For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Hebrews 4:12 (NASB)
In recent days I have been focussed on this one verse, which I have always accepted at face value and moved on quickly. But I felt the need to dive deeper into this well known verse, to find encouragement in these difficult days. I speak both personally and generally of recent difficulties. For this study I used a new idea to me called “Verse Mapping” which basically is mindmapping a scripture verse. You can find a more indepth description of this study method here. It has been a very fruitful study, some of which I share today.
When faced with the phrase “the word of God” we automatically think of the Bible, but this verse reaches further than what we read. Based on John 1:1 we could read this verse in reference to our Lord and Saviour. John Gill in his commentary states “Christ is the Word of God and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” In scripture we encounter the spoken Word of God, both by the Almighty and His Son with great effect (Deut. 4:12, Luke 7:7). The voice of God is not a gentle tone. It is likened to fire, a mighty hammer and thunder (Jer.23:29, Ex.19:19). It is a terrifying sound to mortal men (Ex. 20:19) not just by it’s might but by the conviction of sin as we stand before our Holy Creator. We should be grateful that we do not encounter the terror of the audible voice of God today!
Dear reader, as we study this verse let us not lose sight of the many voices of Almighty God’s Word. It is not just mere print on paper. Whether spoken (by Father or Son) or in scripture it is ordained by His Will to draw us close to Him. The words of Albert Barnes in his commentary offer us sound advice: “we cannot escape the notice of God; and that since our hearts are perfectly open before Him, we should be sincere and should not attempt to deceive Him.”
Beautiful song. Thanks for sharing. Blessings!
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You are very welcome Cindy. John B. Miller is an amatuer musician from England I understand, who has only a handful of songs on YouTube.
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Amen Alan! I just began to use mind mapping. This song is beautiful, made me teary. Your post really touched me today. Thank you bunches for sharing. I needed to hear this today…Blessings.
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Paula it is my pleasure to be able to help. Your comments are a blessing to me, thank you sister.
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Thank you for encouraging and beautiful post.
Thank God He sent us God the Holy Spirit Who is with us, Wisdom in these days to discern clearly both the written WORD and Person Of Jesus Christ WORD comes through this Wisdom forever proclaiming ……..JESUS IS LORD!
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Thank you Faye!😁
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Beautiful !
We sing this song at church sometimes. 🤗
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This artist was a great find on YouTube today, he is not a professional musician but his music is gorgeous.
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Beautiful Peaceful shared music. Thank you.
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Just finished praying for you. That’s a good verse to meditate upon and also the importance of hearing the Word (Scripture) and THE WORD (Christ)
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Thank you Jim. I will be returning to this verse in my next post.
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God bless you
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What an answer to prayer to open wordpress and find you have published a post. Rejoicing that the Lord has given you the strength and clarity of thought to write and share with us what He is speaking to you.
Thank you for sharing a new study technique. As a teacher, I’m familiar with mind mapping for academic purposes but never thought of tweaking it to use in Bible Study. I’ve visited the website you shared and am eager to give “Verse Mapping” a try. That being said, I was excited to see the verse you selected was Hebrews 4:12 as I had just studied that passage last month. I flipped in my journal to the page with my notes and added John Gill’s comment as well as your statement “as we study this verse let us not lose sight of the many voices of Almighty God’s Word. It is not just mere print on paper. Whether spoken (by Father or Son) or in scripture it is ordained by His Will to draw us close to Him.” Many blessings to you in this day to come!
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Beth your words are precious to me, what sweet encouragement my sister! I am lifted by these kind comments and blessed. I praise God Almighty for His enabling and sending generous saints like yourself. God bless you richly today my sister.
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Verse mapping sounds intrigued
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