Dear Grace Harbor Saints

Our Friday devotion comes to us from Council Member, Ray Beeman:

Dear Grace Harbor Saints,

I have been thinking about how precious, inspirational, and TRUE, are the words of God, especially as opposed to so many of the words/works of man. In Isaiah 59:21 the Lord is speaking to Isaiah when He says: “As for Me,” says the Lord, “this is My covenant with them: My Spirit who is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your descendants, nor from the mouth of your descendants’ descendants,” says the Lord, “from this time and forevermore.”

And in the footnotes of my New King James Bible, regarding the Inspiration of God’s Word: The word inspiration is found but once in the New Testament. This singular occurrence is in 2 Tim. 3:16, where Paul says “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God...” literally “God-breathed.” Divine inspiration logically follows divine revelation. In revelation God speaks to man’s ear while by inspiration He guides the pen to ensure that the imparted message is correctly written down.

This analysis goes on to suggest that there are similar processes that can be explained by God’s intentional thoughts, like giving Shakespeare the words, or Handel the notes (the words, of course, being from Scripture). In contrast, Jesus Himself said that the very letters of the words were also chosen by God! (Matt 5:18) And, the Bible authors understood that their writings were being guided by the Spirit of God, even as they wrote them. Peter said that this was true of the Old testament authors (2 Pet. 1:20-21), his own writings (2 Pet. 3:1-2), and Paul’s (2 Pet. 3:15-16).

What’s all this have to do with us, other than that this Divine inspiration is only true of the original Hebrew and Greek manuscripts (since there are obviously many rip-off modern versions)? I say that we should really pay attention to the Word of God! We should study His Word much more than we study the box-scores, the “news” (has anyone realized that most “news” is old, or a planned event? That many of the events of the day, other than obvious acts of God, are simply staged, to confuse us or allow completion of the serious things that are being pulled off - while we’re distracted by the big-game-of-the-day, that epic catastrophe, the latest fad, the news flash about the latest Hollywood divorce/drug death, etc?) By the way, I’m not picking on anyone in particular – I have issues with the box-scores, the cryptogram and the comics...

Bear down, brothers and sisters, and bury your nose in the only writing that has eternal consequences. If you focus on the Word, no matter what version, and seek mentors who have done just that and can help you, you will be so far ahead of the masses that you will be very pleasantly surprised at the discernment and joy that accrue! There is a reason that only 4% of Americas have a true Christian world-view! Let’s be in this minority!

In His love and admonition,
Ray Beeman

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