THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE TRUTH
“And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32 KJV)
Prayer: Heavenly Father, in the name of your Beloved Son Jesus Christ, let your word come alive in my spirit and life (Amen).
Growing up, I have an area uncle who drives cars. One day I met him changing the battery of the car then he asked me to hold the terminals of the battery and he added, “be careful don’t let the terminals touch the body of the car because if it does, the car will catch fire and explode.” So I held it with my life. After some ttime another uncle of mine was also changing the battery of his car, so I told him “uncle please be careful not to let the terminal touch the car’s body so that the car will not catch fire.” On hearing this he asked me to move closer and used the battery terminals to touch the body of the car in my presence. To my amazement, nothing happened. Wow, so I have been held in bondage since!
Friends, I tell you, there is nothing that can keep a man in bondage longer than IGNORANCE.
Even God gave His view on this in Hosea 4:6 “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” That is why the bible says wisdom is the most important thing to get (Prov. 4:7) and wisdom is the right application of knowledge. So we have nothing to apply if we lack knowledge. Take note that God called them my people, yet they are destroyed simply because they don’t get what they need to get which is “Knowledge.”
Though the Samaritan woman at the well had not seen Jesus, she already have the information(knowledge) about Him, and so it was so easy for her to take advantage of meeting Jesus when they finally met.
Knowledge is power.
REQUIREMENT FOR KNOWING THE TRUTH
The fundamental requirement to knowing anything is to read or hear about it. Or how will you know if you have not read or heard about it? Here we are talking about knowing the truth which is the word of God. Jesus prayed in John Chapter 17 verse 17 that “ Sanctify them by the truth, your word is truth. So we’ve got to be reading the word of God (that is the truth), and by so doing, we are exposing our lives to the truth and in no time, our whole life will be inundated with the truth and there will be no room for lies again.
Reading the word of God alone is not enough as there are other things we must be doing also. Below are the three (3) acts we must consciously develop as stated by Jesus in the verse preceding our anchor text (Joh. 8:31).
- Continuity: We must make it a habit and to continuously read the word of God, as believers we must be addicted to the word till it becomes our way of living. Jesus expressly emphasized this to his disciples. …” If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciple indeed”(Joh. 8:31).
- Belief: We as believers don’t have a choice than to believe the word of God because that is what we’ve got and being the only book that gives accurate information about God and how we should live our lives as Christians. We must therefore believe it, not for personal gain but for our edification and spiritual growth. Beyond reading the Bible, we must believe it and it should direct all we do in life. This belief should be consitent with the teachings and the doctrine our our Lord Jesus Christ; not a belief limited on the things of this life (1 Corinthians 15:19 but the one that leads to eternal life that can only be found in the Lamb of God.
- Discipleship: By reading the word of God continually, and believing in it, we become His true disciples (Joh. 8:31). Our Lord Jesus Christ is talking about true disciples; not counterfeit ones, not hidden ones coming at night; not those following afar off denying or be ashamed of Him in front of a little girl; not the ones who with a first persecution be offended like John the Baptist. But like the ones like the new Peter asking if was good to obey God or men; like Peter now sure that just as his Master suffered and died and resurrected so is he; the one who cannot be above his Master but be like his Master is the kinds of disciples indeed; indeed because consitent with the life of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
BENEFIT OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF TRUTH
The optimum benefit of knowledge of the word of God is Freedom. Remember the opening story: how I was delivered from falsehood by the introduction of knowledge. So also is it when we give ourselves to the knowledge of the word of God, and believe it unwaveringly; becoming His true disciples, we get free from power of sin, darkness and the devil and we would be Unlimited.
Remember that man lost his freedom to the devil in the Garden of Eden due to lack of knowledge of his identity. Therefore, each individual must read and belief the word of God to claim back this freedom from the devil and this step must be taken consciously, personally, and immediately. You can do that right now if you have not done it. Read Rom. 10:9-10.
CONFESSION: Heavenly Father, I believe that your word is the only instrument to access true freedom. Help me to diligently study your word continuously, becoming your true disciple, in Jesus’ Name (Amen).
PRAYERS
- Heavenly Father, realign my belief with your word in Jesus’ Name.
- Heavenly Father, in Jesus’ Name, restore me from wherever I have been disconnected, derailed, and discontinued from your word.
- Heavenly Father, deliver me from every wrong and counterfeit discipleship and make me your disciple indeed, in Jesus’ Name (Amen).
CALL TO ACTION
Kindly write out thing(s) you will stop doing and the one(s) you will begin to do from this moment.