INTRODUCTION:
Our God is a speaking God. Right from the beginning of the creation of man, God had been speaking to human beings. God’s words have been recorded in the Bible. The Bible is the Word of God. God has given us His Word so that we may live by it. The Word of God is very precious. Its value is incomparable. Blessed is the man whose heart is illuminated by the Holy Spirit to understand the Word of God, for in that person does the Word of God work. In the man who is enlightened to understand the Word of God, the Word of God works in many different ways according to its various natures. Basically there are ten different ways in which God’s Word works according to its ten different natures. Many Christians do not read the Bible regularly. There are very few Christians who read the Bible daily with discipline. Many do not touch the Bible for days and months together, and it is not too much to say that there are quiet a number of Christians who do not touch the Bible for years together. What is the reason for this neglect or lack of interest? There is no single reason for this tragedy. One reason is that some are Christians for just the name-sake, but they had never experienced salvation through Christ. These name- sake Christians will never read the Bible because they can never understand the glory, sweetness and value of God’s Word. But what about the truly born again believers?! They are genuinely saved by the power of the blood of Jesus. They have understood the power and meaning of the Cross. But still they do not spend time on the Word of God as much as they ought to. This could be because the children of God had forgotten what the Word of God can do in and for them. If only they are mindful and aware of how the Word of God works for their good, they would not have neglected it so much. If you are one of those true believers, neglecting to spend time on the Word of God, then I would like to turn on your interest and love for the Word of God through the following message by bringing to your remembrance how the Word of God works in you and what it will do in and for you.
The Word of God is compared to ten things in The Holy Bible. Each comparison signifies a different way in which God’s word works in us. Let us now meditate upon these things by the help of the Holy Spirit.
1) SEED:
According to Luke 8:11, the Word of God is compared to seed. The Word of God has the nature of a seed. It behaves and works like a seed. Let us first think about a seed. What does a farmer do with a seed? He sows it in the soil. Before sowing the seed, the soil has to be tilled. After that, they dig deep into the soil and sow the seed in the deep and cover it again with the soil. By taking proper care of it, the sown seed will germinate, grows into a plant and brings forth fruits according to its nature. There are many kinds of seed. Each seed produces fruit of its kind. A single seed grows into a big tree, produces fruits and become useful to many people. Even the Word of God works in the same way as the seed. The human heart is the soil. Before sowing the Word of God, the heart is to be tilled. It means that the heart is to be prepared and be ready to receive God’s Word. If the ground is not tilled then the sown seed has a very little chance to germinate.
Likewise, the Word of God will not bear fruit even after you listen to it if your heart is not ready before hand to receive it. You will keep on hearing the Word of God but nothing will happen since your heart is not prepared to receive it. Preparation and readiness of heart is very important in receiving the Word of God. You cannot hear the Word of God with lot of worldly thoughts filling your heart. Set your heart on hearing God’s Word. Hunger and thirst for it. Only then will the Word be sown in your heart. Prepare your heart by tilling it with repentance, humility and a readiness to do what God says. A repentant, humble and ready heart is a well tilled ground to receive the seed of the Word of God. Meditate deeply so that God’s word will be sown deep in your heart. If you do your part in sowing the seed in the right manner, then the seed, i.e., the Word of God will do its work in you in the right manner. When you properly prepare your heart, God’s word will be properly sown in you. Then the Word of God begins the work of a seed within you. Till now you worked to receive God’s Word, but from now on God’s Word will begin working in you. It germinates, grows into a plant and brings forth spiritual fruits which bring blessings to you and glory to God. Those fruits will also be enjoyed by your fellow believers. You will be a blessing to others. The name of Lord Jesus will be magnified in and though you. Just as there are many different kinds of seeds which turn into different kinds of plants, producing fruits, crops, medicine, etc there are also many words of God in the Bible which produce different kinds of fruits. Each Word of God meets a different kind of spiritual need both for you and for others around you. The key is to prepare your heart to receive any kind of God’s Word. Your work is to be prepared and to receive. God’s word will do the rest of the work. You need not worry about the spiritual or worldly blessings you should receive. You need not worry about how you could be useful and bring blessing to both God’s people and to the gentiles. You only need to worry about properly receiving the seed into your heart. Then the seed will automatically do its work in you. You will be blessed and be a blessing to others. If you want to become a useful person, then allow this seed of the Word of God to be sown deep in your heart. Give a chance for the Word of God to grow in you and afterwards see the miracles of God happening in and through you.
