"The Power in God's Word"

"He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions." (Psalms 107:20)

 I know that I do not need to remind anyone about this, but I do need to remind myself, that God's word has the power to change lives! If it is a healing that you are looking for, then healing is easy; Jesus healed many people over these last 7,000 plus years, but of all those people that He healed from their sickness, none continued to live beyond their years on this earth. No healing of the physical body will be enough to deliver us from destruction; that kind of deliverance can only happen through a changed person; one that goes from being spiritually dead, to being alive in Christ. It is really hard to explain that to people, because unless you have actually experienced that transformation yourself, you can hardly imagine how it happens or what it must be like. There are a couple of verses from John 1:1 through John 1:18 that are easy for people to not agree upon; like verse 13, "Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." Jesus touches on this very subject in His conversation with Nicodemus, saying, "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." (John 3:5) In the quest to make this as simple as I possibly can, the explanation of the meaning of Jeremiah 33:3, that says, "Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not," there is absolutely no way that man can see the Kingdom of God unless God has given that man His Spirit to experience it for himself. That said, God has given us His word; we may not be able to share God's Spirit with anyone, but we are able to share His word, and His word has power! Paul gives us the example of how this works in 1 Corinthians 2:14, saying, "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." I think we make way too much out of the simple message that is delivered in God's word, trying to make it more interesting or more dramatic, when all it needs to be is exactly what God has delivered unto us...

"When I first came to you, dear brothers and sisters, I didn't use lofty words and impressive window to tell you God's secret plan. For I decided that while I was with you I would forget everything except Jesus Christ, the one who was crucified. I came to you in weakness -timid and trembling. And my message and my preaching were very plain. Rather than using clever and persuasive speeches, I relied only on the power of the Holy Spirit. I did this so you would trust not in human wisdom but in the power of God." (2 Corinthians 2:1-5) NLT