Power

Time flies... much quicker than we realize; even quicker than we want it to.

While we would spend hours in front of a screen everyday, the #1 excuse for not reading the Bible daily is, “I don’t have time.”

To a certain extent, most of us urbanites do find 24 hours insufficient to accomplish all that is on our to-do list. However, the decision of choosing not to read the Bible lies not on whether we have time for it or not, but we deliberately chose not to read it.

On one hand we acknowledge the authority and weightiness of the Bible in our lives. For we know in 2 Tim. 3:16 Paul wrote,

“All Scripture is breathed out by God...”

Yet, on the other hand we consciously believe it is not worth our trouble to put effort in reading the word of God.

Paul reminded the church when he writes: “For we know, brothers loved by God, that he (Christ) has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction.” (1 Thessalonians 1:4-5)

“and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.” (1 Corinthians 2:4-5)

Through a survey on the Bible — from the peculiarity of Jesus’ ministry, to God’s own account in the Genesis narrative, perhaps we can come to see how powerful the word of God has been on people’s lives.

• Jesus heals with the power of the word of God — Luke 18:35-43, Luke 5:12-13
• Jesus cast out evil spirit with the power of the word of God — Mark 9:14-20
• Jesus demonstrates power of nature in the word of God — Mark 4:37-39
• Jesus’ authority over death with the power of the word of God — Mark 5:22-41

From these stories, we learn to:

1. Recognize the power in the word of God.
2. Appreciate the power in the word of God
3. Revere the authority in the word of God.
4. Put your trust in the word of God.

Because as God said through the prophet Isaiah,

"For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it." ( Isaiah 55:10-11)

Ultimately, we learn to
BELIEVE IN THE POWER AND AUTHORITY OF THE WORD OF GOD.

“For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12)

The Bible is the word of God, with power and authority that has and continues to change people’s lives. If we chooses not to read it, then we have chosen to disregard, to reject, even to disrespect the gifts and promises God has given us.

Spend the 20 min a day to open the word of God and engage with it; allow the words to come alive in our mind; give freedom to the words to speak into our life; welcome the Holy Spirit through the words of God to transform us day after day.