The Word is deeper. Some of the best revelation teaching comes during times when there are only a few instead of the many. During these times of waiting on the Lord, the Words come because they are living experiences to us. We are living them. When we speak them to you, you are aware that they are living. And then you begin to live them and to feed them back to us.
We are finding that the Word has a continual, live memory to it. It is not a matter of merely recalling the past; rather, the power of that Word that has come in times past is made vital and real.
God has spoken many Words, and will continue speaking many Words to you; and they will become very alive to you. Currently the Lord has been speaking about the Communion. This is so real and alive that we will search out all the Communion messages that came at an earlier period, and have them printed up in a book for you.
When the final line of all teaching is written, it is His provision for us that we appropriate. That is the only reality we have. He has already provided it. We need only reach in with faith, discarding every bit of unbelief, to appropriate a perfect provision for every need. We know that there is nothing that He has not provided for us.
Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. II Peter 1:2–3.
For all things belong to you, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come; all things belong to you, and you belong to Christ; and Christ belongs to God. I Corinthians 3:21b–23.
God wants the Words that He has spoken in the past to His people to be alive in the present, so that the future will be unlimited for them. There is a curtailment, a restriction, upon our future if we carry the past as a burden upon us. The past is dead. It cannot live.
There is only one way that something from the past can live for us. When God has spoken a Word to us in a past experience, that Word was so alive. After whatever we went through was dead and buried, then God resurrects and glorifies the Word He had spoken. What we went through in the past is no longer a valid source of torment, or a failure, because the Word that He had spoken then is at this present moment alive to us again. We live in it.
When Christ said, “This do in remembrance of Me” (Luke 22:19), He did not mean that we should recall a historical event; rather, we should bring alive something that had been real and wonderful—the Words that He spoke, “This is My body; this is My blood. Eat it and live” (Matthew 26:26–29).
Communion must become so real to us at the moment we partake, that the memory of it, like a living memory, brings to us a reality of the Spirit right at that present moment.
And when the hour had come He reclined at table, and the apostles with Him. And He said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I say to you, I shall never again eat it until it is fulfilled” (note carefully the word “fulfilled”) “in the kingdom of God.” Luke 22:14–16.
This passage could have many interpretations, but at this time the Holy Spirit keeps bringing only one emphasis: it is being fulfilled.
The Communion has been many things to us. It has brought a remembrance of Him; it has been a way of ministry; it has been a holy sacrament. For some Christians it is only a symbol, and sometimes a dead ritual.
Jesus said, “I am going to eat it with you again. But the next time I eat it with you, it will be in the Kingdom of God, and then it will be fulfilled. What I am doing now will be brought forward over the threshold into a new age.”
In the Parousia, one of the most important things we will experience is the miracle of Communion. Many years ago a movement came along which said, “We are leaving the Church Age and we’re not even going to bother with Communion anymore.” I thought, “That sounds wrong.” As I went before the Lord, He showed me that we should give the greatest emphasis and teaching on the Communion that we had ever had. Now once again the Lord is saying, “Revive it again.” It seems as if nothing that we have been taught about Communion is any less a foundation; but it is coming more alive as the day approaches.
And we are beginning to realize how holy, how wonderful, will be the impartation, as we do it in remembrance. What kind of remembrance? The kind of remembrance that says, “O God, my heart is like a computer. It is programmed to every Word You have spoken and everything You have ever done to my heart. Therefore there are no past, vague memories; instead, every Word that You have ever spoken comes alive at this present moment. We worship You, Lord Jesus, who is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8).
Let our hearts be so programmed, like a computer, that we say, “Thy Word have I hid in my heart” (Psalm 119:11).“Thy Words were found and I did eat them” (Jeremiah 15:16). “I come alive in Your presence, Lord, because before You I live” (Luke 20:38).
He is not the God of the dead, but of the living (Matthew 22:32). And when He says, “I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,” He is not saying that He is the God of the dead, because before Him all are alive (Luke 20:37–38).
We begin to realize that God is tying together the ages, and He says, “My Church is not comprised of an invisible Church of the past, and the glorious Church of the future, and the straggling remnant of the present.” Rather, we are all one in His sight, and before Him we all live (Luke 20:38). Before Him we all have our being (Acts 17:28). Some sleep, but those He brings with Him (I Thessalonians 4:14). We are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, and we run with endurance (Hebrews 12:1). They without us will not be made perfect (Hebrews 11:40).
