There are two very important matter that will help you to know God and understand spiritual matters so that you can become all that God has destined you to be and that is the WORD of God and the HOLY SPIRIT. It is the Holy Spirit that teaches us the WORD of God [John 14:26] and inscribe it in our heart such that we can develop faith in the actualization of such God’s declaration, word, dreams, visions and prophecies by developing faith for its physical manifestation on planet earth.
“It is the spirit that quickens; the flesh profit nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life” John 6:63
The knowledge of the triune God is passed across through the WORD of Life and wisdom for manifestation of all God will to do in our lives and through us are also passed through the WORD to us as we read, study and meditate in it. In the very beginning it takes God speaking “Let there be” while the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters waiting to manifest God’s utterance or declaration for the earth to be created. Holy Spirit releases power for bringing to pass God’s word when backed up by faith.
“Where the word of a king is, there is power…” Eccl. 8:4
There are different forms of the word and they would impact as such according to their forms. The word of God, in whatever degree it is expressed, is more powerful than anything you can imagine. It is the word of God that God used to create the whole earth and to establish it in the very beginning. There is nothing that is made or formed that was not made by the word of God, Jesus Himself [John 1:1-2].
The bible talks about different forms of the word and we should understand the word to the extent that we know when to respond to criticism and when to keep quiet. For example, if the food we have been eating has been the “milk of the word” and someone preaches the “strong meat of the word”, it might be too hard to swallow and comprehend because you have not developed maturely to the point of ingesting and digesting such words. It is like giving a sandwich or fried chicken to a month old baby who has no teeth.
As a church we ought to grow and mature from milk to meat. Yet every new believer should be first taught the milk of the word no matter their age because they are baby Christians and they must grow to move to higher level of the Word of God.
“…desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby….” 1 Peter 2:2
But a contrast of this is seen below because our spiritual life is not supposed to be static but we go from one lower level to a higher level as we muse, read, study, ponder on and do the word of God that through it we can be transformed into the image of God from one level to another by putting on more of the image and likeness of Christ [2 Cor. 3:18]. Remaining a babe in Christ simply mean that we are not growing spiritually.
“For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe.” Hebrews at 5:12
Below is a list of the some of the forms of the word of God with scriptural examples and the bible provides us with much evidence on the authenticity of these types of Word of God.
SEVEN FORMS OF THE WORD OF GOD
1 Milk of the Word
2 Honey of the Word
3 Water of the Word
4 Wine of the Word
5 Hammer of the Word
6 Fire of the Word
7 Meat of the Word
SEVEN FORMS OF THE WORD OF GOD
1. MILK of the Word
“I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye
were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.” 1 Corinthians 3:2
In the physical realm, milk is essential and needful for babes. Likewise in the spiritual realm, “newborn spiritual babes” desire the sincere (pure, unadulterated) milk of the Word that they may grow thereby [as it says in 1 Peter 2: 2]. No matter what age you accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you are considered to be a babe in Christ, having elementary knowledge of the Word and the ways of the Lord. This level is the foundational building stage that is very pivotal else when storms come, any Christian that does not go through this level will be shaken and fall from the way or unable to stand when storms of life comes. The understanding of deeper knowledge of the word belongs to those who by reasons of use have their senses exercised and through revelation knowledge of insight have the word unveiled to them by the Spirit of God.
2. HONEY of the Word
"And he said to me, “Son of man, eat whatever you find here. Eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel.” So I opened my mouth, and he gave me this scroll to eat. And he said to me, “Son of man, feed your belly with this scroll that I give you and fill your stomach with it.” Then I ate it, and it was in my mouth as sweet as honey. And he said to me, “Son of man, go to the house of Israel and speak with my words to them” Ezekiel 3:1-4
Ezekiel declares the word of God to be like honey… Something that is naturally both good to us and for us. If you look up the benefits of honey in the natural you will find things like “boosts memory, treats wounds, provides nutrients, etc…” Honey is highly medicinal. Now imagine what the word of God as honey does for us?!
