Gary Gleans

God’s Word is always going to have an impact on our lives.  There is no way that we can be in genuine contact with the Word of God and not be changed.  By genuine contact I mean truly reading and meditating on God’s Word and its content.  Many people display the Word of God as some kind of a good luck charm.  This is useless superstition that resembles paganism much more than Christianity.  Many others will go so far as to read that Word of God in a kind of mindless stupor as they worry about all the other things that they have to do that day.  This ritualistic reading is a form of religion that comes far from being a genuine relationship with God.  However, when we do take the time and put forth the effort to read, study, meditate and allow the Word of God to penetrate into our hearts it will always have an impact. THE WORD OF GOD INSPIRES HOPE: Certainly, one of the greatest benefits of God’s Word in our lives is that it builds up hope in us....

Loving God’s Word is an essential part of being able to live in way that is pleasing to Him.  God calls us be obedient to God’s Word, but His desire is that we go far beyond a grudging obedience to Him because we “have to” and begin to delight in following Him because it is the desire and passion of our hearts.  When we begin to understand the benefits of God’s Word to our lives it should draw us into a deep love for the Word.  If we truly love God, the Love of God’s Word should be the most natural thing in the world for us. WHAT LOVING GOD’S WORD WILL DO IN OUR LIVES: One of the greatest motivating factors for loving God’s Word is the impact that it has on our lives.  God’s Word is our source of salvations; it teaches us how we can be saved from sin.  The Bible gives us answers to those who seek our harm or scoff at our faith.  We can have complete confidence in the truths of God’s Word.  The Scriptures are a genuine source of hope in our lives, ...

We need to recognize that we are in need of God to teach us and give us understanding of His Word and how we are to live out His Word in our daily lives.  All of us have a natural bent towards sin and we tend to go through life following the inclinations of our own hearts and doing things as we think they should be done.  This is a very dangerous practice.  We must be aware of the dangers that lurk in our hearts and call out to the Lord for instruction and help so that we will live our lives according to His design and desire and not our own.  This will not happen by natural process.  It will only take place as we intentionally seek for God to instruct and guide us through His Word.  There are two requests that we should constantly ask God to grant us. WE MUST ASK GOD TO TEACH US: We do not naturally know the ways of God.  We need to be taught about both who He is as well as what He requires of us.  God’s ways are far different from our ways ...

Humility is an important prerequisite to being able to make full use of the Word of God in our lives.  As long as we consider ourselves to be just fine the way that we are we will not open our hearts to the Lord and we will not be submissive to the Word of God.  It is vital that we humble ourselves before the Lord and then dedicate ourselves to following the Lord in all that we say and do.   We desperately need God’s Word to instruct us, we need to have a clear understanding of God’s Word and then we need to be faithful to obey God’s Word.  None of this will happen apart from a humble spirit before God. RECOGNIZE OUR SIN AND RECEIVE THE SCRIPTURES: None of us like to admit that we are wrong or that we are in need of something.  However the first step to being able to please the Lord is to recognize our desperate and sinful condition before the Lord.  We are dead in our sin and our hearts cling to the sin that is killing and condemning us.  Th...

God’s Word brings great benefits to those who know and obey it.  It is definitely worth it to pay close attention to God’s Word and then walk in obedience.  Those who choose to ignore God’s Word or live in rebellion against God’s Word will pay a very steep price for their disobedience.  It is a blessing to have the Word of God revealed to us so that we might know how to honor God and live a life that is pleasing to Him as well as gratifying for us.  Without God’s Word we would be adrift on the seas of relativity that has swamped our current culture.  God has taken care to reveal Himself to us and we would do well to heed that revelation. OBEDIENCE TO GOD’S WORD BRINGS REWARD: God loves to grant rewards and wants to be known and trusted as a “rewarder” of all who seek Him.  Obedience brings rewards into our lives and God’s rewards facilitate our obedience.  The lives of believer should regularly experience this circle of blessing that stems from su...

We are constantly under the attack of temptations that seek to draw us into a life of sin and destroy us.  It truly is warfare.  However, we do have a weapon that we can use in order to do combat in this war for our souls.  That weapon is the Word of God.  However, like any weapon, it must be used and used correctly if it is going to be helpful and make us victorious over temptation.  Nations stockpile weapons that they hope they will never use as a deterrent to war.  People carry guns for protection but hope never to have to use it knowing that just by showing the gun it will discourage a would be attacker.  The Word of God is not like one of these weapons.  Holding a Bible in our hands or having one lying open on a table in our homes will do little or nothing to protect us from temptation.  If God’s Word is going to be an effective weapon in our lives we make the following commitments. WE MUST COMMIT TO THINKING ABOUT GOD’S WORD: Tempt...

Psalm 119 is by far the longest chapter in the Bible.  I have been going back and forth on how I want to handle this chapter for quite some time and have spent most of the day going back and forth but have finally come to the conclusion that I want to interrupt my chapter a day routine and spend the next several weeks in just this one Psalm.  The Psalm is and acrostic with each section starting with a sequential letter of the Hebrew alphabet.  The Psalm is one of the most complete descriptions of the power and benefits of the Word of God, so I have decided to take my time and just work through one section a day.  It is not like I have a deadline or anything so get ready for a month of Psalm 119.  THE PRINCIPLE OF OBEDIENCE: There is a basic principle of obeying God’s Word.  That is, if we are serious about obeying God’s Word and walk in a way that is blameless before God; we will experience great blessings in our lives.  Obedience to God’s Word tr...