What is the living Word? It is God speaking to you directly through an oracle of God, until that word is written on your heart, and you can hear God yourself.
Unfortunately, the word being spoken and taught today is a mixture, mostly human and a little of the divine.
God’s Words are not human words. When God speaks, He imparts Himself through the Words He speaks. To hear the living Word of God is to become that Word.
Our attitude toward the Witten Word determines the place that God holds in our daily life.
The Word should always be “The Father” speaking to us. It should never be like a message from an ordinary book.
It should be as real to you as though Jesus stood in your room and spoke to you personally.
This Word was designed by the Father to take Jesus’s place in His absence.
When He says, “The Father himself loveth you” (John 16:27), it is a personal message to your heart.
When Jesus said, “If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him” (John 14:23), that should be as personal to you, just as if you were the only person in the world.
It is as though you were sitting at the feet of Jesus, and He looked at you and said, “The Father and I will come and make our home with you.
“Be not dismayed, for I am your God”.
“I am going to be your strength; I am going to become you ability”.
“When you need finances, remember that I said, ‘Your Father knows what things you have need of’ (Matthew 6:8).”
You can speak with confidence, “My Father will supply every need of mine. He knows my needs and loves me. He and I are one.”
Few words of man live, but God’s Word is different. It is eternal.
Hebrews 4:12–13 gives us an illustration: “For the Word of God is a living thing, active and more cutting than any sword with double edge, penetrating to the very division of soul and spirit, joints and marrow—scrutinizing the very thoughts and intents of the heart. And no created thing is hidden from him; all things lie open and exposed before the eyes of him with whom we must give account.
This is one of the extraordinary statements about the Word in Paul’s Epistles.
Notice this thirteenth verse: “No one is hidden from him.”
Of whom is he speaking? The living Word!
The Word takes on personality; it becomes Christ Himself. Our contact with the Lord, then, is through His Word.
And did you notice, “the eyes of him.” The Word then has eyes. It sees our conduct, our attitude toward it. It is a Living thing. How deeply this should impact us.
We have a book (Bible) with the very life of God in it, a book that inspects our conduct, that judges us. A book that feeds our inner man—our spirit. It imparts faith to our Spirit, builds love into it. God’s main means of reaching us is through His written Word. So, the Word becomes a imperative thing.
We need to grasp the fact that during the first century, the church did not have our New Testament.
The first Epistle that Paul wrote to the Thessalonians was the beginning of the New Testament. It was written seventeen years after his conversion.
1 Thessalonians 2:13 For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe.
This Word (Letters) of God was all they had, whether Paul gave it, or Peter, or John, or any of the Apostles. It was God speaking through human lips. It had not yet been put into a book (New Testament).
Now you can better understand Acts 19:20 telling of that great revival at Ephesus. Luke used this expression: “So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed.”
It was the spoken Word. The Pauline revelation was only known to those who had heard him. The other Apostles did not have it. They had what the Spirit gave them to meet the emergency of the hour.
It is a fact that Christianity is what the Word says about redemption (a releasing effected by payment of ransom, the required price),
about the new creation which resulted from the finished work of Jesus on the Cross.
We become Christ-like in the measure that the Word exists in us.
The Word is Christ revealed.
The Word is God present with us, speaking the living message of the loving Father.
It is His Word to us today. It is His voice, His communication. It becomes a living thing in our heart as we act upon it. It becomes a living thing in our mouth.
It has no power on the mouth of those whose lives that are out of fellowship with Him, who live in the realm of reason.
His Word makes our ministry limitless.
His Word is what He is.
It is the mind of the Father.
It is the will of the Father.
It shows “the way” to the Father.
The Word is the Father speaking.
The Word is the bread of heaven, food for our spirits.
Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God. (Matthew 4:4)
Your words were found, and I ate them, and Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart (Jeremiah 15:16)
Job tells us how precious the Word was to him: “I have not departed from the commandment of His language; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food” (Job 23:12).
