Live the Word Bible Studies

Welcome to Live the Word

I am happy you have visited this site, where my goal since 2001 has been to help people all over the world understand and then apply the word of God in their lives. If you look on the right hand side of this blog site, you will see the name of each book in the New Testament, where you will find what I call a devotional commentary for every verse in those books. My goal was not to do a technical study, but rather a practical one that presented not only insights, but also questions and recommendations to help you apply or live the word. I have now published those studies in book form, but it's time to expand my work with something new (pictured here are two of my commentary covers, and they are all available in paper or Kindle format from Amazon).

For several years, I have had the idea to develop a Purpose Study Bible, similar to others on the market like The Spirit-Filled Bible, The Leadership Bible, The African Bible, and The Student Bible. Each one of those incorporates insights about a particular topic right in the Bible itself, like an easy-to-use commentary. I have been teaching on the topics of purpose and creativity since 1991, and have seen, gathered, and have often written about those topics from a biblical perspective. For the remainder of my days, I want to share what I have learned with my readers on these two topics, and this format seems like an economical way to do so (since I am not ready to undertake publishing a Bible).

I also want to learn from my readers, so I invite you to post comments to supplement, correct, or augment what I have written. My goal, however, is not to make us all experts on what the Bible has to say about purpose or creativity, but rather to help us become people of purpose, for as Jesus said, "Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them" (John 13:17). That is why my commentaries are called Live the Word, for that is what we are expected to do.

I hope you enjoy reading these studies as much as I enjoy writing them, and I hope you will be an active participant by sharing your own insight and testimonies. Thank you, and may the Lord bless the study and reading of His word!

Purpose Study Bible 36: Cunning Creativity

In Genesis 27, we read that Isaac was advanced in years and wanted to impart his blessing to his eldest son before he died. Jacob had already negotiated the purchase of his older brother's birthright, but had to do something to also intercept his brother's blessing from their father. We read,

Now Rebekah was listening as Isaac spoke to his son Esau. When Esau left for the open country to hunt game and bring it back, Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “Look, I overheard your father say to your brother Esau, ‘Bring me some game and prepare me some tasty food to eat, so that I may give you my blessing in the presence of the Lord before I die.’ Now, my son, listen carefully and do what I tell you: Go out to the flock and bring me two choice young goats, so I can prepare some tasty food for your father, just the way he likes it. Then take it to your father to eat, so that he may give you his blessing before he dies" (Genesis 27:5-10).

Jacob's mother conspired with Jacob to trick Isaac into a blessing for Jacob through an elaborate ruse that had Jacob pretending to be Esau. This trick seemed to work and poor Isaac was humiliated when he found out he was hoodwinked by his own family, but could not retrieve the blessing! 

It is interesting that when Jacob protested that if his father found out what she had done, he would curse them instead of blessing, and Rebekah replied, "My son, let the curse fall on me" (Genesis 27:13). After Jacob had to flee his brother's anger when the plot was uncovered, he never saw his mother alive again. The curse did indeed fall on her, as it does on all who use their creativity to take matters into their own hands and try even to manipulate God into doing what they want the way they want it.

Once again, we see the creativity God gave humans perverted when Rebekah used her creativity to devise a creative plot to steal and deceive. In a sense, Rebekah's creativity expressed itself as shrewdness or perhaps a better word is cunning. Instead of praying to the Lord to order the situation so that the right son would get the correct blessing, she plotted and schemed.

We saw this same tendency to use God's creative gifts for personal gain in Abraham's life and here in Jacob's as well. How are you using your creativity? Are you using it as God intends? Are you using it to carry out God's will or to circumvent it through creative excuse making? Are you stretching the limits through what is not easily discovered but inappropriate behavior for a believer (cheating on taxes, lying to gain some personal benefit, or staying silent when you receive a service or goods for which you did not pay)? There is a price to pay whenever you do that, and God is watching, just like He was with Rebekah and Jacob, and in the end, it is better to lose with integrity and ethics than win through cunning plans and schemes.

