We are coming to an era in which we shall be speaking the word of the Lord. To speak the word of the Lord sounds simple, but the process of it coming to pass has meant long warfare.
From the very beginning of human history, when God spoke a word to people, Satan contested that word. The battleground of the ages is not Satan trying to confuse us and bog us down in some quagmire of circumstances in order to discourage us. Satan’s purpose is to get us to relinquish the word that God has spoken to our hearts. All the victory that we will ever walk in is involved with that word from God.
Satan came to the Garden of Eden and said, “Eve, hath God said? Did God say that?” When Eve told him what God had said, he replied, “That is not so” (Genesis 3:1–4). He wanted to shake her on what God had spoken to her. Eve thought the fruit was the issue. She looked, and it was a beautiful piece of fruit—delightful to the eyes and supposed to make one very wise—so she ate it. She did not know that behind it was the battle to get her to doubt and to waver on God’s word.
When Jesus won the victory in the wilderness, He met that same one who filled the serpent. When the wicked one in the wilderness spoke to tempt Him, the Lord replied, “It is written,” defeating him by the Word (Matthew 4:1–10). Man was defeated by giving up the word, but God brought restoration by our Lord believing the word, keeping the word, and honoring the word of the Father.
Revelation 19 tells how the battle is finally ended. The great armies of heaven come, and leading them is that One on the white horse who has the name written, “The Word of God.” From His mouth goes a sharp, two-edged sword with which He is to smite the nations.
Of course we know that it is by the word. I think that we still look for a horse and a rider in all his glory, but those are symbolic words. That One is in the earth today, and His word is beginning to come forth.
Satan, who first brought the downfall back in those early days in the Garden of Eden, was told that the seed of the woman would come and crush his head, and he would bruise His heel (Genesis 3:15). We do not see this happen until Jesus comes (the seed of a woman—not the seed of a man, because He was born of a virgin) and bruises Satan’s head.
Christ did it in provision, yet we look about us and Satan’s head does not look bruised; he still appears to be running rampant. But Christ accomplished it, and we are the ones who are to execute it. Romans 16:20 says it is God’s pleasure to bruise Satan under our feet!
Thus the whole course runs, from beginning to end. If God is to bruise Satan under our feet, it will be because we, like the Master, hold fast the word; we will not, like Eve, give it away. When Satan comes to us and says, “Hath God said,” we shall say to him, “You’d better believe it!” It is in our unwavering position to stand in the word of God that we shall prevail.
If God gives you a word and it is a real revelation to your heart, Satan will come and try to get you to waver on that word. If he cannot get you to give up the word of God, he will try to distract you with so many problems that you neglect the word or stray from it.
A man who holds fast the word that God has given him will find that because he has honored the word, the word will explode through him, and he will be a channel of rivers of living water.
Through him, that word will become a dynamic force in the world which will loose all creation from futility. The word has to come forth from sons. Adam and Eve gave up the word, but the sons of God are the ones who believe for the word to become a creative, dynamic force that changes everything: it brings in a new age and looses creation from futility. God is making this real now. We dare not become discouraged. Constantly God is speaking this word, and we must believe it.
Utterly refuse anything less than the fulfillment of God’s word. Satan will do all he can to have you accept anything but what God has said over your life. He would throw any amount of prosperity in front of you. Those who leave their walk in the Spirit find that things are easier for them. Of course, then there is no battle because Satan has everything he wanted from them.
If you stop walking with God, you will also leave the word. If you forsake the word, Satan has accomplished his mission. Once you relinquish the word, Satan will not bother you anymore. Things will be easier; there may be a better job and more money. Everything will go well for a while, but suddenly you will run into a dead end because God will not be with you either.
The events in the book of Acts prelude in only a small measure what we shall see in our day, through a people who have a word from God and will not give it up. The early disciples were so blessed of the Lord that when they spoke, their word was a force turned loose in the world. We can see what happened in Acts 5 when the apostles began to proclaim the word of God.
But the high priest rose up, along with all his associates (that is the sect of the Sadducees), and they were filled with jealousy; and they laid hands on the apostles, and put them in a public jail. But an angel of the Lord during the night opened the gates of the prison, and taking them out he said, “Go your way, stand and speak to the people in the temple (or, “continue to speak”; one translation is, “Proclaim the word to the people”) the whole message (or the whole word) of this Life.” And upon hearing this, they entered into the temple about daybreak, and began to teach.