In this day the Lord is speaking, “Revive to My people the eating of My flesh and the drinking of My blood. Let it become as real as if they were kneeling beneath the cross on that day, and the blood from My hands was dripping down upon them.” You are cleansed at the moment you partake, because of the unique thing that God does upon your memory. It is not that you can recall past incidents; rather, the reality of a past Word, a past provision, is suddenly poured upon you—as though God had filled His heavens with blessings, with heavy clouds of glory, waiting for you simply to stand and be revived in the latter rain. “For He shall come unto us as the rain” (Hosea 6:3).
Luke 22:19–20: And having taken some bread, when He had given thanks, He broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood.”
This is to be a living memory, a revelation made real to us and programmed upon our heart, and therefore it is eternally real. We are making memories come alive. Our Lord will never be a historical figure to us. He was the same yesterday, and He is the same today, and He is the same forever (Hebrews 13:8). That word “same” is important: the same Lord then, the same Lord now, the same Lord to come. With faith in our hearts we proclaim, “Whatever You said comes alive to us now. It is real to us.”
We search the Scriptures, but not to read the historical account and say, “Maybe God could do it again.” When we read it, He is as real to us as though we were the ones waiting by the pool for the waters to be stirred (John 5:2–9); as though we were the blind man with clay on his eyes groping through the city (John 9:6–7); as though we were a young teenager, who was visited by an angel, and who said, “Let it be done unto me according to thy word” (Luke 1:38); as though we were the ones who looked up and heard Him cry in agony, “Behold your son; behold your mother” (John 19:26–27).
We have to live those events again, because they did not die. They are not a dead past, because forever His Word is settled in heaven (Psalm 119:89). There is no end to it. It is a living thing. Every Word that He has spoken to us has to come alive to us.
This is the day that the promise in John 15:16 and 14:13–14 comes to pass: “Whatever you ask …” Can you visualize the dingy little room with flickering clay lamps, where Jesus said this to His disciples? Soon afterward they walked with Him out across a rocky ravine, to a little grove of olive trees. But first He gave them this promise, “Whatever you ask in My name I will do” (John 14:14). Those words are alive. He is saying them to us today. And because He says them to us, we are becoming programmed by the Holy Spirit. And we realize fully for the first time that every promise in Him has its yea and its verily. He is alive to us; He is real to us, because His Words are so eternal that they do not know any time limit.
For as many as may be the promises of God, in Him they are yes; wherefore also by Him is our Amen to the glory of God through us. II Corinthians 1:20, NASB.
For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us. II Corinthians 1:20, KJV.
Either we are making memories—or have made them—that are full of torment; or else we are looking back to every Word that He has spoken. And even if we didn’t believe it then, it is not too late to believe it now. There are memories that come like haunting specters, that torment and create nightmares. And then there are the living memories of a faithful Word that God has spoken.
Let’s return to the Communion, and believe God that from this hour on it is going to become more holy, more sacred than ever before. But God forbid that we only go through the form or motions. Let’s observe it with living memories, brought forth “in remembrance of Him” (Luke 22:19)—a remembrance that is so real and vital that it is not history on a cold page, but a living Christ within, His Words burning within us.
Every Word that God has spoken to us is becoming an eternal, living memory. I know we are not really like mechanical computers, yet it is true that we never really forget anything. It is said that if a person is placed under hypnosis, everything that has ever happened to him can be recalled. That is what the Holy Spirit does. This was what Jesus was telling the disciples, “You’re getting all of it now; the input is here. I’m speaking it to you. You may not even know what I am talking about now. But you have been programmed like a computer, and when the Holy Spirit comes, He will punch the keys and bring to mind whatsoever I have said unto you. Every Word will be made alive.”
“These things I have spoken to you, while abiding with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.” John 14:25–26.
When therefore He was raised from the dead, His disciples remembered that He said this; and they believed the Scripture, and the word which Jesus had spoken. John 2:22.
“But these things I have spoken to you, that when their hour comes, you may remember that I told you of them. And these things I did not say to you at the beginning, because I was with you.” John 16:4.
This is better than the symbolism of the Old Testament when they placed the Word in a little leather pouch and tied it around their forehead or around their wrist or wrote it over the doorposts of the house (Deuteronomy 6:7–9). They read it and rehearsed it because it was not that real to them and they tended to forget it. But now comes the memory time, when we minister the Word of God, not with pen and ink, but by the Spirit of the living God; not on tablets of stone, but on the fleshly tablets of the heart, that we can be living epistles, read and known of all men (II Corinthians 3:2–3), walking computers created in the image of God by a Word that He brought to us. This is what He is doing for us now. So we say again, “O God, my heart is a living computer, being programmed by every Word that You speak. You are building in me living memory banks, and I will be ready always to give to those who ask a reason for the hope within me” (I Peter 3:15).
