Growing in the Word

How does a Christian grow in Christ?

When a child of God sits before the Word of God and allows the Spirit of God to work in his heart, he is conformed to the image of the Son of God.

The Word of God is Living (22-23)

It produces life in the heart of the believer. We hare conceived spiritually by the word!

When you encounter the word of God that is the moment that the Holy Spirit begins to work in your heart to draw you to himself.

Hebrews 4:12 ESV

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.

This is not a dead book, written by men long gone, but a book that is alive and fresh as the day that it was written. It is the very Word of God. Necessary for life!

Adrian Rogers Sermon Archive (II. You Must Respect the Word)

Lewis Chafer wrote this: “The Bible is not such a book as man would write if he could because it condemns him, or could write if he would, because it surpasses him.”

Matthew 4:4 ESV

But he answered, “It is written, “ ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ”

You and I are in desperate need of God’s Word to live as a Christian in this world. When we read and meditate on the Word we are encountering God!

The Word of God is Lasting (24-25)

Psalm 119:89 ESV

Forever, O Lord, your word is firmly fixed in the heavens.

Illustration: Estimated that the world produces 2.5 quintillion bytes of data every day! The number is incomprehensible. Yet, for so much information, such an explosion of knowledge, it will all vanish away. For all that data, there is still the problem of corruption and theft.

All flesh is like grass and the glory of man like the flower of grass.

Grass lasts for a season. The flower lasts even shorter. Man’s moment in the sun quickly fades away!

“But the word of the Lord endures forever.”

When we read and meditate on the Word we are building on that which endures forever!

The Word of God is Life-Changing (2:1-3)

God’s Word will accomplish His purpose in your life.

Isaiah 55:10–11 ESV

“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.

Meditation on God’s Word will establish you in God’s plan.

Psalm 1:1-3 “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.”

When we read and meditate on God’s Word he will conform us to His image!

Application

Get a Bible Reading Plan (Psalms and a chapter, Through the Bible in a Year, etc)

Start your day with reading the Word

Pray and ask the Holy Spirit to Guide you!