Mixing the Word We Heard with Faith

Hebrews 4 shows us that the word we hear must be mixed with faith (Heb. 4:2). Otherwise, it does not profit us. Faith does not merely mean considering something to be true or understanding it intellectually. Our problem is not a lack of knowledge. We know many verses—for example, “Do not be anxious”—and yet we still worry. Hebrews 4 does not say that the people failed to understand the word, but that they did not believe it.

Faith is always practical. Faith is the way by which the word we hear becomes our substance and reality. The Word of God should not remain merely a message but become our experience. Joshua and Caleb brought back real fruit from the good land. For them, the good land was not a theory but a reality. In the same way, the Lord desires that His Word would be formed in us.

Too often we listen to Christian messages simply to learn something new about the Bible. But a far more important question is: How can this word become a reality in my life today? Let us go to the Lord with what we have heard and ask Him to make His Word living and operative within us, so that it may truly help us.

Entering into Rest through Faith in the Living Word of God

For we who have believed do enter that rest ... (Heb. 4:3)

Hebrews 4 continues by speaking of the true Sabbath rest in Christ. This rest still remains for the people of God. Through faith we can experience this Sabbath rest in Christ.

Even in all our service, the Lord desires to bring us into His rest. We are not to serve Him with sweat, self-effort, or complaining, but in His rest. How do we enter into this rest? By mixing the Word with faith. Then we cease from our own works and our restless busyness.

Where the supply of the Word is lacking, unbelief and murmuring arise—as happened with the people of Israel in the wilderness. But when we do all things in faith, complaining gives way, and the joy of the Lord fills our hearts.

God created man on the sixth day, after He had already completed everything else. This shows that God created us so that we might rest from our own works, just as God rested from His.

May we, this week, not only hear God's living and powerful Word, but also mix it with faith, so that it becomes a reality within us and we may enter into His rest.