Purpose Study Bible 35: Making Room

Isaac was not the most dynamic man highlighted in the Bible, but God still used him to continue
Abraham's legacy. This week we read,

Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and discovered a well of fresh water there. But the herders of Gerar quarreled with those of Isaac and said, “The water is ours!” So he named the well Esek [dispute], because they disputed with him. Then they dug another well, but they quarreled over that one also; so he named it Sitnah [opposition]. He moved on from there and dug another well, and no one quarreled over it. He named it Rehoboth [room], saying, “Now the Lord has given us room and we will flourish in the land" (Genesis 26:19-22, meaning of words in brackets added by author].

Before he dug those three wells, Isaac had been invited to leave his previous territory because he was too powerful and the locals feared his presence. So he left, only to encounter the opposition and dispute over the first two wells that he dug to water his abundant flocks. Isaac kept moving on until he came to a place, dug a well, and found no opposition. He named that place Rehoboth because God had finally made a place or room for him.

The same can happen when you pursue your purpose. You can be a threat to others so you have to move on. Then you have some other successes, only to find that people oppose you yet again. This also happened to the Apostle Paul, for when he went to his beloved fellow Jews, they did not want to hear from him. Yet when he went to the Gentiles, God opened doors and he was able to plant a church. Yet even after his success, opposition would arise and that was Paul's eviction notice that it was time to move on to another field of work.

It is important to see in both instances of Isaac and Paul that God used opposition to direct their steps. He was sending them to a place where they were celebrated and not just tolerated, and when they got there, they both knew they were where they were supposed to be. God made room for them and he will do the same for you.

Are you ready to go where you are celebrated, or will you stubbornly stay and insist that where you are is where God must bless you? Do you see that it may not be a geographic relocation, but a shift to a different job, career, or people group that don't dread seeing you, but welcome you gladly? Can you accept that even if you have failed, God will use that to take you away from those who can only remember your failure to a people who don't know and don't care because you are God's answer to their prayers? 

God wants you to know His will and the place where you will bear the most fruit. Therefore, don't fight His plan, but rather go with the flow, confident that God is making room for you by sending you into situations where you are celebrated for who you are and what you bring and not resented for the same reasons.

Purpose Study Bible 34: Conflict Within

As we move on in our study, Abraham died and his son Isaac found that his wife, like his mother, had trouble conceiving a child. He prayed, God heard his prayer, and Rebekah became pregnant with twins. The babies were tussling with one another in her womb, and we read that their activity was so unusual that Rebekah prayed for understanding:

Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was childless. The Lord answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant. The babies jostled each other within her, and she said, “Why is this happening to me?” So she went to inquire of the Lord. The Lord said to her . . . (Genesis 25:21-23).

Rebekah was carrying the purpose of Abraham's descendants but needed insight into the reason for the conflict within. Notice that the Lord spoke to her and answered her prayers by giving her "inside" information to calm her heart and anxiety. Often, when you are creative or seeking purpose, there may be conflicting interests and feelings tussling inside of you, just like they were in Rebekah. 

Perhaps you want to create, giving yourself to sculpting, painting, or writing, but you have a family to feed. Maybe you want to travel and do missions work but your domestic responsibilities keep you grounded. Or perhaps you have a desire for ministry but don't see how you can afford to do that—or if you are even anointed or qualified to do so.

It is important to seek the Lord for wisdom but when you do, you must expect Him to respond and then you must act on what you hear. James wrote these words to help you sort through your conflicting interests or any other life scenario on which you need greater understanding:

If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do (James 1:5-9).

Are you trying to resolve the conflict within or are you afraid of the answer so you make no effort to do so? When you pray, do you doubt the response, thus asking for more confirmation and prolonging your inner turmoil? Are you prepared that the response may lead to a change of lifestyle or occupation? Whatever the issue you are facing, it is important that you obtain a clearer understanding so you can move on and give birth to the purpose and/or creativity of God you have been carrying that may be causing conflict in your heart.

Purpose Study Bible 33: A Prayer and a Plan

God has spared Abraham's son of promise named Isaac, but when it was time for Isaac to marry, Abraham had to exercise faith once again on his son's behalf:

"I want you to swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you will not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I am living, but will go to my country and my own relatives and get a wife for my son Isaac" (Genesis 24:3-4).

