Copyright
© 2024 Michael A. Brown
The Bible: God’s word to us inspired by the Holy Spirit
‘All Scripture is God-breathed and
is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so
that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.’ (2
Tim. 3:16)
IN this verse
the apostle Paul underlines the central and crucial role which the word of God
plays in our lives. The Scriptures are
inspired, or breathed through, by the Spirit of God, meaning that the Bible –
the whole of it! – is God’s divinely-inspired word to us. The men who wrote it were moved upon by the
Holy Spirit as they wrote:
‘…men spoke as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.’
(2 Peter 1:21)
This
means that the word of God is a unique book, set apart from all other
books. It is the book above all books,
through which God speaks into our lives.
It is God’s record of the message of redemption through Jesus Christ,
and it is also God’s teaching manual for the daily spiritual life of
believers. In it, we learn God’s
commandments, his ways, his wisdom and his promises to us. We can read of the lives of faith of many
believers down through the ages, their relationship with God, how God spoke to
them and used them, and how they saw him acting on their behalf.
We
are expected to read and meditate regularly upon this book, the word of God, so
that we can come to understand it, to apply its teachings and wisdom
practically to our daily life, and to build our lives upon it as our solid
foundation for living. We might well
follow Ezra as our example in this, who, through having devoted himself to
studying and putting it into practice, became well-versed in the word of God
and was then able to teach it to others (Ezra 7:6,10).
His
word in its fullness is the tool – the thoroughly effective tool! – which God
uses to teach, train, rebuke and correct us as believers in his ways of
righteousness, in order that we might mature in our faith and be well-equipped
for living the Christian life and for serving the Lord in whatever way he
wishes to use us.
We are born again through the power
of God’s word
When
a person repents from their old life and receives Jesus the Saviour as their
Lord, s/he is born again. This term
describes the work that is done within us by the Holy Spirit whereby he brings
us into a state of regenerated and renewed spiritual life. Before we received Jesus, we were separated
from the life of God, and so we were spiritually ‘dead in transgressions and sins,’ but now we have been ‘made alive with Christ.’ God acts in his grace, mercy, love and
kindness to bring us into this state of new spiritual life (Eph. 2:1-5).
Becoming
born again happens to us when we hear and receive the seed of the word of
truth:
‘He chose to give us birth through the word of truth,
that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.’ (Jas. 1:18)
‘For you have been born again, not
of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word
of God.’
(1 Peter
1:23)
This living seed of the word of God is
planted within us through hearing the message of the gospel, and new spiritual
life is then birthed within us from this seed by the Holy Spirit as we respond
to the gospel in faith (Luke 8:11, Rom. 10:17).
So being born again is a definite, personal experience of internal,
spiritual regeneration. The apostle Paul
says that
‘[God] saved us through the washing
of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.’ (Titus 3:5)
God
does not try to renovate or reform our old sinful nature, rather he does away
with it and replaces it with a new life in Christ, empowered within us by his
Spirit, bringing us into a completely new sphere of living. A true Christian is not a reformed or simply an
improved human being. S/he is not someone
who has merely ‘turned over a new leaf,’ but is a person who has been
spiritually regenerated within and made new by the Holy Spirit. We have been set free from our old life, and
have entered into a new and abundant life in Christ.
So
being born again means that we have become a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17, Gal.
6:15) and that we have been spiritually resurrected with Christ out of our old
life (Eph. 2:5). We have been brought
experientially and subjectively into a new life grounded in the power of Christ’s
resurrection within us (Rom. 6:4-5,8).
God’s word is the foundation on which we build our lives
‘Therefore
everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a
wise man who built his house on the rock…’ (Matt.
7:24)
In
Matthew 7:24-27, Jesus used the well-known illustration of two men building
houses for themselves: one built on rock and the other built on sand. When the storms of life came, both of these
houses were tested. The first remained
standing, because it was built on the solid ground of the rock which the storms
could not wash away, while the second was destroyed simply and precisely
because its foundation was built on sand which was washed away during the
storms.
