Be Doers of the Word

What hinders you in your walk with Jesus? You’ve given your life to Him, receiving Him into your heart. But nothing really seems to change. You still have the same problems in life, the same attitudes, the same ol’ same ol’. The same thing that is always done or that always happens. It often implies that such a thing is boring or monotonous. You want change but do the same thing hoping for a different result.

Maybe after choosing to receive Jesus, you started going to church and maybe even reading the Bible. But everything else in your life seems to be the same. What do you do? James 1:22 “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.”

Be ye doers of the Word. The Bible just isn’t a book of do’s and don’ts. It tells of God’s love. It tells us who God is. It tells of Him sending His Son Jesus to die on a Cross for us. He was beaten and scourged. A scourge is a whip or lash, especially a multi-thong type, used to inflict severe punishment. He was crucified, put to death by being nailed to a cross, to be executed for our sins.

Do you realize that if Jesus had chosen not to go through this that we would have no hope? Every single one of us would live the pitifully few years we have on this earth, die, and then be forced to stand before a righteous God, be judged and found guilty. We would all then be sentenced to eternity in hell! Hell is not a place where you will find your friends and family and party forever.

Hell is a place or state of punishment for the wicked after death. Punishment is the infliction or imposition of a penalty as retribution for an offense. Revelation 21:8 “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.” Matthew 13:50 “And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.”

Is that really where you want to spend eternity? Eternity is a reality. We only have 2 choices. Heaven or hell. What is your choice? So, what do we do about it? How do we change? What needs to happen to really see a difference in our life? What can we do?

Living for Jesus requires change. Yes, He accepts us as we are, but He loves us too much to leave us the way we are. If He left us as we are, we’d all be spending eternity in hell! Go to church, the right church, one that preaches what the Bible says. Reading and studying the Bible for yourself is a must or how will you know you are hearing the Truth. As you do these things, the Scripture tells us that we must be doers of the Word and not just hearers only, (James 1:22). The Word tells us not to commit adultery or fornication (sex outside of marriage), to not steal or kill…so obey the Word.

Sometimes, we aren’t sure what to do or we don’t know how to change. Sometimes we think we need to sit and wait on God to do it all. I was that way. I didn’t realize it for years. But thankfully God sent somebody in my life to tell me a few things…and they weren’t always easy to hear or accept. He does that. He will tell you and if you aren’t “getting it”, He will show you as you are reading the Bible or He will send somebody your way.

When God got tired of me expecting Him to do everything, He gave me a vision. In this vision, I saw myself walking up to this brick home. From the front, it looked like a one-story ranch style home. An older couple owned the home. They were up in years and struggled to be able to do much. As I walked into the home, they took me down into a lower level. It wasn’t a basement.  The home was actually 2 levels, but you could only see that from the rear of the house.

In the lower level, the room I was in had floor to ceiling windows on 2 sides of the house. The odd thing was a very large “ditch” running parallel to the house. Across the ditch were other houses, similar to the one I was in. As I was looking out those windows, I kept getting the feeling something was very wrong. In this ditch was all kinds of debris, not trash, but lawn chairs and different household items. I thought that was really strange.

When I asked the older couple about it, a look of fear came upon their faces. They told me that “ditch” would flood and the torrent would destroy the houses along the way, tearing out the very foundations of the homes. As I watched in horror, I saw the water starting to fill up in the ditch. I looked at the older couple and asked them why they hadn’t moved their belongings out of the house and why they were still living there. Their response was “we are too old, and we don’t have the strength to move all this stuff.

They were sitting there, waiting to die because they didn’t believe there was anything they could do. Just like us. When God was preparing for me to move to another house, I knew there was no way I could do the move on my own. The thought of packing things up was overwhelming. I didn’t have the strength I used to have. God, told me, get 1 box, fill it up and then go get another box. One box at a time.

That is how we change and live for Jesus. To change us all at once would overwhelm us. It would leave us unsure of who we are. We would give up and quit. We would sit there, wanting change in our life, but in a stranglehold of fear and uncertainty. That “older couple” would not have had the strength to pack everything up all at once, but they could have filled 1 box at a time. They also could have asked for help. When we are uncertain, ask God to put us in the right church, or into a home Bible study, or even someone who can pray with us and encourage us. He doesn’t leave us. He gives us what we need.

You do have a choice. You can change things, even when you think you can’t. Also, sometimes the problem is, we don’t want to change, even though we say we do. In my walk with Jesus, I have to be honest and tell you, that I have experienced all of this. I’ve used all kinds of excuses and it has taken me years to get the relationship and the healing with Jesus that I wanted. That doesn’t mean you have to. One person that God wanted to heal, was comfortable with where they were and kept throwing up in my face all the years it took me. Yes, it did. But that doesn’t mean God wanted them to have to go through the same thing.

I pray this helps you. Jesus is a gentleman, and He won’t force himself on you. But if you will cry out to He will show you the way. You do not have to take years to see a change in your life, but you do have a part to do. Take it one step at a time.