Life on the Highest Plane
The Word of God is the Medium in Regeneration
The Word of God is a Manual of Holy Living
Often the reason we yield so quickly to temptation is because our sword is rusty. This gives satan the advantage over us. Temptation comes to us on the street, in the office, when we may not have a Bible with us. It comes unexpectedly. There is no time to stop and search for an effectual portion of Scripture. It is only that part of the Word that is hid in the heart that will become a Sword in action at the moment most needed. It is the portion of the Word of God which we have learned and lived that will be effectual in the fight with satan.
Another essential to success is confidence in the weapon we use. I feel sure there was the certitude of victory in the very tone of the voice when the Lord Jesus said, "It is written!" To Him the Word was authoritative and final. His confidence in the absolute authority of Deuteronomy had not been weakened by a doubtful attitude toward its authorship. To Him it was the Word of God forever settled in Heaven. He had no question concerning its potency because He had no doubt concerning its purity or its permanence.
Psalm 12:6, "The words of the Lord are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times."
Proverbs 30:5, "Every word of God is pure; he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him."
Luke 21:33, "Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away."
Many Christians are defeated today in the warfare against sin and satan because of doubt regarding their weapon, the Word of God. To them the Word is not the Sword of the Spirit but it is merely a staff of man's making to assist him on the pathway of life which he feels at liberty to whittle down to the measure of his own intellect and experience. Belief in the absolute trustworthiness and final authority of the Word is an essential to the potent use of it as the Sword.
The Word of God is a Fire that both Burns and Warms
Jeremiah 20:9, "Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay."
The Bible is like a fire that burns out the dross, purifying and purging. It is a devouring flame before which nothing that is contrary to God's will and ways can stand.
Jeremiah 5:14, "Wherefore thus saith the Lord God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them."
1 Peter 1:22, "Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently."
It is at the same time a fire that warms with comfort and cheer the heart desolated by sorrow and distressed through suffering.
1 Thess. 4:18, "Wherefore comfort one another with these words."
Psalm 119:50, "This is my comfort in my affliction: for they word that quickened me."
Psalm 119:165, "Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them."
The Word of God is a Hammer to Break
Jeremiah 23:29, "Is not my word like as a fire? saith the Lord; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces."
There is such a residue of stubbornness, resistance and rebellion in every life! The man who has been accustomed to go his own way, seek his own pleasure and do his own will is not easily made submissive and humble. There is much in every one of us that is hard which needs to be broken; much that is resisting which needs to be melted.
As the Christian studies the Word and comes under the softening rays of God's loving-kindness, tender mercy, unfailing faithfulness, unquenchable love and exhaustless grace, his heart is melted, his will is broken and his life is turned into joyous, humble submission to the loving will of God.
The Word of God is a Seed that Matures and Multiplies
Luke 8:11, "Now the parable is this: the seed is the word of God."
James 1:18, "Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures."
Psalm 126:6, "He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him."
A seed in itself is but a small hard substance which, if laid away in a drawer will remain only a seed. But put into suitable soil, given needed nurture, it will become a plant or a tree. The Word of God is seed. Left on the drawing-room table to give semblance of religion to the home or carried when traveling to fulfill a promise to a praying mother at home, or as a sacred charm to ward off disaster, it will never influence or change the life in any way whatsoever. But let that incorruptible seed which has the very germ of life in it - "My words are life" - be sown in the soil of the human heart by the Holy Spirit and it fructifies in a new creation.
Nor is it enough to accept the Bible as historically true. Before it can manifest its power to save and to sanctify it must be engrafted upon the inner life.
James 1:21, "Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.
~Ruth Paxson~
(continued with # 14)
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