The Power of God’s Word to Transform
Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years… He humbled you… to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. (Deut 8:2-3)
You are warmly welcome! This year we focus on the theme: Conforming to God’s Word for Transformation.
Our common experiences show how powerful a word is: for example, in armed forces, a command is very powerful and must be obeyed without questioning; in court, the judgment is so powerful that it entertains no further questions from either party except in the next appellate level; and there are some powerful people in your office or in government whose word can really transform – for worse or for better. These common experiences should point us to the power of words. More so, there is immense power in God’s Word to transform.
In the book of Exodus, we find a nation enslaved by the superpower of the world then; this nation in slavery are the descendants of Israel – a name that was conferred on him after successfully wrestling with and angel; the prince was subdued for over four hundred years in Egypt. Seven times between chapters 5 and 10, the Lord God said to Egypt: “Let my people go.” This word was so powerful that it left the superpower on her knees, totally disarmed. Leaving fertile Egypt landed the Israelites in a wilderness that was totally deficient of the good food that they were accustomed to. They were ushered into a forced fast! Later on in the journey, God teaches the lesson explicitly: man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. This Scripture is quoted by no one else other than Jesus Christ when he was tempted by the devil towards the end of his fasting. Our generation should go back to it more often, and draw life from every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.
The power of God’s Word to transform is seen right from the beginning when God created by His Word. Much later in the book of Esther, God seems to be silent, but during and after the three days of prayer and fasting, God moved the heart of the King and a complete reversal of the lethal plan to annihilate the Jews was achieved. The man Haman who had built the killer gallows to hang Mordecai was himself hanged! In the New Testament we see many similar instances: Paul himself was completely transformed by God’s Word – both his Bible and the revelation on the road to Damascus; and he was never the same persecutor again, but instead changed to a preacher of the gospel. That is all the power of God’s Word to transform. Seek to live by God’s Word and experience true transformation for life today and to eternity.
Happy New Year! God bless you abundantly!