It is important for you to have the Word of the Lord, so that you can know what you are doing and why you are doing it, as well as God’s ultimate purposes in everything that is taking place. You will stumble if you follow the human level of trying to rationalize situations instead of having implicit obedience to the revelation of the Word that God is speaking in this hour.
The New Testament tells of many apostles who experienced a great deal of persecution. Have you ever considered why so much assault came against them? Of course, they were persecuted because of Christ, but what specific factor launched the persecutions? For example, Stephen was persecuted because the people could not bear the wisdom by which he spoke. He told them, “You stiff-necked people. You are reacting to the Word exactly as your fathers did” (Acts 7:51). The people could not bear the Word that Stephen was speaking; therefore they gnashed on him with their teeth and held their ears. They did not dare take their hands down from their ears for fear they would hear another word which could change them, because it was so deeply disturbing. Finally they stoned Stephen while Saul of Tarsus stood by watching.
God may make sovereign choices, but He always has a known means by which they come to pass. Although God may have chosen Saul from his mother’s womb, the appearance of Christ to Saul and God’s dealings upon him most likely were initiated by the fact that Stephen was focusing on him while he was speaking the Word. Throughout the Scriptures, we read about the men who spoke a Word from God and the persecutions which came because of the Word they spoke. To say that the persecutions came because of Christ is true; but that analysis is too general. Specifically, the persecutions came because of the Word. In this day also, persecutions from the religious world are coming against those who speak the Word of the Lord. While it is true that they are persecuting the Lord Jesus Christ, they do not realize that what they are battling is the Word; they are coming against the Word that God is speaking.
Satan battles the Word because it is the instrument by which everything changes. If a certain event is to come to pass, it will come to pass because God speaks a Word. That is scriptural—God does nothing without revealing it first to His servants the prophets (Amos 3:7). However, that revelation is not to remain dormant and His servants are not to be spectators; that Word comes as a burden. The Word of the Lord becomes something more than mere words which are spoken, because that Word is the burden of the Lord. When God puts the Word of the Lord in your heart, you experience the convulsions of its delivery as though you were in childbirth. He reveals to you what He is going to do, and you become a spiritual midwife to bring it forth. You become the one who travails to see that Word born into the realm where it will have its fulfillment.
People resist the Word when they become aware that as the Word prevails, they face losing their personal status in the world or in religious systems. This truth is illustrated in Acts 19. When the Word prevailed in Ephesus, all the idol makers faced the loss of much business; consequently, they joined together and staged a riot, even though few of them knew why they were rioting. The same is true today. People who are religious persecute those who bring forth the Word of the Lord. They listen to lies without realizing that a spirit from Satan is stirring them to persecute. Behind that spirit are those who might lose money, prestige, and position, and who might be exposed as the phonies they really are.
Why was Caiaphas, the high priest, so anxious to crucify Jesus Christ? History reveals that he and his family were among the wealthiest people in the ancient world because they owned all the concessions in the Temple. How could he allow Jesus Christ to live after He had driven the moneychangers out of the Temple? Reactions such as those of Caiaphas and his family come when people have something to hold on to.
Christ wants to put His Word in you, but first you have to leave everything. In your mind, there can be nothing of tradition and the ways of the world that you hold dear. If there is, you will be defeated; a conflict of loyalties will arise and you will be lost. You must be able to speak the Word of the Lord no matter what happens. The only ones who will move the world are those who follow the Lamb wherever He goes and who love not their own lives unto death (Revelation 14:4; 12:11). To be a channel, an oracle of God’s Word coming forth, is worth giving up everything. If you do not feel that way, you may as well forget about walking with God. You will have no place in God’s present moving in the earth unless you are dedicated to speak His Word.
Misunderstandings will arise concerning intense intercession and speaking the Word of the Lord. Few will comprehend, without being totally involved in it, that this is the means by which the Kingdom comes (Matthew 11:12). It is the travail of the Kingdom, the travail of New Testament apostolic order. An end-time apostolic company will come forth, but it will come forth only through a deep travail. As God lays this burden of the Lord upon believers’ hearts, they will be called fanatics; nevertheless, there must be that one focus—to see the living Word of the Lord reach a plane of expression that will change the world.
