The modern word in English has its roots in the Greek language and consists of just two words and only two words, Theo meaning God and logia meaning speaks. God Speaks

Hebrews 1:1-4 English Standard Version

The Supremacy of God’s Son

1 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. 3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.

We will not find this comment in the Torah nor the Koran. Nor will we find it in the hearts of those who have lied to thousands that they and they alone are the mouthpiece of god.

I am a complex person who believes in the simplicity of the gospel. God in His own divine wisdom has not made it difficult for His chosen to hear Him directly.

If we look back in history to Abraham, the father of faith to three prominent religions, he was born into a pagan world and grew up surrounded by wooden and stone idols that did not speak.

Genesis 12:1 English Standard Version

The Call of Abram

1 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.

How did Abram know it was the Lord’s voice? It was unlikely that Abram knew it was the Lord since the Lord had not spoken to anyone in that pagan land. He had no one to ask and had no historical references given to him to lean on. The only two options for Abram were that the voice was real or he was insane.

The test which Abram passed was to obey what he was told even though it went against every tradition and desire without any clear direction except a promise that he would be shown where to go after he took his first steps of faith. Obey without question and wait for further instructions.

This is the basis of all theology, hear, believe and obey by faith. The results will determine whether that faith is true or false.

Jeremiah 42:5

Then they said to Jeremiah, “May the Lord be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act according to all the word with which the Lord your God sends you to us.

Mark 12:29

Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.

Jesus said it so it must be true.

But I am not Israel. Then he says in the very next verse to Israel.

Mark 12:30

And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’

That is a roundabout way of saying “You must love Me O Israel!”

So many times we read the scriptures and take the meaning to be personal, as we should, but in doing so forget who He is talking to and why. Context gets lost when we do that. This interpretation would be meaningless without context. We know God’s Anointed is Jesus Christ, we know He is God incarnate, we know that He and the Father are One, We know He is the Lord but the title “Lord our God” has a different context for Israel than it does for those of us who have given our lives to Jesus Christ.

What “The Lord our God” did for Israel is only symbolic to us Gentiles, for them it was a matter of what the Lord their God did for them as a chosen people. It shows us what God is capable of doing, but what He has done for each of us is different and personal, just as it was different and personal for the nation of Israel.

Jesus came and did signs and wonders for individuals, not a nation. It was lost on the Pharisees and Sadducees because they saw themselves as representatives of a nation and not individuals. There is a greater lesson in those words and I will leave that for each of us to sort out for ourselves. These devotionals are for individuals, not a nation.

We have been talking about lists and how they vary depending on the needs of the hearer. Without making a list, search out your own heart and seek that which is most important to you as an individual in what the Lord Your God has done for you. Then thank Him and Praise Him.

There is no wrong answer if it comes from the heart.