lord knows man has done a great job of extracting multiple ‘recipes’ or formulas out of it to fashion various teachings and then offer their own spins on how man can reach heaven. Look how many hundreds of ‘Christian’ denominations we have today and everyone points to the bible as being ‘their book’ or manual yet everyone speaks their own language. (Gen.11:1-9) 

 We are told that God’s word is ‘living and powerful’. (Heb. 4:12). 

 Jesus said ‘His words are spirit and they are life’. (John 6:63) 

 But there really is an ‘ignition key’ (if I can use that term here) that activates that word coming to life and releasing power to truly transform and change us. 

 You have to come to Him, on His terms. 

 No, really, you do. That is not to say that you have to ‘get your life right’ or ‘clean yourself up’ before you do come to Him either. We are incapable of doing that on our own. 

 We can read and quote and study scripture all day long, for years even, but if He does not have our whole heart...we will remain lifeless and unchanged. 

 Look what Jesus told those folks there in John 5:39-40 – “you search the scriptures thinking you will find eternal life...but you are not willing to come to Me (on My terms) that you may have life.” 

 Do you know what we end up with if we attempt to live a ‘Christian life’ and go through so many of the motions and activities that we learn to do...if He does not have our whole heart? We end up walking in a ‘form of godliness’ devoid of any power. (2 Tim. 3:5). That is what religion is...walking in a form of godliness. We can do and say all kinds of religious things, yet remain unchanged where it matters- in our hearts. (Matt. 7:21-22; Matt. 15:8-9). 

 We can busy ourself with so many ‘good deeds/works’ and even perform (seemingly) spiritual impressive feats like those in Matt. 7:22 and 1 Cor. 13:1-3 and yet still have no life and be on the ‘outside’ trying to look in. (Mark 4:11) 

 The real tragedy here is that for so many people...this is the only kind of ‘Christian life’ they have ever known. Why is that? Because we have this tendency to ‘lay aside the word of God and teach in its place, the doctrines of men.’ (Mark 7:8-9). It really is kind ‘of a thing’ with us. 

 We’ve been conditioned over the years to resist the word of God, to doubt it, reject it, to dilute it and by all means, don’t take it literally and actually ‘do’ what it says. Which would explain why so many people remain unchanged. I tend to want to use the word ‘transformed’. 

 The very first miracle that Jesus ever performed (as recorded in John 2) was He changed water to wine at the wedding where the hosts ran out. Don’t be fooled into thinking there is no relevant significance to what message this miracle holds for us, given it is the very first one Jesus performed. 

 He changed or transformed...water into wine. I’m going to be silly here by using the words from that old song regarding Jeremiah the bullfrog, in saying: it was some ‘mighty fine wine’ too. (vs. 10) 

 It was a miracle of transformation that in all likelihood, would have not happened had it not been for His mother’s prompting and sound advice given to the servants there who were a bit panicked. She told the servants: “Whatever He says to you, do it.” (5) 

 She didn’t say ‘memorize’ His word, or ‘quote’ His word or ‘study’ His word. Nor did she say ‘believe’ His word. She said ‘do it’. Had those servants began to confer among themselves and maybe consult the owner of the home or even some local wineries to see if this was possible, you can assume correctly the outcome that would have followed. Water is all they would have left to drink. 

 I was reminded recently of Paul’s testimony and how after he came to Jesus and the Lord began to reveal Himself to Paul, that he said “I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood...”. (Gal. 1:16). That is something else we like to do when God wants to reveal Himself to us through His word...we like to ‘confer with flesh and blood’ just to make sure we are hearing God correctly. Do you think when Peter heard Jesus bid him to step out of the boat and come walking to Him, that if had he ‘conferred’ with those in the boat...that they would have encouraged this step out in obedience? I could be wrong but I doubt it. (Matt. 14:22-23) 

 Oh, you are probably familiar with that story as Peter did indeed step out of the boat and actually walked on water. And you probably know why he began to sink and cried out for fear of drowning? He took his eyes off of Jesus. There really is so much more to that fact and we’ll come back to it later. 

 What was Jesus’ message to Peter there in that moment? You can do this Peter...all things are possible to them who believe...just keep your eyes on Me. You can’t do this in your own strength or ability. You can’t ‘walk like Me’ unless you keep your eyes and heart and focus on Me. It’s called abiding in Him. (1 John 2:6). And when we abide in Him, we will...walk like Jesus walked. That was kind of ...the plan. He came to ‘transform us’ and ‘conform us into being ‘like Him'. (Rom. 8:29). Apart from Him, we can do nothing. (John 15:5) 

 This takes some getting used to given we’ve been conditioned to do everything else but that: ‘obey’ Him. (Heb. 5:9) 

 What did Jesus say we would do if we truly loved Him? (John 14:15,21,24) We’d do what He says. 

 “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord’ and not ...do the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46) 

 Does He not tell us to forgive others and pray and bless and love those who hate us and despitefully use us? (Matt. 5:43-44). Pretty hard to do on our own, is it not? 

 Does He not tell us to ‘go and sin no more’? (John 5:14; 8:11). Pretty hard to do on our own, is it not? 

 And just to prove a point on how we are conditioned to resist His word, how often do we come across passages that just don’t ‘fit’ with how we believe or been taught, so the first thing we want to do is run and ‘confer with flesh and blood’ so someone can explain to us why that really does not mean what it says. You know, go look up some commentary where a smart person uses a lot of words filled with man’s logic to refute what God says. And we wonder why we see so little genuine transformation and power displayed in our lives. 

 Just as I said we’d be careless to dismiss any significance to the very first miracle Jesus performed, we’d also be remiss to ignore one of the very first lessons God teaches us when it comes to obeying His word as we read in the opening pages of Genesis. God pointed out two specific trees there in the garden, one of them being the tree of the ‘knowledge of good and evil’. And what did He clearly state to Adam there in Gen. 2:15-17? - Don’t eat off this one tree or you will ‘surely die’. 

 Do you realize how ‘Satan deceives the whole world’ and ‘controls’ us today? (That is what we are told he does there in Rev. 12:9 and 1 John 5:19.) 

 He convinces us that God does not really mean what He says. You should be more than familiar with what went down there in the garden with the serpent who shows up in chapter 3 asking “Did God really say that?” Surely He meant something else...you surely won’t die if you eat off this tree.” (1-6) 

 How many of you made the decision after yesterday’s post to repent of complaining and grumbling? That is a work or sin of the flesh nature. We need to repent of that which means after we do, then we won’t do that anymore. IF you do, God will let you know real quick as you will lose your peace and you better deal with it immediately. Sometimes when we first start out in this walk of obedience, we may stumble. He will chastise us and then forgive us as well. But we better get it right and keep our minds on Him. Paul tells us there in Rom. 8:13 that “if you live according to the flesh, you will die.” No need to confer with flesh and blood on this. It’s right there in your bible. God mean what He says. This is where the ‘fear of God’ comes in to play...which is what the bible says is the ‘beginning of knowledge’. (Prov. 1:7). 

And why did God say His people are destroyed...for a lack of what? – (Hosea 4:6). 

 See you tomorrow?