Power In The Word

TEXT: JEREMIAH 23:23-32

KEY VERSE: “Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?” (Jeremiah 23:29).

An Indian found a tract that dwelt on salvation through Jesus Christ. It spoke of the endless eternity of woe that awaited those who neglect the message. The Indian took the paper to the toilet; but as he read it, he could no longer use it to clean himself. He took the tract home and at the end of the day, God used the message in it to save him and his household. Eventually they established a couple of Bible-believing churches in India.

The bane of the success and achievement of the disloyal prophets in our text is their refusal to acknowledge the potency of the word of God. They ignored the word of God and instead fed the people with lies and dreams that originate from their rebellious minds: they effectively used their lies and false dreams to divert the hearts of their hearers away from God (verses 26,27).

We should avoid the danger of falling into the same trap today. There are many preachers today who have relegated the word of God to the background. They, instead, elevated dreams, prophecies and other unscriptural practices in their preaching. No wonder then that there are many churches but righteousness and holy living is fading out in an alarming rate. No assembly can be favoured by God when the word of God is not given the right place. The hardened heart of sinners can only be broken by the power of the word.

God wants us to embrace the “wheat” of the word of God and reject the “chaff” (dreams and visions) of modern day pleasure-seeking preachers. The power to deliver from sin and to keep us rapturable can only be found where the word of God is faithfully preached and lived out.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: There is sovereign power in God’s word.