When the child of God looks upon the Word as Job did, then it becomes a reality in their daily life. Job had no written Word; he had the Word spoken by angels, or YHVH himself.
We have the written Word. We have it printed in many forms so we may carry it in our pocket or read it on our computer or phone. How little we have appreciated the value of His message.
“He sent his word and healed them” (Psalm 107:20).
That living Word He sent was Jesus.
So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven and sat down on the right hand of God. And they went forth, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following (Mark 16:19–20).
Notice that the Lord worked with them. I believe that a revival will break out almost anywhere if the Lord works with those who preach, and if the Word becomes as real to them as the spoken Word was as real to the early church.
But “the word of man” has gained the ascendancy and has more authority than God’s Word has today. God confirms the Word today everywhere that it is preached. I want you to notice how the Father makes the Word active in the lives of men and women as they dare to act upon it.
In the closing sentence of the gospel of Matthew, “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20), the believer can be sure that though he may be forsaken by all, there is One who will stand by them “I am”.
The thing that moves my heart is the reality of God in the Word.
He is not only in the Word, but He breathes His very life through it as it is revealed.
He said, “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the middle of them” (Matthew 18:20).
He is in the middle of them in the Word.
We must realize that when we open the Word, it is a living thing we are imparting to the hearts of people.
The Word is God present with us speaking the living message of the living Father.
It is the now Word from Him to us. It is His voice.
In Romans 10:8, it is called “the word of faith.
It is His Word that gives birth to faith in the believer. It is God’s faith expressed.
You see, YHVH is a Faith God and He always uses words to do things.
Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God. (Hebrews 11:3)
Hear Him say, “By myself have I sworn” (Genesis 22:16).
He was in the Word. The Word was a part of Him.
You can’t separate a man from his words; neither can you separate the Father from His Words. When God speaks, He imparts His Spirit in His words.
Hebrews 7:22 says that Jesus is the surety of the New Covenant.
The New Covenant is the Word, and Jesus is the surety of the Word. The Word was a living reality when Jesus spoke it. And It is still a living reality.
Jesus was a part of all YHVH said; He and His Word were one.
Jesus is just as real now as He was the day He arose from the dead.
His Word is just as real now as when He inspired John or Peter or Paul to write it.
What He said was a part of Himself. Reality vibrations in it, flows through it, lives in it. The Word was, the Word is now what it was then.
Here are some other assurances:
The LORD is my shepherd. (Psalm 23:1)
In John 10:14, Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd.”
Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. (Isaiah 41:10)
If God be for us, who can be against us? (Romans 8:31)
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. (Philippians 4:13)
The LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? (Psalm 27:1)
My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:19)
My help comes from the Lord. (Psalm 121:2)
Blessed is the man whose strength is in You. (Psalm 84:5)
My refuge is in God. (Psalm 62:7)
These are Living Words, and as you feed on them, they build you up spiritually.
The knowledge of what Christ is and has done for you personally, builds faith in you.
When you turn to the Word and read it as His message to you, He confirms that message in your life.
He confirmed the Covenant made with Abraham.
He confirmed the Word that Jesus spoke through the Apostles. (Mark 16:20.)
The Word talks to us. It takes the place of Jesus.
The Word is the Father speaking to us now.
It has the same Authority that it would have if the Jesus stood in the room and spoke it.
Faith in the Father is faith in His Word. The Word manifests all that our faith demands.
Jesus said, “According to your faith be it unto you” (Matthew 9:29).
As you consider the Word and act upon it, it will become real to you.
This book, the living Word, has God in it. The Word takes the place of the unseen Jesus. Meditation in the Word is like a visit with Jesus.
In Joshua 1:8, God told Joshua to meditate in the Word, day and night; in other words, to live in it.
Jesus said, “Continue in my word” (John 8:31).
The Word gets into your spirit, into your soul, into your body, and becomes a part of you.
The Word is inspired. Holy men spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit, as they spoke the word by their spirit.
God spoke by the mouth of the holy prophets.
The words that I speak unto you are spirit, and they are life. (John 6:63)
Every word that God speaks has life in it.
