LEARNING HOW TO OPEN YOUR WINGS AND FLY

Part 3

Are you ready to fly? How high are you willing?

“As an eagle stirs up its nest, hovers over its young, spreading out its wings, taking them up, carrying them on its wings.” Deuteronomy 32:11

In the past two teachings we learned how important it is for one to learn to fly and be responsible for one’s life. I think it is the right opportune time for us to move to the next level – the how part of it. We are attempting, not only to teach you how to ride a bicycle, but also to show you how to do so. Remember; you can only learn to ride a bicycle by riding a bicycle. There are two important things we are going to deal with in the two subsequent teachings and I wish to have your undivided attention. This is the foundation upon which a successful Christian life is going to be built, without which many have already made a shipwreck. 

To learn to fly you must give the word of God first priority in your life. You’ve most probably heard or read once or twice about this in the past. We are not attempting to come up with something that was never said before because there is no such thing as a new revelation. All revelations are based on what was revealed before. What God says today always develops on what He said in the past. It is an amplification of what was said before. Many people got astray in their quest for new revelation. New revelation is the mother of all deception.

To learn to fly you must anchor your life in the Word of God. There are quite a number of other things one can suggest but we will deliberate on the following today.

Read the word of God daily 

Reading is like feeding. God calls His word bread – He calls it food. “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” Matthew 4:4. Reading the word of God is like eating. We are spirits; we have souls and we live in bodies. My body needs food to grow, keep healthy and remain alive. My mind which is part of my soul needs information and problem-solving tasks to keep shaped up. My spirit as well needs its food to grow, keep healthy and keep attached to God. The food of the spirit is the Word of God. Let me reiterate; the Word of God is our spiritual food.

I think I must explain some things here. When I say ‘read the word of God’ I mean just that – READ; not study -read. When we read, we let information into our minds. The mind is the entrance point through which all external information gets through. Every time we expose ourselves to external information either by one of our sensory systems (see, hear, smell, taste, and touch) we open the gate of our mind and feed on that information. This information will remain in our minds; but if we choose to believe the information, it will pass from the mind into our spirit. Our mind is like a RAM in your computer and our spirit like a hard drive. Like with computers, information that is in your RAM will remain there for as long as your computer is on. If you don't save it you may lose it. But, once you save it, it drops into your spiritual hard drive. This is the same with your mind. What is in your mind is temporary until it is saved on your spiritual hard drive. 

The problem in many cases is when what comes into our mind is not allowed down into our spirit. How does this happen? This is how it happens. Every time you hear the Word of God or any information, it goes through a sifting process. This sift is like an antivirus in your computer. Every time this antivirus has sufficient reason to doubts the validity and safety of the information, it closes the bottom gate that allows the information into your spirit. It treats it as spam. But if the information is perceived to be non-threatening, it is allowed to pass through, down into your spirit. For the purpose of understanding we will call this sift an antivirus. Whenever new information comes into your mind, the antivirus is automatically triggered; to scan and allow or disallow entrance. 

How does this antivirus function? First, we must understand that this antivirus does not operate on its own set of rule. It operates on rules you provided it with. These rules form from the kind of information you allow into your mind. The environment we live in, the people we live or interact with, the stuff we read, the language we listen to; all of these help arrange some set of rules which will tomorrow be used to censor any new information that tries to come into your hard drive i.e. your spirit. If the information satisfies the set of rules, it is allowed to pass through; if not, it is denied entrance.

What has this got to do with the reading of the word of God? It’s got everything to do with it. You see when you read the word of God, especially when you do it daily; you are providing your mind with material needed to change your set of rules. The more your mind is bombarded with the word of God, the Bible says it is the more you “receive … the … word, which is able to save your souls.” James 1:21 The Spirit through James says the word of God is able to save your soul. The word of God is able to change your mind. Paul writes in Romans 12:2 “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind…” Do not be conformed to this world means, do not allow the world around you to shape up your thinking. Do not allow what’s going on around you to determine the set of rules through which future information (the Word of God included) will be censored. But be transformed by the renewing of your mind. In other words, change your set of rules by changing your mind. Change your mind by changing the kind of data you allow into your mind.

When you feed on the word of God, your thinking pattern will change, and when this happens; your set of rules will change too. Your set of rules are now formed and shaped around what the Word of God says. This, the Bible calls the renewing of your mind. How did you do that? Well, the same way you created your first rules – by listening. In the past you listened a lot to what the world around you was saying and you developed set of rules that conformed to the world. But now you changed your source of information. In the past the world was your source but now the Word of God has become your source. You cannot put your hand in a tin of paint without some of it sticking to your hand. You see? You have been sticking your hand in a tin of the world’s information and the world’s way of doing things has stuck to your hand. Now when you stick your hand into a tick with the Word of God; guess what will stick to your hand – true; the Word.

You cannot read the world’s stuff without part of it sticking to your mind; and as it sticks, it reshapes your mind. In a way, it affects your set of rule. I better read the Word of God and have it stick to my mind until it renews my mind. A renewed mind is an asset. It is familiar with the word of God. This familiarity helps make the mental antivirus permit the word of God to pass through into the spirit. Once this is achieved; the believer becomes “a good man (who) out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things” Matthew 12:35

We pick up a serious problem when the antivirus functions as the antigospel. There are people who’s minds are loaded with an antigospel software. How do we know this? We’ve been like that before. When you operate this kind of antivirus application you become negative to the Word of God. You become defensive, argumentative, arrogant, hateful, and rebellious. You despise anything that has to do with the gospel. You stand opposed to the Word. For example: Suppose you read this message and verses of Scripture are quoted. You feel so angry you would rather pass them without reading them. You would rather have man tell you what to do and not God. You would rather listen to man than listen to God. When you are fitted the untigospel software you remain opposed to everything that has anything to do with the Word of God.

This is the problem when one operates with antigospel set of rules. But how did it happen? You fed your mind with what the world trashed on you and in the meantime your values changed. You can reverse this process my friend. Yes, you can. By just reading the word of God as regular as time allows you.

This is how you learn to open your wings and fly. I encourage you to keep to it; read the Word of God as regular as possible. Without effort, your mind will be renewed as you daily receive with meekness the implanted word which is able to save your soul. The way you think will be transformed as the Word of God daily renews your mind; getting rid of old values and replacing them with new values, new set of rules that are progospel and not antigospel.

You say; Pastor Maselo, how do I do that? I will give you my suggestion. It is not a set of rule; it is just what I say it is, a suggestion. I’ll do you two. 

First: Read the Bible as a letter. 

We don’t read paragraph one and jump to the third and then to the seventh when we read a letter. Read your Bible like you are reading a letter. That is, read from paragraph one to the next; so on and on. Read from page one through to the last page. Start in Genesis and end in Revelation. Everything works when you’ve got a goal. Set yourself a goal to finish the Bible within a specific period – six months, one year, or two. I prefer one year. Start over again when you finish reading through the whole Bible.

Second Suggestion: Have a daily reading programme

Read two chapters from Genesis through to Job, two Psalms, two chapters from the prophets starting with Isaiah and two from the New Testament. If you keep to this programme you will finish your Bible in one year. When you finish start all over again. Do this for as long as you are a Christian.

We are not talking about studying here. We will talk about it in our next teaching. Just read through. Your goal is just to eat i.e. to feed. It is no time to worry about the ingredients my friend; just eat. Like a baby, just eat and rest and when you wake up just continue eating. 

In our next teaching we will talk about STUDYING THE WORD OF GOD. 

Are you ready to fly? How high are you willing to fly?