LIVING WATERS
For the proclamation of the Gospel and the edification of the Body of Christ
The Word and the Spirit
“Thy Word is true from the beginning: and everyone of thy righteous judgments endureth forever” (Psalm 119:160, KJV).
A subtle danger, taught by some earnest people, is to magnify the inner light and leading of the Holy Spirit to the neglect of the Word which He gave, and through which He still works on human hearts. This is a great mistake and the prolific parent of all kinds of evil.
As soon as we put aside the Word of God, we lay ourselves open to the solicitation of the many voices that speak within our hearts. We no longer have a test, a criterion of truth, a standard of appeal.
How can we know the Spirit of God in some of the more intricate cases which our conscience brings into court unless our judgment is deeply imbued with the Word of God! We must not content ourselves with the Spirit without the written Word or with the Word without the Spirit. Our life must travel along these two as the train along the parallel tracks.
The Word is the chosen vehicle of the Spirit. Only by our devout contact with it are we able to detect His voice. It is by the Word that the Spirit will enter our hearts, as the heat of the sun passes into our rooms with the beams of light through the open windows. (F.B. Meyer).