2) PURIFYING WATER:
According to Ephesians 5:26, the Word of God is compared to purifying water. There it is written “….so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word.” Here is it said that the Word of God is like water by which we wash ourselves to become clean or pure. Water has the property to purify. We bath daily with water. We wash our clothes and houses with water. We wash many things with water. If we do not bath ourselves daily at least once or twice with water, we know very well what will happen. First we will start beginning to smell ugly and finally we will loose our health and catch some disease. We will also loose our beauty. It would be the same with your spirit if you do not read the Word of God. As you are reading the Word of God, your spirit will be washed by it and becomes pure. Reading the Word of God means you are pouring it on your spirit so that it can be cleansed. By reading the Word of God regularly, you will be washing your spirit by it. You will start experiencing the peace, joy, and glory in being pure in spirit. How long has it been since you read the word of God with all your heart? May be it was long ago. If it is so, then your spirit is dirty with very bad smell in the sight of the Holy God. It is a burden for you to be with such an impure spirit which had not been washed by the Word of God since a long time. It is high time for you to take that pure water into your hands and wash yourself with it. Come near to the Word of God. As you start reading it whole heartedly, you will feel your spirit being washed by it. The Word of God has the power to purify you. It is true. Believe it. Read and meditate God’s word until you can feel it washing your spirit.
In Exodus 29:1-4, we see that, to consecrate Aaron and his sons to minister as priests they were washed with water. Washing them by water makes them eligible to be priests for God. This was in the Old Testament times. Only Aaron and his sons were to be priests to God. But now, that is, in these New Testament times, everyone who is washed by the water called the Word of God is eligible to act as priests to the Most High God. Even while you are reading God’s Word, you will be consecrated to minister as a priest. While the Word of God washes you, you will be given the power and authority of a priest. This is our wonderful privilege. Yes. Just by reading and meditating upon God’s Word, you will be given authority to be a priest for God in the name of Lord Jesus Christ. If you are zealous to continue to be a priest to God, then wash yourself continually with His Word. May God establish you as His priest.
3) LAMP:
The Word of God is compared to a lamp in Psalms 119:105. A lamp gives us light to see when it is dark. The Word of God performs a similar function for us. We cannot see anything when it is dark. Only light can reveal things to us. Imagine this. A man never saw light since he was born. All his life he had to live in complete darkness. Such a man cannot know the reality of the world. He cannot know where he is. He cannot see any object. He can only touch and feel them. He cannot know whether something is ugly or beautiful, or safe or dangerous. But after all these years in darkness, if somehow he gets to see sunlight, then he can know the reality of this natural world (assuming that he is not blind). He will then know which object is beautiful and which is not. He will see which is safe and which is not. Until then he could only imagine things basing on his sense of hearing, touching, smelling, and tasting. But without the sense of seeing he cannot came to a right decision about the reality of this world. Some of his imagination may be correct and many others may be wrong. While he was in darkness, he was never able to be confident and sure about his decisions and actions. He lived in a constant fear and danger. This is about the natural world. But there is the spiritual world. Only the Word of God can give us light to see the reality of the spiritual world. No man is born with the ability to see the reality of this world as seen by God. We cannot know the danger and abomination of sin in this dark world unless we have the light of the Word of God. Philosophers are trying to search out the ultimate reality. But they can only imagine about it, because they don’t have the light of God’s Word. There is deception in darkness. This world is full of people who have worldly wisdom. But, they will find out that they were utterly deceived. Since people are born in spiritual darkness and learned to live all their lives in that darkness, they reach a stage where they accept the darkness to be the only reality. They take it for granted. What about you? If you don’t want to be deceived by this world, then there is only one thing you could do, and that is to receive God’s Word, which gives you light to see the reality of this world. You may not have worldly wisdom, but you will get the incomparable spiritual wisdom which will lead you to eternal life. Only the Word of God can show you the true nature of situations you face. Only God’s Word can show you what is true and what is false. No one can deceive you as long as you walk by the light of God’s Word. At the second coming of our Lord Jesus, many people are going to cry their hearts out for being deceived. They would say, “If we were only able to see the reality of the world, we would not have faced this destruction. We were greatly deceived.” But then there will be no chance for them to be saved. Don’t be deceived. Don’t mistake darkness for light. If you are not walking by the light of God’s Word, then there is every chance that you are mistaking sorrow for happiness, or abomination for holiness, or unrighteousness for righteousness. Take up the spiritual light of God’s Word. Avoid that great grief you would face if you are deceived by this darkened world.
