Building up believers and the New Testament church

The Word of God

The Word Made Flesh

"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth" (John 1:14). This is a statement about Christ our Lord and what God did in and through Him. We rejoice in it, but have we considered what God wants to do in us? Jesus said that it is enough if a disciple is like his master. Does not God want His word to become flesh in us? Remember God speaks for a reason. His word is active--it does something. He speaks so that His word may become flesh in us, that we also may be an expression of His grace and truth.

James 1:21 tells us that it is the "engrafted" or "implanted" word that is able to save our souls. When the word begins to take root in your life, affecting your character, changing your mind, and washing your entire being, you can be confident that you are hearing God. Until we hear the living word of God, this will not take place. When we do hear God, we must act upon what we have heard. When we do, the word becomes part of us. If we just listen and do nothing, we deceive ourselves and the word does not profit us (verse 22).

When our ear is tuned to hear God, we will hear Him communicate to us in every activity and circumstance of life. Our lives are not partly natural (where we don't need to hear God) and partly spiritual (where we know we need to hear God). We are called to live in union with Him twenty-four hours a day. God is concerned with our whole life, and His Spirit will communicate His mind in all things if we have ears to hear. Are we hearing God and responding to what He is speaking, thereby implanting that word within our lives?

What was it that opened the door for men to hear the word that Christ spoke? Was it not the life He lived and the deeds that He did? Will it be any different for us? Often we want to speak for Christ, but the life we live has not opened the door. People may be polite and listen, but they will not act. Why not? Because the word we speak has no anointing and no power; thus, it does not affect. Let us concentrate on letting the living word be made flesh in us. Then the words we speak will come with anointing, and others will be left with the word of God, not just our word. This takes time, but it is the only way we will see true and lasting results. God is not in a hurry as we sometimes are.

The word of God made flesh in each believer is the basis of being a witness unto Him. (See Acts 1:8.) Men can read scriptures and interpret them to suit their own thinking, but when they see the living word before their very eyes, it is hard to escape what they see. That is why in the wisdom of God he sent Jesus to proclaim the word of God to us in flesh. He did not just tell us about love; He showed us love. He was love in action. It is here that our vision so often falters. We think that because we tell somebody we love them, we have done a good thing. We should speak those words, but for them to have any meaning there must be action behind the words.

It is the living word, the word living in a life, which has power to affect for God's glory. The word must be living in our hearts to the extent that it is expressed in our whole person. It has been said that God's method is men and women filled with the Holy Spirit. He carried this out perfectly in Christ, and He is still doing the same thing through the members of His body, the church of the living God.