"Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto
The Power of the Word of God
by R. A. Torrey
(from How To Obtain Fullness Of Power by R.A. Torrey, ©1897, Fleming H.
Revell Company)
"Power belongeth unto God." -Psalm 62:11 The great reservoir of the power that belongs to God is His own Wordthe Bible. If we wish to make it ours, we must go to that Book. Yet people abound in the church who are praying for power and neglecting the Bible. Men are longing to have power for fruit-bearing in their own lives and yet forget that Jesus has said: "The seed is the Word of God." (Luke 8:11) They are longing to have power to melt the cold heart and break the stubborn will, and yet forget that God has said: "Is not my Word like as a fire? ...and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?" (Jer. 23:29) If we are to obtain fullness of power in life and service, we must feed upon the Word of God. There is no other food so strengthening. If we will not take time to study the Bible, we cannot have power, any more than we can have physical power if we will not take time to eat nutritious food. Let us see what the word of God has power to do. 1. First of all, the Word of God has power to convict of sin. In Acts 2:37 we read, "Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?" If we look back and see what it was they heard and that produced this deep conviction, we find that it was simply the Word of God. If you will read Peter's sermon, you will find it one of the most biblical sermons ever preached. It was Scripture from beginning to end. It was, then, the word of God, carried home by the spirit of God, that pricked them to their heart. If you wish to produce conviction, you must give men the Word of God. I heard a man pray some time ago this prayer, "O God, convict us of sin," a very good prayer, but unless you bring your soul in contact with that instrument which God has appointed for the