Many christian venues for worship has become today too noisy. Too much talk, arguments, debating, along a stereotyped intellectual circus about the Scriptures and a little demonstration of God's power, living Word, and Spirit. Finally, contemporary christians have come across the careful warning of Jesus to the theologian Sadducees: " You know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God". God's Word is a manifestation of God's power, character, and Spirit. A King's words are not mere talk, they always carry power, life, and death. As such, God's Word is never given for persuasive arguments and mere intellectual talks. The Word of God is not about discursive eloquence and ramblings. It's not a dead scroll or a another piece of literature to study to gather some more information. The Word is living, creating, restoring lives, and building reality out of nothing. God's Word is intrinsically related to God's power and Spirit. If one knows the Word, one knows the power behind it. The power behind the Word is the Holy Spirit. If we don't know the Holy Spirit, we can never know the Word, let alone God's power. When we do not know the Holy Spirit, we read the Bible, but the Bible is not reading us, that means, the Word is not speaking to us. We just carry and study a dead scroll. Indeed, one can study and teach the Bible without knowing God. The question becomes: how to read and meditate the Bible? And what is the purpose of God's Word?

READING THE BIBLE COULD BE LEGITIMATELY FRUSTRATING  

We could read the entire Bible through and through and still fail to grasp its deepest purpose, not to mention the state of reinforced and persistent powerlessness to overcome evil in our daily life. Even to sincere Bible readers, there is a legitimate frustration that must be overcome. Few pitfalls deserve a close consideration.  

One, we benefit very little from a hasty and casual reading of the Bible. Perusing the pages of Bible with no clear purpose could be destructive because we disconnect the salvation plan from its context to fit our personal agenda. Certainly, there are doctrinal teaching, historical and political lessons, as well as archeological evidences we could gather from reading the Scriptures. However, these legitimate concerns taken together out of context become destructive and meaningless. Heaping up heavy doctrinal teaching and biblical archeological evidences upon the believers amounts to a revised version of spiritual terrorism.  

Two, we can study the Scriptures as an ordinary book, to the point of knowing it by heart, and demonstrate its literary genres and text criticism and yet fail miserably to relate to the Word of God and encounter the living Word who is Christ. Theological studies and Biblical arguments are no certificate of knowledge of the Word. The only reward of such endeavor is the compiling of biblical information and the doctrinal principles we can draw from the Scriptures. Such short term gain always fails to transform personal lives and ends up in spiritual bankruptcy. It is simply a way of filling up the spiritual void with an intellectual and doctrinal fig leaf.  2 Timothy 3: 7 makes reference to the tragedy of those who are always learning and never able to come to a knowledge of the truth. By the end of the day, such people are still walking with their frustrations and carrying the load of their disillusion and deception because they have not been able to experience a victorious life despite being biblically literate.  

In Matthew 22: 29, Jesus addresses a body of theologically-savvy debating Sadducees in those terms: "You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God". Intellectual knowledge alone of the Scriptures is not genuine knowledge of the Word. It oftentimes resonates with gross ignorance of spiritual realties and theological misjudgment. Rightfully so, Jesus is calling the attention of the Sadducees to the fact that the Scriptures are not about persuasive arguments and mere intellectual talk. The Word of God is not about discursive eloquence and ramblings. It's not a dead scroll or a another piece of literature to study to feel smart. God's Word is intrinsically related to God's power and Spirit. If you know the Word, you know the power behind it. The power behind the Word is the Spirit. If you don't know the Spirit, you will be reading a dead letter and having frustration and confusion as your portion. 