Many of you have been through a great deal, and your memory is probably filled with as honest an evaluation of events and relationships as you could make. Even then, you do not know how much of your conclusion is right and how much is wrong. You may be thinking that what happened to you was of the devil and that he has actually won a victory over you. In truth, you would have to be quite a brilliant person to know the difference between the dealings of God and the assaults of the devil. Remember that God was the one who incited the devil to assault Job.
And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil.”
Then the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power, only do not put forth your hand on him.” So Satan departed from the presence of the Lord. Job 1:8, 12.
And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man fearing God and turning away from evil. And he still holds fast his integrity, although you incited Me against him, to ruin him without cause.” And Satan answered the Lord and said, “Skin for skin! Yes, all that a man has he will give for his life. However, put forth Thy hand, now, and touch his bone and his flesh; he will curse Thee to Thy face.” So the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your power, only spare his life.” Job 2:3–6.
It is not always easy to figure out and evaluate what is happening to you. If there is within you any measure of defeat or bitterness because of what you have experienced, it means that you were not listening to what God was saying when you went through it. You were not listening! Go back and say, “Tell me, Lord, what I didn’t hear. Tell me what Your Word was.” Maybe the Word was there and you knew it, but you evaded it. Many of us will have to say, “Yes, I know God spoke to me. I know the Living Word is right. It became a revelation to my heart. But when I went through all of these difficult experiences and I began to reason them out, it was confusion to me.”
I think God sometimes seems unreasonable because He is “revelationable.” And if He is going to approach us through a revelation, He is only mildly concerned about our reasoning.
Jesus asked the disciples, “Whom do men say that I am?”
“Some say You are Jeremiah; others say Elijah or one of the prophets.”
“Whom do you say?”
Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
“Blessed are you, Simon. Flesh and blood did not tell you that, nor even your own reasoning. My Father revealed it to you” (Matthew 16:13–17).
God doesn’t always make your life reasonable; instead, He gives you a Word by which He will give you a revelation of it.
No doubt all of us have experienced times when we were encouraged and times when we were discouraged. People become disappointed and weary because of the way. But all of it was designed for a people who would be His sons, led by the Spirit, who would release creation from futility (Romans 8:14, 21). And how can they do that if they are defeated and swallowed up by it themselves? You have to come back to the Word. All creation was made subject to futility in hope that the sons of God would come forth (Romans 8:20–21). If you yourself believe in that futility, you will never loose creation from it. You have to believe the Word.
Consider for a moment a couple of “ifs.” First of all, if you don’t stop your human evaluation and reasoning of the past so that its torment to you can die, then your present will be constrained. You will carry on your back a load of lies and wrong assumptions. No matter how honestly you have tried to evaluate it, there is no answer for the past, the present, or the future except Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8), and a Living Word that He brings to your heart. There is nothing else.
The war is over the Word. The Book opens with the question, “Hath God said?” (Genesis 3:1.) And it ends with the One who is on a white horse, who has a name written, “The Word of God” (Revelation 19:11–13). From beginning to end the whole battle is over the Word. “Hath God said?” The battle in the wilderness between Satan and Christ was over the Word (Matthew 4:1–10). Satan could quote the Word, but Jesus was the Living Word. That is the difference.
Our critics come with a lot of seemingly reasonable explanations for persecuting us. They quote from the Scriptures, giving chapter and verse, and say, “This is the Word of God.” But they have twisted the Scriptures. And we could tell them, “The devil has taught you well. But God’s Word lives in my heart. I don’t need to reason or listen to your arguments, when His Word has been a revelation to me. It has been revealed. It is written on the tablets of my heart.” That statement could be misconstrued and misinterpreted, and will be, by those who have no ears to hear. If the past does not die to that human input to it, the present is constrained and the future will definitely be curtailed for you.
The second “if”: If His past Word is real and living now, then the past has truly died, but it has also been resurrected and glorified in what His Word makes it to you. And because you have faith, the present is enriched with the understanding in that tranquility which comes in the midst of the storms loosed upon this earth. And the future can be everything that faith in His faithful Words to your heart can ever make it.
We are in a new level. We’re getting ready to move forward. Although we feel very definitely that we are in the spiritual battle, the battle must not be misinterpreted. The barometer may indicate that there was a great invasion and assault throughout the previous day and night, but do not focus on that. Focus on His Word. What did that tell you? Almost every time, the battle comes as Satan’s effort to move you off the Word upon which you have taken your stand. And if you will hold to the Word, you will prevail. “Hath God said?” is the question of Satan (Genesis 3:1). And the victory of His saints and prophets, in ages past and present and future, is based on this important truth: Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today, yes and forever. Hebrews 13:8. Thus saith the Lord!
