Day 9 of Illumination: If you don’t use/apply what has been revealed, it will not benefit you.

“Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.””

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭7:24-27‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

I want you to set your mind to two scenarios:

First, I want you to take a moment and think about something you were interested in doing. Maybe you saw someone do it; maybe you looked up how to do it; but you never really got around to applying what you had learned. Now, do you still remember how to do it? Chances are, you don’t.

OK, now think about something you needed to learn to be able to do. Then, you either learned it from someone, or read about it, then immediately did it. You probably still remember how to do that, right?

You see, memories are not stored together in one “place.” Things you see are stored separately from things you hear. The same goes for the introduction of information (all memories are information) from your other senses; the information is stored in that sense’s area of the brain.

Now, if you combine an emotion—particularly a strong one—with other sensory input, your chances of remembering are even better. [Of course, traumatic events can be so overwhelming to the senses that it can wipe out a memory.]

Simply put, the more senses involved when you’re learning something, the more likely you are to remember it. So, actually applying what you’ve learned, is essential for “owning” it.

Now, there is a set of senses secular researchers do not take into account: those associated with our spirit. As a matter of fact, our spirit has all the senses our physical body has! They just don’t work in exactly the same way, but they work, nonetheless.

Therefore, If we really want to grow spiritually, we must immerse ourselves into hearing, seeing, speaking, meditating on, and doing/applying what the Lord has taught us, using our mind, body, soul and spirit.

“But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves.”

‭‭James‬ ‭1:22‬ ‭NLT‬‬

In our opening scripture the Lord uses a powerful metaphor to convey the importance, the critical need, for doing what He has said, rather than just hearing it.

Let’s not in any area of our lives, particularly not in our relationship with the Lord, become “consumers,” but not “absorbers,” of what we learn. Remember, if a person loses the ability to absorb the nutrients of what they eat, they can starve, although they gorge themselves.

We light a ninth candle of illumination today by knowing this:

If you don’t use/apply what has been revealed, it will not benefit you.

#25daysofillumination