I will worship toward Your holy temple, And praise Your name For Your lovingkindness and Your truth; For You have magnified Your word above all Your name.  Psalms 138:2 NKJV

Every Scripture is God-breathed (given by His inspiration) and profitable for instruction, for reproof and conviction of sin, for correction of error and discipline in obedience, [and] for training in righteousness (in holy living, in conformity to God’s will in thought, purpose, and action), 17 So that the man of God may be complete and proficient, well fitted and thoroughly equipped for every good work.  2 Timothy 3:16-17 AMP

The most important document for the child of God is the written word of God. Without God’s word you have nothing to stand on; without His word you will develop your own belief system based on theory and supposition. If you choose to formulate your own belief system without submitting to the Word of God, you will build your life on sinking sand. The word of God is the plum line – straight and true – setting us and keeping us on course. The Word of God is the Rock upon which we establish our lives; without it the Church is lost.

There are people – even those who claim to be Christians – who try to discredit the Word of God. They say that its nothing but legalism and we shouldn’t base our lives on it. However, Hebrews 4:12 (KJV) says that, “the word of God is quick, 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.” God’s Word is not a dead book – it is alive and full of power! God’s Word exposes even the thoughts and purposes of people’s hearts.

When people try to hide from or deny God’s Word its rightful place of honor in their lives – you know that they are hiding from it and in so doing, hiding from God. Usually it’s because of the sin in their lives that they refuse to judge or repent of. John 3:19-21 (NKJV) says, “And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.  For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.” 

What is the light Jesus is talking of? It is the light of God’s Word! Psalms 119:105 (AMP) says, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” and Proverbs 6:23 (KJV) says, “For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life.” We must come to the light of God’s Word and measure ourselves according to it and line our lives up with it. This is the only way to please God and also walk the straight path of life, rather than walking on the detours of destruction that the devil has planned for us.

There are some deluded Christians who claim that we should exalt the Spirit above the Word and they tell us not to make the Word our authority. This is a lie from the pit of hell. Even Jesus, Himself, is called the “Word made flesh” in the first chapter of John: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God… …And the Word was made 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 1:1-2 and 14 KJV)

If the devil cannot keep you from the Word of God, he will always try to discredit it by twisting it or questioning it. The devil is the original rebel against the Word of God and His authority over all His creation. He even tried to deceive Jesus by bringing in doubt and unbelief: “IF You are the Son of God…” and then he quoted scripture out of context. Jesus did not fall for his lies and simply answered him with, “It is written…” (Matthew 4:1-10). Jesus fell back on and relied upon the Word of God and would not allow the devil to pull Him in another direction. If Jesus gave God’s Word that much honor, then we should too!

[Yet] first [you must] understand this, that no prophecy of Scripture is [a matter] of any personal or private or special interpretation (loosening, solving). 21 For no prophecy ever originated because some man willed it [to do so — it never came by human impulse], but men spoke from God who were borne along (moved and impelled) by the Holy Spirit.

2 Peter 1:20-21 AMP

The Bible says that you should study so that you can rightly divide the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15). There is a right way and a wrong way – this is why you need the Holy Spirit to help teach, lead and guide you concerning God’s Word. The Holy Spirit inspired people to write down God’s Word so that it could be preserved for, and observed by, successive generations. The Holy Spirit is the author of the Word and He still confirms God’s Word to us today. He does not speak on His own authority; He will never speak anything contrary to the Word of God, or anything that is not already witnessed to in the Word of God. The Holy Spirit speaks ONLY the Word of God and also reminds us of what God has already said to us (John 14, 15 and 16).

We need the Word of God AND we need the Holy Spirit. They are not independent of each other and we cannot try to divide them. We must yield our lives to the Word of God and also to the Holy Spirit. This is the only way to walk in God’s ways, to please God, and (when we die) to see God!