When Satan asks, “Hath God said?” we answer, “Thus saith the Lord!”
If any Word that God has spoken in the Book condemns me, instead of evading it or not believing it, I would rather take its condemnation with humility; for then He will give me grace and loose me. But in no way must I turn away from His Word. I must believe it, for I am nothing and will never be anything, except what He creates in me by His Word.
The next time you eat the bread and drink the cup, be prepared for a miracle. Have there been times when the Lord was so real to you, but now you have almost forgotten it? Ask the Lord to make that memory real again. Whatever He has spoken to you, in whatever way He has been real to you in the past, say, “Lord, bring it alive again. O God, don’t let me drift away from any revelation to my heart that has been real to me. Any time that my heart burned within me when I heard the Scriptures and You made them real to me—make them alive again.”
Let’s not talk doubt. Let’s not talk anything but faith. Believe His Word. Reach into it and accept it. Do you feel as if you have failed miserably in the past? Let me give you one little prayer that will cover all of your sins, even a multitude of sins. Just look up and say, “God, forgive me when I wavered from Your Word.”
I suggest also that you read again Psalm 119. It shows us how we wander when we forsake His Word. But when we repent and turn to His Word, when we hide it in our heart, then we do not sin (verses 10–11). Sometimes when you look at all the things you have said and done that you know you shouldn’t have, you must do more than pray, “God, forgive me of all of this.” Repent of the state of heart that created those things as an unhealthy set of symptoms. They were the symptoms. The inner condition—the state of unbelief—was the cause.
O God, tell us again—what can we do, that we might work the works of God? “This is the work of God, that you believe on Him whom He has sent” (John 6:28–29). Believe! Turn your heart again to the Lord. Believe His Word! Turn your heart to it with all faith. Is there anything that we want more than the will of God? The will of God comes because the Word is fulfilled. That is the will of God—the Word fulfilled. Embrace it and apply it. It will be real to you—programmed into your mind and into your spirit and into your heart as into a computer. God is doing a work. The Spirit will bring to mind whatever God has spoken. And when you hear it, say, “I not only assent to it; I believe it. I believe it! It is a living thing to my heart. I believe the Word. I grasp that Word with simple faith.”
“For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws into their minds, and I will write them upon their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be My people. And they shall not teach every one his fellow-citizen, and every one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for all shall know Me, from the least to the greatest of them.” Hebrews 8:10–11.
I have to assume that what I am or am not is not the issue, either with me or with you, and certainly not with God. If He has laid upon me a commission, then what I am and what I am not is not the issue; rather, what I reach in with faith to be and to do is the issue. May the Lord impart to you a faith to be absorbed in the Word—that the Word will not depart out of your mouth, but you will meditate thereon day and night, day and night (Joshua 1:8). Like a Joshua ready to take the land, like someone entering a new age to be born, meditate upon that Word. You will be like a tree planted by the living waters, because upon that Word you meditate day and night (Psalm 1:2–3).
Set your heart and the focus of your faith on the Words of the Lord, on the Living Word that comes, that points your heart to the understanding of what God has said, what He is saying now, what He is opening up in revelation for the age to come.
Let the anointing of the Lord be upon you. Rehearse in one another’s ears the Word of the Lord. Speak the Word to one another. He will dwell in you richly, and you will speak to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.
Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Colossians 3:16.
If this were the last Word that ever came through my lips for you, it would be enough to sanctify and give holy meaning to all the life you have lived so far. It would be enough to give you the victorious fulfillment of God’s will and purpose in your life right now. And it would be enough to open up to you the only key, the only secret to eternal victory, because it is all in the Word.
Prayer: Lord, there is no Word greater than this Word we have embraced. We feast upon Thy blood and upon Thy ody, upon all of that total provision You have given us of all things that pertain to life and godliness. We glorify Thee, Lord, that by the Living Word and the promises we become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust (II Peter 1:3–4). We reach into Thee, Lord. We reach into Your Word.
The Word of God makes alive now the promises and provisions it recorded in the past.
There is no future for us until we appropriate now what He provided for us long ago.
Communion makes the shedding of our Lord’s blood a current happening to us.
We partake of His flesh and of His blood, and we say, “What You did and what You are is real to us now.”
When Satan asks, “Hath God said?” we reply, “Thus saith the Lord.”