The Power of God’s Word, Pt. 2
God’s Word is eternal!
Continuing from last week, keep in mind:
“The grass withers and the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand forever.” (Isa. 40:8 NKJV)
God’s Word is a “lamp for our feet, and a light on our path.” (Psalm 119:105 NKJV)
His eternal Word illuminates our way in a darkened world.
God’s Word provides us with wisdom, guidance, and principles to live by. His Word empowers us to live victoriously and rise above the circumstances of this world.
God’s Word states that His kingdom is everlasting and ever-expanding, and growth should be anticipated. God wants growth in our lives and churches. Have faith in God’s promises for your life, your family, your church, your city, and your nation.
The enemy’s taunts and attacks cannot deter our God. Let’s align with heaven’s perspective and partner with Jesus to reach and disciple many this year!
God’s Word, embraced in your heart and believed, will flourish. God’s Word is alive, dynamic, and powerful!
“So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.” (Isa. 55:11 NKJV)
When our hearts are soft and open to God, His Word swiftly bears fruit in our lives. However, when our hearts are hardened, God’s Word may not flourish as He intends.
Jesus corrected the disciples for having hearts that were hard (Mark 6 & 8)
The disciples struggled to spiritually recognize who Jesus was (the promised Messiah) and to believe in the works He performed. Human reasoning hindered their ability to discern and see clearly what God was revealing.
Human reasoning apart from God’s understanding is illegitimate. It often represents counterfeit faith, fear disguised as wisdom. To our natural minds, five loaves and two fish, or seven loaves and a few fish, never feed multitudes with leftovers. However, with God, all things are possible!
As the writer of Proverbs states, learn to:
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths. (Prov. 3:5-6 NKJV)
How can we fully trust the Lord? By knowing and having faith in His Word!
Human reasoning calculates by observing and then tries to believe. However, this is not true faith! Our natural inclination is to have “faith” in things we can see and touch. This is known as sense knowledge faith, as opposed to real faith which comes through the revelation of God’s truth.
Jesus is the truth, and His Word is the truth! Start by reading and obeying God’s Word. Many are blinded because they ignore what is obvious in His Word and are influenced by culture rather than the truth of God’s Word.
For example, Jesus is God’s gift to humanity, the savior of the world (John 3:16). However, God’s Word declares He is savior only to those who believe, not to everyone. To culture, this seems harsh, narrow, and exclusive.
Jesus stated clearly in the Gospel of John,
“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6 NIV)
Obedience to His Word shows our loyalty to Him. Jesus came to make disciples, followers of Him, not merely converters to principles.
One principle for overcoming spiritual blindness is to grow your faith, which aids in developing your ability to hear from the Lord.
“Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not yet seen.” (Heb. 11:1 NKJV)
Faith is like having a ticket for food you’ve ordered that you are about to receive!
Keep in mind, God doesn’t force faith; He invites us to have faith. Through Jesus, God’s gift of eternal life has been offered freely. For those who believe, the Holy Spirit has also been given, as Paul states, “shed abroad in our hearts.” The Spirit now leads and guides us into all truth, beginning with understanding the power of God’s Word.
Paul stated, “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” (Romans 10:17 NKJV).
The English word “word” comes from the Greek word “rhema,” which primarily means utterance or Spirit-breathed. God breathes on the written word (Greek is “logos”), and the word now becomes a Rhema word to us.
The faith of God is bestowed upon those who orient themselves to hear and see. It starts with trust, not depending on one’s senses or understanding, but on the revealed truth and revelation of God and His Word.
Understanding God’s Word, embraced in your heart and believed, will prosper. God’s Word is alive, active, and powerful!
So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.” (Isa. 55:11 NKJV)
When our hearts are soft and open to God, His Word quickly produces fruit. However, when our hearts are hardened, His Word may not flourish as intended.
Let’s explore the parable of the Sower in Mark 4 to deepen our understanding of this truth.
In Mark 4:1-20, Jesus starts to teach in his favorite setting—the open-air meeting by the Sea of Galilee.
He has been teaching and demonstrating the Kingdom of God to them. Large crowds have followed him. However, accusations and opposition from the religious leaders started to arise. His family misunderstood him, and the Scribes accused him.
In Mark 3:20-21, 22-30, and 31-35, Mark embedded three stories into one section so that each story can help interpret the others.
In the first and third stories, Jesus is misunderstood and regarded as “out of His mind” by His own family. The second story features the Jewish scribes proclaiming that Jesus was casting out demons by the “prince of demons.” The supernatural actions of God appear irrational and even insane to a skeptical world.
To blaspheme against the Holy Spirit is to harden one’s heart so completely that one refuses to recognize God’s acts and even attributes to evil the good works done by Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit. The result is that a person shuts the door to the Holy Spirit’s inner work of grace, which leads to conversion.
Ironically, the demons could recognize who He was, but His family, many supposed followers, and religious leaders couldn’t. Why were they so blind? The parable of the Sower answers the varied responses to Jesus.
I’ll continue this series next week by examining the parable of the Sower in Mark 4:1-9.