GOD'S WORD MINUS THE SPIRIT EQUALS LITERATURE AND DEAD LETTER 

Functionally, the WORD and the SPIRIT are inseparable. The Word is pregnant with the Spirit. Those who receive the seed of the Word have life in them because the Spirit is in the Word. "The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life." John 6: 63

To avoid unnecessary confusion, let's bring some more light on the meaning behind the notion of Word. The Greek refers to the "word" as LOGOS. It means "the entire communication process".Apologetics, theological controversies or debates, hermeneutics, as well as text criticism simply deal with human communication process. They do not pretend to make a transition to the spiritual realm.The Bible uses human language and communication techniques to convey thoughts from the Spirit's world. One who invests time and energy studying the Logos alone will likely reach the conclusion that the Bible is not different from any other book about human knowledge and wisdom. The patterns of the Logos work within human language process and agreed universal linguistic convention. They are not meant to take us outside their prescribed linguistic objectives and purpose. 

One who spends time studying the Logos alone is not expected to become a believer in God. Many who invested a lifetime studying the Logos alone ended up spiritually bankrupt with a bountiful harvest of  intellectual confusion and madness. The Logos is the medium within the communication process, but the Logos is not equivalent to the messenger. For instance, an estimated 62 million people worldwide speak French as a foreign language. They have a solid knowledge about French history and culture, but they are not French, and certainly will never become. The only way to becoming French is by birth or adoption. Not all who speak good French are French. Again, it is estimated that 150 million people throughout the Middle East and Africa speak Arabic, the language of the Arabs. Yet, they are not Arabs and not all of them are muslims. Speaking and teaching Arabic and the Quran and being Arab or muslim are two different things all together. Not all who debate and teach the Quran are committed muslims.  

Consider for a moment the number of christians teaching the koran or studying islam in religious institutions. A handful of christian professors and scholars are teaching the koran. Yet, they are not muslims and have no business whatsoever with Allah as a spirit. They are teaching the koran as Logos - communication process - conveying thoughts and ideas about islam. Being muslim and teaching the koran are two different things all together. To lay to rest the fallacy of equating the intellectual by-products of Biblical knowledge to a genuine relationship and knowledge of God, let us stop for a while to Satan. Satan himself is well knowledgeable about the Scriptures as Logos. He was busy quoting the Bible to Jesus during his temptation in the wilderness. And in Genesis 3, Satan was dishing out hermeneutics seminars to Eve in the garden of Eden with pointed questions such as: "Did God really say that you must not eat from any tree in the garden..?" As far as the Logos comes into the intellectual equation, Satan himself is a theologian ! By banking on the study of the Bible as Logos alone, we are dealing with linguistic communication skills as the process by which we use linguistic conventions to strictly pursue communication goals. This is a clear demonstration that cognitive approach to the Bible as Logos alone can be instrumentalized as weapon against God and mislead many to their downfall.    

Similarly, studying the Bible as Logos or communication process does not make one a believer, nor qualifies one to hearing, listening, and obeying God.Many who fell in the seduction of studying the Logos alone become either religious prisoners or non believers. The Bible is the Logos of God or the Word of God and all are welcome to have their take on it.  

Besides to the notion of Logos, the Greek translates "word" as RHEMA. The term rhema means "when words leave one's lips". When the Word becomes alive. When the author of the book himself comes to the scene to interact personally with you. The written words of the Bible become Rhema to us when we receive the grace to hear the Spirit's voice in our hearts and daily life. In such case, the verses of the Bible are leaping off the pages, becoming a living reality and taking hold of our heart. We shift from the Logos to the Rhema. We are able to hear God's voice flowing in us through spontaneous thoughts that light upon our heart (John 7: 37-39). In the Rhema experience, the Bible knowledge that we receive becomes revelation knowledge and no longer head and dead knowledge. The transition from the Logos to the Rhema is the key to relating to the Bible. 

When we receive the seed of the Word in us, we become born again. “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God" 1Peter 1:23. However, we cannot live this new birth by our own human efforts, not alone in our flesh. The human flesh cannot accomplish what only the Spirit can. It's a life in the Spirit. That's why we need the Holy Spirit to help us live this new life. We are born again by the Word and yet born again by the Spirit. Jesus' nightly meeting with Nicodemus does not leave us another alternative to entering the Kingdom of God. “Verily, verily I say unto thee, except man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." John 3:5-8. 