Now when the high priest and his associates had come, they called the Council together, even all the Senate of the sons of Israel, and sent orders to the prison house for them to be brought. But the officers who came did not find them in the prison; and they returned, and reported back, saying, “We found the prison house locked quite securely and the guards standing at the doors; but when we had opened up, we found no one inside.”
Now when the captain of the temple guard and the chief priests heard these words, they were greatly perplexed about them as to what would come of this. But someone came and reported to them, “Behold, the men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people!” Then the captain went along with the officers and proceeded to bring them back without violence; (for they were afraid of the people, lest they should be stoned). And when they had brought them, they stood them before the Council. And the high priest questioned them, saying, “We gave you strict orders not to continue teaching in this name, and behold, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and intend to bring this man’s blood on us.” But Peter and the apostles answered and said, “We must obey God rather than men.” Acts 5:17–29. God said, “Proclaim the word”; so they went out of the jail, stood before the temple, and immediately began to proclaim the word again.
Speak the word! Proclaim the word! Why? It will turn loose the Kingdom. What if you are forbidden? What if you are put in jail? You must obey God. Hang onto the word until it becomes a volcano erupting from within you, gushing forth fire in the earth. Jesus said, I am come to send fire in the earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled? Luke 12:49. The fire that Christ came to bring on the earth is within your heart now; and as you believe the word and as you worship, it will begin to erupt. I cannot believe the old-order restrictions that only a few here and there will be preaching the word. I see the whole Body of Christ speaking it, a whole company becoming proclaimers of the word.
One of the most significant steps we can take in our services is to get rid of the concept of an audience listening to one or two persons who sing psalms or prophesy. With wisdom from God, someone could sing a line of a beautiful psalm, and the congregation would sing it back. When we finished, every one of us would feel that we sang all the psalms and prophesied all the prophecies, and as a body of people we proclaimed it all. This sounds revolutionary. It is a new step forward. We believe in prophecy and we believe in psalms; we also believe in Body ministry. The day will come when all of us will be speaking the word of the Lord, and all of us will be singing the words of a psalm.
Did you like the story in Acts 5? The disciples had been ordered to shut up, but they said, “We must obey God.” The word of the Lord was a command to them. “Go and proclaim the words of this life to the people” was a commission which they proceeded to obey. This pattern follows throughout the book of Acts.
Acts 6:1–7 tells about a hassle which came over widows who were neglected in the serving of food. And the twelve summoned the congregation of the disciples and said, “It is not desirable for us to neglect the word of God in order to serve tables.”
The apostles had to give themselves to the word; they could not neglect it for other things. Other people would be anointed and dedicated to serve tables, but the apostles had an apostolic word which had to be proclaimed. Why? An age would not change, the Church would not come forth; there would be no divine order; nothing would happen without someone preaching that word. Someone had to speak that word.
“But select from among you, brethren, seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may put in charge of this task. But we will devote ourselves to prayer, and to the ministry of the word.” Acts 6:2–4. The ministry of the word was most important, so they proceeded to do it.
In the Greek, there are two words for “word,” logos and rhema. If you trace those words in a good concordance, you will find them being used interchangeably. There is teaching at the present time in a certain movement that the Greek word, rhema, was the word of the elders over a congregation, and it is the law by which everyone is governed. The other word, the logos, is the established word, such as the Scriptures. However, as you study it, you will find that the words do not follow strictly those definitions.
Rhema and logos often are used interchangeably for the same level of the word. This is important for you to grasp because someone may come along with a lot of argument to persuade you the rhema means one thing and logos another. The word for rhema and the word for logos is “word,” or “a word from God.” Whether it comes through a human channel or whether it is the written Scriptures, both words are used for the same thing.
In the New Testament Church the disciples spoke the word of God. That fact is very difficult for us to grasp, for our minds have been clouded by centuries of theology taught in the Reformation and in other times. We do not really understand what happened in the early Church when it was said that the disciples spoke the word of God—logos or rhema, whichever word we want to use.
Although you undoubtedly say that the Bible is the word of God, if it is forgotten on a shelf, that word is as ineffective as a package of seeds that you forgot to plant in your garden last year. They may still have a spark of life in them, but they are not doing anyone any good; they are not producing anything. A Bible on a shelf is like a packet of seeds that has been lying there for a while: nothing has germinated. Nothing has happened.
