Life in God's Word, January 15

Vital Power of the Word

It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. John 6:63.FLB 21.1

Every seed has in itself a germinating principle. In it the life of the plant is enfolded. So there is life in God's Word. Christ says, “The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” ... In every command and in every promise of the Word of God is the power, the very life of God, by which the command may be fulfilled and the promise realized. He who by faith receives the Word is receiving the very life and character of God.^{59Christ's Object Lessons, 38.}FLB 21.2

By partaking of this Word our spiritual strength is increased; we grow in grace and in a knowledge of the truth. Habits of self-control are formed and strengthened. The infirmities of childhood—fretfulness, willfulness, selfishness, hasty words, passionate acts—disappear, and in their place are developed the graces of Christian manhood and womanhood.^{60Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students, 207.}FLB 21.3

In its power, men and women have broken the chains of sinful habit. They have renounced selfishness. The profane have become reverent, the drunken sober, the profligate pure. Souls that have borne the likeness of Satan have been transformed into the image of God.^{61Education, 172.}FLB 21.4

Would you become assimilated to the divine image? ... Would you drink of the water which Christ shall give you, which shall be in you a well of water springing up into everlasting life? Would you bear fruit to the glory of God? Would you refresh others? Then with heart hungering for the bread of life, the Word of God, search the Scriptures, and live by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Your soul's sanctification and righteousness will result from faith in the Word of God, which leads to obedience of its commands. Let the Word of God be to you as the voice of God instructing you, and saying, “This is the way, walk ye in it.” Isaiah 30:21. Christ prayed, “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.” John 17:17.^{62The Signs of the Times, September 5, 1895.}FLB 21.5