It is the “prevailing Word,” as it was in Ephesus. How it ruled over that wicked city!
Today, the Word of God is ruling in the hearts of those who yield to it.
The Word has the authority of God in it now.
It has the righteousness of God in it.
It has recreating power for the unsaved.
It has healing power for the sick.
It is the very bread of heaven to the hungry in spirit.
When you pick up the Word, it will mean that God is present with you and that the Word is His attitude toward you now.
It is His attitude toward sin, toward redemption, toward righteousness, toward eternal life, toward the sons and daughters of God.
It is the Father’s attitude toward all the issues of life.
The Word is the will of the Father.
God watches over His Word, to perform it
What God says, becomes.
God is truth, so the Word will be true.
God is light, so we will walk in the light.
We learn to act on the Word, as we act on the word of a lawyer in some crisis in our life.
Do you realize that the Father is jealous over His Word.
He never set a low estimate for it. He holds it in the highest regard.
If He said it, that settles it.
To His enemies, it is but paper and ink; but to the lovers, it is life and health; it is joy unspeakable.
The preaching that produces little conviction is caused by the Word not having been in the heart of the teacher.
We are to be Sowers of the Word.
Jesus gave us, in Matthew 13, a marvelous picture of the art of preaching.
It is sowing the Word. It falls upon all kinds of hearts, but when the irrigation of the soil is dependent upon the sower. If we water it with prayer and sometimes with tears, it is bound to bring forth a harvest.
Some of us forget the Word in hard places. Unconsciously we walk by physical sight. The physical senses take reality away from the Word, but as the Spirit gains the ascendancy over our physical senses, the Word once more has its place in governing our lives.
Remember, your word is you. You must learn to say, “I gave my word; I must keep it, no matter what it costs.” If your word is of no value, you will reason that the Word of God is of no value.
I have found that unbelief in the Word of God is largely because of people’s lack of faith in their own word.
If you want to build the highest type of faith, be a faithful person yourself. Believe in your own word. Establish a reputation for truth; then the Word will be that to you in your life.
Here are some little facts that may mean much to your life. The Word is in my heart and in my mouth. What am I going to do with it?
Am I going to act upon it, let it govern my life, or will I just study it?
Will I sit in the Bible class and study it and then go back to my room and study it but not live it? And not let it become a part of my life, but just an intellectual exercise?
The Word is taking the Master’s place in my life.
What I do with the Word will determine what the Word will do to me.
The Word will work in me, building Jesus’s life in me, building faith, love, grace, and strength into me, or else it will judge me in the last day.
What will it do for me? It will work for me.
If I preach it and live it, it will work for me. It will reveal the very riches of my inheritance to me.
It will give me courage to enter and enjoy my inheritance. It will build the Master’s steadfastness into me.
The very character of Christ will be built into me, and only He knows what it will do through me.
It has saved the lost; it has healed the sick; it has built faith and love in multitudes.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. (Colossians 3:16)
You can so soak in the Word and the Word will soak into you, that your word and God’s Word become blended into one.
It will be your language and your words, but it will be His Word.
His Word in you becomes a part of you. It will make you what you are; it will make others like you.
The Word became flesh once. It is becoming spirit in your spirit. The Word dwells richly in your life, in your conversation, in your prayer, in your convictions.
This Word and you have become one.
You remember that for more than fifty years after Christ’s death, the written word was known only in a very limited way.
The New Testament wasn’t brought together until the middle of the second century.
The words that Jesus spoke were not yet written. It was the “spoken Word,” but He was in it. They were a part of Christ and they breathed Christ’s nature.
Remember, “the Word of God which lives and abides forever” (1 Peter 1:23).
Speak the Word and it will live in the lives of those who hear you.
God said, “I will perform (ʿāśâ a verb meaning to do, to make, to accomplish, to complete) my word” (Jeremiah 1:12).
He will watch over the Word you preach and teach.
Jesus said, “If my words are living in you and you are speaking them, I will live in them as they pass from your mouth.” The Word of Christ becomes a living thing in your mouth.
