“But Jesus replied, “It is written and forever remains written,‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by EVERY word that comes out of the mouth of God.”  AMP. Today I want to talk about words of power. For a long time now, Christianity has been guided by, listened to, and studied carefully, what this verse calls:  ‘bread alone.’ The word of God has great bread for us to eat. It is about what other men heard and learnt from God and wrote down. Sometimes it is the memories of other people’s interactions with Him.

Some of us who have been around a little while, are beginning to know the bible quite well.  We use it as a reference book. But, at any given moment, the Holy Spirit can take the ‘bread’ in His book and kiss it, then it becomes ‘every word that comes out of the mouth of God.’ What we want, what we need to grow and mature is the specific – every words. Let me explain this by using the bible – because the bible is the best book to explain itself! 

In the story of the Samaritan women (John 4) Jesus and this dear lady-He-never-met-before, have a very ordinary spoken exchange by a well. The Lord asks for a drink and she points out that He wouldn’t want a drink from her. Then Jesus shares with her ‘a word from God that came from God’s mouth -a word of power.’This word He shares appears to be out of the blue and off the topic. He speaks out a deep thought. 

(V10)“Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and Who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked Him and He would have given you living water.” That one word Jesus spoke, begins a conversation that peels open her whole life and their conversation changes her. Some people would call something like this a word of knowledge. For the purposes of today’s blog, I will call it a word of power. This word had power in it to change her life. The Lord is telling her there is an everlasting, better kind of water. 

Let’s go to another example. In the Gospel of Luke we are told about a Centurion who asks Jesus to heal his servant who is ill. This centurion says to Jesus, “Lord I am not worthy that You should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my servant shall be healed” (Luke 7: 6-7) This man understood that when a man with authority speaks, those words have power in them.

Next example: Jesus is moving about amongst crowds of people in Luke 8:43-48. A little lady has a specific need so she comes up behind the Lord to touch His garment. She does not want to be noticed because she’s not meant to be there – the law says she is not allowed out with the problem she has. Jesus perceives someone with faith touches Him and asks: ‘Who was that?’ Then He says this to her: “Daughter, be of good comfort: thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace.”

What I want to say today is that we can read the bible and get information, but when we touch the heart of God or His heart reaches out to us through His Word – the bible goes from being BREAD to being A WORD FROM GOD. Don’t misunderstand me – ALL bread is good – but a word from God spoken to you or me, has His power in it to accomplish whatever He wants to do in us and for us. Psalm 107:20, Jeremiah 30:17 says “He sent His word and healed them.” Isaiah 55:11: “My word, which comes from My mouth, is like the rain and snow. It will not come back to Me without results. It will accomplish whatever I want and achieve whatever I send it to do.” We need to go beyond being satisfied with ordinary everyday bread, and go after the individually spoken words from Him. Those words that jump off the page and speak to our hearts – not our heads. I exhort us all to go and find examples where this happens for yourself. 

I exhort you to look for the WORD the Father or Jesus gives you as an individual. We pray: “speak to me Lord” whenever we read the bible – but what we want, what we need, isn’t just information. We need His words of power. Those words, when we use them as a shield and sword will transform our lives. I exhort you today, don’t be content to accept stories from the book – go after a word from God Himself. Bye 👋🏻