Paul was a wonderful apostles and seemingly less dependent than other apostles upon the processes of Body ministry; but that was not so. Everything that God did to Paul was linked with Body ministry. For example, God called the prophet Ananias to go to Paul and give him his liberation. He did not let Paul receive it by himself (Acts 9:10–18). Even when Paul went out in the desert to receive the revelation of the Word he was to preach, he still came back and submitted it to those who were apostles before him, for fear that he might run in vain (Galatians 2:2). Body ministry was always apparent.
Paul was aware that the entire Body must be behind the voice that speaks. Significantly, at the time that the fruit of his apostleship was scattered over the whole known world, he wrote to his people, “Pray for us. Pray that a door of utterance will be opened to us in the Lord, that we can speak His Word as we ought to speak it—in its power and in its glory—as we bring it forth to the hearts of God’s people” (Colossians 4:2–4). That is what we pray for today too.
Paul’s plea makes us realize that no one person comes forth alone or stands alone as an oracle of God. No one ever has, and no one ever will. A company of apostles and prophets must stand together as the oracles of God in this day. They do not come forth on an individual plane; they come forth as functioning members of the Body of Christ. They must loose one another into the flow of the living Word. We can seek no greater goal than to speak the Word that brings in a new age. Hebrews 11 shows us that as we speak the Word of God with faith, an age is framed. It comes into being.
In this hour, more and more ministers are jumping on the bandwagon to predict all kinds of events, because it is popular. They have worked out all the Bible prophecies. People are frightened and they do not know which way to turn. For this reason it is easy to be an armchair prophet; anyone can do that. It is not easy to be the kind of prophet that God is raising up. Predictors of calamity are worthless because they do not bring people to repentance. Such men usually have some kind of program in which they appeal for money to help their wonderful ministries, while emphasizing all the terrible conditions in the world. That approach will not accomplish anything because there is nothing positive or creative about it. There is not even any judgment in it. Too many claim to be prophets, when all they can guarantee are merely their surveys of the weekly news.
The Old Testament type of prophet should be a rather common commodity in the days just ahead. He will be the wealth of the Kingdom, the coin of that realm. The world has no hope other than a prophetic community of God’s people coming forth. Political action accomplishes nothing. Elections are maneuvered and manipulated. The stock market is unpredictable, with sudden surges up or down. The people are like sheep led to the slaughter. They do not realize that there is no hope in any political action. Even if God’s people were in the majority and voted for the candidates of their choice, it would make no difference. The fate of nations is on a collision course. There is hope only through God’s people who are committed and dedicated and filled with enough revelation to stand and prophesy His Word until they move mountains into the sea and fill valleys. This is what Isaiah was speaking about when he prophesied that we should make a highway for our God (Isaiah 40:3–5).
There will be no Kingdom of God on this earth until we realize that we must become the instruments of God to bring forth to the precious Lord all the rewards of His suffering, of His victory, of His mighty prevailing on our behalf. We must become instruments to execute His plan and bring it into being. Let us confront the devil and say, “This has gone on long enough! For over 1900 years you have been sitting upon territory that belongs to Jesus Christ and those who have suffered with Him. Get off that throne! We are taking it over!”
A vacuum has existed. Satan keeps holding on to God’s provision for us because we do not move into it.
Satan is called the ruler of this age, but Jesus is called the King of kings and Lord of lords! He has a name above every name that is named. He has been exalted and given authority over all things. He is Head over all things to His Body, the Church, which is His fulness (Philippians 2:9–11, Ephesians 1:22–23). That means only one thing: He is going to rule! He must reign until every enemy is made the footstool of His feet (I Corinthians 15:25). He is on the throne, and we must be the executors of His desire and His will. We must stand in His name against every opposition to His Lordship, every opposition to His Kingship. Every knee will bow; and if they do not bow willingly, the rod of iron will break their legs. It will bring them down.
It is time for the Kingdom! This is why we must pray and intercede. This is why there must be violence in our hearts to possess the Kingdom. We must not do this for our own glory and praise. We must do it because we do not want to live in a world that is not completely submissive to the Lord. We do not want to coexist with satanic rule; we want to see Christ prevail.
Do you like living in a world where the Russians are stirring up wars and killing people with worldwide revolution? The only way you can fight it is with the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God. You may wonder what purpose there is in standing like a fool, violently praying and interceding. Nevertheless, by staying with it you can bring in another world; you can prophesy another age into being. Determine to see things change. Stay with it and stay with it and stay with it! How long? Prophesy, as Isaiah was told, until the cities be without inhabitants and the land becomes waste (Isaiah 6:11). Prophesy until everything of Satan comes down and God brings forth everything new.