It is important that we continually hold this lamp of God’s Word. Otherwise we would soon forget what we have seen. If we are not continually meditating on God’s Word, then we will definitely forget the deception there is in this world. We will soon forget the evil of sin. We will not have light to come to right decisions. When it is dark, we cannot switch off the light after five minutes. The light should be a continuous one. This world is always dark. Therefore, it is not enough that you read God’s Word one week ago, or one month ago, or one year ago. You need a continuous spiritual light by a continuous meditation of God’s Word. Only then can you escape the great deception that is in this world continuously.
Another thing I want to remind you is that light cannot be produced without heat. The Word of God produces light. But prayer is the heater which heats up God’s Word to produce light. Prayer brings the anointing and power of the Holy Spirit which illuminates God’s Word so that you can receive the light of God to travel in the path of everlasting truth. A tube light without electricity is of no use. A lamp without oil is of no use. They can’t give light. Likewise, God’s Word without Holy Spirit cannot produce light. Only prayer can bring the power of Holy Spirit. So, prayer and meditation of God’s Word should go hand in hand.
4) TWO-EDGED SWORD:
In Hebrews 4:12, the Word of God is compared to a very sharp two-edged sword. A sword is used to cut. Since the Word of God is the sharpest sword, it can cut any thing concerning spiritual things. To get meat from a goat, first the skin is carefully separated by a sharp knife. The whole outer skin is separated from the body. Only the flesh will be remaining. Before cutting, it would be as if the skin and meat of the goat are one. But after cutting it, you can clearly see the difference between the skin and the meat. Likewise, this sharp two-edged sword called the Word of God separates the body, soul, and spirit of a human being. Those who are cut by the Word of God know the difference between the works of the body, works of the soul, and the works of the spirit. They can easily discern the difference between walking spiritually and walking carnally. God’s Word shows the difference between spiritual life and carnal life. Many believers wonder what it means to walk in spirit. They wonder because they were not cut by the Word of God as deeply as they should have been. If you allow the Word of God to cut you deep, then you will know clearly about when you are spiritually minded and when you are carnally minded. Those who are not saved cannot show this discernment. You cannot walk in spirit (or lead a spiritual life) without knowing what it means to walk in spirit. If you want to know what it means to walk in spirit, then you need to be cut by the two-edged sword called the Word of God.
It is note-worthy that this sword is living and active. Imagine a living and active sword! It can cut by its own without anyone having to use it. This is exactly what the Word of God does to you. This means that God’s Word does not act according to your will and emotions but according to the mind of God. You should allow the Word of God to move freely in you. If you try to use God’s Word according to your plan then you are limiting its activity. But if you let the Word of God work in you according to its own will, that means if you freely give up yourself to be molded or bended or cut or whatever it may be, by it, then you will enjoy the full power of God’s Word at work in you. Don’t make your own principles from the Word of God, but let God’s Word make principles for your life. Don’t try to mold God’s Word to fit to your life style, desires, liking, and convenience, but let God’s Word mold them for you.
Don’t dare to compare or relate God’s Word to any other book or writings, whether it is philosophy or psychology or any other human wisdom. The Word of God is living and powerful, but everything else is dead. You yourself have to make other things work, but God’s Word will make you work. Don’t treat God’s Word like other writings. Remember that it is living and active and powerful. Whenever you are reading the Word of God, you should keep in mind that you are dealing with a living and active thing. It will act upon you. It will cut you deep. It will discern the thoughts of your heart. Many are trying to analyze God’s Word, but they are forgetting that it is God’s Word which analyzes them. It is God’s Word which will discern and judge them. Each time you open your Bible, keep in mind that you are going to spend time with something which is living and active. When you open your Bible, keep in mind that you will be giving way to a sharp two-edged sword which will cut you and go deep into your heart.
