“Since God in his wisdom saw to it that the world would never know him through human wisdom, he has used our foolish preaching to save those who believe.”

1 Corinthians 1:21 (NLT)

God could have saved us through a myriad of ways, yet He chose the preaching of the gospel to do it. It seems foolish to the world and to the natural mind that hearing or listening to the Word of God is how He chose to release salvation.

There is power in continually listening to His Word. The word “salvation” does not only mean eternal salvation in heaven. The word used in Greek is sōtēria, and it means: to save, deliver, preserve, healing, prosperity, and safety. God’s will is for us to experience this soteria in our spirit but also in our soul and body.

SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT
In 2009, towards the end of my third deployment to Iraq, I began to struggle with post-traumatic stress. It was a buildup of years of experiencing the traumas of war. I never thought I would go through something like this. After my deployments, I faced a different battle with toxic imaginations that tormented my soul, daily. Negative emotions attached to those thoughts seemed so real that I began to identify with them. I felt my mind was going to snap.

Before then, I did everything I knew to get free, but nothing seemed to work. I needed a quick answer, but this was not going to be a microwave miracle. I discovered the powerful principle of listening to and meditating on God’s Word. I took on the mentality that I could listen my way out of PTSD.

If a person has a certain disease, the doctors sometimes recommend a heavy dose of medicine to get better. I approached my condition the same way. I needed a heavy dosage of the Word of God because His word is medicine to our flesh (Proverbs 4:22). I began to flood my eyes and ears with the truth of God’s Word. I would listen to the Word of God while driving, while working out at the gym, during lunch at work, every day, and every moment I could.

I cut off all the negative news, war videos, and images that would feed the torment in my mind. I had to guard my heart but also go on the offensive to renew my mind. I stopped taking ownership of the negative thoughts bombarding my mind. I would take authority over these thoughts and would confess the truth of God’s Word.

Eventually the thoughts would come but with less strength. The emotional sting began to wane. It wasn’t an instant miracle. It was a progressive miracle that spanned about one year. One day I realized I was completely free. It wasn’t a big encounter experience but rather an awareness that I knew the battle was conquered. I encourage you to listen to the Word of God every day. It is working more miracles in your life than you realize. (Jonathan Vasquez)

TODAY’S DECLARATION
“I receive the Word of God which is alive and active, producing in me His salvation, deliverance, healing, wholeness, preservation, peace and safety, in Jesus’ Name. Amen!”

TODAY’S BIBLE READING

• Old Testament: Jeremiah 1-2; Ecclesiastes 1
• New Testament: John 1:1-18; James 1:1-11