Abraham commissioned his trusted servant with going to an unfamiliar land to find an unknown woman who would agree to come back with the servant to marry a man she had never met. That could have been labeled mission impossible, but the story does not indicate that the servant hesitated or complained. Instead, he saddled up and headed out to fulfill his master's command:

Then the servant left, taking with him ten of his master’s camels loaded with all kinds of good things from his master. He set out for Aram Naharaim and made his way to the town of Nahor. He had the camels kneel down near the well outside the town; it was toward evening, the time the women go out to draw water (Genesis 24:10-11).

What did he do when he got there? Did he put out the word and set up a series of interviews with potential candidates? Did he begin to ask around the area for references and leads? Did he put an ad in the local paper or post something on social media? (of course he didn't do that, but you get the idea). No, this faithful servant came up with a prayer and a plan:

Then he prayed, “Lord, God of my master Abraham, make me successful today, and show kindness to my master Abraham. See, I am standing beside this spring, and the daughters of the townspeople are coming out to draw water. May it be that when I say to a young woman, ‘Please let down your jar that I may have a drink,’ and she says, ‘Drink, and I’ll water your camels too’—let her be the one you have chosen for your servant Isaac. By this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master" (Genesis 24:12-14).

The servant had faith, came up with a faith plan, and then prayed and turned His plan over to God. What was the result? The first, yes the first, woman who came to the well was the answer to his prayer: 

Before he had finished praying, Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder. She was the daughter of Bethuel son of Milkah, who was the wife of Abraham’s brother Nahor.  The woman was very beautiful, a virgin; no man had ever slept with her. She went down to the spring, filled her jar and came up again (Genesis 24:15-16).

Are you facing what you think are impossible tasks? Have you refused certain tasks because you considered them impossible? Then think again and take a lesson from this servant's handbook. Like he was, you should be creative, come up with a plan, pray, and then watch God move on your behalf. After all, you too are a servant of the Most High God who has also given you an assignment to fulfill your purpose, but has not left you alone. He is present to help you do what He has assigned, but you must have the faith and apply the creativity to help make the assignment come to a successful conclusion. 

Purpose Study Bible 32: What's In a Name?

In Study 8, we looked at the story of Adam naming the animals and pointed out that it was an example of his God-given creativity. God directed Adam's work but Adam was free to name the animals whatever he chose. We see another example of this kind of creativity as we finish up our study of Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac in Genesis 22:

Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided" (Genesis 22:13-14).

When Abraham found the ram, he saw the day of the Lord as Jesus described in John 8:56-59. At that moment, Abraham was standing on Mt. Moriah, the eventual location of the Temple in Jerusalem, where the ultimate sacrifice would take place through the death of Christ. When Abraham sacrificed the ram, he understood that God had sent a substitutionary sacrifice for Isaac, just like God would send His Son as the Lamb of God to be slain for the forgiveness of our sins. Then Abraham did something that Adam had also done: he used his creativity to define the moment.

Abraham assigned a name to God that is still used by the people of God. Abraham looked at the ram, sacrificed it, considered what had taken place, summarized what had happened in his mind, and called the place Jehovah-Jireh: the Lord Will Provide. Abraham saw that God would provide a sacrifice for Himself on His holy mountain and gave that place and God a new name. We do not see that God ordered Abraham to name the place. God did not say to him, "Name me now, according to what you have just seen." We certainly don't see that God was offended by what Abraham did. Abraham used his God-given ability to assess, evaluate and create, and in a few words summarized what could have taken many more words to adequately communicate—The Lord Will Provide.

God has given you the same capacity as Abraham had. Where can you use your creativity to assess and create? Is it the name of your company? The title for your book? The trend in your field of work? An invention? A movement? A child? A nickname that will lovingly connect someone with their heritage or talent? Your sense of humor? Your ability to write, paint, sculpt, or rhyme?

Who knows, maybe as you express your creativity, the identifying title you give it could become a lasting memorial to your creativity and God's work in your life just like it did for Abraham. Then you can answer the question, "what's in a name?", by honestly saying, "the creativity that God gave me is in that name"—and God will be honored to be identified with your creativity, just as He was with Abraham's.

Purpose Study Bible 31: Another Altar

In Study 24, we looked at the four altars built in response to the Lord's promises and presence in Abram's journey from the land of Ur to the land God had shown him was to be his. In this study, we look at another altar Abraham built, this one his fifth and most important:

Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?” “Yes, my son?” Abraham replied. “The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together. When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son (Genesis 22:6-10).

