When we investigate the word and the concept of Zoe, the Greek word for life, all sorts of joy along with clarity of purpose emerge. Hear Martin Luther:

        The Bible is alive

        It speaks to me:

        It has feet, it runs after me;

        It has hands, it lays hold of me.

This insight gave us the courage to list the “aliveness” of the Scripture. It looks like this:

God of the Living              Living Father              Living Stones

Living God                         Living oracles             Living One

Living Word                      Living soul                   Living Creatures

Living Water                     Living Way

Living Bread                     Living Hope

Without being overly theological, allow me to remind us that our unending battle is the conflict for our mind. With transformational intention, Father seeks to move us as reconciled humans toward a full embrace of the Mind of Christ. J.B. Phillips translates 1 Cor. 2:16 like this: “As amazing as it sounds, we do have the Mind of Christ.”

The Word Life, when spoken in faith, imparts strength and serves as an antidote neutralizing all forms of death seeking to gain entrance at the very moment of our emotional pressure.

In the manner in which Paul says “think on these things,” perhaps we could meditate on our witness in a way that would speak Life to us when the dark voices are working the night shift. My witness framed in the concept of life sounds like this.

Because I am a child of the Living God, One Who imparted to me His very Own Life (Zoe), I have entered a Living Way, one that has provided for me a Living Hope. That Hope is rooted in an eternal, Living Word! That Living Word yields my witness as a Living stone, fitted into His Living Temple which is the earthly body of Christ. Thus, my witness has consistently allowed and enabled me to embrace the sheer joy of learning to please someone other than myself. God, the Living Father, knows my heart’s intention to please Him, bringing His wishes to be expressed on this earth, as it is in Heaven.        

When we learn to speak supernatural Life in opposition to the climate of death and darkness Father-God imparts an authentic joy. This is very different from “fake it till we make it”. Speaking Life serves to transform us into normal human beings. We respond to darkness and failure in a manner that more properly represents who our Father will prove to be. We are being equipped to give our witness of God as Father. Yes, I really am one of God’s Own Kids!

Agape,

Bob Mumford