GIVE SELF TO GOD’S WORD

The word of God is the living word, the word of God is His presence.The word of God testifies that: 
The word of God does not sleep.
The word of God is not stagnated. 
The word of God is always near to all, regardless of how one takes a distance from God because of one’s sin.
The word of God, the living word of God will always come to give direction to one that is opened to receive God’s direction.
Bible testifies in Psalm 107:20, “He sent His word and healed them, And delivered them from their destructions.”  God, by His word, will come to deliver all that will receive His word as His presence.
John 10:10 states about His coming to deliver, “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly.” Jesus, the living word of God is here, by His testimony above, He said, “…I have come…”
When the word God comes to you with direction for your deliverance, to live life abundantly, will you allow the word to ENTER you?
A failure for the entrance of God’s word will not set one for deliverance.
Bible records what happens when the word of God enters:
“When wisdom enters your heart, and knowledge is pleasant to your soul, Discretion will preserve you; Understanding will keep you, To deliver you from the way of evil, From the man who speaks perverse things” (Proverbs 2:10-12) The word of God that enters shall depositWisdom, knowledge, and understanding to set one to excel, living life for the glory of God.
Psalm 119:130 also testifies, “The entrance of Your words gives light; It gives understanding to the simple.”
Are you a simple one that is living life as a believer of God?
Simple on can be a believer of God’s word as Proverbs 14:15 states, 
“The simple believes every word, But the prudent considers well his steps.”
When the word of God comes, it becomes one’s choice to open self for the living word of God.
Will you allow the living word of God’s entrance into your life?
Many hear without listening ability to know and live life by the living word of God, but turned to tell lies in the name of God, which is wrong before God.
Telling lies before God is adding or taking away from God’s word as Revelation 22:18-19 states, “If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; 19 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.” 
Consciously or unconsciously, a liar before God will add or take away from God’s word.
A liar does not call for justice; a liar gives self to empty words, to do evils. Isaiah 59:4said it, “No one calls for justice, nor does any plead for truth. They trust in empty words and speak lies; They conceive evil and bring forth iniquity.”
Are you a liar?
A liar that quotes God’s word wrongly by adding or taking away from God’s word will not be able to claim the promise of God in His word. 
For example, one quoting, “No weapon formed against you shall prosper…” is not complete, but takes away from God’s word which will deny not to receive the promise of God.
One must give self to the word of God as the Bible records, not to be denied but to receive the promise in God’s word as Isaiah 54:17records, “No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue which rises against you in judgment You shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, And their righteousness is from Me,” Says the Lord.”
When adding or taking out of God’s word, receiving God’s promise in His word is not possible. 
One that takes or add to God’s word, does not give self to God’s word and not answers as God’s servant.
One’s world can represent a stage of confusion when not giving self to the word of God.
One’s that pleases self by not doing right by the word of God in the place of giving self to please God is with a lack of understanding before God.
Give self to the word of God continually, to build you up and live life in the truthful of the word of God.

THE PRESENCE OF GOD

The word of God is God.

John 1:1 confirms, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” 
The word of God is God which is also the presence of God.
At a time when Jonah walked away from God’s word (His direction), The book of Jonah 1:1-3 records that Jonah went away from the presence of God.
The word of God is the presence of God that needs to be received, obediently for one’s direction and preservation, not to become a victim of the wicked world.
Are in a position of disobedient to God’s word, walking away from the presence of God? 
The word of God is a living word that is not stagnated but move, to locate anyone for God’s direction as God purposes.
Pages of the Bible testifies how the word of God, the presence of God came to locate some for direction:
Genesis 15:1, “After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.” 
1Kings 6:11 “Then the word of the Lord came to Solomon, saying…” 
For, Elijah to receive provision from God, through a widow, “Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. See, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.” (1 Kings 17:8-9)
Jeremiah testifies, “Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying…” (Jeremiah 1:4)
John the Baptist word came to him just like Jonah, “…the word of God came to John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness. And he went into all the region around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins” (Luke 3:2-3) 
In the days of the Bible, the word of God came, today, the word of God is still coming to locate one for directions which will keep one in the presence of God.
When the word of God (the presence of God) comes to you, as a direction in life, obey but do not be disobedient, to avoid self-destruction.
The word of God came to Jonah, but he disobeyed to miss the presence of God.
The Bible records, “Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me.” 3 But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so, he paid the fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.” (Jonah 1:1-3) Jonah’s disobedience to God’s word of direction is identified as Jonah’s fleeing from the presence of God. 
Without doubt, disobedience to walk against the word of God (the presence of God) is the avenue to destruction.
Jonah’s disobedient of God placed him into the STORM at SEA.
Bible records, “But the Lord sent out a great wind on the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea so that the ship was about to be broken up.” (Jonah 1:4)
Disobedient to the word of God is walking from the presence of God into the distance.
Are you walking away from the word of God?
A man can survive living or walking in disobedient to the word of God (the presence of God) for some time but will not be possible to survive the time of destruction without returning to the word of God, the presence of God.
Disobedient to God’s word is wickedness before God, the evidence of having the word of God, near in the mouth but far from the mind. (Jeremiah 12:1-2)
Are you living a life of Jonah?
Jonah received the word of God but not in his mind to do according to God’s direction.
Are you living a life of Jonah?
God is never the author of one’s trouble but walking away from the living word of God, the presence of God will lead to troubling challenges, a STORM of destruction, the kind of Jonah’s experience in the STORM of destruction.
As a disobedient to God’s direction, no one with you on the same journey will have an excuse before God not experience your trouble.
Think of your walking away from God as a source of trouble to all around you also.
For a man to arrive at the expected end of the journey of life, disobedient to the word of God must be eliminated by giving self to obeying God’s word (the presence of God) continually.

