{"id":2253,"date":"2020-03-05T14:25:39","date_gmt":"2020-03-05T20:25:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/afriendoftheking.com\/?p=2253"},"modified":"2022-01-10T21:36:00","modified_gmt":"2022-01-11T03:36:00","slug":"the-word-the-wilderness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/afriendoftheking.com\/?p=2253","title":{"rendered":"The Word & The Wilderness"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\u201cThe Apostle Paul tells us in Romans 12:1 that we are not to be conformed to the world, but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. The Word of God transforms us as we read it, mediate upon it, memorize it, pray it, sing it, share it, and fellowship with the One Who wrote it. Our minds are renewed, our hearts are strengthened, and our behavior is changed; not by external force, but by internal transformation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I borrow that from the beginning remarks of Charles Simpson\u2019s excellent pastoral letter this month. You can read the whole of it here<\/a>. I\u2019ve been in a spiritual wilderness of late, experiencing both the isolation, cleansing, and terrible beauty, reorienting as it is; and I\u2019ve been in the Word experiencing it\u2019s beauty, cleansing and reorientation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Against the mostly hidden enemy of our souls, there is no substitute nor defense like the Word. Indeed Christ used the Word of God His Father, the the King of the Universe, when attacked in the wilderness by Satan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Words from Luther\u2019s most famous hymn, \u201cA Mighty Fortress\u201d, come to mind: \u201c\u2026one little Word shall fell him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Prince of Darkness grim, we tremble not for him;
His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure,
One little word shall fell him.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That word above all earthly powers, no thanks to them abideth;
The Spirit and the gifts are ours, through Him Who with us sideth;
Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also;
The body they may kill: God\u2019s truth abideth still,
His kingdom is forever.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So we see the Word can silence our enemy and put him to flight \u2014 very important indeed, and the order of things in our earth journey in the seen and unseen realms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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But I\u2019m thinking in this early morning moment by the fire of the \u201ctransformation and the renewing or our minds\u201d power of the Word. It\u2019s beautiful. It\u2019s holy. It\u2019s relational. It\u2019s mystical. It\u2019s joyful. It\u2019s reorienting. It\u2019s life and light really. It\u2019s hard to describe, but beautiful to experience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our Catholic brothers have a saying, \u201cDon\u2019t read the Word, let the Word read you.\u201d Indeed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have a very, very high view of Scripture. Yet once I felt the Lord impress me, \u201cI didn\u2019t give the Word for you to serve it; but for it to serve you.\u201dThat\u2019s at once humbling, and important to know, if it is true. It\u2019s an important distinction, even if both are true at the same time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Jesus in His wilderness experience quoted Deuteronomy 8:3, \u201cIt is written, \u2018Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.\u201d We need food every day, in the natural and in the spiritual.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And we need to practice good hygiene every day to stay healthy. Ephesians 5:26 tells us Jesus \u201cwashes us with water through the word.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We need healthy relationships each day to thrive. Our Father meets us when we read and meditate on His Word, to illumine us, love us, and just be with us, like a friend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Recent visit to the College of the Ozarks with two friends<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Please excuse me. It\u2019s time to wash up, and have breakfast, with a Friend.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe Apostle Paul tells us in Romans 12:1 that we are not to be conformed to the world, but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. The Word of God transforms us as we read it, mediate upon it, memorize it, pray it, sing it, share it, and fellowship with the One Who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,12,14,11],"tags":[17,61,63,60,64,62,59,65],"class_list":["post-2253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-friendoftheking","category-bread-for-the-spirit","category-travel-spiritual-growth","category-understanding-our-times","tag-bible","tag-branson","tag-clark-downtown-airport","tag-college-of-the-ozarks","tag-hollister-mo","tag-point-lookout","tag-scriptures","tag-spiritual-disiplines"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/afriendoftheking.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2253","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/afriendoftheking.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/afriendoftheking.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/afriendoftheking.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/afriendoftheking.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2253"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/afriendoftheking.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2253\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2263,"href":"https:\/\/afriendoftheking.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2253\/revisions\/2263"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/afriendoftheking.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/afriendoftheking.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/afriendoftheking.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}