Hebrew 4:12 “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart”
The Word of God is not like any other spoken word in the history of the world. First of all, it is the Word spoken by God Himself, it is God Himself. It has always existed, in other words it has no beginning as we know it. It has remained the same from the beginning and it will continue to remain the same till the end. It can never change. In addition to the immutability of the Word of God, today we will be talking about the ability or uniqueness of the Word of God. In other words, what is the Word of God able to do? Why should our faith be in the Word of God rather than the word of man and why is God’s Word so reliable?
The Word of God is quick: Another word for ‘quick’ is ‘alive’. Only the Word of God is alive. It is alive because it is a person, the person of Jesus Christ. It has a spirit and it contains Life. It is life giving and life producing. There is no other word in the world that is able to achieve this. This means that whenever it is spoken in faith, it lives, just like a seed that lies dormant as if it is lifeless, but yet full of life, and once it is planted in the right environment, it lives.
The Word of God is powerful: The Word of God is powerful or in other words, effective. The Word of God has the ability to control, to influence an individual and impose itself on nature and reality. Once it is spoken it achieves with great force, what it is sent to do. With the power that the Word of God possesses, it is able to add increase and bear fruit in any situation. It is also important to add that with this power also comes guaranteed success of purpose.
The Word of God is Sharp: The bible actually qualifies the sharpness as being ‘sharper than any two edged sword’. That is pretty sharp. The double edged sword is a sword that has been sharpened on both sides of the blade. It is intended to achieve a thorough cut to an enemy in battle. The Word of God is even sharper than this instrument in its effectiveness. The sharpness of the Word of God achieves two purposes. It pierces and divides.
First of all, it is able to pierce its target, which is the human spirit or the human heart. Its effect cuts through the mind and soul and goes through and through into the spirit to achieve its purpose.
Secondly, in addition to piercing, it is also able to cleanly and completely separate lines that need dividing, which means that it discerns without mistakes. The lines that usually need to be divided in an individual are first of all the lines between the soul(mind) and the spirit and the lines between the spiritual joint and spiritual marrow. Division between soul and spirit is necessary because the soul is housed in the flesh while the Spirit of God is housed in the spirit of man. The Word of God will help give a clear line if an individual is walking according to the spirit or according to the flesh. The division between the joint and marrow is also necessary because both the joint and marrow are necessary in the Christian walk but one should not exist without the other. The marrow produces the life or blood while the joint carries out the workings produced from the marrow. The Word of God will help to show the clear lines and help expose if the life one is living in the flesh is inspired by God or not, and whether the acts in themselves are done to God’s glory and according to His ways.
The Word of God is a discerner, it judges: The Word of God has a final characteristic of discernment. It discerns the thought and the intent of the heart. The Word of God exposes the intents of the heart. It looks beyond the physical to search the intentions or purpose behind an action. It quickly reveals the motives and the source of those motives behind an individual’s actions. The Word of God is also able to discern the thought of an individual’s heart. The human heart is very powerful and this is where the thoughts are formed. The thought of a person is who he really is. An individual may know a lot of things in his mind and actually have ‘head knowledge’ of it but he will only act or speak what he believes from his thoughts.
John 1:1,2 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.”
Isaiah 40:8 “The grass withers, the flowers fade, but the word of our God remains forever.”
John 6: 63 “The Spirit is the One who gives life. The flesh doesn’t help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.”
1 Thessalonians 2:13 “For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually works also in you that believe.”
Acts 2:37 “When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”
Isaiah 55:11 “So is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
Temitope Talabi is a founding member of The Trent Voices currently reside in Austin, TX. She graduated with a PharmD from Texas Southern University in Houston, TX. She works as a community pharmacist and spends her spare time writing to build and encourage others through the word of God. Temitope is also currently working on a series of self-help books created to empower people to take charge of their health and wellness, the first of which is scheduled to be released early next year.
The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.