Jesus likened the wise man who
built on the rock to a man who builds his life by putting his (i.e. Jesus’)
words into practice. Foolishness does not lie in not knowing the
word of God, it lies in hearing it (and therefore knowing it to an extent), but
not putting it into practice. Real
wisdom, therefore, lies in both knowing and practising the word of God. It is then that our faith and our walk with
God are not destroyed by the storms of life, because we are building our lives
on the only foundation that can withstand their pressures, by putting into practice
the teachings and principles of God’s word.
It
stands to reason in life experience that a house which has a weak foundation or
a foundation which goes awry, is a house which will have difficulty in
remaining standing or which will need major repair work to be done on its
foundation at some stage. Although not
impossible, this is always a difficult job to do, requiring much time and
expense. Similarly, the foundation itself
(and as a consequence the house) will not be secure if it is built on soft
ground. So the foundation needs to be
built on solid, hard ground which will not give way underneath the foundation;
this is the bedrock.
The
New Testament employs several ‘building’ metaphors concerning Jesus. He is the only foundation of our faith (1 Cor.
3:11); his teachings are the bedrock upon which the house of our faith is built
(Matt. 7:24-27, cf. 1 Cor. 3:12-15); he is the chief cornerstone (Eph. 2:20, 1
Peter 2:6) and the capstone (1 Peter 2:7), and so on. Hence, in order to build a Christian life
which will be able to resist the challenges of the storms and floods of life,
we not only need to build a strong foundation, we also need to make sure that
we build that foundation on solid bedrock: the person, work and teachings of
Jesus Christ.
This
motif of ‘building’ is also used in other parts of the New Testament to
describe the growth of our Christian lives.
For example, God is described as being the builder of everything (Heb.
3:4). As believers we are together
called God’s building (1 Cor. 3:9) and we are being built together as living
stones (1 Peter 2:5) into becoming a temple (2 Cor. 6:16) in which God dwells,
built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets (Eph. 2:19-22). Paul likened his work as an apostle and
teacher to that of a master builder or an expert builder. He laid the foundations of faith in the lives
of believers, while other teachers would later come and build upon that
foundation (1 Cor. 3:10).
So
we are exhorted to lay good, solid foundations for our spiritual lives by
building these on the bedrock of practising Christ’s teachings. It is not simply hearing (or reading) and
therefore cognitively knowing Jesus’ words which builds up our lives as
believers, it is the putting of them into practice which actually builds
us, transforms our lives and helps us to resist and overcome the challenges of
life. So, firstly, we need to hear the
word of God, secondly we need to receive into our lives what we have heard, and
then, thirdly, we need to put this into practice.
When
Luke stated that the early believers ‘devoted
themselves to the apostles’ teaching’ (Acts 2:42), he did not mean that
these believers merely sat and listened regularly to what the apostles
taught. The Greek word translated here
as ‘devoted’ means ‘to be earnest towards,’ ‘to persevere
in,’ ‘to be constantly diligent with,’ or ‘to adhere closely to,’ and so it also suggests that
these believers learnt to put this teaching into practice as it interfaced with
their daily lives (cf. Acts 2:44-45).
Similarly, the apostolic teaching throughout the epistles is always applied to daily life and
daily relationships. Real, life-applied
discipleship as a follower of Jesus lies in ‘holding to’ or ‘remaining in’
(i.e. believing and practising as a lifestyle) his teaching:
‘If you hold to my teaching, you are really
my disciples.’ (John 8:31)
James
also emphasizes our need to continue to look intently into the word of God, and
to put into practice what we have understood from it, rather than simply going
away and forgetting it. Merely listening
to the word of God but doing nothing with it in our lives, and therefore
effectively only paying lip-service to it, simply means that we are deceiving
ourselves. However, as we learn to put
the word of God into practice, we will be blessed in what we do:
‘Do not merely listen to the word, and so
deceive yourselves. Do what it
says. Anyone who listens to the word but
does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and,
after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks
like. But the man who looks intently
into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not
forgetting what he has heard, but doing it – he will be blessed in what he
does.’ (Jas. 1:22-25)
God’s word is like a mirror
The
passage above from the epistle of James also tells us that God’s word is like a
mirror. It is in a mirror that we see
ourselves exactly as we are. A person
who truly wants to see themselves as they are needs only to look in the Bible. It tells us the honest, simple and plain
truth, and this has both negative and positive sides to it.
