Hello Everyone,
The last thing we want to look at this week about hearing God speak through His Word is I must Obey the Word of Truth - James 1:21-2521Therefore get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.
22Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror 24and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.
To not obey God’s Word is like looking into the mirror in the morning, seeing that you need to comb your hair, then walking away without doing it.

You have not adjusted your life to the truth concerning the need to comb your hair.In the same way, James tells us that we must obey the Word of God if we are to see true life transformation. When God speaks to me through His Word, and I do not adjust my life according to His revealed Truth, my time spent with God’s Word has no benefit.Here is an illustration of the way God may use His Word to speak to you. Suppose you are reading your daily devotions in Psalm 37. You have read this Psalm many times before. You come to verse 21 and read: "The wicked borrow and do not repay." You are "drawn" back to that verse. You read it again. Then you remember a debt you have failed lo repay. You realize that this Scripture applies to you.
The Holy Spirit has just spoken to you through that verse. You have encountered truth. Now you understand that those who borrow and do not repay are wicked in God’s sight. The Holy Spirit has called your attention to a specific instance where this verse applies to you. He is convicting you of sin. He is the only One who can do that. God has just spoken to you by the working of the Holy Spirit and through His Word. God wants you to have no hindrances to a love relationship with Him in your life.Once God has spoken to you through His Word, how you respond is crucial. You must adjust your life to the truth. In this case the adjustment is this: • You must agree with the truth - those who borrow and do not repay are wicked in God’s sight.• You must agree that the truth applies to you in a certain situation that you remember. This is confession of sin. You agree with God about your sin.Now you have adjusted your understanding about borrowing and repaying to agree with God’s will in this matter. To agree with God you must change your understanding to agree with His. This requires an adjustment. Is that all you must do? No! Agreeing with God is not enough. Until you repay the debt, you will continue to be seen as wicked in God’s sight. This is where obedience comes in. You obey God’s will by repaying the debt. Now you are free to experience a more complete relationship with God. Obedience is the appropriate adjustment in your actions that reflects the adjustment in your attitude.

Read God’s Word and let the Holy Spirit speak to you through it.
Oh How HE Loves Us!
Pastor Phil