Profiting By The Word

Ever read the word of God or been prophesied to and wondered how those promises set out in the prophesy or the word can become a reality in your life? Ever seen the word of God work so perfectly in the lives of others and wondered ‘Lord! What about me?’

Herein, I share with you some steps on how we can benefit or profit from the word of God.

1Peter 2:1-3 says “Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.”

We need to note that Peter is writing this letter to the saints (1Pe 1:1) born again, Spirit filled believers who were scattered in various places as a result of persecution in Jerusalem. However, just like us, we are scattered in various spheres of life. Others were home people, house wives, farmers, and casual laborers, employers in various fields, politicians, business people, and civil society etc. Even when they were in these various places and conditions in life, Peter knew, they were a people of promise, a people for whom the word of the Lord would work to change them and their circumstances. Herein he writes to them so that they can benefit from the promises of God’s word to them.

One can be a believer but never profit fully from the promises that God has set out in His word to them.

So what did he say to them and what does the word of God say we can do to benefit from the word of the Lord? I share a few insights I believe can make us profit from the word we speak, hear and read day by day.

1. Lay aside all evil.

To lay aside is to put off or cast off. We are already born again yet there are times we hold to things that are evil. Peter emphasizes that we need to cast them off. The things listed include

Malice –which is defined to mean an active ill-will or intention to inflict injury upon another (Webster’s Dictionary). Strong’s Hebrew and Greek Dictionary defines malice to be depravity or badness or naughtiness.  In 1Cor 5:8, malice is referred as leaven that spoils wholesome bread. In other words, when you have malice, you become destructive, and injurious to other people and people can not be blessed or satisfied by you.

Guile –means to lure people into snares. It is the act of tricking people. There must not be any trickery found in our lips, in our spirits and lives. Scriptures teach in 1Peter 2:22 that there was no guile found in the mouth of Jesus. Those who love life and want to see good days should refrain the  tongue from speaking evil and their lips from speaking guile (1Peter 3:10) Blessed are people in whose spirit there is no guile (Ps 32:2). Believers must not trick people.

Hypocrisies –refer to pretending to possess virtues and beliefs which one does not actually have. It is the outward portrayal of goodness, faith, love, power and so on which we inwardly do not possess. Ever pretended that things are okay whereas not? Ever done things just for a show, both to God and man when you know deep in your heart you are not being truthful?

Envies –envy is defined by Webster’s Dictionary as resentment or discontent at another’s achievements, possessions, favors, goodness etc. it is recorded in 1sam 18:8-9 – ‘And Saul was very wroth, and the saying displeased him; and he said, They have ascribed unto David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed but thousands: and what can he have more but the kingdom? And Saul eyed David from that day and forward.’

Saul envied David because the women sang songs of praise to David as opposed to him. He set his eyes on David and from then on plotted to kill him on several occasions. It is not easy to deal with envy from the heart. Many people deal with things like lust, sexual immorality, drunkenness etc but envy secretly harbored in the heart gets ignored and left therein.

Evil speakings –this is rendered in other translations as slander. Slander is the uttering of false and malicious statements especially to defame another persons name or reputation before others. Have you ever spoken maliciously against some one, or slandered them because of what they are doing, or shouldn’t have done? Ever spread false rumors about some one?

These things, keep the word of the lord from becoming beneficial to us. The word is like seed sown in the heart of a believer. If these things are not dealt with in a life, they keep the word from growing and yielding properly in our lives.

1. Yearn for the word.

There is always an intensity of desire after the things of God, after His word and fellowship with brethren when some one has just been converted to Christianity. Do you remember how you used to love and serve God? John makes reference to the ‘first love’ of the church at Ephesus (Rev 2:4) which they had left over time. Jesus asked them to remember from where they have fallen, repent of their lukewarm ways and then repeat the things they used to do. As people grow older in salvation and are faced with different challenges, responsibilities, trials in places they are scattered to, the intensity with which they yearn for God and His word often tends to dwindle. The tendency is always to begin to rely on our own ability and strength; cut fellowship with and reliance on God. To Peter, this ought not to be the case. The older we grow in the Lord, the more we must yearn for the word of God to change us and our circumstances. The word to yearn is to ‘intensely crave possession’ (Strong’s Hebrew and Greek Dictionary). We need to crave to possess the word of the Lord and its promises in our lives. He likens the craving to a new born baby’s longing for breast milk so that they may grow by it. Growth is one of the profits we gain from the word of God.

Notice that Peter makes reference to the pure milk. The word of God that benefits and causes us to grow must be doctrinally correct; not the word packaged to fit the beliefs of our denominations or our congregation. We need to guard against heresies. There are things we have come to believe because they sound scriptural whereas not. Have you ever heard? ‘God helps those who help themselves?’ or ‘’God is sovereign! If it is his will it will come to pass?” People forget that the devil always fights the will of God and has blocked the will of God from coming to pass in peoples lives because they sat passively waiting for ‘God’s sovereign will’.

We thus can grow and mature as believers as we crave and use the pure word of God.

So the question is, how intensely do you crave (long, yearn, desire) to possess the promises in the word?  The intensity with which we crave to possess the promises of God’s word makes us to begin profiting from the word.

1. Receive the word with meekness.

No one can receive anything from God unless they are meek. To be meek is to be humble. The word has to be received with meekness because God does not give the secrets of his Kingdom to the proud. James 1:21 says, ‘wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.’ (Emphasis mine).

The meek are teachable (Ps 25:9); the Lord guides them, satisfies them, lifts them up from being cast down and takes pleasure in the meek. In Psalm 149:4, the Lord beautifies the meek with salvation. Meek people are receptive. Are you meek in the heart? Scriptures teach that we ought to humble ourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift us up (Jam 4:10).

Isaiah the Prophet clearly prophesied that the Spirit of the Lord was going to be on Jesus, the Messiah, to among others, preach the gospel to the meek (Isa 61:1) (emphasis mine). God’s word is intentionally packaged for and specifically directed to the benefit of the meek because they are receptive and open to allow it to impact them. God himself makes sure the word prospers in their lives.

Are you meek? How have you been receiving the word of God in your life? The way you receive it determines if you can profit by it.

1. Mix the word with faith.

Hebrews 4:1 says “Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.” 

The writer clearly points out that the Word was preached to the children of Israel, while they were in the desert; they heard it but did not mix it with faith, thus they fell short of the promises in the word of God. The scripture first warns, that we should ‘fear’ (meaning to be frightened or alarmed) lest we fall short of the promise of God. God’s promises are yes and amen to all who believe. They are intended for us to walk into and profit from. They are for us to possess and enjoy. However, how we apply our heart to the promises of God, besides how we receive it, determines whether we can possess the promises of His word.

How then can we mix the word with faith?

The word is mixed with faith in through our actions. In James 2:26 scriptures say, for as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. Earlier on, James wrote that by works was Abraham’s faith made perfect. One mixes the word they have heard with faith as they begin to do works.

Have you been mixing the word of God with faith in your life? By failing to do just that, we are bound to come short of the promises that God has made to us.

I pray that, with meditation and prayer, we  will, continue to lay aside all evil, yearn for the pure word of God, receive it with meekness and mix it with faith in our lives and get the benefit from the word of God.

God richly bless you!