God’s Word: Our Spiritual Fuel

By M Fontaine Link  Audio length: 8:12 Download Audio (15MB)

Our connection to Jesus is our lifeline. God’s Word is what keeps our faith strong. “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.”1 Putting emphasis on our spiritual lives has greatly helped us keep going all these years.

Jesus is the Word, He is the Spirit and the Life, and you need to have a dose of Him every day, and have a good feeding and feasting and drinking of the Word. Just like you have to eat in order to have physical strength, you have to eat of the Word, drink of the Word to have spiritual strength. I think that’s how [people] get alienated from the life of God—they neglect the Word, they get away from the Word, from the Lord. “Without Me, ye are nothing.”2

I think that’s the secret. I’ve been trying to think, what is it that causes people to cool off? “The love of many waxes cold,” the fire dies, the flame dies down, people cool off, they turn cold. What feeds the fire? What feeds the flame? It’s the fuel. And what’s the fuel? It’s God’s Word, right? It’s God’s Word that feeds the fire! It’s the life that’s in that fuel that feeds the flame. What is the fuel and life of God? His Word, His Spirit.

God’s Word is our spiritual fuel. His Word is what gives us the spiritual strength to “fight the good fight of faith” and be effective in our service for the Lord.3 Keeping God’s Word in first place is the secret to maintaining a strong spiritual life and having the strength to do what the Lord asks of us—both in our personal lives, as well as in our service for Him.

What can we gain from our time spent with Jesus?

Intimacy with Jesus, getting to know Him better.

Change in our spirit. Change in our attitudes. Change in our life and actions.

Increased faith. Renewal through God’s Spirit. Fresh vision. New strength. Increased desire to please Jesus.

New knowledge and understanding of God’s Word.

God’s Word hidden in our hearts through memorizing the words and/or the principles.

More love for Jesus, more love for the brethren, more love for the lost.

More of the fruits of the Holy Spirit in our lives—love, humility, patience, meekness, to name just a few.

Better reactions to problems or difficulties, because we’ve been with the Rose and we can impart His sweetness.

As much as we want to be faithful to have our time of prayer and reading God’s Word each day, there are only so many hours in the day. The reality is that while taking time with the Lord is a very important part of our lives, it’s not our only responsibility. If we try to give focused time to each aspect of our spiritual life every day, we’re going to wind up frustrated or overwhelmed, because there just isn’t enough time—and we probably don’t have enough energy—to do so. What is the Lord’s solution to this?

Jesus said:

I understand that you have limited time and strength. I do not expect perfection. I simply ask that you do what you can, that you keep learning and growing.

I want to help you to learn how to discern what your spirit needs as far as time with Me. I want to teach you to get creative about your relationship with Me so you can figure out what is going to give you the greatest “bang for your buck,” so to speak. What do you personally need in order to connect with Me? What do you need in order to grow spiritually?

Look at the men and women of God of the past. They spent time with Me—and often sacrificed to do so—because they knew My Word was their source of strength, because I was more important to them than anything else, because they knew that without Me, they could do nothing. And so, through their diligence in seeking Me, finding Me, and partaking of My Spirit, they were empowered to fulfill My calling in their lives.

There are times when you need something different in your times of prayer and reading, when your spirit just needs to linger with Me, when you would benefit a lot more from singing to Me and speaking in tongues, or from walking in creation and communing quietly with Me, or from meditating on My Word, or even from taking an extended time of prayer and pouring out your heart to Me without limits on time or feeling as if you have to rush. You can try new things in your time with Me. What really matters is that you connect with Me, learn from Me, and are filled with the Holy Spirit. The goal is that your spirit touches Mine, that you are spiritually fed, nourished, strengthened, and that through your times with Me you grow spiritually.

Find out what works for you. And if you do so, you’ll be healthy spiritually; you’ll be happier and full of My joy and peace.

You have had quality time with Me when you have touched Me and experienced Me in some way. That is the core of the matter. Quality time with Me means that whatever you have done has brought you closer to Me and has lifted your spirit in some way. Maybe all you do one day is listen to or meditate onwords or music of praise and adoration, but through that you are refreshed, you are renewed, you are inspired, your spirit is at peace. When you’re finished, you may not feel any great closeness to Me or have any special feelings at all, but you know in your heart that that time fed your spirit, it nourished you, and it brought you closer to My Spirit.

Quality time with Me is about giving your spirit the nourishment it needs. It’s about making the effort to connect with Me in spirit because you love Me and want to be close to Me. It’s going beyond duty. It’s something that you do out of love for Me. It’s something you do because you know it’s special, and because of that awareness and that love for Me, you take that time with Me and you make it count.

Making our devotional time with the Lord meaningful—whatever this means for each of us—is important to our spiritual growth. If we will focus on getting what we need spiritually day by day, that will help us progress and be strong and capable of fulfilling what the Lord is asking of us. “Whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.”4

Originally published February 2009 in Anchor. Adapted and republished June 2015.