The Spirit and the Word are conjoined and indivisible.  The SPIRIT DWELLS AND FLOWS WITH THE WORD OF GOD. The Spirit cannot work without the Word and through the Word of God. The Word of God cannot work without His Spirit endorsing, ratifying, upholding, mandating, backing, and consenting to it. Wherever we disconnect God's Word from His Spirit, we harvest human conflicts of interests, contradictions, and scandals while the flesh takes dominion over the Word. In such case, the Word has no power whatsoever on the people. The Word is used for making money, for intellectual prowess, and becomes a pure human business. The Word + The Spirit flowing through that Word = Life, Truth, and God's character. The Word of God comes always with His Spirit's seal of approval. The Word of God imparts, conveys, and beams the Spirit. The Word of God carries His Spirit. Rightly so, the gospel message is the means through which God carries salvation to humankind because the Spirit flows through the message. That's the reason why we need the Spirit to open the eyes of our understanding to the Word. The Word of God is the Son of God. And only the Spirit brings revelation on the Word.

The question becomes: How are we to read and meditate the Bible?

THE BIBLE IS MADE FOR MEDITATION, NOT FOR READING

READ THE WORD SLOWLY, REPEATEDLY, ATTENTIVELY

Read the Bible slowly, attentively, repeatedly, and meditate upon the Word in your heart, not in your brain. Every body can read and teach the Bible. Even Muslims read and teach the Bible. Make no mistake: atheists too, are excellent theologians! But not everyone can meditate the Bible and hear the voice of the Holy Spirit. That's where a clear spiritual distance separates us all. We need the Holy Spirit's help to meditate the Bible and move to revelation. Born again christians can meditate the Bible. Meditation is a business of the heart not of the mind that is always twisting and deceptive.  Proverbs 23:7 reminds us that we think with our heart - meaning our spirit - not with our mind: "As a man thinks in his heart, so is he." Take time with a sentence, a passage of the Scriptures until you get the revelation and the light before moving. Don't be afraid even if you spend 2-3 months with the same passage of the Scriptures. Compare specific passage of the Bible with other passage of the Scriptures. Sharpen Bible verses with other Bible verses. A careless and casual seeker rarely finds hidden valuable and precious treasure.

ALL PLACES AND ALL HOURS ARE FOR MEDITATION

The Bible is given to be meditated on as Joshua 1:8 tells us: "Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful." The purpose of meditation is to guide us to take action. When we fail to act, the Book is not operative and effective. Psalm 119: 11 carefully reminds us that the Bible is to be treasured in our heart.  

Ephesians 5: 18 prompts us to meditate through singing in our hearts. Singing in our heart is a private, internal, and intimate form of relationship with the Lord.  “Be filled with the Spirit. Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.” Fix the Word in your heart through meditation as you walk the streets, ride your car, do your jogging, do your daily job assignment, and sleep. Meditate upon the Word of God day and night until you find eternal life. As John 17:3 tells us, "And this is eternal life: to know You, the only true and real God, and to know Him Jesus Christ, the Anointed One, the Messiah, whom You have sent".

1) MEDITATION OF THE WORD IS FOOD PROVISION

The Word of God is the living bread from heaven and the living water that quenches our thirst. "Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, you have no life in you". In Hebrews 5: 12-14, the Word of God is food described as both milk and solid food to provide spiritual nutrients for our growth. What it meant is that God's Word has to become part of us if we want to see God's power moving through us. Until the Word is operating, commanding, leading, ruling, directing us our daily lives, we are riding opposite to God's power. There is no substitute to God's Word. Putting the Word of God in the tabernacle, keeping consecrated bread in the tabernacle, or having a piece of the Word in our pocket speaks to the same reality: We cannot escape. God's Word has to become part of us to see his Spirit being manifested through us ! It's not enough to parade with the Bible or a consecrated bread if God's Word is not inscribed within us and in our spirit-man. Communion speaks about becoming one with. The Word has to take flesh within us and become a tangible manifestation. The Word became flesh in the person of Jesus whose life was ruled and directed by the Spirit. Christ, the living Word of God has to become living and manifested within us. Therefore, we miss it all together when we celebrate the Word and fail to become people of the Word, living by the Word. We can never know God outside His Word.

