Why the Spoken Word is LIFE
Only the spoken Word is Spirit and Life--so get the spoken Word, not just the printed Word! And I mean, spoken, as in spoken from God's own mouth. It can't be overemphasized (no one can say I'm exaggerating)--the spoken WORD is LIFE. Often, we treat God's Word as a mere book we bring to church on Sundays so we'd look Christian. Or a textbook to base our denominational doctrines or human theology on. But the Word is something else. Photo above by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash.
63 The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing (zero). The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life. [John 6]
What God speaks from his mouth to us comes from his heart. That Word should impact our mindset and go down and settle in our hearts, so when we speak from the heart, that same spoken Word issues from it and gives life to the hearers, even to the dead--like what happened in the time of Ezekiel when he saw the vision of the valley of dry bones and prophesied life to them.
Spoken Word is the breath of life. It is the breath that gave life to Adam in all perfection. Moreover, when God's spoken Word comes into your heart and you release it from your mouth, it's still the fresh spoken Word from God's mouth. The spoken Word never gets stale if the heart that receives it is one that God touched and opened.
It is the breath of spoken Word that created the earth and the universe, and now sustains them. It is all-powerful! God gives it to us freely! But we must never take it for granted--or abuse it. It is free for all yet priceless and valuable because it's not easily available. You have to invest dearly on it by meditating the Word day and night. Then the Holy Spirit reveals it on various levels of his dimension.
Word Becoming Flesh
We can't simply say that Jesus defeated Satan in the desert because He was God. Well, Jesus was and is indeed God, no less. But he faced Satan then as man, though his GOD-ness remained intact. Jesus had to be a man to save man--God's anointed man, that is. The Christ. The Son of Man. But Satan was provoking him to use his deity and prove that he was the Son of God (If you are the Son of God turn these stones into bread...) to disqualify him--because Jesus shouldn't operate as God but as man while doing his ministry to save man. Only Jesus as man (though God) could save us from sin.
The devil fears, and is defeated, ONLY by the spoken Word made flesh. Nothing more, nothing less. All others are trash! Only the spoken Word is Spirit and Life, remember that. Human theology or philosophy is NOT. The flesh counts for nothing! I don't care how good you are in the bible, what titles or degrees you hold or how good you are at memorizing or theologizing the Word. I don't care how nice your church building and facilities are and how rich and peopled. If the spoken Word is not made flesh in you, you are nothing. Zero. Pfft.
People may indeed worship even without the Word, even without revelation. This eventually leads to idolatry. When church worship just imitates the latest trends in music and what singing styles are plausible to the world, it falls into idol worship. Worship can never be compatible with the world's ways. Worship should always be grounded on God's revelation, power, and timing.
Giving flesh to the spoken Word (obeying and living it) is what matters, not its scholarly study. All others are garbage--church activities, programs, titles, degrees, etc. if they're not aligned with the spoken (rhema) Word. Even evangelism and missions are nothing if they are motivated by the flesh (flesh counts for nothing), not by the spoken Word. Some lost souls may benefit from flesh-derived ministries, but a lot of them will remain carnal and carrying Ishmael's spirit. Faithful church attenders but still entirely lost.
These are all carnal works and they count for nothing in the Spirit world. Zero. If they did, Jesus and the apostles would have devoted great time and energy on them. But they didn't have "programs" as we have them today. They never cared about human theology as we have it today. They were led purely, solely and supernaturally by the Spirit on the spot, each moment, everyday. This is what the Spoken Word does.
They didn't sit down and plan how to hit Antioch. "Okay guys here's what we'd do. We're going to Antioch and start work with the gentiles." It was not human initiated. It was all God's supernatural move. He allowed a great persecution and the Holy Spirit led some of them to Antioch, prompting them to preach the Word to the gentiles. They were led entirely by the Holy Spirit. It was through the spoken Word speaking to their spirits.
The devil knows the printed Word. He knows it very well, like he knows human theology as an expert. He's been around for centuries, studying the written Word, attending the best universities and seminaries in the world, hearing the best professors. Remember how he quoted Scripture when he was trying to trick Jesus in the desert?
How long have you studied the written Word? Say, you got born again when you were 20 and now you are 60--that's 40 years. And you feel proud and smart having studied it in depth for 40 years?
Well, sorry to disappoint you--but the devil has been studying it for centuries. That makes him more powerful than you are with the printed Word. But what was the difference between Jesus and Satan? Why was Jesus able to defeat him in the wilderness when they both knew the printed (or scrolled) Word.
What Jesus had was the spoken Word, which is Spirit and Life. Satan only had the printed or written Word. The flesh counts for nothing. The printed or written Word feeds only the flesh. What feeds spirits re-created after Jesus is the spoken Word from God's Mouth alone. This Word is Spirit. Therefore, meditate this Word day and night, not the printed Word or the letter of the Word, which kills.
