Job made this statement concerning the Word of God in Job 23:12:
I have not departed from the commands of his lips;
I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread.
And if you read Psalm 119, you will see that the Word of God is critical to the welfare of God’s people. Peter says to the dispersed Christians that like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation (1 Pet. 2:2). And that spiritual milk comes from the Word of God. In fact many versions rendered spiritual milk, as the sincere milk of the Word. Moreover, it is through the Word that we have come to the Lord in the first place, Peter had previously written you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God (1 Pet. 1:23).
All this leads us to be aware how important the Word is in God’s purposes. Accordingly, we are not surprised that Satan does his utmost to prevent the Word making progress in our lives. He is present whenever the Word of God is opened or presented to people as he seeks to makes sure tat there is no lasting benefit to those who hear it.. He is present in every church, and at every church service, where the Word of God is faithfully declared. Go back to the parable of the sower and see his activities described there. In explaining the meaning of the seed falling on the path, the Lord says: “when anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart” (Matt 13:19). What can we learn from this?
- Those who are declaring the Word should labour to make the Word understandable.
- We should be praying for those who present the Word that they will be enabled to explain clearly.
- Those listening to the Word should labour to give themselves to understanding the Word. We need to pray for ourselves that we will have hearts, minds and wills set to embrace the word. This includes not only formal presentations of the Word, but also one-to-one studies and also on our own personal studies.
- Always be aware that Satan does not want us to understand the Word. Let us not be ignorant of his ways.
- Someone who is understanding the Word is a growing Christian.
- We should be praying during and after the Word is proclaimed that it will not be snatched away by the evil one, but would be taken into people’s hearts. I feel we are lax and I confess this in myself, in praying after the Word has been preached that it would be understood and received by people.
- And remember amidst all this, we need the Word.
So let us heed the injunction of Paul to the Thessalonians: “Pray for us that the message of the Lord may spread rapidly and be honoured.” (2 Thess. 3:1b)
VENABLING 
Comments on: "We need the Word" (2)
Thanks Phillip,
I found that helpful and esp. your talk at the 9.30 service this morning. Isn’t it good that with the Lord, failure is never final?
Shalom,
Margaret
This is a good reminder to us all. Even some within the genuine Christian community.
For instance, a lot of people think that church is about a ‘building’, and get very upset when it has to be changed in some way. Others think that being a Christian is about being ‘loving’, but fail to attach God’s commands (and teaching about sin) to the ‘niceness’ quotient involved. Justin Welby has recently said that the CofE needs to remember that in the past: “The very existence of the state was felt to be threatened if there was variety of religious belief. I sometimes worry that as Anglicans we are drifting back in that direction.”
But God’s Word simply says:
“I have not departed from the commands of his lips;
I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread.”
I feel I am in a minority (even in the wider Christian community) in agreeing with Job, and God. However, I have a lot more comfort in being with God and Job, than in being with the world.