What It Takes to be an Approved Workman for God?

You are drawn to understand the Bible. Your hunger for God’s truth is about to be satisfied. Embrace My Bible and hold it close to your heart. Pray and ask for a way to install and activate My word so that you are approved as one of My workers with no shame. When you were born again, I wrote upon the tablets of your heart. My goal for you is that you will speak as I speak and do as I do.

2 Timothy 2:15 (NASB) “Be diligent to present yourself approved by God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.”

In that one verse, we can learn truth that will change minds and mountains. I want to break it down simply for you.

One of the churches I oversee has a pastor with grown twin boys. Both boys attained to rank of Eagle Scout. I was invited to the occasion of their being honored because of that accomplishment. The ceremony was to certify that they had crossed all the “t’s” and dotted all the “I”s” for becoming Eagle Scouts. Now they have the honor that many great leaders in America have. They all graduated as Eagle Scouts.

How about you? Would you like to attain the level of being an approved workman for God? Frankly, I can remember exactly where I was when God dropped it into my heart that I could attain to being a skilled and convincing workman for God in the Scriptures. It was on Briarwood Drive in Nashville, TN. I was a young man and God told me that chilly Saturday morning that the Bible was like an Owner’s Manual for my new Volkswagen. He said “Knowing and applying My word is necessary to get the most out of your Christian life and to show others the way.” Below are some things I learned and am still learning.

Taking the “key words” of 2 Timothy 2:15, we find that those key words become the key to efficiency in living God’s word. Let’s start.

2 Timothy 2:15 (NASB) “Be diligent to present yourself approved by God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.” 

Diligence. In the Greek, the simple meaning of diligence is diligent, earnest or eager. Be diligent to read and study the Scriptures. Ask many, many questions as you read. Look up words you don’t understand. Don’t stop until you are satisfied that you know what God is saying in a verse. Also find out the context of culture in which this verse was written. What was the overall picture that makes up the truth God wants you to know?

Gaining God’s Approval. A serious disciple of Jesus wants to please God and gain His approval. Embrace with the emotions of your heart what it means to be approved by God for His will and purposes. You are presented daily to Him to make sure you are showing the attributes He desires.

Approval by God. Your aim is to present yourself approved by God. In the Greek, it means to accept or receive. Proved, receivable, tried as are metals by fire and thus are purified. Sometimes that approval comes as a result of trials by fires of adversity and difficulty.

Doing that which is honorable brings a person real approval, as distinguished from only seeming to be approved.  A workman needing not to be ashamed is approved unto God.

Being God’s workman. Firemen, policemen, military soldiers all wear uniforms. That uniform says they are authorized and empowerd to carry out their assignments. Those called and anointed by God are sent as soldiers, ambassadors, evangelists, pastors and all included in the five-fold ministry. You and I are included here. We are God’s workmen, sent to complete an assignment. Study, prepare and serve as one who need never be ashamed. You want others to see you as blameless as you do God’s will so very well. Settle in your heart that you are not to be ashamed as a workman approved by God and anointed for His assignment.

Accurately handling the word of truth. Be one who accurately handles the word of truth. In the Greek, that means to handle correctly and skillfully; to correctly teach the word of truth.

Join with me in seeking to make God proud, very proud to call us His approved workers. Enjoy your study and rejoice greatly.

HOW TO LIVE THE JESUS LIFE ON EARTH

But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written, “Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.” 1 Corinthians 1:30-31 (NASB)

Just think of it for a moment. We already know Christ came to live in our hearts when we became born again. You can be totally confident in that truth. I have been confident of it without a shadow of doubt since my salvation at age 12. If you are not, activate Christ with you through believing He is the Son of God and that He died for you. Tell Jesus right now that you have accepted him in your heart and thank Him for living His life within you. If you have done this, all the rest I am about to tell you is true and powerful. It will change your life forever. (Please let me know by email at info@fullnessnetwork.net if you accepted Christ upon reading this. Thanks.)

Now think about Jesus dying on the cross so that you can allow Him to live His current earthly life through you. You are so into Him and He is so into you that the life you live now is not your own but His. In summary, “My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Galatians 2:20 (NLT)

But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written, “Let Him who boasts, boast in the Lord.” 1 Corinthians 1:30-31 (NASB)

Please commit with me and my family to seriously read God’s word every single day. Join us daily in reading Psalms and Proverbs and if time allows also read in Matthew, John and Acts. Go as far as you can. Keep notes in your Bible margins and in a journal of some kind. Keep sacred a certain hour in which you do this. My hour is usually at 4:30 a.m. Yours could be any time that is good for you. Do it daily. You will be transformed in your spirit and soul. Trust me and the Lord on this one.