“My son, eat thou honey, because it is good; and the honeycomb, which is sweet to thy taste” Proverbs 21: 14
Honey is nature’s perfect food and is the only food made by insects and eaten by man. It’s natural sugar that need not be refined. It needs no chemical changes or additives. It’s the world’s perfect, natural sweetener and it’s still a mystery as to how it’s made. Honey is the only food that includes all the substances necessary to sustain life – it even has water. It has all the minerals, nutrients, vitamins, acids and sugar in exact minute amounts. There is no substitute for honey. Man can’t imitate making honey. Only God’s little bees can make this food. Do you eat honey? God says eat it. The Lord Jesus ate it. It’s good for your body and good for your soul.
“Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones.” Prov.26:24
Yes, pleasant words, God’s words, are as honey – healthy for body and good for soul. It is especially healthy for the bones, the strength of body and the frame of the body holds it together. And the honey of God’s word will make you strong in the spirit. (Prov.24:5) says “A wise man is strong: yea, a man of knowledge increases strength.” Eat honey and also be saved and then get into the honey of God’s word.
Jonathan, a good man of God who loved the Lord ate honey after he finished his famous battle [I Sam.14:23-29].
“Then said Jonathan my father (King Saul) hath troubled the Land: see, I pray you, how mine eyes have been enlightened, because I tasted a little of this honey.” 1 Sam. 14:29
Jonathan ate honey and could then discern between good and evil and know his father was evil. God ENLIGHTENED his inward eyes with truth. “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.” The honey of God’s word enlightens your soul.
“That the father may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him. The eyes of your understanding being enlightened” [Eph.1:17].
The honey is used to make beeswax candles to enlighten. Can you see the truth here? Each bee has three eyes on the front of his head and two large compound eyes on the sides of his head with thousands of eyes. Do you want to be enlightened with the wisdom and knowledge of God? Then get born again by Jesus Christ and eat honey and study God’s word.
The message of Christ is sweet as honey. The words of Christ are pleasant words. They are the words of eternal life. Sweet to the soul. Receive the milk and honey of God’s word and enter heaven, the true Promised Land.
3. WATER of the Word
“… that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish” Eph. 5:26-27
The word of God is often referred to as water in the Bible because the Word acts as a cleansing agent which explains what Paul meant when he wrote concerning Jesus’ cleansing the church in the above scripture. The water here is not for supplying but for cleansing, that is, for the cleansing and washing of the church. What is washed away is not defilements or sins, but spots and wrinkles. Wrinkles are related to oldness.
You must let the water in the word, that is, the spirit and the life in the word, do a metabolic work in your organic being by adding new life elements into you to replace the old elements. This is a metabolic process and a discharging. We all know that metabolism takes place within us by which something new is supplied and added to us and something old is discharged and eliminated. This metabolism is the cleansing referred to [in Ephesians 5:26-27].
“I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you” Ezekiel 36:25
When the church is being sanctified, she is being cleansed, and when she is being cleansed, she is being sanctified by the Word of God [John 17:17]. We know that to be sanctified is to have the element of the Holy Spirit added into us, and to be cleansed is to have the old elements discharged from us. Sanctification is an addition, whereas cleansing is a subtraction, withdrawal or deduction of what is not good for our spirit being. What is added is Christ, and what is subtracted is our oldness – old carnal lifestyle. The combination of these two that is sanctifying and cleansing is what is called transformation in the New Testament [2 Cor. 3:18]. When this happens, the elements of the old creation or old carnal nature will be removed and replaced.
“Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water” Heb. 10:22.
4. WINE of the Word
Jesus used the metaphor of new wine in His teaching [Luke 5:39] and John tells us that Jesus’ first miracle was to turn large vessels of water into wine, at the wedding feast in Cana [John 2:1-10]. In the Hebrew, the words translated ‘new wine’ mean freshly pressed, squeezed, expelled, and trodden out [2]. The grapes have come through the wine press, where they have been trodden underfoot and the juice “new wine” is the resultant benefit and extracted fluid.
The wine-skin is a type of vessel. Throughout Scripture, vessels are symbols for people. For Christians, there is an “old man” and a “new man.” The old man represents the life we had before conversion, and the new man, the new vessel, is the life that comes because of conversion. But if we take the expansive and dynamic new wine, and we attempt to put that into the old life, we can be sure that we will have a disaster on our hands. We do not put new wine in old wine bottle.
