God's Word is not Bound
Lately this phase that Paul wrote to Timothy (2 Tim. 2:9) has been repeating in my mind: “God’s Word is not bound.” In fact I’ve mentioned it in sermons, videos, testimonies and more in the last two weeks. Maybe because I’ve personally felt so chained by our strict lockdown here, and everything we want to do is prohibited, restricted, or cancelled—after awhile it feels disheartening. Or maybe this verse is resonating because through some of the circumstances of our current reality God has really shown me the power of His Word even more. For whatever reason, this theme is ever present with me.
Sometimes I see how limited my own faith is - how chained it is to the status quo or to the limits of my own previous experience. If God hasn’t worked in a certain way before, I have had a hard time imagining Him doing it this time. And I have a really hard time believing for Him to move in circumstances that I personally despise, like suffering or tribulation. I want to avoid those at all costs, and yet, the greatest faith is produced in moments exactly like those! The moment that I feel frustrated or limited in any way, I decide, “Well, this can’t be from the Lord” and start praying for a way out, but God so often wants to produce growth in my life BECAUSE of those very limits. It forces me to rely on Him and not on my own understanding, for one thing. And for two, I think He just likes to show off for His people sometimes and do the dramatic and unthinkable so that we’ll be amazed and in awe of Him.
One of those examples for me recently has been “online church” which, let’s face it, probably NONE of us would have chosen as the ideal choice for our congregation. In fact, with my limited faith, I have even felt annoyed by the forced situation. It was the ONLY way to have church these last few months, and although we worked at it, and got better at it, probably many of us would still choose to eliminate it.
BUT…God’s Word is not bound. It’s not chained to my ideas of what “works” or what’s ideal or even “best practice” in the Church today. His Word and His Spirit are not limited or confined or locked down in any country of the world, global pandemic or not. His Word has no restriction because of phases or relaunching plans - it’s ETERNAL and POWERFUL in every circumstance.
On screens. Over live-streaming. In Zoom calls. On Google Hangouts or Facebook Messenger or even the world’s most ancient iPod audio file. His Word has never been made LESS because of these constraints. In fact, it’s gone FURTHER into the world, even through underground and secret means, in countries where we could never plant churches openly or easily.
Think about this: before Christ comes, we are mandated to make sure that all the world will hear; because the entire world has just moved Jesus on their screens, it seems more likely than ever that God’s plan is being accomplished. A global pandemic could be the catalyst for global revival!
In fact, we’ve received messages as a church from people watching our service now in homes on six continents and the messages are the same:
THANK YOU for the Word of God you shared today! We were so blessed by the Lord in this sermon!
We needed to hear this so much!
I have to just say how blessed I am that your services are online. Each week the Holy Spirit is just so direct in where I’m at personally in life and ministry through the messages.
You guys have a beautiful presence of the Holy Spirit guiding and leading. Thank you.
In the natural, there’s literally NO theme or subject matter that applies perfectly to every culture of the world and resonates powerfully in the hearts of listeners in multiple languages and nations except the Word of God. It’s not bound by culture, language, gender, race, time, space or anything else! It’s evident in all these messages where people write to say that from a TV screen thousands of miles away, from people they’ve never even met, they can sense the Spirit of the Lord speaking directly to them.
Because of one amazing promise: God’s Word is not bound.