2) KNOWLEDGE COMES BY THE WORD AS THE TRUTH, THE WAY AND THE LIFE

Knowing God is always knowledge that transforms our being to become like Christ. It's moving out of darkness which is ignorance to light.  Knowing God always brings about creative and transforming power. If we are not changing according to the standards of God's image, we simply do not know God. Knowing God never happens outside God's Word. Jesus is the Word of God. Knowledge of God comes through meditation of His Word. What we meditate upon gives us spiritual character, substance, and the seeds of victory. Victory against evil comes by the Word and with the use of the Word as weapon. Jesus defeated satan in the wilderness by using the power of God's Word. God's Word is a powerful weapon against all attacks that come our way. In Matthew 4: 1-11, Jesus defeated satan by throwing against him the bullets of the Word: “It is written . . .It is written . . . .It is written!” We do not chase satan with religious rituals or by shouting on top of our lungs. We chase demons away by taking authority over them, but we resist satan with the Word of God.

3) READ THE WORD AND ALLOW THE WORD TO READ AND JUDGE YOU

As you read the Bible, allow the Word to be reading you. God's Word is active. As we meditate upon the Word, we experience that God's Word is incisive, operative, and penetrating. It is laying bare our hidden secrets and delusions. The Word is "sharper than two-edged sword". The Word cuts into the innermost hidden and concealed corners of human being, where no surgeon's scalpel would reach. The Word is piercing and nothing escapes its touch. Meditation brings revelation and moves us to another level of relationship with God. If we are not moving, we are not engaging the Word. We are still at the mental reading and processing level. Indeed, God's Word deals with the heart, the center of our personality. It does not entertain our intellect.

God's Word judges the thoughts and intentions of the heart.  “For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.” Hebrews 4:12

As you go for a medical check up, allow the medical doctor to reveal to you sickness and dysfunction you are not necessary aware of and be ready to receive treatment from your ailments. The Word judges, (kritikos), meaning it divides and separates. It judges the intentions and motivations behind our mind and heart. It uncovers the secrets sins lurking behind our motivations to bring conviction so that we can submit to the truth. Only the Word has the unique ability to open our hearts to the truth by revelation. Ultimately we are to be judged by the Word and not the Word being judged by us. 

John 12: 47-48 points out that the Word has the final say and delivers the verdict on the day of judgment: “He who rejects Me and does not receive My sayings, has one who judges him; the word I spoke is what will judge him at the last day". We do not carry judgment outside the law. Equally noteworthy, God will never judge us outside His unchanging Word. The Word has the final verdict for all.

4) THE WORD, THE WATER, AND THE SPIRIT: THE MIRACULOUS POWER OF A NEW BIRTH 

John 6: 63 tells us that, "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life." The water, the Word, and the Holy Spirit are functionally inseparable in order to achieve a new birth and salvation for our lives. As Ephesians 2: 1 tells us, we are all born spiritually dead in our sins and iniquity. Because of the state of our spiritual death, we are unable to be fulfilled and know God despite our sincere efforts. This inherited spiritual defect has left us with the legacy of the flesh and religion as means of self-fulfillment. We do religion and yet we are not Spirit-led and Spirit- filled. We are religious but not genuine christians. Religion leaves us with a certain attendant dissatisfaction. Christians are those who are Spirit- led and Spirit-filled. Genuine children of God or Christians are regenerate and live a supernatural life. To be regenerate means becoming a new creation. 