It
is in looking at the lives and actions of the characters in the Bible that we
see human nature playing out as it is in real life. And since there is nothing new under the sun,
then we also see ourselves – or the potential of what we could be or do – in
their lives. In the examples of Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob, we are reminded of our own lies and deception (Gen. 12:11-13,
26:7, 27:6-41). We are reminded of the
shame of drunkenness (and perhaps our own past drunkenness) in Noah’s excess
(Gen. 9:20-27). We see our own potential
for immorality and its destructive consequences in David’s adultery (2 Sam.
chs.11-12). We sympathise with Elijah in
his discouragement and negative thinking (1 Ki. 19:9-14). We become aware of our potential for foolish
living in many different ways as we read through the book of Proverbs, and so on.
These
people – and the many others whose lives and actions are recorded in the word
of God – are all examples which are recorded to teach and warn us (Rom. 15:4, 1
Cor. 10:11). We are expected to learn
from their mistakes and their sins, so that we do not fall into the same traps
and suffer the same consequences. The
Scriptures are given to exhort us, to warn us, to rebuke us, to teach us
wisdom, and to correct us in how we live before God and how we relate to others
(2 Tim. 3:16-17). We are reminded
frequently of the negative potential for sin – even gross sin! – that is in our
fallen Adamic nature, and we are exhorted to walk worthy of our calling in
Christ (Eph. 4:1-3).
In
contrast to this, we are also strengthened in our faith by seeing how people
believed God in their challenging situations and saw him working powerfully on their
behalf. And we are inspired to believe
that God can do the same or similar things for us today! We read of their way of life, their praying,
their faith, their stance of integrity, their consecration, their fasting,
their experiences of the manifest presence and glory of God, and we can read of
how God took them and used them to do powerful exploits for his kingdom, and so
on.
So
we too like Hannah, for example, do not give up when we are discouraged. Instead, we rise up and pour out our hearts
in prayer and we see God answer us (1 Sam. 1:9-10). We too like Caleb believe God for the
fulfilment of his promises and declare boldly, ‘Now
therefore give me this mountain…’ (Josh. 14:12 AV). We too like the Shunammite woman refuse to be
overcome by our circumstance and we come to God in faith for deliverance (2 Ki.
4:18-37). We see the many recorded
examples of consecration and resolve, and we want the same kind of blessing and
fruit in our lives which these people experienced in theirs (cf. Rom. 12:1-3). We too like the early believers want to be
used powerfully by God, and so on.
To
look at this from a slightly different angle, what do you see about yourself
when you look into the mirror of God’s word?
Or rather, what will you choose to focus on? Will you focus on your old nature, your sin,
and your mistakes and failures, which will keep you enslaved and in
condemnation? Or will you allow God to
deal with these things and cleanse them away, and focus instead on your new
nature in Christ and on what God wants you to become in him? Do you still see yourself much as you once
were before you knew Christ, or do you see yourself as the new creation that
God sees you as in Christ?
When
we look into the mirror of God’s word, the New Testament epistles remind us
repeatedly of what we are and what we have become in Christ, and they exhort us
to embrace this and to fulfil the potential of what we can be, become and do
for him. We are sons and daughters of
God, heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ, filled and anointed with the
Holy Spirit, called to rise up and be overcomers, and to do exploits for his
kingdom in this life! When John G. Lake
stood in front of his mirror as he got dressed every morning, he would look at
himself and remind himself that God dwelt in the person he saw in the mirror, and he would pray for the grace and power to remember this and to fulfil
his calling in Christ that day by living as a son of God should live.
God’s word is a light unto our path
‘Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.’
(Ps. 119:105)
God’s
word brings his light into our lives.