There are some things to know and to teach your family, your church and all who will listen.

#1. God is the one who put Christ Jesus within your heart.

#2. Make absolutely sure you have allowed God to put Christ within your heart. Confirm it with Him.

#3. Decide on some verses, words, passages or books of the Bible you want to “study more.”

#4. If possible get a good concordance. Most full Bibles have a small concordance at the back of the Bible. Get a Bible Dictionary and Webster’s English Dictionary.

#5. If you use a computer, you may want to buy a Bible program called WordSearch (https://www.wordsearchbible.com/).  A good free Bible program is E-sword (http://www.e-sword.net/). There are some good free resources on the Internet. Two of them are Bible Gateway (http://www.biblegateway.com/) and Blue Letter Bible (http://www.blueletterbible.org/index.cfm).

#5 Join a discussion in a Bible Study in Sunday School or a study group.

#6 Find your own way to “know” what the Scriptures teach and how to find, get and carry out God’s will for your life. Be faithful to do His word. You will change things in your world.

Christ in you becomes your wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption. Being inside you, He brings these four Kingdom qualities and plants each of them very carefully inside you. Jesus is your conduit for all four.

Having Christ firmly planted inside you, then you begin to grow your own personal garden of wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption. You are now the expression of Christ because He manifests each of them through your own being. For you to live is Christ. You are as He is in this world.

Let’s do it. As stated above: Join us daily in reading Psalms and Proverbs and if time allows also read in Matthew, John and Acts. Go as far as you can. Keep notes in your Bible margins and in a journal of some kind. Keep sacred a certain hour in which you do this. My hour is usually at 4:30 a.m. Yours could be any time that is good for you. Do it daily. You will be transformed in your spirit and soul. Trust me and the Lord on this one.

“Good News. God Says, “I Will Not Fail You or Abandon You”

Many people today are struggling to make ends meet. Others are knocking on the door of hopelessness. If only you could find the sure path of God’s will and success, you would gladly walk that path. Right?

What if you found out that the path was someone, rather than a physical roadway? That Someone is Jesus who is the incarnate, resurrected and ascended word of God. You know God loves you and promises to bless you. God makes a way by and through His promises found in His word. He is ready daily to show you the proverbial goose that lays the golden eggs. Wise is the one who will fill his or her mind with the will and intentions of God. In finding His will, promises and directives, you are assured of success and prosperity in the Lord. Want to try it?

It was not easy being the son of a sharecropper. There was little to encourage me that my life could be blessed with success and prosperity. God’s path for me turned out to be a man sent from God. He told me that Jesus had a plan for my life to make me to be someone special, to have a great purpose and destiny.

My mama daily read her Bible, making notes in the margins. My parents gave me a Bible and I began to do the same. I later found out that every word in the Bible is true: Romans 15:4 (NASB) “For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” Believing in my heart the Scriptures to be true, hope began to arise and faith started springing up.

I have always been afraid of failure. Combine this with a steady fear of abandonment and you have a young man needing hope and encouragement. My encouragement came in this promise from God to ME: Joshua 1:5 (NLT) “No one will be able to stand against you as long as you live. For I will be with you as I was with Moses. I will not fail you or abandon you.”

Please commit with me and my family to begin seriously reading God’s word every single day. Make your margin notes. Keep a journal of what God tells you. Be faithful to do His word.

Fill Your Life with God’s Word

Fill your eyes, heart and mouth with My word and I will give you eternal life, prosperity and deliver you from destruction. Most believers have little to no idea the power of God’s word on their lips when it is spoken in faith, believing. Father God wants to fill your eyes with His word to the point that the wisdom and power of His words penetrate and flood your heart to overflowing. You will speak from that which fills your heart – the dynamic word of God. First your eyes, filled with committed discipline of reading and meditation. Next, your heart is continuously stimulated and activated to beat in rhythm with God’s heart. Finally, faith words find expression from the lips of your mouth that are consistent with what God has quickened.

Angels are waiting for your words that they may obey them and carry them out to reality. God has empowered these angels to do the work you cannot do. Your role is to keep your eyes full, your heart teeming and overflowing and your mouth speaking words of life right from the heart and will of God the Father.

Deuteronomy 30:14-15 (NIV) “No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it. See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction.” Psalm 103:20-21 (NIV) Praise the LORD, you his angels, you mighty ones who do his bidding, who obey his word. Praise the LORD, all his heavenly hosts, you his servants who do his will.”