John 6:63 “The Spirit can make life. Sheer muscle and willpower don’t make anything happen. Every word I’ve spoken to you is a Spirit-word, and so it is life-making.”
Have you ever read a book when, as you follow the narrative the words almost come alive. A reality beyond reality floods your mind and stirs your heart. In each every single day, 1000s of words are spoken into the atmosphere. We speak words in many diverse forms through different languages, local dialects, and so many forms and ways. The fact is we release words all the time whether we are thinking or speaking. It almost seemed like nothing gets done without first expressing it in a word or words. Words are used to express what we want to do or want others to do or even just hope to happen.
The famous American author, Samuel Clement, better known as Mark Twain, attended a Sunday service. He met the preacher at the door afterward to shake his hand. And he told him that he had a book at home with every word he had preached that morning. The minister assured him that his sermon that morning was an original. But Twain was adamant. The preacher asked to see the book. So, Twain sent it over the next day. When the preacher opened the package he found a dictionary. And inside the cover Twain had written, "Words, just words."
Some sermons are like that but so too are many lives - void of spirit and life behind its expression. Perhaps we need to exercise and develop the life-giving spirit-word in us each day.
Gracious God,
may your messages and preaching come to us
through your Holy Spirit’s power,
so that our faith might not rest
on the articulation of words by our preacher
or the acumen of the human mind,
but upon Your power and presence.
Help us never to depend upon our own might or power,
but always upon Your Spirit.
May You, the God of all hope,
fill us with all joy and peace as we trust in you,
and in your holy Son,
the Lord Jesus,
Messiah of all people. Amen.
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