The Connection Between God's Word and Regeneration

Archibald Alexander, the Puritan Reformer, writes, in his essay A Practical View of Regeneration, that: 

As God the Holy Spirit is the Author of regeneration; so the instrument employed is the Word of God. This is as clearly taught in Scripture as that God is the author or efficient cause. God is able to work without means, but both in the worlds of nature and grace it has pleased him to employ appropriate means for the accomplishment of his own ends.But although we know the fact that there is an established connection between means and ends; yet we are not competent to explain, in any case, how the end is produced by the means employed. Our animal frame is formed, and organized, and nourished, and kept alive, and recovered from disease by means adapted to these ends, but no one can explain the secret process of nature in these operations. Curious inquiries respecting the way in which the word is instrumental in the production of this change are not for edification. Sometimes regeneration is considered distinctly from the acts and exercises of the mind which proceed from it, but in the Holy Scriptures the cause and effect are included; and we shall therefore treat the subject in this practical and popular form. The instrumentality of the word can never derogate from the efficient agency of the Spirit in this work. The Spirit operates by and through the word. The word derives all its power and penetrating energy from the Spirit. Without the omnipotence of God the word would be as inefficient as clay and spittle, to restore sight to the blind.

The source of life is, of course, God Himself.  But the instrument He has chosen to use to transform us, through the work of the Holy Spirit, is His Word.  So we must read and memorize scripture, pray and journal about what we're learning, and apply His Word to our lives.  The Bible is more than a book, it's the means by which the Spirit operates and penetrates our hearts.

HT: On Doctrine