The Living Word
#thewordofGodseries
(This Weekly Prayer Summary was written by Irene Sentosa, from the CBC English Prayer Ministry Core Team, and edited by Brigitta Tedja)
Pastor Paul continued with the “The Word of God” series for the month of July with a sermon entitled, “The Living Word.”
As you grow in intimacy with the Lord, He actually wants you to know what is to come. In Matthew 16:21-23, Jesus shared to His disciples that the Son of man was going to be crucified, die, and be resurrected on the third day, but the disciples did not understand. Even Peter rebuked Jesus because he used his human understanding and did not like the idea that Jesus would be crucified. Then Jesus rebuked Peter.
Sometimes the enemy of the best is not the bad but the “good” human thinking that makes sense to us. We do not want to have the mind of Christ, instead we only want to hear good things and that many times hinders us to experience the best. Some of us settle with the good, but God does not settle for the good. He has prepared and wants to give the best for each of us.
Many people want to understand the Word first and then they will believe. It does NOT work that way in the Kingdom of God and spiritual realm.
We need to receive, believe, and then we will understand.
And when you understand, you apply and experience what you believe, then we will understand God more.
Some Christians are over-equipped and under-practiced, meaning too much theory and no experience. When the Bible comes alive to you, He will speak to you and when you do it, you see the manifestation of God’s power.
John 6:63 NJKV: “The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.” Jesus is the Living Word.
With the situations that are happening in the world, many people, especially the young people, are losing hope. How could you have hope in the midst of the kind of things we are going through? The Word does not seem to make sense to the world.
Common Sense is Not Biblical
Common sense is rooted in what is common to fallen human beings, and it is governed by the principalities and powers of spiritual darkness of this world (Ephesians 6).
As a matter of fact, our common sense does not work when it comes to the promises of God because God's promises actually contradict our common sense.
Sometimes we heard the words of God, but when we face challenges, then our common sense begins to kick in and we think the word cannot apply to our real life. That is a lie from the devil. The truth is that God’s promises contradict with our common sense.
You do not want common sense. You want the wisdom from above.
In Luke 1:5-10 there is something that does not fit in the narrative of the story:
Herod was from the descendants of Esau who despised his birthright and therefore he was rejected, yet Herod became the king in Judea; he ruled and reigned at that time. This was outside the intention and the will of God.
On the other side of the coin, Zacharias and Elizabeth were priests from the lineage of Levi, righteous before God and were doing all the right things, but they had no child because Elizabeth was barren. Something was off here.
Are you going through a similar situation like this? You have been following God faithfully; you are dedicated to Jesus, read the Bible, receive the promises of God, but you do not get the fulfillment of the promises of God. . . yet, your prayers have not been answered. . . yet. You do not understand why and begin to drift away from the Lord. Remember that even if your prayers have not been answered. . . yet, it is still active in heaven!
Then in Luke 1:5-11-20, an angel (Gabriel—the archangel) of the Lord appeared and said to Zacharias that his prayer and petition has been heard and that Elizabeth will bear him a son, but he did not believe it.
Zacharias forgot that they were not the first couple who went through a similar situation (Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Elkanah and Hannah were barren as well) and he used his common sense instead. Common sense is NOT the way God fulfills His promises.
Even though he was serving as a priest before God, he was doing it as a routine, but with no renewal.
The same can apply to us. As Christians we can go to church Sunday after Sunday, worship and read the Word of God as a routine, but we do not have an encounter with God. Why? It is because we have reduced everything down to common sense. Common sense can deceive you.
Mark 4:13-20, NKJV: “And He said to them, "Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? The sower sows the word. And these are the ones by the wayside where the word is sown. When they hear, Satan comes immediately and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts. These likewise are the ones sown on stony ground who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with gladness; and they have no root in themselves, and so endure only for a time. Afterward, when tribulation or persecution arises for the word's sake, immediately they stumble. Now these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word, and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. But these are the ones sown on good ground, those who hear the word, accept it, and bear fruit: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred."
The Word was choked by the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things from the world.
Now the question is where do you put your mind in your daily life?
Have hunger for the Lord — then you will have hunger for the Word — which releases prayer — and when you release prayer, you release worship.