What believers need is a Word from God, a Word like that which came to Jeremiah. We find this recorded in Jeremiah 1:4–10, 17–19. Now the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying, Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee, and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee; I have appointed thee a prophet unto the nations. Then said I, Ah, Lord Jehovah! behold, I know not how to speak; for I am a child. But Jehovah said unto me, Say not, I am a child; for to whomsoever I shall send thee thou shalt go, and whatsoever I shall command thee thou shalt speak. Be not afraid because of them; for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith Jehovah. Then Jehovah put forth his hand, and touched my mouth; and Jehovah said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth: see, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down and to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.
Thou therefore gird up thy loins, and arise, and speak unto them all that I command thee: be not dismayed at them, lest I dismay thee before them. Once God’s Word comes to you and you sense the authority of the sons of God over all of creation’s futility and over your own futility, you are not to be frightened by that spirit of Satan which comes against you. For, behold, I have made thee this day a fortified city, and an iron pillar, and brazen walls, against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against the princes thereof, against the priests thereof, and against the people of the land. And they shall fight against thee; but they shall not prevail against thee: for I am with thee, saith Jehovah, to deliver thee.
Jeremiah was very young when he wrote this first chapter. The Lord told him, “Do not say, ‘I am a child’; I will make you a prophet over the nations.” Although he was very young, God gave him a word; and his prophecies brought the end of a dynasty. In this day too, God wants to bring forth a people as an instrument of destiny to the whole world. For this reason He will constantly deal with your heart until your dedication is right.
Does it seem terrible that people should stand against the Word of the Lord? They always have. Jeremiah wrote in chapter 20:7b–8: I am become a laughing-stock all the day, every one mocketh me. For as often as I speak, I cry out; I cry, Violence and destruction! because the word of Jehovah is made a reproach unto me, and a derision, all the day. Jeremiah’s spirit was filled with violence and destruction. He was to prophesy until things came down and things were built. God wants to put that same spirit upon us so that we will prophesy until Babylon comes down and God’s Kingdom is established. We are to tear down and destroy, to build and establish. It is a dual ministry—speaking judgment as well as a creativity that brings forth the Kingdom.
What should you prophesy? Prophesy that those upon whom God has laid an anointing will discover new inventions. Prophesy the release of Kingdom knowledge and Kingdom sciences. Prophesy the invention of simple things that will open the door to the many inventions that are hidden. Does the devil know about them? No, they are hidden in a special archive, for in Him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Colossians 2:3. As the Lord releases those treasures, His people will be able to send His Word around the world. Faithful people who look to the Lord will be given the power to attain wealth, if they desire that wealth for the glory of the Kingdom. Cry out for the answers, but remember—they are not afar off; they are within you. You have the promise, Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think (but the promise does not stop there), according to the power that worketh in us, (the potential is within us), unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. Ephesians 3:20–21.
Stand violently! Get upset about God’s promises being unfulfilled. The potential is in you. Turn it loose; get it working! Refuse to be passive; start moving in the Kingdom. Do not say, “Well, I’m going to wait on the Lord and think it through.” The revelation of God’s Word in this end time has been unfolding for over a quarter of a century in a consistent flow, pointing toward this day and this hour. The preservation of this Word is one of the greatest labors you can be involved in, outside of releasing it in its power. You must be aggressive to speak God’s Word, to be one in whom His Word catches fire.
Jeremiah described the Word of the Lord as a fire: And if I say, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name, then there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with forbearing, and I cannot contain. For I have heard the defaming of many, terror on every side. Denounce, and we will denounce him… Jeremiah 20:9–10.
Are you like Jeremiah—unable to keep silent because the Word is burning like fire in your bones? No matter how others deride it, no matter what anyone says, are you determined irrevocably to speak the Word of the Lord?
Some countries are trying to find ways in the government by which they can exclude the living Word of the Lord from being heard in their lands. They do not understand that it is the only hope they have. Either they will accept the sword of the Spirit or they will be shot by Communist bullets. This is a crucial hour for the nations. Only a short time remains to speak God’s Word. Therefore. today’s pharisees are denouncing the true prophets of God, trying to keep them out of their countries. God’s prophets want nothing from those lands; they are simply oracles of the Lord, instruments in the hand of God to speak His Word. Speaking the Word of the Lord is of utmost importance at this time.