This altar had to be big enough so Abraham could lay Isaac on it, probably made of stone with the wood for the fire on top of it and in the center created by the stone borders. The fire on this altar had to be sufficient to convert Isaac to a burnt offering so I would assume this was not a small altar as it has been depicted in modern renditions.

Abraham had to build all five altars in Genesis with his own hands, including this one, and God was also asking him to sacrifice his only son with those same hands. The lesson is that what you do through your purpose and with your creativity is ultimately for Him, no matter how many people you touch or serve. You must always keep your results in proper perspective and be willing to change course or surrender what you have been doing to His direction and will. 

Paul explained this dynamic in Jesus' life in his letter to the Philippians:

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross! (Philippians 2:5-8).

Are you placing all that you have and what is most important to you on the altar of worship in the service of others? Are you not only willing for God to take what you offer, but are you also building the altar—regularly and consciously willing to stop doing what it is that has become so meaningful to you as well as a source of godly fruit? Can you worship the Lord in times of loss or seasons of meager results as well as times of fulfilled promise and purpose plenty? 

Purpose Study Bible 30: "We'll Be Back"

There are no end of fascinating stories that involved Abraham and his walk of faith. This week, we read,

Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, "Abraham!" “Here I am,” he replied. Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac— and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.” Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you" (Genesis 22:1-5).

This is one of the more unusual stories in the Bible, for God asked Abraham to sacrifice the very son that God had given him, the son that represented God's promise to Abraham that he would be a great nation. If God's promise was going to be fulfilled, Isaac had to live.

Notice how available Abraham was to the Lord. When God spoke, he said, "Here I am!" Someone else once interpreted that to mean, "Sir, yes Sir!" Abraham did not say, "I'm busy" or " later, Lord." Once God spoke to him, Abraham did not question or delay in carrying out God's request. He set out on his journey, even though he did not know where he was going, early in the morning. After three days, Abraham saw the place. How did he know it was the right place? God must have confirmed it to him somehow, but Abraham knew and stopped.

The next phrase is what I want you to see. Abraham told his servants, "We are going over to worship and then we will be back." He did not say, "i will be back." He did not say, "We hope to be back." He said, "We'll be back." Abraham knew he was going to sacrifice his son, but he also knew his son was the heir of promise, so he trusted that God was going to fulfill His promise by bringing Isaac back from the dead! The writer of Hebrews explained, 

By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death (Hebrews 11:17-19).

Where do you need the we'll-be-back faith that Abraham had? In what situation do you need to stand in what God promised where your purpose is concerned, the promise He made when He said, "That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers" (Psalm 1:3)? Where do you need to respond like Abraham did—quickly and with urgency? Abraham was not a perfect man, but in this story, he gave the perfect response—one that all of us can learn from and apply to our own faith walk.

Purpose Study Bible 29: An Eye-Opening Experience

This week, let's look at the first of many instances recorded in the Bible when God opened someone's eyes to see what they could not otherwise see:

Early the next morning Abraham took some food and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar. He set them on her shoulders and then sent her off with the boy. She went on her way and wandered in the Desert of Beersheba. When the water in the skin was gone, she put the boy under one of the bushes. Then she went off and sat down about a bowshot away, for she thought, “I cannot watch the boy die.” And as she sat there, she began to sob. God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What is the matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid; God has heard the boy crying as he lies there. Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.” Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. So she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink (Genesis 21:14-19).

Hagar found herself abandoned in the wilderness desert. We all know what a desert is like: hot in the day, cold at night, with no food or water. Hagar was convinced that, once their water ran out, her son was doomed to die a slow death—as was she. It was in the midst of her grief that the Lord broke in and spoke to her, promising that her son would not die but would rather become a great nation. After God directed her to take the boy by the hand, God opened her eyes and there she saw a well of water. My question is: Did that well suddenly and miraculously appear from heaven or was it there all along?

My own sense is that the well was there all along but Hagar could not see it. Why couldn't she see it? She was blind to its existence because of her thinking. After all, they were in the desert where everyone knows there is no water, so she could not see or even think to look for some. It's not that God had to heal her eyes, for there was nothing physically wrong with them. God had to change her thinking before she could see what was right in front of her all along.