AVOID PATTERNS OF DISTRACTION

Distraction will assault man’s attention to prevent man’s concentration. When distraction takes a position in the life of man, it will be almost impossible for a man to gain or prevail in the course of the endeavor. Distraction is a denial agent against a man not to walk in the Lord, to arrive in the center of God’s divine assignment. Distraction can also be an indefinable force that will deny a man from getting to the expected end in the journey of faith.
Samson was a man destined to be a deliverer of his people by the hand of God upon his life. At the time he was to be conceived by his mother God sent an angel that said to his mother, “Indeed now, you are barren and have borne no children, but you shall conceive and bear a son. Now, therefore, please be careful not to drink wine or similar drink, and not to eat anything unclean. For behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. And no razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb; and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.” (Judges 13:3-5) After his birth, at a point in his journey of life, he became a victim of distraction from the word of God over his life. Samson was not to reveal the secret which the angel delivered to his mother but he became enticed by his wife (Delilah) and could not focus and maintain the secret (word) of God over his life.
Samson was pressed by his wife to reveal the secret of God upon his life to his enemy. Judges 16:18-20 records the distraction of Samson, “When Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, “Come up once more, for he has told me all his heart.” So the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hand. Then she lulled him to sleep on her knees, and called for a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his head. Then she began to torment him, and his strength left him. And she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” So he awoke from his sleep, and said, “I will go out as before, at other times, and shake myself free!” But he did not know that the Lord had departed from him.” Samson’s distraction was not his outsider but his wife.
What or who is your distraction that is set to derail your journey to the center of divine assignment?
During the challenges of Job, his wife was an agent of distraction with an attempt to set Job away from God’s presence. Bible records Job’s wife’s distraction, “Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!” (Job 2:9)
Unlike Samson, Job resisted distraction by responding to his wife’s distracting device, “You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?” (Job 2:10)
Are you avoiding devices of distraction before you?
Give attention to deny distraction in your life otherwise, a distraction from the inside (no distraction from outside) will deny your divine assignment as you journey in life. Deny distraction in your life.
Many have welcomed Jesus into their hearts as Lord and savior but giving Him due attention is lacking because of distraction.
With Jesus in your heart, you must be living life like Him (behave the word) to avoid an unfruitful life. For anyone who has welcomed and received Jesus into one’s life, there is a need to maintain His presence. Martha is an example of one’s welcoming of Jesus into her house but could not avoid distraction. Luke 10:38 records, “Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village, and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house.”
Are you like Martha?
Have you welcomed Him into your house by receiving Him?
Martha welcomed Jesus into her house, “But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, ‘Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.’” (Luke 10:40) Distraction denied Martha from Jesus’ presence in her house.
There is nothing wrong in serving God but distraction can derail a believer from arriving at God’s divine assignment.
Martha welcomed Him into her house but became distracted.
Who or what is your distraction?

