Now this is the commandment, the statutes, and the ordinances, which Jehovah your God commanded to teach you, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go over to possess it; that thou mightest fear Jehovah thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son’s son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged.
Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as Jehovah, the God of thy fathers, hath promised unto thee, in a land flowing with milk and honey. Hear, O Israel: Jehovah our God is one Jehovah: and thou shalt love Jehovah thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be upon thy heart; and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thy house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thy hand, and they shall be for frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the door-posts of thy house, and upon thy gates. Deuteronomy 6:1–9.
Deuteronomy 11:18–25 is a similar passage. Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul; and ye shall bind them for a sign upon your hand, and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes. And ye shall teach them your children, talking of them, when thou sittest in thy house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
And thou shalt write them upon the door-posts of thy house, and upon thy gates; that your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which Jehovah sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of the heavens above the earth. For if ye shall diligently keep all this commandment which I command you, to do it, to love Jehovah your God, to walk in all his ways, and to cleave unto him; then will Jehovah drive out all these nations from before you, and ye shall dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourselves.
Every place whereon the sole of your foot shall tread shall be yours: from the wilderness, and Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates, even unto the hinder sea shall be your border. There shall no man be able to stand before you: Jehovah your God shall lay the fear of you and the dread of you upon all the land that ye shall tread upon, as he hath spoken unto you.
What happened to Israel in the Old Testament on a natural plane is being fulfilled among God’s people today on a spiritual plane. Let us consider what God was telling them to do. They were to love the Lord their God with all their heart, their soul, their mind, and their strength. Jesus listed this as the first and greatest commandment (Matthew 22:37–38). In addition to that, they were to teach the Word to their children, write it upon the doorposts and gates, bind it upon their hands and in frontlets around their heads.
If people were to do this today, it would be considered very strange. However, it was a sign to them, just as the word of instruction that we receive is a sign to us. The Word of the Lord is symbolically bound about our hands, close to our pulse; and in the performance of the duties of ministry and the activities the Lord has set before us, the Word of God is continually before us. The Word, bound around the wrist of our right hand, is the strength and the anointing as we set about, not only to speak and print that Word, but to act forth and be that Word, to put it into action. The Word is also bound upon the forehead, where students of the occult say the third eye is located and where some of the glands within the head seem to be related definitely to mystical extrasensory perception. There the Word of God is regulating the subconscious and the focus of the conscious mind. Our heart, our hand, and our head—all are given over to one thing: what God has to say to us in His Word. In effect, this means our spirit, body, and soul are dedicated to one thing: What does the Lord have to say? This becomes the whole meditation of our heart.
If we were to give a title to each of the Psalms, the first Psalm would be called “The Secret of Success.” It describes the man who prospers in everything he does; his life has permanence and is fruitful. That successful man meditates upon the Word of the Lord day and night. Like a tree planted by the rivers of water, he draws his sustenance from the Word of God. As he lives, he becomes an expression of the Word in his fruitfulness. So it is with the true believer in this hour: day and night he gives himself to the living Word that God is speaking to this generation. It becomes the meditation of his mind, the focal point around which his every activity is geared. He is not reacting or moved by emotions or circumstances, nor by the counsel of the ungodly and scornful. He asks, “What does the Lord say? What does the Lord want?” This he desires above everything else: the Word in action, in every thought and every feeling, the Word in his spirit and soul, in the very depths of his being.
Luke 5:1–5 is a passage that can be prophetically applied to the people of God today. Now it came to pass, while the multitude pressed upon him and heard the word of God, that he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret; and he saw two boats standing by the lake: but the fishermen had gone out of them, and were washing their nets. And he entered into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the multitudes out of the boat. And when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Put out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught. And Simon answered and said, Master, we toiled all night, and took nothing: but at thy word I will let down the nets. This is what God’s people are going to do—at His Word and with His Word they will let down the nets. At a command from God, they are going forth.
For the first time since the early Church, God is bringing forth in the earth a Body of people who wholly seek for the Lord to give them a Word. They are not directed by the promotional idea or the inspiration of some individual or group of individuals. At God’s Word they let down their nets!
We read in Acts 13 that the prophets and teachers gathered together at Antioch, ministering to the Lord with fasting and prayer. Then the Word came as the Spirit spoke, …Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. Acts 13:2. They waited on God and received a Word and a commission from God by the witness of the Spirit. Since that time, men have tried and have partially succeeded in doing this. The witness of the Spirit is becoming very pure as God’s people learn to seek the Word of the Lord; and when they receive that Word, they stand upon it. The living Word of God has become the preoccupation of their hearts. There is a remnant of believers who have not been concerned about organization, or even about growing. They are not impressed with numerical records or with the magnitude of a program. Their idea of success is the fact that whoever they are—whether a handful of people meeting in a garage, or a sanctuary filled with worshipers—they are determined to be the people who hear a Word from God and do it. Each one of them would rather be a part of a handful of people, doing what God says to do, than to be a part of a large organization that is perverting what God has said or brought forth, in order to make it practically useful in producing growth and success on their own terms. God forbid that any New Testament church should have a Sunday School chart, recording the number attending. The New Testament idea of success is not saying, “Look, we had a thousand in Sunday School today.” That is the sign of a church’s defeat, that they have so many and have done so little with them.
In the New Testament churches that are coming forth, children prophesy and move in the Spirit of the Lord. This would give any true shepherd a feeling of joy. It is not how many you have that counts, but what you do with them. What do you give to them? What are they going to be? Will they be the expression of God in the earth, hearing and speaking what He has to say? Will they be the Body of Christ, the sons and daughters of the prophets? Are they coming forth in the name of the Lord with a Word from God? There is a remnant that says, “What we do, we will do because He gives us the Word. At Thy Word, Lord, we will let down the nets.”
And when they had done this, they inclosed a great multitude of fishes; and their nets were breaking; and they beckoned unto their partners in the other boat, that they should come and help them. And they came, and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. But Simon Peter, when he saw it, fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord. For he was amazed, and all that were with him, at the draught of the fishes which they had taken; and so were also James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. (They had a good business, catching fish on the Lake of Gennesaret and selling them in the cities.) And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men. And when they had brought their boats to land, they left all, and followed him. Luke 5:6–11.
They left it all. The man who sees a miracle in his life is just simple enough in his spirit that when he gets a Word from God he says, “Yes, at Thy Word I will do it.” God has worked a beautiful submission in the spirits of a people who are determined to be obedient to the Word that He gives.