When the apostles said, “We will give ourselves to the word,” they did not mean they were going around sowing seed. The incorruptible seed, the word of God, had been put in their heart; and they held onto it. The devil came and tried to get that word away, but the apostles would not let it get away. The birds came to eat up the seed, but the apostles hung onto the seed. The thorns tried to choke out the word, but the apostles hung onto it. The sun blasted on it to make it wither, but the apostles hung onto the word. The apostles were good soil, and the word began to grow. One day they began to speak. They spoke a word from God. It was a word from God because they had the word hidden in their hearts.
When you read these phrases in the book of Acts, “The word of God grew, the word of God multiplied, the word of God prevailed,” you are reading about people who heard from God and cleaved to the word. They went through the experience of watching Christ crucified and resurrected.
Many times when others left, the disciples stayed with Christ.
“Why don’t you go too?”
“You have the words of eternal life, and we’re hanging onto the words. We believe and are sure that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (John 6:68).
Getting a word in your heart is a process. What is happening in your life may not look like much, but something will happen if you hang onto the word. Woe be unto you if you do not hang onto it. The only thing that will cause change, the only thing that will be creative, is the fact that you believe and hang onto the word that God has given. After a while it begins to explode in a prophetic flow. It is the word of God coming into fulfillment, into the full fruitfulness that it is supposed to have in your life.
Do not ever waver in a word God gives you. Satan is battling you because he does not want that word to come to pass. The word is the sharp, two-edged sword that is to slay the wicked one at the brightness of His coming (II Thessalonians 2:8). That word which is in you now is the word that will change the world. It is going to change one age and bring in another. Do not be hesitant to speak the word of the Lord. Trust God and say with all of your heart, “I’m going to proclaim that word.”
In Acts 19:10–20, we see a result of Paul proclaiming the word. He was preaching at Ephesus in Asia Minor, which is now known as Turkey. He was conducting a church in the school of Tyrannus, the philosopher. And this took place for two years, so that all who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord (everyone in that whole area, in all of Asia Minor, heard the word of the Lord), both Jews and Greeks. And God was performing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, so that handkerchiefs or aprons were even carried from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out.
But also some of the Jewish exorcists, who went from place to place, attempted to name over those who had the evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, “I adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preaches.” And seven sons of one Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. And the evil spirit answered and said to them, “I recognize Jesus, and I know about Paul, but who are you?” And the man, in whom was the evil spirit, leaped on them and subdued both of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of the house naked and wounded.
And this became known to all, both Jews and Greeks, who lived in Ephesus; and fear fell upon them all and the name of the Lord Jesus was being magnified. Many also of those who had believed kept coming, confessing and disclosing their practices. And many of those who practiced magic brought their books together and began burning them in the sight of all; and they counted up the price of them and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver. (That is a lot of money!)
So the word of God was growing mightily and prevailing. Acts 19:10–20.
What happened? People heard from the Lord. Lives were changed; they were created by the word. How did the word of God grow and multiply? Did the early Christians’ Bibles keep expanding until they soon had bigger books? No. Keep in mind that the word of God starts with the holy Scriptures, and that all Scriptures are given by the inspiration of God (II Timothy 3:16). It has been said that we who believe in the complete restoration of the living, prophetic word magnify prophecy above the written Word of God. That is a lie out of the pit of hell and is to be resisted. We do not exalt prophecy above the Bible. We exalt the Bible by prophesying.
The prophetic word is the written Word which many have read from the time that we were children. It is the word that we have been taught by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and has lived in our hearts. When prophecy comes forth, it is the fruit of the written Word which was written on the tablets of our hearts. It started with the page, but our hearts have become the receptacle of that Word. There it can live. That Word does not do anything on the cold page, but it does something in our hearts. It does something when it begins to erupt. It goes on and on, and that is the way the word of God multiplies. That is the way the word of God prevails. No one can say that we magnify prophecy above the Bible. We magnify the Bible by prophesying!
The battle is over the word. You will either give up the word or you will hang onto it until it explodes and projects you right into the Kingdom! Believe for the fulfillment of the word. You will be surprised at how fast it works when you begin to review what you believe. Stand on it. Every time the enemy comes against you, say, “I am a believer; I have a specific word I believe,” and watch it come to pass.