One of the greatest statements regarding the Word of God is found in Hebrews 4:12.  “The word of God is living 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”.

One of the primary functions of the Word of God is given in this verse as “dividing asunder of soul and spirit”.  This ministry of the Word is becoming more relevant in this era of Christianity which is gravitating towards emotions rather than the truth as the basis of worship.  An emotional ‘high’ is the expected experience of a ‘good’ worship service and where this cannot be achieved the worship service is labeled as ‘dry’.  But is this correct in the light of the scripture?

 

If we have the Word of God applied into our lives it will divide asunder the soul and spirit.  The spirit of a man has the ability to communicate with God and thus worship God while the soul of man has the emotions, intellect and will.  Because of the lack of the knowledge and usage of the Word of God our worship is becoming more soul centered and not spirit centered.  What is seen mostly in the public worship of evangelical Christianity is a demonstration of the soul and not the spirit.  But we do not realize this as we have confused the two so much that we are not able now to see the difference.  But the Word of God if used regularly will show us the difference.   It is by God communicating with us through the scripture and the Spirit that we become true worshippers.  We must know that the Spirit of God does not operate in a ‘vacuum’ but rather in the environment of the Word of God.

 

Left to ourselves we will be misled to believe that ‘our high experience’ is what God is all about.  This is a grave mistake.  True worship begins when we come to ‘nothing’ before God.  Paul, Moses, Job, Isaiah and Daniel are a few examples.  Our ‘experience’ cannot satisfy God’s heart.  He is seeking worshippers.  But are we found by Him?  Or does He have to look elsewhere because of our self (soul) centeredness?  We are bent on having a ‘great time with Jesus’ in our worship service and not worshipping God whose Name is Holy.

 

The scriptures must be the main tool in our missions.  The gospel is the starting point in our spiritual journey and it needs to be conditioned with the Word of God all throughout. So the ‘Best book to read’ still ‘is the Bible’.  And the next line goes on to say that ‘if you read it everyday it will help you all the way’.  Yes let us read and study the scriptures on a daily basis to keep emotions and intellect from interfering too much in our worship.  They both are useful but they should not lead us the wrong way.  They are good servants but bad masters.  They must be kept under the spirit that is saturated with the Word of God.

So, it is vital that we promote the Bible the word of God in all our missions.  For “All scripture is given by the inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, reproof , for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect thoroughly furnished unto all good works” (2Timothy 3:16,17).