In 2 Corinthians 5:17, Paul expounds what it means to be regenerate. "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things have passed away and all things have become new." Thus, because of this new birth, from now on we do not recognize people according to the flesh. New creation refers to the notion of creation from nothing or a "founding as in a new city". A brand new city of God has been built in us after the destruction of the old city within us. There is nothing comparable between the former and the new city. 

The washing of regeneration is not an improved version of the old self but the miracle of the birth of a totally new person in Christ by the power of the Spirit. The new creation takes place by the Word, the water, and the Spirit.

5) THE WORD HAS A CLEANSING POWER

God's Word is not a mere literary genre. It has the power to cleanse our spiritual filth and iniquity. In Psalm 51: 7, David the king after he committed a murder and raped a married woman, pleaded God to "Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow". Only the Word of God can cleanse us from our sins and spiritual corruption when we take a step of repentance. Isaiah 1: 18 emphasizes that, "Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. "  Psalm 119: 9 gives us a clue to the cleansing power of God's Word. "How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your Word." Obedience and faith in the Word has the power to cleanse us of all our wrongs. Jesus in John 15: 3 gives assurance to his disciples that they are already clean because of the Word they received and believed in. "You are already clean because of the Word which I have spoken to you" .

In Ezekiel 36: 25, the Lord said, "Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols." 

The Word is the means of salvation from what has costed us our downfall from spiritual cleanse to our state of spiritual pollution. James 1: 21 firmly advises the believers to get rid of all the filth and evil in their lives, and humbly accept the Word God has planted in their hearts, for it has the power to save their souls. God's Word has a purification power or cleansing power to restore us to our original nature. We are made " holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God's word.” Ephesians 5: 26.

6) THE WORD RENEWS THE MINDS

In Romans 12: 2, Paul firmly pleads with the believers to shift their way of thinking into godly patterns of thinking.  "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God."

We cannot change our heart until we accept to change our mind. Repentance means simply to "have a change of mind". The difference between unbelievers and Christians lies mostly in the way of thinking. Once we repented and received Jesus as Lord and Savior, a new mind comes along a new heart. Now, stopping the old patterns of thinking remains the biggest battlefield. The only way we can be kept in slavery and dominion to evil power is through the mind. We become what we think.  Spiritual warfare mainly takes place on the arena of mind control to direct the thinking. There is a raging battle within us between following our sinful nature or following the Spirit. As Paul tells us in Romans 8: 5-8, "Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace. For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God's laws, and it never will. That's why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God. " 

God's Word teaches us that, to have a godly living we must have a godly thinking or mind. That's why it is imperative for us to renew our mind through the Word of God. Renewal of the mind comes to us when we fix our mind on the Word of God through meditation 24 hours.

"And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise." Philippians 4: 8

If we do not fix our mind on godly thinking, we are still in bondage of sin. That's why the Word teaches us: Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think" …

"Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception." Ephesians 4: 21-23 

It will never be enough to emphasize that the power to overcome the sinful nature in us is not our making and does not come through our personal efforts or sacrifices. If we have the Spirit of God living in us, the same Spirit has power to take all control through us. The power to overcome evil is not ours. By our own effort, we can never overcome evil. Victory over sin is the work of the Spirit. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. Philippians 2:13 reminds us that,  ‘For it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.’

7) THE WORD CREATES AND BRINGS LIFE

The word of God is active. The Greek word is energes from which we get our word energy. It is powerful, dynamic, full of energy. The Greek makes it boldly clear: God's Word is energy (energes), meaning that the Word is active, full of vitality, living. The Word of God is dynamic, energizing, moving, powerful. It is not a dead corpse that cannot move a mountain. The Word of God is the power of God. The Word is able to touch and carry task no human can accomplish. God's Word is a powerful weapon. The essential mark of God's Word is its dynamic efficacy and inexhaustible life.

