The Blessing of the Word

Hello everyone,

How are you doing on this day? I hope well and bubbling in the Lord. Happy New Month. I pray this month will be a glorious one for you and yours in Jesus name, amen.

Primary Text

“This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.” Joshua 1v8 (KJV)

The Bible is God speaking to us. It is the Word of God. John 1v1 (AMP) says “In the beginning [before all time] was the Word (Christ), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God Himself.” For us to know God more, we need to study and meditate upon His Word. Unfortunately, the study and meditation of the Word of God sometimes takes a back seat as we go about our daily lives. But we need to see it as the imperative bread by which we live by; knowing that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word that proceeds out of the mouth of God (Deuteronomy 8v3; Matthew 4v4). George Muller was a great man of prayer who discovered the place of the Word and the teaching which the Holy Spirit gave to it. (Please see below quite long excerpt on him below). One thing he highlights is the less you know of the Word, the more you should read it, for the Holy Spirit will teach you the Word by the Word. Furthermore, the less you desire to read the Word, the more you should read it because in reading it you desire to read it more.

Prayer

Father, I thank You for Your Word which You have given to us. Give me a deep thirst and longing for Your Word. Give me a deep revelation of Your Word even by Your Spirit in Jesus name, amen.

Excerpt from George Muller

‘Now the scriptural way of reasoning would have been: God Himself has condescended to become an author, and I am ignorant about that precious book which His Holy Spirit has caused to be written through the instrumentality of His servants, and it contains that which I ought to know, and the knowledge of which will lead me to true happiness; therefore I ought to read again and again this most precious book, this book of books, most earnestly, most prayerfully, and with much meditation; and in this practice I ought to continue all the days of my life. For I was aware, though I read it but little, that I knew scarcely anything of it. But instead of acting thus and being led by my ignorance of the word of God to study it more, my difficulty in understanding it, and the little enjoyment I had in it, made me careless of reading it (for much prayerful reading of the word gives not merely more knowledge, but increases the delight we have in reading it); and thus, like many believers, I practically preferred, for the first four years of my divine life, the works of uninspired men to the oracles of the living God. The consequence was that I remained a babe, both in knowledge and grace. In knowledge, I say; for all true knowledge must be derived, by the Spirit, from the word. And as I neglected the word, I was for nearly four years so ignorant, that I did not clearly know even the fundamental points of our holy faith. And this lack of knowledge most sadly kept me back from walking steadily in the ways of God.

For when it pleased the Lord in August 1829 to bring me really to the Scriptures, my life and walk became very different. And though ever since that I have very much fallen short of what I might and ought to be, yet by the grace of God I have been enabled to live much nearer to Him than before. If any believers read this who practically prefer other books to the Holy Scriptures, and who enjoy the writings of men much more than the word of God, may they be warned by my loss. I shall consider this book to have been the means of doing much good, should it please the Lord, through its instrumentality, to lead some of His people no longer to neglect the Holy Scriptures, but to give them that preference which they have hitherto bestowed on the writings of men.

‘Before I leave this subject, I would only add: If the reader understands very little of the word of God, he ought to read it very much; for the Spirit explains the word by the word. And if he enjoys the reading of the word little, that is just the reason why he should read it much; for the frequent reading of the Scriptures creates a delight in them, so that the more we read them, the more we desire to do so. ‘Above all, he should seek to have it settled in his own mind that God alone by His Spirit can teach him, and that therefore, as God will be inquired of for blessings, it becomes him to seek God’s blessing previous to reading, and also whilst reading. ‘He should have it, moreover, settled in his mind that although the Holy Spirit is the best and sufficient Teacher, yet that this Teacher does not always teach immediately when we desire it, and that therefore we may have to entreat Him again and again for the explanation of certain passages; but that He will surely teach us at last, if indeed we are seeking for light prayerfully, patiently, and with a view to the glory of God.’ (Excerpt from a work in four volumes, The Lord’s Dealings with George Muller. J. Nisbet & Co., London IN With Christ in the School of Prayer, Andrew Murray).