THE IMPORTANCE OF THE WORD OF GOD IN OUR LIVES

In Matthew 4:4 and Luke 4:4, when Jesus was tempted by the devil to turn a stone into bread to eat, Jesus gave a profound answer to the devil. He said, “It is written: Man shall not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Jesus quoted from Deuteronomy 8:3.

We live on the word that comes out of the mouth of the Lord. God always acts in consonance with his word. He has exalted his word above all things. The word has preeminence in creation and in all things. God manifests himself through is word. And, I would add that, God is his word. If you know the word of God you know God. If you live by the word of God you live with God. If you walk by the word of God you walk with God. I pray we come to this understanding so we don’t play with the word of God and the study of the word of God and living by it.

John 1:1-4 says in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. So, God is his word. If you want to know him, know his word. The more of the word you know, the more of him you know. The more of the word you know, the more closely and deeply you walk with him. Without him nothing was made that was made. God didn’t bypass his word to do anything. If something is going to happen in your life, it will come by the word of God. If something is to happen to your situation, it will happen by the word of God.

All that God will do to you and for you will come by the creative power of his word. That is why we must pay attention to his word and have time for it. That is why we must not rush through life without engaging with his word. That is why we must seek this word and diligently seek to know it—without it nothing happens in or around us.

In him was life and that life was the light of all mankind. So if you walk in this word, you walk in life and you engage with life. This life becomes your light throughout your walk on this earth. God created this world through his spoken word. This world and all we see around us—the heavens, the sky, the sun, moon, and stars—were called into being by the word of God. God spoke his word and it went into action and nothing stops the word from what it wants to do. So we read in Genesis that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. God said, “Let there be,” and there was.

So, if you want to live the God-kind of life, it is important that you engage with this word and the entirety of the power of this word. It will work things out, create things, and manifest things and work things out according to the plan of God. His word does not return to him void but only after it has accomplished the purpose for which he released it.

Man has not finished discovering what God has created. They sometimes discover things that indicate that they existed millions of years ago. They do some excavations and discover that some animals lived four million years ago. We are still looking into what God created. You have no idea where the word of God can take you. It pierces and divides asunder between bone and marrow.

After God had created man, he engaged with him yet again by his spoken word. He often visited man in the garden to speak with Adam and Eve. They lived by his word. From the beginning God dealt with man by his spoken word. He commanded Abraham to leave his father’s house to a place he was going to show him. He spoke to Moses about rescuing his people from Egypt and he went. Eventually, he gave them the written word in the ten commandments. When Moses descended from the mountain and discovered their sin, he dropped it on the ground and broke it. But God gave them the written word again.

God was particular about us hearing the word so that it wouldn’t be hearsay or for people to attach their own interpretations to it. So that there would be no ambiguity and one understanding and for the word not to be subject to the whims and caprices of the teachers of the word, it was going to be one word by which all must live. The word was not to be a respecter of persons. King or servant, slave or master, God gave the word for us to live by.

So, whoever deals with God must do so in accordance with his word. You cannot relate with God outside his word. The word is of great significance in the life of a believer. We don’t engage God outside his word but by his word. That is why when we speak his word back to him, he has no other alternative but to respond and act.

It is important to walk in the realisation that we live by the word of God. What your eyes see may be contrary to the word of God but when you hold on to the word, you can live by it. You may be sick but the word also says, by his stripes we are healed.

So when Paul was speaking to his son Timothy in our first scripture, he was telling him that his grandmother and mother had taught him the scriptures by which he had become wise unto salvation. All scripture is by inspiration of God. When Moses was on the mountain with God, he received the inspired word of God. Paul also told Timothy that scripture is useful—it has benefits. It is useful for teaching. If you are born and have not been taught anything, you walk empty. If you were born in the jungle and raised by animals and not taught how to live like human beings, you will live the way the animals do. The scripture will teach you the way of God—the path that will give you a better life and establish you and take you to heaven.

The scripture is also useful for rebuking. If you are not rebuked, you go wayward. Thank God for the scriptures which rebuke. Paul told them to rebuke sin publicly.

Beyond rebuking you, the scripture will correct you. It will correct your bad habits. If you allow the scripture, it will groom you very well. Allow the word of God to shape you and make you beautiful. Sometimes when you engage with the word of God, you see clearly that it is for you. When that happens, don’t pass it on. Allow the word to correct you because the word of God is useful for correcting.

The word is useful for training in righteousness. The problem we have in our country today is many of the people in power don’t have training. When you have training in righteousness, you don’t fall to any and all temptations.

The scripture has creative power. That creative power brought all things into being. When the universe didn’t exist, it brought it into being. It is able to bring new organs into being.

May the creative power of the word of God work in your life and restore whatever is missing from your life.