Receive the Engrafted Word

In order to receive the engrafted Word which is able to save our soul, God has to change our appetites.

What is “the engrafted Word?”

The dictionary says this about “engrafted”:

To become grafted and begin functioning normally.

It makes me think of circumcision in the Old Testament.  This just had to hurt if it was done as an adult.  Cutting away the foreskin?  And in the most private place.

To me, it is a type of how God must deal with us to “peel away” our old self-life which include our own ideas and thoughts that do not come from Him. 

We just do not realize how corrupt flesh really is, until God breaks us open and show us indeed, flesh versus spirit.  In spirit though we really are new creatures.  That’s a hard one to grasp and own if we are always still looking at how imperfect our walk is yet.

Our minds are not fully renewed, we still are reminding ourselves of Truth on a daily basis, and we’ll never NOT be dependent on the Lord, abiding in Him.

What is He doing when He does “break us open?”  He is dividing spirit from soul/body.  He is showing us that our spirits are in union with His Spirit and where the Spirit must be our all in us, in order for us to have true hope of HIS glory.  But also, we have to grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord.  We’re not mature overnight.

It is all through Christ dwelling in our hearts through faith.  God works the work in us where our appetites change.   God’s work is to give us His pure Word, His pure food of life that feeds the spirit of man and shows us even more of God’s Son.  And His Spirit convinces us that the work of the cross has made us secure in the Lord so that we can fellowship with Him WHILE He is working out our salvation in and through us.

I used to walk distant from God (not intimate fellowship but still trying to be a good Christian) whenever I struggled with thoughts of myself that I was not good enough.  Yet it really was God’s Holy Spirit that convinced me, this was not how I was going to have it resolved in me.  It’s by coming to Him and trusting Him to take TRUTH down into my innermost being and in the understanding of my mind all the while ENJOYING His presence and intimate friendship.

To put it another way, most of us when we struggled with negative feelings about ourselves (not really knowing who we are in Christ) let the accusation of the enemy or shame, false guilt walk distantly in some sense.  Feeling kind of like a probation officer is following you – not a son or a daughter.  Huh?

Paul wrote in Ephesians that God gives those who know His Word in Truth so that the Lord’s body will…”that we all come to the UNITY of THE FAITH (God’s true salvation) and come to the TRUE knowledge of the Son of God.”

When I think back on my life and journey, I do see more and more what God was doing in me and my heart.  He so wants me/us to have the spiritual wisdom and understanding of His Truth and allow His Spirit to take away everything – I mean everything that exalts itself against what?

 “Casting down imaginations, and every HIGH thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity EVERY THOUGHT to the obedience of Christ; and having in a readiness, to revenge ALL disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.”  II Corinthians 10

If the Lord is patient and long-suffering with us as we grasp the Reality of Being in Him, we need to be patient with ourselves.  As long as we continue to feed on His Truth (even when I do not fully understand), and trust Him to teach us, we will grow, we will know.  We will mature.

I believe if there is a “secret” for lack of a better word to all increase in God, it would be simply to “keeping coming to Him, keep talking to Him, keep asking Him all things, keep fellowship going…”  ALL because of His work on Calvary that makes us right with God and keeps us right with God.  This is faith in God and His Word.

So, let us keep receiving by faith, the Word of God asking Him to impart it to us in understanding (a/k/a “the engrafted Word).

Trusting In Him,

Sue Gaither