“For this reason we also constantly thank God that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe” (1 Thessalonians 2:13).

I believe it was the first book I ever read that was distinctly Christian, Andrew Murray’s The New Life.  It was in this little book that I first read these words from the apostle Paul.  The lesson?  God’s word works in you if you will but believe it.

I do not know how I knew it, but somehow I knew that in becoming a Christian it meant that you took the Bible as the word of God.  The whole thing, including the things you don’t understand, as well as those parts you don’t necessarily agree with.  From cover to cover, it is God’s word to mankind.  

What is encouraging is the truth that, while in no wise could I ever keep it all myself, the word is at work in me producing the very thing it says.  There are two other passages the tell us the same thing; one is from the prophet Isaiah, the other from St. Paul again.  

Here is what the Lord said through the prophet:

“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,

And do not return there without watering the earth

And making it bear and sprout,

And furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater;

So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth;

It will not return to Me empty,

Without accomplishing what I desire,

And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:10-11).

The word, you see, has power in and of itself to produce what it says.  Like the seed sown in fertile soil, it produces its fruit thirty, sixty, and an hundredfold (see Parable of the Sower).  The soil is a receptive heart, one ready not only to receive the word of God, but to believe it.  

And then Paul says this,

“Work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:12-13).  

How is it that God does this?  By His word and His Spirit.  

To state another truth:  words have power, all words have power.  In words are the powers of life and death.  So it is that God’s words have the power of life–if we will but believe them.  

If a man wants to change, if he wants to become more like Christ, here is the key:  take in the word of God, believe it and hold it dear to your heart.  Do not doubt what God says; instead, know that what you hear, read, and believe will make you like that.  It will do its thing in you if you let it; it cannot help but produce what it says if it has your consent.  Which is why my friend and elder Duane Feldpausch always says, “All we have is our ‘Yes.’”  So we say to the Lord and His word, “Yes, Lord, I believe.”