CONTINUALLY PLEASE GOD

The word of God for all man is His command that is not negotiable and is not to be compromised.
With no exception, all man should live life according to God’s command to gain and retain a positive relationship with God.
To be redirecting God’s word to please oneself not to please God is evidence of a lack of understanding to serve God diligently. The word of God is with the command for all man to serve God diligently but not serving Him diligently will only please one that serves self instead of pleasing God.
Jesus, the author, and finisher of our faith encourages all not to compromise God’s word command but to please God as stated, “…When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things. 29 And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him.” (John 8:28-29)
Are you doing His command to please self?
Do you have faith to please God without compromising His command?
Giving self to the written word of God is to have faith to live life according to His command. Hebrews 11:6 buttressed, “But without faith, it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”
Consciously or unconsciously do you compromise God’s command?
Before God, there is no legitimate excuse not to do according to His word.
To compromise God’s command will complicate a man’s journey of life.
Compromising God will violate man from God.
To compromise God’s command is an indication of a lack of fear for God, that will open the door for the devil. Proverbs 8:13 warns, “The fear of the Lord is to hate evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way and the perverse mouth I hate.”
To do as commanded by God is doing good that counts before God. One that knows to do good and not do is compromising God’s command by giving self to sin. (James 4:17)
With understanding, all man should know not to compromise God’s word to impress any man (inside or outside of church) and not to impress any family or friends. The Bible records how Eli’s children compromised God’s word and Eli’s failure to train his children enough before God counted against him as compromising God’s word.
1 Samuel 2:12-15 records, “Now the sons of Eli were corrupt; they did not know the LORD.  And the priests’ custom with the people was that when any man offered a sacrifice, the priest’s servant would come with a three-pronged fleshhook in his hand while the meat was boiling. Then he would thrust it into the pan, or kettle, or caldron, or pot; and the priest would take for himself all that the fleshhook brought up. So, they did in Shiloh to all the Israelites who came there. Also, before they burned the fat, the priest’s servant would come and say to the man who sacrificed, “Give meat for roasting to the priest, for he will not take boiled meat from you, but raw.”
Sons of Eli does not know God when they actively engaged themselves in the sacrifices without restraint from Eli their father. Compromising the word of God by the sons of Eli was recorded as great sin before God. Eli did not do enough to restrain the evil acts of his sons despite his position as Priest and father.
When God called on Samuel, at a young age, God identified to Samuel the sin and judgment of Eli stating, “In that day I will perform against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end. For I have told him that I will judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knows, because his sons made themselves vile, and he did not restrain them.” (1 Samuel 3:12-13) Eli’s failure not to act enough against the wrongdoing of his children counted against him and corrupted his destiny.
Come out of all the evil which you know about; refrain from being carried along with compromising God’s command or stand to correct compromising God’s command.
Eli compromised, and his destiny was corrupted.

HOPE IS IN THE HEART

In the journey of life, to arrive and remain at the center of divine assignment, having hope in the heart is critical. Claiming to have hope in God is not only by mouth but must be rooted in the heart. Anyone that does not keep his or her heart diligently as requested by the word of God, does not understand and therefore cannot have hope in God.  According to (Proverbs 4:23), “Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.” The question is, do you have a heart with hope in God?
The Bible records what it takes to have hope in God: “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear…” (1 Peter 3:15)) A heart that is sanctified (separated) for God will have hope in God. A heart that is sanctified to God is a heart that seeks God diligently; to have hope in God is meditating the word of God.
Let us take a closer look at what meditating the word of God really means according to the book of Joshua 1:8 “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.” According to this statement, giving one’s heart to God in His word day and night without any doubt will help in the journey to have hope in God. Giving self to meditating the word of God day and night will help one to know God enough in order to trust and remain standing in hope for God’s response. Do live to meditate the word of God without depending only on the memorizations.
Sanctifying heart to God is hallowing God:
Hallowing God according to His command is the evidence of heart with hope. When the word of God locates a man for direction, hope in the man’s heart will do as commanded. Moses could not do as commanded by God but do against the word of God. The Bible records about Moses failure to hallow God: “Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Take the rod; you and your brother Aaron gather the congregation together. Speak to the rock before their eyes, and it will yield its water; thus you shall bring water for them out of the rock, and give drink to the congregation and their animals.” So Moses took the rod from before the Lord as He commanded him. And Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock; and he said to them, “Hear now you rebels! Must we bring water for you out of this rock?”  Then Moses lifted his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; and water came out abundantly, and the congregation and their animals drank. Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not believe me, to hallow Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.” (Numbers 20:7-12) A failure not to believe God for His word is not having hope to do as commanded by God. Trust in God without hope is not complete:
Many have received God by their confession but cannot believe God by the testimony of their heart with no hope. For example, it is good to trust in God when people gather to pray but with no heart with hope people will be confessing negativity over what has been prayed for.
In your prayer of trust before God, move forward with the heart of hope to experience the manifestation of prayer point before God. Jeremiah 17:7 pointed out the importance of understanding and knowledge of trust and hope as the combination of being blessed, “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is the Lord.”
All men should desire and cautiously trust with the heart of hope claiming the promises in the word of God, doing according to God’s command. Psalm 146:5 buttressed, “Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God.”
Description of hope in the Bible summarizes, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Manifestly, hope is the life wire of faith, it is crucial for a believer to move forward with the blessings of God; claiming the blessing of God, consciously trust with the heart of hope in God.