5) FIRE:
According to Jeremiah 23:29, the Word of God is compared to fire. After His resurrection, when the Lord was speaking with the two disciples and explaining them scriptures on the way to Emmaus, they felt that their hearts were burning within them. God’s Word makes our hearts to burn. This is because the Word of God is like fire. With fire we can attain the highest form of purity. Many metals are purified by fire. Even gold and silver are purified by fire. Deep down the surface of the earth we can find many precious and useful metals and minerals. But we get them in raw form, i.e., we get them mixed with a lot of impurities. To separate the impurities and get the pure metal or mineral, they are heated by fire up to their melting point (the temperature at which a particular substance melts). In case of some substances the melting point temperature may be as high as 2000 to 3000 degrees centigrade. Water boils and starts to evaporate at 100 degrees centigrade. So you can imagine the amount of heat generated at 3000 degrees centigrade. That is very great. The surface temperature of Sun is 6,000 degrees centigrade (approximately), and the temperature at its centre is about fifteen million degrees centigrade (approximately)! Some stars have temperatures far greater than our Sun. At such high temperatures there will be no impurity. But the Bible testifies that even the great stars of the sky are not holy in the sight of God Almighty. God’s holiness is beyond human comprehension. God’s Word creates holiness in the man into which it goes, because it is the fire of God whose heat is much more effective in purifying him than the heat of any star in the heavens. This is the heat which can be felt in the spirit and not by our physical bodies. There is no sin which cannot be burned up by the fire of God’s Word. May be you are living in filthiness. May be you have some stubborn sinful habits. May be you have some deep-rooted sin in your heart. But when the Word of God burns within you, all the stubborn and deep-rooted sins which are within you will be melted and come out of you, and leave your spirit pure.
There is nothing that fire cannot consume. Water can be consumed by fire. Iron can be consumed by fire. Even diamond which is considered the hardest metal existing, can be consumed by fire. Similarly, the fire of the Word of God can melt away your every sin. Wax can be melted quicker than Iron. Iron can be melted quicker than diamond. Even so, some sins are melted away quickly by the Word of God. But some sins take more time to melt away completely from you. This is because of the intensity of that sin within you. You have to keep the fire of God’s Word burning within you until the sin within you melts away completely. Even after completely melting away that sin, you should keep that fire burning, since we have the nature of depositing new lumps of sin. If the fire becomes less or is quenched, then the deposits of sin grow. You should meditate the Word of God until you feel fire in your spirit. Then you should keep on meditating it to sustain that fire within you. Fire needs some fuel to keep burning. That fuel is the anointing of the Holy Spirit. A person on fire cannot sin. Only when the fire becomes less or if it is completely quenched is it possible for him to sin. Until then, no amount of temptation, no mater how strong it is, or no number of evil spirits can make that person sin. Unceasing prayer and deep and intense meditation of the Word of God can originate and sustain that fire.
Many people think that fire is only used to purify metals. But fire can also be used to change the properties (or nature) of the metals. It is possible to make a hard material soft, by heating it to a certain temperature and then cooling it down in a systematic way. It is also possible to change a brittle material (a brittle material is a material which breaks suddenly without giving any indication of failure) into ductile material (a ductile material shows some signs of deformation before it breaks down), by a process of heating and cooling. We can get the desired properties in a material by fire. Likewise, God will get the properties which He desires to be in us, by His Word. When you are on fire by the Word of God, you are melted down and will be ready to be molded into the shape desired by God.
Fire is also useful to warm us when the weather is very cold. When we are unable to bear the cold of the winter season, we lit up fire so that we can warm up. In India you can see it in villages. In foreign countries, especially those which are to the extreme north or to the extreme south of the equator, you can find fire-places even in the living rooms. Yes. Fire gives warmth. The spiritual circumstances around you may be cold and dead. The Christians around you may be going after the world. Even you too may be feeling the shiver of the spiritual coldness which is around you. But you need not be affected by that cold. God had arranged a divine fire to give you warmth. Let the Word of God burn in your heart. Let the heat come from within you. Let it keep you warm in spirit. Let that heat affect the spiritually cold Christians.