Through Christ, who is the light of the world (John 8:12), he has caused
his light to shine into our darkened and blinded minds and hearts, so that we
have ‘the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.’
(2 Cor. 4:4-6). He is our light and our
salvation (Ps. 27:1), so as we remain faithful to him we will never walk in
darkness.
God’s
word is our guide and teacher. Through
it we receive the light of his guidance and wisdom as we walk with him, so that
we stay on his narrow path and do not fall into the devil’s traps (2 Tim. 2:26)
or stray into any dead-end of foolish living with its destructive
consequences.
‘Direct
my footsteps according to your word; let no sin rule over me.’
(Ps. 119:133)
Through
God’s word, we gain a clear understanding of his will for our lives, so that we
learn to do what is pleasing to him.
Indeed, through his power and his promises, we have everything we need
for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3). So
as we humble ourselves, listen to his voice of wisdom, and put into practice
what we are learning from his word, we are blessed and prosper in what we do:
‘My son, do not forget my teaching,
but keep my commands in your heart, for they will prolong your life many years
and bring you prosperity.’ (Prov. 3:1)
God’s word is our spiritual food and
drink
The
inward presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives fills us with his love for the
word of God, drawing us to read and meditate on it. So reading the Bible is a source of feeding
our spiritual life. The word of God is our spiritual food and the nourishment
it gives us is necessary for our spiritual growth; God’s words are our life:
‘Take to heart all the words I have solemnly
declared to you this day, so that you may command your children to obey
carefully all the words of this law.
They are not just idle words for you – they are your life.’ (Deut. 32:46-47)
‘The words I have spoken to you are
spirit and they are life.’
(John 6:63)
Just
as our bodies need feeding several times every day, so too we need to feed our
spiritual lives regularly on God’s word.
If we do not do this, then our spiritual lives will inevitably become
malnourished, anaemic, starved and emaciated and will begin to die off, just as
our physical bodies would if we ate a bad diet or starved them of necessary
food and drink. Believers who do not
feed themselves regularly on the word of God are unable to resist temptation
and to overcome sin, and are unable to discern false teaching. Such believers do not grow as they should and
remain as spiritual babies, inconsistent in their spiritual life, constantly
struggling with issues, and unable to take responsibility for their own spiritual
growth.
However,
on the contrary, if we feed ourselves regularly on a good, healthy diet of the
word of God and put what we are learning into practice in daily life, then our
spiritual lives and our growth as believers will become healthy, robust and
strong. We will overcome sin and temptation
and develop a close relationship with God.
Practical, life-applied knowledge of the word of God is an important
measure of real growth in our spiritual life.
In
line with this metaphor, the word of God is described in various ways as milk,
bread, honey and solid food, so therefore we should eat and drink it every day:
‘Like newborn babies, crave pure
spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you
have tasted that the Lord is good.’ (1 Peter 2:2-3)
‘...man shall not live on bread
alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ (Deut. 8:3)
‘The ordinances of the LORD are sure and
altogether righteous. They are more
precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than
honey from the comb.’ (Ps. 19:9-10)
‘… you need someone to teach you the
elementary truths of God’s word all over again.
You need milk, not solid food!
Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with
the teaching about righteousness. But
solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to
distinguish good from evil.’ (Heb. 5:12-14)
Similarly,
the prophets were commanded to eat the word of God, so that it came into their
spirits and they could then speak it out to the people:
‘When your words came, I ate them; they were my
joy and my heart’s delight...’
(Jer. 15:16, cf. Ezek. 2:9 – 3:4, Rev. 10:8-11)
God
invites us to come to him, so that we might buy and
eat freely without money and without cost.
He exhorts us to listen to him and to eat what is good (i.e. his word),
and as a result our souls will
delight in the richest of fare (Isa. 55:1-2).
The message and truth of God’s word is seed sown into our
lives
‘This
is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God… Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the
word, accept it, and produce a crop – thirty, sixty or even a hundred times
what was sown.’ (Luke 8:11, Mark 4:20)
In
the Parable of the Sower, Jesus likened the word of God to seed. This motif of seed is also used in some of
the other kingdom parables (see Matt. ch.13).
