God’s Word: Living and Active What does it mean when we hear people say the Bible is “alive”?
“For the word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, even penetrating as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12
My friend, Pastor Mike Murphy, shared these thoughts on this question, and referenced this verse (above) from Hebrews:
We have all heard this verse often, and have quoted this verse often. Each time letting all know, His Word is alive, living and active.
Scripture has a pulse, as the mind of God is present in it. His Word speaks to us, it runs after us, and it grips ahold of us.
In the Greek, that first part of this verse above literally reads, “living for the Word of God is”, showing us that His Word is unlike any other words we will ever read. All other words we will ever read are dead, words that may still speak to us, but words of the past.
But His Word stands active and ongoing, past, present, and future, speaking to every culture, each society, and every nation, not telling us what we want to hear, but with each word breathing into us the words we need to hear.
C. G. Spurgeon would say of this Living Word, "Why, the Book has wrestled with me; the Book has smitten me; the Book has comforted me; the Book has smiled on me; the Book has frowned on me; the Book has clasped my hand; the Book has warmed my heart. The Book weeps with me, and sings with me; it whispers to me, and it preaches to me; it maps my way, and holds up my goings.” His Word is far more than just a historical record, His revelation is penetrating and life-shaking, bringing to us eternal life in the face of certain death.”
Here’s the response of another friend, Karen Christopherson:
The Bible is alive. Unlike a novel that has an ending, and the story is over, the Bible leads us to hope eternal, changes our hearts and lives through its words.
It's alive because God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are alive. The words of Jesus are never out of date. They still guide us.
The Holy Spirit brings them to the forefront when we're in need. They comfort us when we need comforting. They lead us in our decisions. They teach us how to pray, how to love one another as God loves us.
They show us the past in order to teach us how to have a better future.
From the first page to the last, it leads us to Jesus, the resurrected Son of God, our only hope for salvation. Yes, the Word of God is alive.
As we discussed this question, here’s what I said:
Yes, since the Holy Spirit makes the Word of God connect with actual needs in our lives, in our hearts and minds, and these 66 books were all inspired by God, His Word is alive.
God’s Word is profitable for teaching and correction, and the Bible helps to strengthen and establish us.
In John 1:1 we read Jesus is the Word, or Logos.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
Literally we come to know the mind and heart of God, and we come to know Him through His Word…through the ministry of the Holy Spirit making His Word come alive to us.
That first chapter of John tells us how Jesus was present and active in Creation, and verse 4 says, “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.”
Take time to read this whole chapter…and if you need a Bible, send me a message. I would be glad to help you get a Bible if you don’t have a copy.
Nowadays, websites like Bible Hub have lots of versions of God’s Word available to you, and you can even look at the original languages (Hebrew, Koine Greek, and now and then Aramaic) by using their free study tools.
Growing up we lived near a small Bible college and seminary housed at a Christian camp. My senior year of high school I had the joy of taking New Testament Greek at this school. God’s Word came alive as we learned to read the book of John first from the original Greek language. What a joy!
The most solid foundation you can lay for your life is through studying His Word.
Don’t squander your life scrolling for hours on social media. (I have to remind myself as well.) You’ll lose your ability to focus deeply if you do. But God can renew your mind if you ask Him to help you recover your attention span.
My spiritual mentor, Annabelle, taught me to pray as I open God’s Word. “Ask the Holy Spirit to teach you, to help you understand the Bible.”
God gives wisdom to everyone who asks Him for insight into His Word.
Do you want to read the most powerful, well written book ever? Read the Bible.
Psalm 1:2-3 (NASB) says of those who love His Word:
“But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night. And he will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf 🍃 does not wither; and whatever he does, he prospers.”
I can personally attest to this. The most vibrant growth in my life has come from delighting in His Word.
Whenever I get distracted and don’t spend time in His Word, I struggle a lot more.
In China, back when I was teaching at a college there, people couldn’t legally obtain a copy of the Bible except through the government approved Three Self Church.
God’s Word is very precious to my brothers and sisters in Asia. Gathering in homes to worship God and study the Bible was illegal, and if caught, they could face time in jail.
But the house church in China has thrived because people understand how life changing the gospel really is—and they have been willing to risk their lives to study His Word together.
There are many places in the world where people are persecuted for following Jesus.
In America, many of us have more than one copy of the Bible at our fingertips. We have Bible apps and audio Bibles. But many of us take His Word for granted.
I don’t ever want to forget how precious God’s Word really is, how life-changing these words of life can be.
I don’t want to leave my Bible on the shelf. No other words bring life and hope the way the Holy Bible does.
I love this book by Timothy Botts. Portraits of the Word shares great verses of the Bible in expressive calligraphy, and I enjoy reflecting on His Word illustrated by this gifted calligrapher.
Even when I went through a very difficult time emotionally, God kept breathing life into me through His Word.
His love finds powerful expression through His living Word.
His love sustains us and produces fruit in us as we allow His Word to shape and form us into His image.
His Word is life.
For many years I would write a verse or passage and hang it near my bed or somewhere I would see it often. Those words became part of me, and His Word strengthened me and encouraged my heart. That’s a practical example of the Word being and active and alive.
I can still remember many of verses I memorized as God strengthened me through His Word during tough times.
The Bible is God’s expression of His redemptive love for us.
My friend, Mike Murphy, challenged us to consider whether we truly know Christ as our Savior and Lord:
Ask yourself a question. Do you possess Christ, or do you just profess Christ? Because there is an eternity of difference between the two.
“Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!” 2 Corinthians 13:5
In the epistle of 1 Peter 1:23 we read:
This passage describes how we are born again as He gives us new life for eternity, through an imperishable seed, the “living and abiding word of God.”
If you have personally experienced this new life and you have been born again, you understand how God’s Word came alive in your heart.
Ephesians 2 describes how apart from Christ we are dead in our trespasses and sins. If we are spiritually dead, we cannot really choose anything. But in verse 4 and forward, we read this: “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus…for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.”
By His grace, we experience forgiveness and our hearts are washed and made new. A transformation takes place inside of us, a lasting, eternal transformation.
We now have a genuine hope because of this salvation. He has rescued us from darkness and transformed us into His light. We become His children and joint heirs with Christ. A marvelous transformation takes place!
John 15 is a good reminder of what abiding in Christ means. We draw strength and power from the Vine as we abide in Him.
God’s Word says Christ lives in us, and we are made new as He transforms our hearts and lives.
I also think of the verse that says He inhabits the praise of His people. What a powerful example of His Presence inhabiting our hearts as we sing or utter words of gratitude and praise.
We enter into a life giving, transformative relationship with the Living God!!
Apart from the Bible, we wouldn’t know about this amazing gift and this eternal hope made possible through Christ’s sacrificial death and resurrection. The Holy Spirit gives us the faith to embrace His Word as truth.
Ephesians 1 talks about how He loved us, even before the foundation of the world, and adopted us as His children. The Holy Spirit seals this transaction, much like earnest money locks in a real estate offer. Our hope for all eternity has been secured.
God’s Word never returns void. He accomplishes His purposes through His Word.
That’s one reason I share verses from the Bible often as I write. My words don’t contain this kind of power. The Word of God endures forever.
At various times in my life, God has brought a verse or passage to mind during times of prayer. He speaks to our hearts often through His Word.
One passage talks about how the sheep know the voice of the Shepherd. We develop an intimacy with the Lord as we spend time in prayer and meditating on His Word.
He renews our minds in this way. We have the mind of Christ.
This verse, Ezekiel 36:26 captures the theme of the book I am writing:
“…and I will give you a new heart and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart.”
I love how God has done a powerful work of transformation in my own heart and life.
Years ago, I studied in a graduate program for counseling. But I recognized even then traditional therapy has significant limitations.
Certainly, people may benefit from the unconditional positive regard of a therapist who listens and offers an opportunity to be heard. A skilled counselor can be helpful and many times the validation and tools gained help people heal and grow.
But I knew from my own experience, sometimes clients just experience “tolerable recovery.” They need deeper healing.
I have had the joy of accompanying people into God’s loving Presence where they experience deeper healing.
I often say the power to heal doesn’t come from me or other human beings. Sure, we might help someone process trauma. Sometimes techniques like EMDR can help people experience healing from trauma. Some of my friends use EMDR as they assist their clients with traumatic memories. I am thankful these techniques exist.
But when it comes to deeper heart change, God is the Wonderful Counselor, the Prince of Peace who transforms our hearts of stone into tender, responsive hearts.
My life has been transformed through the power of His living Word.
Even understanding the Hebrew Word Hesed found in the Old Testament has been a source of healing and transformation for me. I experience secure attachment with my Creator as I understand His steadfast, covenant love, His lovingkindness and enduring devotion. This Hebrew Word describes a redemptive love far deeper than mere human love.
My time spent studying this concept of God’s lovingkindness, His Hesed, has changed me.
I married later in life, and as I have shared before, the adjustment was tough for two middle aged people who had been single for many decades before we met.
Thankfully I had reflected on Hesed, and what the marriage covenant we made was grounded in. After several stressful months trying to get the hang of relating to each other, God reminded me of those Bible passages about His Hesed.
We didn’t really have the power in ourselves to fulfill our vows, at least not easily. We were committed, but we weren’t relating to each other with loving kindness like God had called us to do.
God reminded me that as we formed a covenant with Him when we said “I do” some profound mystery took place at the same time. By forming a covenant with each other and God, we were reminded that God would supply the power to live out this covenant as we look to Him. What a relief to realize this truth!
Ten years later (almost) we recognize our marriage has grown stronger because of His Hesed, at work in us. The love that will not let us go has held us together through the ups and downs of marriage.
When we apply His Word in our lives and relationships, we see the Holy Spirit empowering us to live out His truth and wisdom from His Word.
Hudson Taylor, a missionary to China in the early days, said these wise words:
“Do not have your concert first and then tune your instrument afterwards.
Begin the day with the Word of God and prayer, and get first of all into harmony with Him.”
We can get into the habit of beginning our day out of tune. The enemy has used the internet to create addictive patterns and rewire our brains.🧠
Rather than spending time in prayer and meditating on His Word, many of us rush past this vital source of life and hope, and we pick up our phones or turn on our computers instead.
But you know what? This won’t fill us up. Instead, scrolling will leave us empty and depleted.
God’s Word has power.
His Word can strengthen and heal us.
We become more like our Savior through time spent with Him, allowing His Word to transform us.
Our minds and hearts need the Living Water, the Bread of Life to feed us and sustain us.
Don’t start your day out of tune with your Creator. How much more power and beauty we have available to us as we open His Word instead.
The Bible is the only book whose author (or the one who inspired every word to be written down) is present every time it is read.
I will close with the beautiful words of a song of the underground church in China:
To suffer is to serve our Lord.
Our tears, like His, touch Heaven.
We are children of His Word
to whom all grace is given.