We Must Hear AND Do

But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. James 1:22 (KJV)

James tells us to be doers of God’s word and not just hearers. How do we do this? After all, it says that when we only hear the Word and don’t do it, we deceive ourselves. We must hear AND do to receive or obtain all of God’s promises. It isn’t those who just hear the Word who are right before God, but those who act on it. Many hear the Gospel, but if you fail to act on it and receive Jesus, you are just as unsaved as the one who never heard.

This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. Joshua 1:8 (KJV)

This tells us that we are to keep the law, or God’s Word, in our mouth. We are to meditate on it, muttering it to ourselves and thinking on it over and over until it becomes a part of us. We do this to observe to do all that is written in it. The bottom line is that we must KNOW God’s Word to DO God’s Word. But there is more….

But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it. Deuteronomy 30:14 (KJV)

Keep God’s Word in your heart and mouth. Put the Word in your heart to speak it out of your mouth. This empowers, equips, and enables you to do His Word- even when you are weary, tired, frustrated, hopeless, or empty of joy and peace.

Bow down thine ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply thine heart unto my knowledge.For it is a pleasant thing if thou keep them within thee; they shall withal be fitted in thy lips. That thy trust may be in the Lord, I have made known to thee this day, even to thee. Have not I written to thee excellent things in counsels and knowledge, That I might make thee know the certainty of the words of truth; that thou mightest answer the words of truth to them that send unto thee? Proverbs 22:17-21 (KJV)

Let your ears hear the wise words, the wisest of which are God’s words. Apply your heart, or make a commitment, to keep the Word within you and on your lips so you can trust God and do things His way instead of your way. God has written down His word for us to study, learn, plant in our hearts, and meditate. His Word is our wisdom, and the solution and answer for anything we face. God has written excellent things to us. They are ours to study and search out (Acts 17:11).

But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. James 1;25 (KJV)

As we look into God’s Word and continue in it, not forgetting it but doing it, we’ll be blessed in all we put our hands to. In keeping God’s Word before our eyes, putting it in our hearts, and speaking it out of our mouths, we become doers of the Word.