God’s Word is the source of mental illumination. Derek explains how it penetrates our minds like a ray of light and dispels the darkness that has been produced by our alienation from God; and how, just as there is no substitute for light in the physical realm, so there is no substitute for God’s Word in the spiritual realm.

God’s Word also provides for your physical body. Through His Word, God offers us healing and health for our physical body. How? Scripture says, that God’s Word did three things for the people who cried out to Him. It says He saved them, He healed them, and He delivered them from their destruction.

Derek explains how God’s Word provides suitable spiritual nourishment for the new life that has been produced in us by the new birth. This nourishment comes in various forms based on the stage of our spiritual development: first, milk for new-born babes; then bread for those who are growing up; finally, solid food, or a complete diet, for those who are mature.

God’s Word in you can produce the greatest miracle that any human being can ever experience—the new birth. Derek explains that God’s Word is like a seed received into our hearts. The Holy Spirit brings forth out of that seed a completely new kind of life—imperishable, eternal, divine.

Derek discusses the first specific result that God’s Word will produce in us—that is, faith. Scripture says faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. The three successive phases: first, God’s Word; second, you hear it; and third, as you hear it and receive it, it imparts to you faith.

God’s word is alive, energetic, penetrating. That God’s Word and God’s Spirit, working together, contain in them the total creative power of God. The results God’s Word produces in us depends on the way we respond to it.

If a father fails, what happens to his family? Or, suppose that the fathers in a nation fail? What happens to that nation? It will be the decision of the fathers that determines the destiny of the nation. God requires the fathers to turn to the children, then He promises the children will return to their father.

The function of a king is to rule or to govern. This requires that the father rule his household on behalf of God. Paul presents the responsibility of fatherhood in 1 Timothy, where he describes the qualifications of an elder.

The father’s second main responsibility, as prophet for his family, is to represent God to his family. Inevitably a father represents God to his family, whether he intends to or not. He may do it well. He may do it badly. But, almost inevitably, he does it.

Three main ministries of Christ are to be associated with fatherhood: those of priest, prophet and king. As a priest, the father represents his family to God—who is representing his family to God in intercession and prayer.