The Word and the Spirit

"Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures" (James 1:18)

Some people wish they could have lived in Jesus' day so they could have heard His voice and His teaching. They forget there were thousands who heard Jesus but who had no idea what He was talking about. They forget that His own disciples had to wait for the Holy Spirit at Pentecost to know what He had been telling them.

"If only I had heard Jesus," you may have said. No, you are better off now. You have the Light that lights every person. You have the voice of the inner conscience.

Some are sorry they never heard Dwight L. Moody or Albert B. Simpson in person. But I remind you that even if we could have heard the apostle Paul on magnetic tape [or CD], his speech could do no more for us than the Holy Spirit can do with the Bible and the human conscience.

We have heard the voice of the Light within the heart. The Church needs to listen to the inner voice and do something about its message!

There are two extremes. The Word without the Spirit is dry and dead, but the Spirit without the Word is incomplete.

~A. W. Tozer~