The seed of the word of God can be sown into the ground of people’s
hearts through preaching, evangelism, reading, teaching or any other form of
human communication. Just as a seed
contains the principle of life and begins to germinate, grow and produce fruit
after it is sown in the ground, in the same way it is God’s intention that his
word sown into our lives should grow to maturity and produce fruit. The regular and widespread sowing of the seed
of his word is God’s way of fulfilling his aim of bringing about a fruitful
harvest in the lives of people whose hearts are ready and prepared to receive
and embrace it.
It
is important that we cultivate openness in our minds and hearts towards the
word of God. This does not simply mean
that our hearts need to be open to the gospel message itself (so that we get
saved and become believers in the first place), but also that, having become
believers, we need to become open to the teaching of God’s word in every area
of our lives. God’s word is life to us
(John 6:63) and its purpose is to produce life in us. The fact that we have become believers does
not necessarily mean that our hearts are then open to God on every point of his
word. For example, are we open to
forgiving those who have offended us, to practising prayer for physical healing
when believers are sick, or to being generous in our financial giving?
Openness
to the whole of the word of God is something that we have to cultivate within ourselves
as we get to know it, and this is part of our growth as believers. Hardness of heart and its resulting
resistance to the message of the word of God on any particular point means
that, on that point, the seed of God’s word cannot grow and therefore cannot
produce any fruit in our life.
Furthermore,
Jesus described several issues which are potential thorns and which, if we are
not diligent enough to uproot and remove them from our lives as believers, will
choke and therefore prevent the word of God from growing to maturity in
us. He specifically mentioned the
worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth, desires for other things and
the pleasures of life (Matt. 13:22, Mark 4:18, Luke 8:14). These things in the lives of believers
prevent growth to maturity of the seed of God’s word (Luke 8:14).
As
a pastor, I have discovered over the years in experience that many well-meaning
Christians, although they desire to be good ground for the word of God, yet
they do not fit into the category of being good ground, because they have not
yet dealt with these thorns in their lives.
They fit into the category of being thorny ground. Good ground which can produce a harvest of mature
fruit is ground which has been both prepared and tended properly: it has been
ploughed up and has had any weeds and rocks removed. Furthermore, this ground must also be exposed
to both the heat of the sun (representing the challenges of life which give us
opportunity to put into practice the principles of God’s word) and rain (representing
the work of the Holy Spirit in our life) for the seed to grow to maturity as it
should.
The
key principles which have to be operating in our lives for the word of God to
be able to produce growth and fruit, are hearing it, receiving it, understanding
it, allowing it to take root within ourselves, removing any weeds in our lives
which would choke its growth, and also retaining it so that it is not lost or
taken away from us.
Therefore
we must make sure that we are exposing ourselves regularly to good ministry
from the word of God, so that it enters our minds and hearts. We need to be open to it, and not resistant
to it, so we should approach it with the humble attitude of a learner and allow
it to be planted in our hearts (Jas. 1:21).
We must also water the seed of God’s word within us by spending time
meditating on and praying about it, so that we can come to a better
understanding of it. We should live in
obedience to what we have understood from it in our daily lives. From time to time, we need to refresh
ourselves on specific truths within it, so that its teaching remains fresh in
our lives and we do not neglect or forget what we have learned.
And
we should be careful to deal with the specific kinds of weeds that Jesus
mentioned, so that these things, which are so common to human life, do not
choke the word within us and prevent it from growing to maturity: our tendency
to worry about situations, rather than learning to pray and cast our cares upon
the Lord (Ps. 55:22, Phil. 4:6-7); the love of pleasures, rather than loving
God first and foremost in our lives (1 John 2:15-17); and the desire for
earthly material riches, rather than seeking first God’s kingdom and
righteousness, and trusting him to meet all our needs in life (Matt. 6:24,33; 1
Tim. 6:6-10).