What are the implications of this story for you? Where is your thinking preventing you from seeing your potential? Where have poverty thoughts caused you to be blinded to your riches in Christ? Where have ideas over your own limitations not allowed you to consider or pursue activities that are beyond what you think are your capabilities? Where have you even limited God because of your narrow or erroneous view of what He will and will not do?

The good news is that God wants to open your eyes. He did it for Hagar and she didn't even ask, so He will do it for you when you make the request, "Open my eyes, Lord, to see what I am not seeing!" Pray that prayer today and then do like Hagar: Get up, take what your purpose and creativity by the hand, give it a drink of God's water, and then get about the work of making your ideas what God sees that can be instead of what you have limited them to be. 

Purpose Study Bible 28: Affirming a New Reality

When Abram was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to him, and here is some of what transpired:

Abram fell facedown, and God said to him, “As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations. I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you" (Genesis 17:3-6).

It is interesting that the Lord changed Abram's name, which is the first of a few name changes in the biblical accounts. In this case, He changed it from Abram, which means exalted father, to Abraham, the father of a multitude. This happened while Abram had one son, Ishmael, whom he had sent away, and before he and Sarai gave birth to Isaac, the son of promise.

How would you feel if you were childless and God wanted you to remember His promise of fruitfulness every time someone said your name? Abraham had to walk in the truth of God's promise and not the truth of his reality, and it was God's doing. When Abraham spoke his own name, he was affirming God's promise and the faith reality he had walked in for many years, that he would have a son who would be his heir and be the first fruits of descendants that would be as numerous as the sand on the seashore. To affirm is to "state as a fact or to assert strongly and publicly" and Abraham's name was indeed an affirmation of God's truth.

We are now called to walk in Abraham's footsteps and affirm God's truth of who we are even before that truth is evident to others—or to us! This is an important where your purpose and creativity are concerned, for you must speak of both as though they already exist before they exist. Sounds foolish, doesn't it? Yet to say "I am a good writer" or "I run a successful business" is a statement of a future reality that you can make a faith present. It does not mean you have arrived, but it declares your destination, just as "I am father of a multitude" expressed Abraham's. 

Second Corinthians 4:13 states, "'I believed; therefore I have spoken.' Since we have that same spirit of faith, we also believe and therefore speak." Where do you need to adjust your speech to align with God's new reality for you? Where or how are you talking yourself out of who you will ultimately become? Can you no longer say, "i hope to be," or "Maybe one day I will," but instead say, "I am this or that"? If you can, you will join with Abraham, Paul, Simon, Joseph (Barnabas), and others who had a name change long before the meaning of their new name became a reality.

Purpose Study Bible 27: Creativity Gone Awry

As we move on to read about another story in Abram's life, we read about the plan he and Sarai hatched for them to have a baby when it appeared no other way was possible:

Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar; so she said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.” Abram agreed to what Sarai said. So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. He slept with Hagar, and she conceived (Genesis 16:1-4).

I have read that this was the custom of the land at that time, but it was not something the Lord had spoken to Abram to do. When they got tired of waiting, the couple's creativity kicked in and they hatched a plan, which only had a 50-50 chance of succeeding because Hagar could have delivered a girl. Yet Abram and Sarai perhaps sincerely thought that this was God's way to fulfill His promise to them. They were sincere—but sincerely wrong.

If you do not use your creativity for good, it will find its way to be expressed in activities that are not so good or helpful. You will creatively manufacture excuses, fantasies, what-if scenarios, things to worry about, empty hobbies and activities, and options to act and do something during your season of waiting. If not expressed properly, you will use your creativity to produce an idol and then creatively justify its existence.

How are you expressing your creativity? Do you deploy it in the service of others and in the fulfillment of your purpose, or in producing excuses of why this is not the right time or you are not the right person for the task? Do you use it to creatively conceive of what faith step you can take with an idea you have or to conceive a reason why you should stay put and shut up? The point is that you will use your creativity one way or the other. Determine to use it for good in cooperation in God's plan for your life and not in a way that avoids the work and patience it takes to produce fruit in the will of God.