WORD Benefits

……..the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it

(Hebrews 4:2, NKJV)

For everything that we do, there is an expectation that we will have a positive result, rarely do we do anything when we have no expectation of a return.  Whether conscious of not, this is the eternal principle of planting and harvesting, where we put in whatever resource we have including our time, and in due season we receive a return.  No one will waste time with what will not profit him in either this life or in eternity.  As believers, we are exhorted frequently in the bible and in our practice to regularly spend time in the word of God.  We get to know God as our loving Father as well as know our position as His children through faith.  Our life as His children is define and provided for in His word. Amen.

When we read through the word of God, we note there are many promises and benefits that God gives us, some with conditions.  We find tucked safely in the pages of scripture great encouragement of what the word of God offers for our lives. A passage which gives us some of these nuggets of the benefits of the word of God in our lives is (Psalm 19:7-11), reminding us that the word refreshes our souls when we are weary, it makes us wise where we need wisdom, it gives us His joy in our hearts and helps us to see His light.  The psalmist in this short passage highlights that the word of God is to be desired more than gold, more than anything else in the world - that is the power and the eternal value of the word of God.  We are definitely well advised to keep digging deeper into it.

Brethren could it be that though we read of these promises and benefits, we do not realize them as part of our reality?  Would be right to say that there is a difference between having a mental knowledge of the word of God and having the same word bear fruit in our lives?  I do not know about you but on a personal level, I confess that there are times when I have looked at my life and truthfully had to acknowledge that the promises of God are not manifesting in my circumstances.  The question is why is this the case?  If all what God has given us in His word was to be realized in our lives, we should experience life differently.  Our reference verse does carry the missing ingredient.  We are reminded that the word of God though tried and tested to be efficacious and forever faithful, the benefits it offers are not realized because we fail to join it with faith in our hearts.  Could it be that we have read the word of God with our minds, being entertained by the beautiful stories and poems it presents but fail to accept it as a living word which is able to produce the fruit it speaks of in our daily lives?  The reference chapter, speaks of entering God’s rest as promised in His word (Hebrews 4:9), but so many of us fail to know real rest in God.  Reflecting on this, it would mean that though God has promised us rest, we have not taken this in faith and so the promise is of little or no effect in our daily lives.  Rest is provided for in His word we access it by mixing this word with faith in our hearts.  Faith becomes the ground n which the word grows to fruitfulness.  Beloved, the word of God is living and active (Hebrews 4:12), let us seek to receive the word of God as living and able to change our circumstances, giving us all what it has promised.  The word mixed with faith is the secret.

Thoughts

What is your practice of reading the word of God?

How has the word impacted your life?

How would increasing faith in the word of God change your circumstances?

What is standing in your way to receiving the word through faith?