Jeremiah continued speaking about those who reacted against his prophesying a word of judgment: Denounce, and we will denounce him, say all my familiar friends, they that watch for my fall; peradventure he will be persuaded, and we shall prevail against him, and we shall take our revenge on him. But Jehovah is with me as a mighty one and a terrible: therefore my persecutors shall stumble, and they shall not prevail; they shall be utterly put to shame, because they have not dealt wisely, even with an everlasting dishonor which shall never be forgotten. But, O Jehovah of hosts, that triest the righteous, that seest the heart and the mind, let me see thy vengeance on them; for unto thee have I revealed my cause. Jeremiah 20:10b–12. Does this sound vicious? In a way, yes, but there is another aspect of it in Jeremiah 15:16: Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy words were unto me a joy and the rejoicing of my heart: for I am called by thy name, O Jehovah, God of hosts.
The Word of God can be deeply satisfying within us. One of the greatest delights is reading the Word, feasting upon it, and allowing it to grow until it consumes us. Then when we gather together, by faith we are able to upset everything that comes against us; but more than that, as the Word of Christ dwells in us richly, we are able to speak to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs because it has truly become a Word to our hearts (Colossians 3:16). The Word has many forms. In a New Testament service, it comes forth in songs, in prophecies, in intercession, and in the expounding of the written Word. It comes forth in countless ways, and each one is the Word of the Lord. As we listen to the Word, we eat it, and it becomes the joy and the delight of our hearts.
Jeremiah 23 tells us what will happen to the prophets who speak a false word. Verses 29 and 30 summarize the whole chapter: Is not my word like fire? saith Jehovah; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces? Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith Jehovah, that steal my words every one from his neighbor. The religious Christian world is stealing the Word of the Lord from their people. Not only are they without the Word from God which is like a fire that burns and like a hammer that smashes the rock down, but they present a false word which deliberately steals away the true Word. In the parable of the sower and the seed, found in Matthew 13, the birds that came to steal away the seed represent Satan. These birds exist with many types of “plumage.” Some have “Reverend” in front of their names and “D.D.” after their names, yet they are nothing but birds who steal the Word away from the people. What does God say about that? Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith Jehovah, that steal my words every one from his neighbor. Jeremiah 23:30.
Hold on to the living Word. It is a fire that will burn out the dross. It is a hammer that will break down the impasses in your life. Hold on to that Word! Do not let go of it; it is your heritage! Hold on to it until it becomes a living thing within your spirit.
Wherefore thus saith Jehovah, the God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them. Jeremiah 5:14. The outcome depends upon the heart of those who listen to the Word. If they have a receptive heart, the Word is life to them; if they resist the Word, it is a fire that consumes them.
Are you dedicated to the Word that God is bringing forth today, or do you plan to stand back and let everyone else speak it? Speak it yourself. Be a channel yourself. You may have another ministry—you may be a carpenter or a plumber—but you can also be a prophet of God. God is once again establishing true prophets in the earth. Every believer should be an oracle of the Lord. Exhort and encourage those who drag their feet. Pull them into the flow of the Word that God is speaking. The restoration of God’s Kingdom on the earth has to become a living flow through every member of the Body of Christ.
Are you holding back? What do you have to do to become a channel—just get up and speak? It is not that simple. It is a matter of dedication, a matter of understanding divine order, a matter of abiding by scriptural principles and teaching. Prophesying will never go astray with prophecies that are not of God, nor will it turn into anything wrong, if the people submit to divine order and a confirmation of what is being spoken. God’s order must be real in your heart. His ways must be in all that you do.
Get into the flow of a real walk with God. Do not be a spectator; participate in it. Absorb it. Be free. Be loosed from any restraint by submitting to the work of the cross in your life. Let God deal with you. Let His Word become a derision against you; that does not matter. Just speak the Word of the Lord. It does not matter what happens to you on the outside, but it does matter what the Word becomes within you. It must become a fire shut up in your bones, something alive within you! You must become an oracle of God, for that is the purpose for which you were called and chosen.
Speak the Word of the Lord, even though, as Jeremiah said, the Word is made a derision. Most churches separate the creature from the Creator; but Christ is trying to break down the distinction between Himself and the new creation, His people. For as the body is not one member but many, yet one body, so also is Christ (I Corinthians 12:12). You do not claim to be the Christ; you believe you are a part of the Christ. You are a member of His Body, such as His hand or His foot. You are a member of Christ. Refuse individuality, and become one in Christ to speak His Word.