Our old lives, our old ways [old wine-skin], are entirely incompatible with the new wine. The new wine requires change, expansion, and steady improvement, while in the old life, there was no real desire or ability to change. Remember, the new wine is tied to the blood of Passover, the New Covenant, the receipt of God's Spirit, and the spiritual result that will be produced by those powerful factors. Trying to cram all that into a person who is unwilling to change will invariably result in his coming apart at the seams. The precious new wine is spilled on the ground and dreadfully wasted.
Wine is symbolic of the Holy Spirit and Jesus spoke of it in association with the move of God (Matt 9:17) [1]. In the New Testament, the infilling of the Spirit is compared and contrasted to drinking wine. There is a revelation and insight brought into play through the stimulation of the new wine that guarantees our ability to know better who we are in Christ and grace to react accordingly is relased.
“And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit” Eph. 5:18 KJV [see also Acts 2:13]
What God has for us is distinctive for right now; it is a particular anointing that teaches and empowers Christians for this new dispensation. A new wine from Heaven! But let’s be aware that which is ‘new’ tastes different and much better than the old. New wine talks of renewed love and intimacy with God. God through His word is drawing us into the inner chamber for a continued fellowship and communion with Him. Jesus brought the new to supersede the old but the Pharisee and Sadducee rather stick with the old of sacrificing bulls and goats when Christ went to the cross and eternally paid the price for our former, present and former sins.
“Take me away with you—let us hurry! Let the king bring me into his chambers. We rejoice and delight in you; we will praise your love more than wine. How right they are to adore you!” Song of Songs 1:4 NIV
New wine also signifies release of joy unspeakable and full of glory by its spiritual intoxicating ability whereby great knowledge unraveled gives us boldness in the sight of God by reasons of truth revealed. It’s the outpouring of spiritual verities at the time of spiritual harvest. This denotes gladness and celebration. It is the season of fulfilling God’s promises when fresh words are released from the Throne Room of Grace … “So Israel will live in safety; Jacob will dwell secure in a land of grain and new wine, where the heavens drop dew” [Deut. 33:28 NIV]
5. Hammer of the Word
The word of God is a hammer which rouses and strengthens the life and conscience, crushing everything that is evil within the heart so that we can rise up in higher spiritual vigor. We use hammer for pounding, fixing or even breaking but also to drive home nails, and to clench and fasten them. So the Word of God in the hand of the Spirit is very useful to drive home and fasten (1.) the nails of conviction: (2.) To drive home and fasten precepts; (3.) To drive home and fasten promises. God is the great Master of assemblies, who fastens the words of the wise as goads and nails. [Ecclesiastes 12:11]
“Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?” Jeremiah 23:29
We all must examine ourselves if the word of God as hammer is working effectively in our lives. Has the word and Spirit of God fastened convictions so upon our hearts such that we cannot get free of them? Do they abide like a nail in a sure place taking a firm grip of our heart and causing positive and godly changes? Have the precepts of God in like manner been driven home so that you cannot rest till you have submitted to them and trash out the old? Have promises been so fastened, as that you do believe, and steadfastly apply them to your own souls in order to become more like Jesus?
God’s Word breaks the rock of “SELF” into pieces, so God can work his purposes out in our life, making it possible for us to use our time, talent, and treasure effectively for kingdom purposes and advancement.
“So shall my word be that goes forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it” Isa. 55:11
Yes, it can accomplish anything, and, yes, it will accomplish
everything that God intends it to accomplish. It does not lie with our powers of persuasion or force of logic to change hearts, but the Word of God can. God is also declaring that false religion, no matter how impressive, ultimately will bow to the truth of His Word. God is asserting that every promise will be fulfilled and that every verdict will be executed. As impenetrable as the rock fortresses of unbelief, false religion, rampant sin, and weak flesh may appear to be, the hammer of the Word can break them in pieces, we will be set free and have a heart that want to please God at all times.
6. FIRE of the Word
“Is not my word like fire? Saith God” Jehovah Jer. 23:29
Fire ignites, and God’s Word sets light to men’s souls. Any gardeners will know what it is to clear up the dead leaves and weeds and place them in a pile for burning. The rubbish is heaped high, but it is only a dead mass until it is ignited - and then it goes up! By nature man’s soul is like the bonfire heap before the match has been put to it; it is dead, dry and an ugly mass! But God in His mercy and grace ignites man’s soul so that becomes aglow and alive with divine life and light. The Holy Spirit applies the ‘match’ of God’s Word, which is “like fire”, for it begins a blaze in the soul and sets it alive with the light and life of God. Has God’s Word set light to your soul, are you dead and lifeless?