In
this way, the seed that has been sown within us can indeed germinate, grow and
produce the kind of fruit that God intends for it to produce.
Furthermore,
just as a farmer goes out to sow seed in his field, with the faith and expectation
that it will one day produce a crop, so we as believers (and pastors) should
always be willing and ready to sow the message of the gospel and the truths of
the word of God into people’s lives. Without sowing our seed, and
leaving it in the bag where it is, there can never be a harvest
(Prov. 20:4, 24:30-34). A harvest can be
produced only if the word of God has been sown.
If a farmer is not willing to invest patient hours in ploughing up
fallow ground, in removing weeds and stones, and then in sowing his seed and
nurturing its growth, he cannot reap a harvest later on. But if we persevere and continue to sow the
word of God then it is certain that, sooner or later, we will reap a harvest:
‘Let us not become weary in doing
good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.’
(Gal. 6:9)
We
should always encourage our faith and expectation with God’s promise that his
word will never return to him void, but will accomplish the purpose for which
he has sent it by producing fruit (Isa. 55:10-11).
God’s word is the judge of our inner
thoughts and attitudes
‘For the
word of God is living and active.
Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul
and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the
heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden
from God’s sight. Everything is
uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.’ (Heb.
4:12-13)
‘O LORD, you have searched me and
you know me... Search me, O God, and
know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and
lead me in the way everlasting.’ (Ps. 139:1,23-24)
The word of God was inspired by the Holy
Spirit himself, and it is therefore his own word (2 Tim. 3:16). So as we read it, he speaks to us through it,
making it alive and powerful to us. The
simple written word of God (the logos) becomes the empowered word of God
spoken into our hearts (the rhema), and in this way it becomes the
living and active word of God to us.
As God speaks his living, empowered word
into our lives, this sharp, two-edged sword penetrates into us bringing its
effects and influence into every part of our entire being. Its truth sinks in to our spirit, our mind
and our heart, and this truth will often stand in stark contrast to our own way
of thinking, our unbelief and doubts, the sinful or wrong attitudes and
thoughts we have within ourselves, and the carnal and selfish motivations of
our hearts. As the spotlight of the word
of God shines within us and searches us, it uncovers everything that is hidden
there, even in the deepest and innermost recesses of our being, so we begin to
see and understand ourselves as we really are in God’s sight. We discover, know and understand ourselves
deep within.
In this sense, the word of God acts as a
judge over us. God’s intention in doing
this is to bring us to the place of confession, repentance, cleansing and
freedom, and to allow him to change us in the deep places of our minds and
hearts, so that we begin to think and live in accordance with his truth and his
will, and as a consequence reap his blessing in our lives.
God’s living word refreshes and
strengthens our faith
‘Consequently,
faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word
of Christ.’ (Rom. 10:17)
One of the
most important reasons why we need to feed ourselves on the word of God
regularly is because the Holy Spirit uses the living word of God to inspire and
strengthen faith in our hearts. As we
read it, he speaks to us through it and its life-changing effects begin to take
place within us.
So our hearts
are warmed within us (Luke 24:32), refreshing our faith, comforting and
strengthening our hearts, bringing us into a place of inner peace, and
displacing any worry and anxiety which we may have. As we read the word of God, the Holy Spirit
reveals its truth to our spirit, giving us understanding of it (Eph. 1:17), and
so our thinking and mindset are then renewed and brought into alignment with
the will, ways and purposes of God (Rom. 12:2).
Furthermore,
as we meditate in particular on the lives of believers whose many different
experiences are recorded in the word of God, the Holy Spirit inspires faith in
our hearts, so that we too can believe God to act in the circumstances and
situations of our lives, just as he worked for these believers in the
Bible. As faith is aroused and
strengthened within us in this way through the word of God, we overcome our doubts and unbelief, and our
spiritual weakness is changed to strength within us (Heb. 11:33-34). We can stand on the word of God and act on
its truth, expecting God to fulfil his promises to us and to act for us
according to the principles he states in his word.
God’s word is like fire
‘His
word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones… Is not my word like a fire?’ (Jer.