The Word of God is the engine that releases prayer. And prayer is the engine that releases worship.
It is impossible to pray until the Word is in your life. If you pray without the Word, there is no weight in your prayer. And it is impossible to worship until prayer is in your life.
So, it begins with the word — then prayer — then worship and not the other way around.
Jesus said when my Word abides in you, then you will ask and then you will pray (John 15:7).
If you do not know God through the Scripture or Word, it is impossible to worship Him because worship demands revelation truth, and you cannot worship someone you do not know.
Romans 10:17, NKJV: “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. “
The Word is what releases our authority, but we have to remember something: Authority begins with the Word. WHY?
Authority comes from faith. And faith comes from the Word.
The Bible clearly states the Word produces faith.
Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word —but notice, it says “hearing and hearing” meaning I need keep hearing it daily in our life. You cannot receive faith unless the Word is heard over and over — that means you hear the Word daily in your life.
If you stop spending time with the Word, then faith will die. And when faith dies, authority dies.
We cannot produce faith by just confessing the Word because faith comes by the Holy Spirit.
2 Corinthians 4:13 says that Holy Spirit is the Spirit of faith.
John 10:27 NKJV: “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.”
The Bible says:
Jesus commanded spirits to come out by His Word.
The Word had to be spoken before a miracle took place, even physically.
Jesus did not heal the sick until He spoke the Word of healing.
The Word had to be spoken. The Bible says that He sent His Word and healed them.
Jesus never cast a devil out with His thoughts. He got them out with His Word.
Mark 7:13, NIV: “Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that.”
Because of the tradition, the Pharisees made the Word of God to no effect.
Tradition/ habit/ routine/ culture can nullify the Word of God with your common sense. Is there any tradition/ habit/ routine/ culture you have in your life that hinders you from experiencing more of God?
Hebrews 4:2, NKJV: “For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it.”
If the Word is not in your life, you are in serious trouble because faith will die.
When the Word is absent, men or women walk away from God when they do not want to hear it, they walk away from God, and the devil takes over.
Hebrews 4:12, NKJV: “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”
We need to watch our gates (the gates of our eyes, heart, hearing, and mind) and meditate on the Word of God.
Mind meditation or repetition activates my soulish realm.
That is why it is important to meditate on the Word.
Meditate means think about what you read.
Go over it again and mentally digest it.
Chew upon it is really what it means
As you meditate the Word that comes in as “logos” — it goes out as “rhema” (quickening word) It comes in as Word — it comes out as a Living Word. The dead letter becomes a Living Word.
What happens if you do not meditate the Word of God?
If you do not meditate, you do not allow the Word to go into your heart, into your soul, and spirit, then it is NOT producing life.
Instead of having the Word go into your mind and come out of your mouth, it will just become a routine; you are just going through a motion but there is no move of the power of God in your life.
Hebrews 3:7-9, NKJV: “Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: "Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, in the day of trial in the wilderness, where your fathers tested Me, tried Me, and saw My works forty years.”
Prayer Points:
Pray for the Lord to renew our minds that we have the understanding of the importance of the Living Word of God in our lives.
Pray against any deception, familiarity spirit, routine, or tradition that can hinder us from experiencing the fulfillment of the promises of God.
Pray for detoxing of our minds from any voices, noise, common sense, thoughts, or belief that is not from God and for our minds to be consistently filled with the Word of God.
Pray for all of us to have a fresh new encounter with the Holy Spirit and there will be a new hunger in each one of us for more of God and His Word; not just reading His Word, but also to meditate and experience the real substance of the Word.
Pray that we will be able to hear the voice of Holy Spirit through the Word and the Word to become a “rhema”, a quickened living Word in our lives, that brings enlightenment, new understanding and revelation.
Pray that we will learn to receive, believe, understand and apply His Word in our lives. "My own sheep will hear my voice and I know each one, and they will follow me." John 10:27. And as we apply and experience His Word, we will be able understand God more.
Pray that we continue to have the Word in us, to gain faith, and to gain authority. Do not let our faith die.
Pray for the advancement and building progress of the Training Center; no delays, obstacles, or interruptions.