Fire burns off all evil conscience [Eph. 5:25, 28], purifies our lives like refiners fire [Malachi. 3:3], it illuminates our minds [Psalms 119:105, 130], energizes the will [Psalms 119:29]; It warms, energizes, encourages and cheer up our hearts. And lastly it fuses fellowship among brethren [Acts 2:41-47]
7. MEAT of the Word
The word "meat" comes from the Greek word “Broma” and means the more solid, complete and deeper spiritual doctrines of the Gospel. The word solid food in the below scripture mean a strong or steadfast nourishment.
“For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe.” Hebrews at 5:12,
We are not left to guess what might be meant by the "first principles of the oracles of God" or as put in chapter 6:1, "the principles of the doctrines of Christ." We are given the list of those first principles which once having we are to move forward from, not casting off, or leaving behind to forget, but to go from that basic foundation and to then continue to build a STRONG house from that foundation. A house that is called "strong meat" in this case. Not some shack made from stubble or hay, but a spiritual house for us made from strong bricks or stones that can weather the storms that life as a Christian and life within the Christian community we call "the Church of God" can endure and remain standing when the winds that would come to destroy, do blow.
Yes, we are told that we must go on to perfection, to get passed the "babe" stage of spiritual growth, to move on to "full age" even to where we can be teachers, to be able to teach others who are yet babes in Christ, how to attain full age and perfection.
“But strong meat belong to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.” Hebrews 5:14
Babes are known to be “yet carnal” because they are still being weaned and not mature spiritually speaking but there comes a time when they will need to come into maturity having fed on elementary stuff for so long and God releases deep insight and revelation knowledge of the word to them. Believers must leave the unskillful stage and leave the basic principles of the doctrine of Christ into maturity.
“That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into Him in all things, which is the Head, even Christ” Eph. 4:14,15.
The grown up or spiritually adult Christians feed on the meat of the word in order to understand the mysteries of the Gospel; those which are more hard to he understood, received, and digested; such as the doctrines of the Trinity, of God's everlasting love, of eternal election and eternity bliss, of the person of Christ, and the abrogation of the law. The Holy Spirit gives understanding when He sees your yearning to know more of God and His word
EPILOGUE
In conclusion, God’s Word is also likened to: (1) A sieve to sift [Psalm 105:1]; (2) A light to search [Psalm 119:105]; (3) A knife to cut [Acts 5:33]; (4) A seed to sow [1 Peter 1:23]; (6) A sword to kill [Hebrews 4:12]. As serious and grown up believers, we must understand the below stated facts
1. The SOURCE of God’s Word. It is spoken of as “My word…” Notice also the words “declares the Lord”. The Bible is God’s Word. It is inspired and authoritative [2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:21].
2. The FORCE of God’s Word. It is said to be “like fire or hammer”; which is active, energetic and powerful. What a mighty force it is when it is released through the lips of the preacher and when it is received into the heart! It is powerful when we read, study and meditate and we can say…I was spiritually blind or immature but now I know!
3. The COURSE of God’s Word. If it is a force, having energy and drive, how does this force operate and along what lines does it proceed? In other words, in what way is God’s word like fire or water? It is likened to the course of the river coming from the Mount of God that runs swiftly and removes everything erodible on its path and releases life to living things on its path [Ezekiel 37:1-12]
The source of the Word is God and Jesus Christ is the Living Word that propagates the Written Word. The Word of God is spirit driven. The Holy Spirit is the spiritual force that held the hammer so that it can drive it forcefully in our hearts and inscribe it there. Holy Spirit is what grip the word of God and use it to scrub clean all the unclean and dregs in our heart so that we might be spiritually clean. It takes the Holy Spirit to squeeze the juice out of the grapes so that new wine can be made available for the body of Christ. Embrace the twin tower of the Word and the Spirit of God and your life will go from glory to glory, power to power and from strength to strength.