20:9)
As
Jesus walked with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus after his
resurrection and opened the Scriptures to them, they noticed that their hearts
were burning within them as he spoke to them:
‘Were not our hearts burning within
us while he talked with us...’ (Luke 24:32)
Because
God himself is a consuming fire, then it follows that as the Holy Spirit speaks
to us, then our hearts will be affected by the fire of his presence. So when God speaks to us through his word
(and when we listen to Spirit-empowered preaching) then his word acts like a
fire within us. It warms our hearts,
strengthening and comforting us, and it cleans and purifies us within, purging
out the dross in our lives.
God’s word is like a hammer
‘“Is not my
word like a fire,” declares the LORD, “and like a hammer that breaks a rock in
pieces?”’ (Jer. 23:29)
Similarly,
God’s word is like a hammer. When God
speaks, his word is strong, weighty and powerful enough to break through the
hard resistance of the dominion of Satan and through the hardened hearts of
people, so that his word can enter their spirits and bring its life-changing
effects. It is also strong enough to
break through any rebellion, hardness and stubbornness in our own lives as
believers, softening our hearts and making us submissive to God:
‘I will remove from you your heart
of stone and give you a heart of flesh.’ (Ezek. 36:26)
God’s word is like water
Another motif to describe the word of
God is that of water. Since the Holy
Spirit is likened to a stream of fresh water (John 7:37-39), this means that
when he speaks to us through the word of God, his word will be like water to
our thirsty souls. As we spend time
reading and meditating on it, we are refreshed within, and any weariness and
discouragement we feel is removed:
‘…for he satisfies the thirsty and
fills the hungry with good things.’ (Ps. 107:9)
And
as with fire, another function of water is to cleanse. Living daily life in this world, surrounded
by the ‘sights, sounds and smells’ of human sin, it is impossible for us to
remain completely unaffected by it all.
So God uses his word to cleanse our hearts as we read and meditate on
it:
‘…to
make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word.’
(Eph. 5:26)
God’s word has creative power, bringing life, health and
healing
‘As the rain
and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering
the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower
and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not
return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose
for which I sent it.’ (Isa. 55:10-11)
When God speaks, his Spirit-empowered
word has the creative power to transform and bring new life and fruitfulness to
whatever situation into which he speaks it.
When he speaks, he speaks with the purpose of bringing change. When he spoke in the beginning, ‘Let there
be light,’ (Gen. 1:3), then light came into being. His word is not sterile, barren or dead, and
it will never return to him empty. It is
living, active and life-giving:
‘The
Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and
they are life.’ (John 6:63)
‘For the
word of God is living and active...’ (Heb. 4:12)
This
should strengthen the faith of every believer who reads and meditates regularly
on the word of God: it will surely transform our lives for good and for
blessing, and, as we embrace its truths and obey it, it will mould us and bring
us slowly but surely into deeper conformity with the image of Christ (Col.
3:10). It should also bring assurance to
every preacher of the word of God: God will always honour the faithful teaching
and preaching of his word by bringing some measure of transformation,
life-change and fruitfulness in the lives of our hearers.
Furthermore,
the life-giving power of the word of God does not only affect our spirit, our
heart and our mind, it can also bring health and healing to our physical
bodies:
‘My son, pay attention to what I
say; listen closely to my words. Do not
let them out of your sight, keep them within your heart; for they are life to
those who find them and health to a man’s whole body.’
(Prov. 4:20-22)
‘He sent
forth his word and healed them.’ (Ps. 107:20)
The importance and power of meditation on God’s word
Regular
quiet meditation on the word of God in his presence is a powerful spiritual
discipline which helps us to strengthen our faith and to receive the
life-giving effects of his word. As we read the word of God, it is
important that we think carefully and meditate about what we are reading,
rather than simply reading it through like we might read any other book.
God emphasised to Joshua the link between
meditation on the word of God and obedience to it, and success in the purpose
that God had called him to:
‘Do not
let this book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so
that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.’ (Josh. 1:8)
So
it is the person who meditates regularly day and night on the word of God who
will prosper and be successful. The
psalmist also stated this truth when he said:
‘…his delight is in the law of the
LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of
water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.’