Speak the Word fearlessly.
Let the Word live in you gloriously!
When you pick up the Word, it will mean that God is present with you and that the Word is His attitude toward you now.
It is His attitude toward sin, toward redemption, toward righteousness, toward eternal life, toward the sons and daughters of God.
That is the Father’s attitude toward all the issues of life.
The Word is the will of the Father.
God watches over His Word, to perform it
What God says, becomes.
God is truth, so I will be true.
God is light, so I will walk in the light.
We learn to act on the Word, as we act on the word of a lawyer in some crisis in our life.
Do you realize that the Father is jealous over His Word.
He never set a low estimate upon it. He holds it in the highest regard.
If He said it, that ends it.
To His enemies, it is but paper and ink; but to the lovers, it is life and health; it is joy unspeakable.
The preaching that produces little conviction is caused by the Word not having been in the heart of the teacher.
We are to be sowers of the Word.
Jesus gave us, in Matthew 13, a marvelous picture of the art of preaching. It is sowing the Word. It falls upon all kinds of hearts, but when the irrigation of the soil is dependent upon the sower. If we water it with prayer and sometimes with tears, it is bound to bring forth a harvest.
Some of us forget the Word in hard places. Unconsciously we walk by physical sight. The physical senses take the reality away from the Word, but as the Spirit gains the ascendancy over our physical senses, the Word once more has its place in governing our lives.
Remember, your word is you. You must learn to say, “I gave my word; I must keep it, no matter what it costs.” If your word is of no value, you will reason that the Word of God is of no value.
I have found that unbelief in the Word of God is largely because of people’s lack of faith in their own word.
If you want to build the highest type of faith, be a faithful person yourself. Believe in your own word. Establish a reputation for truth; then the Word will be that to you in your life.
Here are some little facts that may mean much to your life. The Word is in my heart and in my mouth. What am I going to do with it?
Am I going to act upon it, let it govern my life, or will I just study it?
Will I sit in the Bible class and study it and then go back to my room and study it but not live it? Not let it become a part of my life, but just an intellectual exercise?
The Word is taking the Master’s place in my life.
What I do with the Word will determine what the Word will do to me.
The Word will work in me, building Jesus’s life in me, building faith, love, grace, and strength into me, or else it will judge me in the last day.
What will it do for me? It will work for me.
If I preach it and live it, it will work for me. It will reveal the very riches of my inheritance to me.
It will give me courage to enter into and enjoy my inheritance. It will build the Master’s steadfastness into me.
The very character of Christ will be built into me, and only He knows what it will do through me.
It has saved the lost; it has healed the sick; it has built faith and love in multitudes.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. (Colossians 3:16)
You can so soak in the Word and the Word so soak in you, that your word and God’s Word become blended into one.
It will be your language and your words, but it will be His Word. His Word in you becomes a part of you. It has made you what you are; it will make others like you. You are lost in the Word, but the Word is found in you.
The Word became flesh once. It is becoming spirit in your spirit. The Word dwells richly in your practice, in your conversation, in your prayer, in your convictions.
You are using the Word to cast out diseases, to bring money to people, to save lost souls.
This Word and you have become one.
You remember that for more than fifty years after Christ’s death, the written word was known only in a very limited way.
The New Testament wasn’t brought together until the middle of the second century.
The words that Jesus spoke were not yet written. It was the “spoken Word,” but He was in it. They were a part of Christ and they breathed Christ’s nature.
Remember, “the word of God…liveth and abideth” (1 Peter 1:23).
Speak the Word and it will live in the lives of those who hear you.
God said, “I will perform (ʿāśāh: A verb meaning to do, to make, to accomplish, to complete) my word” (Jeremiah 1:12). He will watch over the Word you preach and teach.
Jesus said, “If my words are living in you and you are speaking them, I will live in them as they pass from your mouth.” The Word of Christ becomes a living thing in your mouth.
Speak the Word fearlessly.
Let the Word live in you gloriously and richly.