12 SEPTEMBER 2022 - There Is Power in God’s Word!

“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

(2 Timothy 3:16-17)

When one reads the Bible, it will be hard to miss its insistence that there is power in God’s Word. It is a truly justifiable insistence. Right from page one, the reader finds that God created the heavens and the earth, the light, land, seas, and creatures—all by His Word! Reading the prophecies delivered by God’s prophets and angels, and healings accomplished by God’s Word incarnate—this sheer reality of power in God’s Word is evident.

The first Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer was so convicted of the power in God’s Word, that when he compiled and composed our Book of Common Prayer (BCP 1662), he ensured that the BCP itself consists primarily of God’s Word, either directly quoted from the Bible or paraphrased. Cranmer wanted to help people encounter God’s Word and be touched and transformed through its power. Richard Hooker, an early and influential Anglican theologian also noted and wrote about the continuing presence of God’s breath, Spirit, and power in His Word.

This reality of power in God’s Word was also experienced in our time by a new Christian when she began reading the Bible. She further witnessed the power of God’s Word touching and transforming her boyfriend. As a new convert, she joined one of our parishes which I was serving in. That parish had a system of caring and supporting new converts by teaching them to have a daily Quiet Time (QT) with God. It essentially involves three steps: read God’s Word, respond to God in prayer; apply God’s Word to her life. The parish taught her a little exercise for reading God’s Word: write her observation, interpretation and how she will apply God’s Word to her life. She was glad to include QT into her life daily, but it irked her boyfriend, because it interfered with the time they had for dating. She did not want to leave QT till after she reached home from their dates, because she knew she would be too tired to have her QT with God properly by then. She also did not want to meet her Cell Group Leader with an incomplete week of QT notes. If she did not complete her QT properly beforehand, her boyfriend found she wasn’t relaxed on their dates. Out of sheer exasperation, he offered to do the QT notes for her, in the hope that they will have more time together and she can be relaxed on their dates. So, he began reading the assigned Bible passages, recording his observations, interpretations, and potential applications in life. As he kept on doing this, he soon came to have faith in Jesus Christ; he soon became a Christian too. Both were touched and being transformed by the power of God’s Word.

Friends, the power in God’s Word will continue to touch and transform you too—as you read, mark and inwardly digest God’s Word; writing your observations and interpretation, praying and applying God’s word in your life. There is power in God’s Word!

Rev. Joseph Goh