(Ps. 1:2-3)
As we
meditate on the word of God and live in obedience to it, we experience its
life-giving effects within us: our spiritual life is watered regularly like a
tree by a stream, and so we grow, we stay healthy and do not dry up or wither
away, we yield fruit and we prosper, going forward in life and in God’s
purposes for us.
The Hebrew
word used for ‘to meditate’ means ‘to murmur repeatedly’ with the implication
of pondering over something. By thinking
carefully and praying about what we are reading in the word of God, by seeking
understanding of it and seeking to know what God is saying to us through it, we
allow it to sink deeply into our minds and hearts. As we focus on the living and active word of
God in this way and give it our undivided attention, its life-giving effects
can enter into us and begin to work throughout our entire being, bringing
revelation to our spirits, understanding to our minds and strengthening our faith
(Heb. 4:12, Rom. 10:17).
A believer
who loves God, who delights in and finds joy in his word, who makes the time
necessary to meditate on it regularly, and then lives in obedience to it by
putting into practice what s/he has understood from it, is a person who is
successful and prospers under the blessing of God.
God’s spoken word is a weapon to be
used
‘Take… the sword of the Spirit,
which is the word of God.’
(Eph. 6:17)
In
Ephesians 6:17, the apostle Paul describes the word of God as a sword. It is the single piece of offensive weaponry
that is mentioned in the pieces of armour listed in Ephesians 6:14-17. The word of God is ‘the sword of the
Spirit.’ The Greek word used here is rhema, meaning the spoken word of
God, so the phrase Paul uses could be rendered as ‘the sword which the Spirit
wields is the spoken word of God.’
The
clearest example of using the written word of God as a sword is found in the
desert temptations of Jesus where, when he was tempted three times by Satan, he
responded in each case by standing on truth from the book of Deuteronomy (see
Luke 4:3-12). He overcame Satan by
verbally using the written word of God as a sword against him: ‘It is written, …’
As
we have seen above, the word of God is inspired by the Holy Spirit and it is
truth (2 Tim. 3:16, John 17:17). So it
has intrinsic spiritual authority, and Satan recognizes this authority. This is why it is important for us to know
deeply the word of God, its truths, principles, promises and commandments, and
to have these ingrained in our minds and hearts as the foundation of our walk
with God. We will grow spiritually as we
feed ourselves on the word of God, and we need to remind ourselves regularly of
what it says in order to refresh and renew our minds, so that our thinking is
kept in line with its teaching. God
works and acts according to the teachings and principles of his word, so we
need to be able to quote it, to stand on it and to speak it out, both in our
personal lives, in prayer and when engaging in ministry.
The
only parts of the word of God that we will be able to use as a sword against
our spiritual enemy are those parts that have been engrained in our inner
beings, by both meditation on it and practice of it in life. The word of God has to be hidden within our
hearts:
‘I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not
sin against you.’
(Ps. 119:11)
When
Satan tempted Jesus, Jesus was immediately ready to respond with his spiritual
sword. His sword was ready – the word of
God was ready on his lips – because it was ingrained in his heart. And because it was ingrained in his heart,
the Holy Spirit within him could easily remind him of it and he could use it
precisely when he needed it to overcome Satan.
Furthermore, it is a key issue in our spiritual growth to be
able to discern what the Holy Spirit speaks to us in our hearts from the
Scriptures in specific situations. Just
as he did with Jesus in the wilderness, the Holy Spirit will often empower
specific verses or passages to our spirit as we wait on him, and such
Spirit-empowered rhema words inspire within us the grace, faith and
strength we need to stand in our situation.
By receiving and standing on the word of God in this way, we remain
strong in our faith and we overcome any doubts, attacks or temptations which
the forces of darkness might be trying to use against us. When we speak out and declare such rhema
words, it releases our faith and God’s authority into the situation, and Satan
is overcome.
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