For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. [2 Corinthians 3.6]
We can't simply say that Jesus defeated Satan in the desert because He was God. Well, Jesus was and is indeed God, no less. But he faced Satan then as man, though his GOD-ness remained intact. Jesus had to be a man to save man--God's anointed man, that is. The Christ. The Son of Man. But Satan was provoking him to use his deity and prove that he was the Son of God (If you are the Son of God turn these stones into bread...) to disqualify him--because Jesus shouldn't operate as God but as man while doing his ministry to save man. Only Jesus as man (though God) could save us from sin.
Thus, Jesus rebutted with, "Man does not live by bread alone..."
How to Defeat Satan
When he defeated Satan in the desert, Jesus was both God and man--his deity never left him. But he didn't think being equal with God was something to be grasped (Phil.2.6). He made himself nothing, being found in the form of a servant (a man). Jesus never used his God-ness to defeat Satan, showing us that anointed man can easily defeat the devil, as long as the spoken Word is made flesh in him! Man cannot defeat the devil with man's ways (even if the ways are "bible-based") but only by the spoken Word. The spoken Word is Spirit and Life. The devil is hurt so much by the Spirit and Life in man, as in the case of Jesus.
Hence, Jesus defeated Satan in the wilderness because:
How to Defeat Satan
When he defeated Satan in the desert, Jesus was both God and man--his deity never left him. But he didn't think being equal with God was something to be grasped (Phil.2.6). He made himself nothing, being found in the form of a servant (a man). Jesus never used his God-ness to defeat Satan, showing us that anointed man can easily defeat the devil, as long as the spoken Word is made flesh in him! Man cannot defeat the devil with man's ways (even if the ways are "bible-based") but only by the spoken Word. The spoken Word is Spirit and Life. The devil is hurt so much by the Spirit and Life in man, as in the case of Jesus.
Hence, Jesus defeated Satan in the wilderness because:
- First, Jesus was and is the Word of God.
- Second (listen to this) the Word was made flesh in Jesus!
The devil fears, and is defeated, ONLY by the spoken Word made flesh. Nothing more, nothing less. All others are trash! Only the spoken Word is Spirit and Life, remember that. Human theology or philosophy is NOT. The flesh counts for nothing! I don't care how good you are in the bible, what titles or degrees you hold or how good you are at memorizing or theologizing the Word. I don't care how nice your church building and facilities are and how rich and peopled. If the spoken Word is not made flesh in you, you are nothing. Zero. Pfft.
It's the very reason why we receive Jesus into our lives during salvation--so the spoken Word can become flesh in us and dwell with people.
Covenant is Centered on Word Made Flesh
Our covenant with God is hinged on the spoken Word made flesh in us. Exodus 19.5 says: If only you obey me fully and do my covenant, out of all the world you will be my treasured ownership. Of course, the whole earth is mine, but you will be my kingdom of ministers and also a holy nation. God spoke that. Spoken Word. Got it?
Obeying God fully and keeping his covenant means we have the spoken Word made flesh in us. Only through this, by God's grace, can we become his treasured possession. And no devil can touch God's treasured possession.
Worship Should be Grounded on the Word
Most times we think we ought to worship first before the Word can come to us. Well, in a way, yes. But no. Everything really originates from the Word. "In the beginning was the Word," and nothing was created without the Word. God starts nothing without first speaking his Word. God sends his Word for a revelation, then we worship. Worship should always be a result of God's revelation of who he is. Without revelation (the revealed spoken Word) worship is garbage.
Covenant is Centered on Word Made Flesh
Our covenant with God is hinged on the spoken Word made flesh in us. Exodus 19.5 says: If only you obey me fully and do my covenant, out of all the world you will be my treasured ownership. Of course, the whole earth is mine, but you will be my kingdom of ministers and also a holy nation. God spoke that. Spoken Word. Got it?
Obeying God fully and keeping his covenant means we have the spoken Word made flesh in us. Only through this, by God's grace, can we become his treasured possession. And no devil can touch God's treasured possession.
Worship Should be Grounded on the Word
Most times we think we ought to worship first before the Word can come to us. Well, in a way, yes. But no. Everything really originates from the Word. "In the beginning was the Word," and nothing was created without the Word. God starts nothing without first speaking his Word. God sends his Word for a revelation, then we worship. Worship should always be a result of God's revelation of who he is. Without revelation (the revealed spoken Word) worship is garbage.
Surely the Sovereign LORD does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets. [Amos 3.7]
Some say worship precedes the Word. Even if this were so, who urged the worship? Of course, the Holy Spirit. When the Spirit urged you, he spoke to you. He spoke the Word. That is the spoken Word. So the spoken Word still precedes worship. The spoken Word is Spirit and Life--the Spirit and Life of true worship.
People may indeed worship even without the Word, even without revelation. This eventually leads to idolatry. When church worship just imitates the latest trends in music and what singing styles are plausible to the world, it falls into idol worship. Worship can never be compatible with the world's ways. Worship should always be grounded on God's revelation, power, and timing.
You must never worship the Lord your God in human ways, in their way (Deu.12.31).Accuracy all depends on the spoken Word being made flesh in us. If the Word is not lived out, no accuracy is possible. Accuracy is not mere precision in context, syntax or literacy. It is accuracy in the Spirit, in living the life of Jesus. The spoken Word is Spirit and Life---and life accuracy in Christ.