The Word is God speaking to you.
“Thus, saith YHVH” is repeated over two thousand times from Exodus to Deuteronomy.
God and His Word are one.
Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. 13 And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.
The Word is called the Logos. Jesus is the Logos, and the Logos is a living thing—not in the book, not on the written page, but in the mouth of the believer.
There is no created thing hidden from Him, “this living Word”.
The Word searches us out, finds us.
THE WORD IS OUR CONTACT WITH GOD
The Word is our contact with God the Father. It is His contact with us.
John 16:8 reads, “He…will convict the world in respect of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.”
WE ARE CONVICTED BY THE WORD
This conviction can come from no other source than the Word.
It is a threefold conviction, for those in the world, before we were born from above, we may not have fully understood the conviction of the Holy Spirit, but the Word explains it:
First, He convicts of our union with Satan: “…of judgment, because the prince of this world hath been judged,” (John 16:11) that the natural man is judged because Satan unconsciously ruled us, we were a child of Satan. (John 8:44–45; 1 John 3:10.)
Second, He convicts of righteousness, showing that although we are children of the devil, righteousness is available and belongs to us.
Third, He convicts of sin because we believe not on Him. There is only one sin for which the not-yet believer will be judged: that is the rejection of Jesus Christ.
WE ARE BORN FROM ABOVE BY THE WORD
“Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures” (James 1:18; John 3:3–8.)
“Having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever” (1 Peter 1:23).
The Word imparts eternal life to us. Were it not for the Word, we would not know that there was redemption or a substitution or a new creation.
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 18 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation,
Colossians 3:10 and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him,
The mind is renewed by studying the Word and by acting upon it. One may study the Word for years, but if they do not act it, live it, are not a doer of it, the mind is not renewed.
James l:22: “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deluding your own selves.”
Many Bible students are deceiving themselves because they are not acting, living, and doing the Word.
WE ARE INDWELT BY THE WORD
“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another” (Colossians 3:16).
What does Paul mean by letting the Word dwell in us richly? This is one of the most striking sentences in this epistle.
“If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatsoever ye will, and it shall be done unto you” (John 15:7).
The Word here is dwelling in us, producing the fruit of our prayers.
Read verse 8 carefully: “Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; and so, shall ye be my disciples.”
It is prayer fruit. It is the Word bringing forth its own kind in the believer’s life.
It is not only committing the Word to memory, which is valuable, but it is letting that Word become an integral part of our beings. It lives in us.
“That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; to the end that you, being rooted and grounded in love” (Ephesians 3:17).
Christ and the Word are one. It is the Word dwelling in you which is equivalent to Christ personally being in you.
Letting the Word have right-of-way in your life is letting Christ have right-of-way. The Word dominating you is the Lordship of Christ dominating you.
WE ARE BUILT UP WITH THE WORD
And now I entrust you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you the inheritance among all them that are sanctified. (Acts 20:32)
He entrusts us to the Word of His grace. This Word builds the Christ nature and the love nature of the Father into the individual. In other words, God is building Himself into us, making Himself a part of us as the Word dominates, rules, and builds up our spirit nature.
You cannot build one up spiritually on philosophies or theories about the Word, or on the history of the Word. We are only made spiritual by living in the Word and by the Word living in us.
WE ARE HEALED BY THE WORD
“He sent his word and healed them” (Psalm 107:20 KJV).
How few of us have realized that it is the Word that heals us.
We talk about faith in the Word, but it is when Isaiah 53:4 becomes a reality in our spirit-“Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our diseases; yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted”—that the word operates in our physical bodies, not just our spirit or souls.
He was stricken and smitten with our diseases and sins.
And then the Word declares, “…with his stripes we are healed” (verse 5).
We read it and meditate upon it, and we know that it is true. “I watch over my word to perform it” (Jeremiah 1:12).
We know that the Father watches over His Word, and that He will make that Word good in us.
He said, “Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our diseases.” Then we do not need to carry them. They cannot be a part of us because He put our diseases and sins on Jesus-
“Him who knew no sin he made to be sin on our behalf; that we might become (vital redemption) the righteousness of God in him” (2 Corinthians 5:21).
When we become the righteousness of God in Him, that righteousness cannot be sick and cannot be ruled by sin. Satan has no dominion over the righteousness of God unless we give it to Him.
It is the Word that has made us know this. It is the Word that has saved us, through the word our spirit has been born from above, and it is the Word that heals us now. It is the Word that makes us rulers over Satan.
Mark 16:17: “In my name shall they cast out demons.”
It is the Word that has taught us the value of the name, the authority of the name, and our legal right to the use of the name. So, it is the Word that has healed us.
WE KNOW THE FATHER THROUGH THE WORD
For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came forth from the Father. (John 16:27)
John 17:23 I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.
John 14:23 Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.
These three Scriptures prove beyond the shadow of a doubt that the Father loves His children, “these new creation people”, as much as He loved Jesus, and that it is a joy to make His home with them.
What would it mean to have the Father and Jesus both living in your home? It would ensure the rent, the taxes, and all the bills are paid, because the Father would pay His way and enable you to meet every obligation. How intimate He wishes to become with us. (See Matthew 6:31–33.)
FAITH COMES THROUGH THE WORD
The word of faith, which we preach. (Romans 10:8)
Hebrews 12:2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
The Word and Jesus are one, by looking into the Word and acting on it, Christ is manifested in us. Faith is perfected by our acting on the Word, letting the Word loose in us, to live in us, dominate us, rule us, this is the secret of victorious living.
“They shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover” (Mark 16:18). This means nothing until we act on it.
“In my name shall they cast out demons” (verse 17). This Scripture means nothing until we act on it.
“That whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you” (John 15:16). This Scripture is useless, dead, until we act on it.
It is acting on the Word that builds faith in the believer. You may have all the promises; you may have the mighty Spirit dwelling in you; but if you do not act on the Word, God is impotent in you. Acting on the Word makes Jesus vitally real to the believer.
2 Corinthians 5: 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
THE WORD IN OUR MOUTH
Because if thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord…with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (Romans 10:9, 10)
It is the Word in our mouth that counts. The Word becomes a living thing in the lips of the believer; it brings the unsaved person under conviction; it gives them faith to act on the Word; it causes the believer to “trust in the LORD with all [his] heart” (Proverbs 3:5).
Your word becomes God’s Word, and your lips become God’s ambassador. God’s Word in your mouth, fresh from the love in your heart, burns in the heart of the hearer.
FEEDING ON THE WORD
Matthew 4:4: “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”
Jeremiah 15:16: “ Your words were found, and I ate them, And Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart; For I am called by Your name, Oh YHVH ELOHIYM of human armies, angelic forces.”
Psalm 78:24–25: “And he rained down manna upon them to eat and gave them food from heaven. Man did eat the bread of the mighty.”
Job 23:12: “I have not gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have treasured up the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.”
HOW MUCH DO YOU REMEMBER?
Give Scriptures that show the need of feeding on the Word.
What is the Word of God doing?
Give the three convictions by the Word.
Why is it necessary to hear the Word in order to be saved?
What is a renewed mind?
Discuss the difference between memorizing the Word and having the Word indwell you.
Quote the Scripture that shows we receive our inheritance through the Word.
Discuss how the Word brings healing.
What does it mean for you to act on the Scriptures that tell you that God is your Father?
How does the Word become effective in your lips?