GOD'S WORD IS INEXHAUSTIBLE ENERGY AND A POWER TRIP

Einstein’s greatest equation, E = mc² is simply a download from the Hebrew Bible story of creation. This equation shows us how we can produce mass (m) out of the speed of light (c) and energy (e) . Energy and mass are interchangeable. Energy can become mass and mass can be converted into pure energy. Energy can be used to create massive objects that did not exist previously or out of nothing. The mass we get comes from the available energy: m = E/c². Everything around us in the world came out of light, through the use of energy, which is the Voice that spoke it. To build a galaxy, we just need to pull together atoms through the observance of photons of light to make it visible. 

Psalm 33: 6-9 recalls that God spoke, and it was; He commanded, and it stood fast. When God speaks, His Word contains the very thing itself, because God is the fountain of life. God builds things and reality with his Word that carries his every bidding.

Hebrew 11: 3 tells us that the visible worlds were framed by the Word of God. “By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth... For he spake, and it was.”

The spoken voice of God frames the mathematical equation, the frequency, the mass, etc... in order to manifest a visible reality. Energy is power, and the Word of God has power to create. The Word of God is the ultimate power trip to create and bring reality to visibility because His Spirit and Light dwell in His Word. When God speaks His word, His Word is self-fulfilling. God's Word accomplishes the thing which it says without any external help.  “So is my Word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. " Isaiah 55: 11

GOD'S WORD IS LIFE AND POWER TRIP

The Word of God is a power and life trip. When the Word is spoken it accomplishes its purpose beyond distance and barriers. Distance is not a barrier when the Word is spoken. When Naaman, the Syrian general came to the prophet Elisha to receive a cure from his leprosy, God's Word was enough to heal him: "Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed.” 2 Kings 5: 10

When a Roman officer met Jesus to request a healing for his dying servant, he understood God's Word to perform beyond distance and barrier. In Luke 7: 6, the Roman officer urged Jesus not to be physically present to command a healing miracle. "Lord, don't trouble yourself by coming to my home, for I am not worthy of such an honor. Just say the word from where you are, and my servant will be healed."

In John 11, a short word was spoken to bring back to life someone who had been dead for four days. At the tomb of the dead Lazarus, Jesus shouted, "Lazarus, come out!" And the dead man came out. Indeed, The Word of God "gives life to the dead and calls into existence that which does not exist" Romans 4: 16-17 

When Jesus landed in the region of the Gadarenes, he saw two violent men possessed by a legion of demons. Putting people in chains was the efficient way for this region to deal and control evil possessed people. In Matthew 8: 32, it took Jesus only few words to bring about a solution and restore lives: "All right, go ! " Jesus commanded them. So the demons came out of the men.  

In Matthew 9: 6, Jesus turned to a paralyzed man and said, "Stand up, pick up your mat, and go home!". To a man suffering with leprosy, Jesus in Mark 2: 41 said, "Be healed!" And instantly the leprosy disappeared, and the man was healed. 

It's only when our words become God's words and in harmony with God's Word that they are not void. When our words agree with God's words, they have dominion and power. In Jeremiah 1: 12, God said " I will hasten to my Word to perform it ". And in Mark 16: 20, the disciples went in agreement with the words of Jesus, and "the Lord working with them and confirming the Word by miraculous signs following." God's Word on human lips when we speak in faith is as creative and powerful as God's own Word coming from His mouth. Matthew 10:20 indicates that when we stand in agreement with the Spirit in speaking, "it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaks in you".

God has been looking for a legislative governmental body to rewrite decrees in order to reverse cycles of death, poverty, and stagnation and create life on earth. God is looking for people who know how to use His Word to create things and matter out of nothing. God is looking for people who produce life by His Word and create things out of nothing. We have to be carrier of His light and life-giving Word into the world.

Narcisse Jean Alcide Nana