CHAPTER 27
SPEAK GOD’S WORD
How can you receive God’s Word if you do not hear it, and how can you hear God’s word if you do not speak it? This is why I say you must speak the Word to yourself every day! You must memorize the Word of God!
RECEIVE. 3858. Par-ad-ekh’-om-akee; to accept near, i.e. admit or (by implication) delight in: - receive. (The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, James Strong, LL.D., S.T.D., Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1984.)
DELIGHT THYSELF ALSO IN THE LORD; AND HE SHALL GIVE THEE THE DESIRES OF THINE HEART.
COMMIT THY WAY UNTO THE LORD; TRUST ALSO IN HIM; AND HE SHALL BRING IT TO PASS.
PSALM 37:4-5
We need to delight ourselves in God and His Word. Why shouldn’t we delight in God’s excellent promises to His Church and speak God’s Word to His People? God’s Word promises us good health, wealth, good favor, long life, peace, love, joy, fruitfulness, and a host of other blessings. We need to speak God’s Word to our friends and to our neighbors, and to our families, and most of all to ourselves!
THEN THEY THAT FEARED THE LORD “SPAKE” OFTEN ONE TO ANOTHER: AND THE LORD HEARKENED, AND HEARD IT, AND A BOOK OF REMEMBERANCE WAS WRITTEN BEFORE HIM FOR THEM THAT FEARED THE LORD, AND THAT THOUGHT UPON HIS NAME.
AND THEY SHALL BE MINE, SAITH THE LORD OF HOSTS, IN THAT DAY WHEN I MAKE UP MY JEWELS; AND I WILL SPARE THEM, AS A MAN SPARETH HIS OWN SON THAT SERVETH HIM.
MALACHI 3:16-17
The end of our walk is not simply verifying the assurance of our own salvation; the end of our walk is to rest from our own work and to start being a laborer in the fields of the Lord. God wants a great end time harvest of souls for His kingdom. Believe me, when you start filling yourself up with God’s Holy Word, you will have no problem witnessing to others. You will not be able to contain God’s Word!
FOR SINCE I SPAKE, I CRIED OUT, I CRIED VIOLENCE AND SPOIL; BECAUSE THE WORD OF THE LORD WAS MADE A REPROACH UNTO ME, AND A DERISION, DAILY.
THEN I SAID, I WILL NOT MAKE MENTION OF HIM, NOR SPEAK ANY MORE IN HIS NAME. BUT HIS WORD WAS IN MINE HEART AS A BURNING FIRE SHUT UP IN MY BONES, AND I WAS WEARY WITH FORBEARING, AND I COULD NOT STAY.
JEREMIAH 20:8-9
We see that the prophet Jeremiah was determined not to speak God’s Word because of the derision and persecution he was suffering, but eventually he could not stop himself from speaking God’s Word and warning Jerusalem of its coming judgment at the hands of the Babylonians. God does not promise that everybody will welcome you with open arms when you speak His Word but many will. More than likely you will suffer persecution, especially from people blinded by worldly authority and pride. Persecution has always been the experience of those who preach the gospel.
REMEMBER THE WORD THAT I SAID UNTO YOU. THE SERVANT IS NOT GREATER THAN HIS LORD. IF THEY HAVE PERSECUTED ME, THEY WILL ALSO PERSECUTE YOU; IF THEY HAVE KEPT MY SAYING, THEY WILL KEEP YOURS ALSO.
JOHN 15:20
Now I want to explain the nuts and bolts of Walking in the Spirit and some of the common pitfalls of beginning your Walk. It is common for people to get excited about memorizing and speaking God’s Word, or Walking in the Spirit, in the beginning the beginning of their walk and they attempt to do too much. Beginning to Walk in the Spirit is very similar to beginning a fitness regimen. You must take baby steps at first, remember that you are a baby in the spiritual realm when you are first born in the spirit. It is not unusual for people to set unrealistic goals when they begin a physical fitness regimen, and it is also not unusual for people to set unrealistic goals when they begin Walking in the Spirit.
I suggest you keep it simple at first. I began by memorizing God’s Word for only fifteen (15) minutes a day at first and only one (1) verse per week. I know that a lot of people may say, “I can memorize more of God’s Word than one verse a week, I’m going to memorize and meditate on scripture verses for at least an hour a day, maybe even two hours!” However, the more you attempt to do at first, the more likely you will end up quitting Walking in the Spirit.
Beginning speaking and memorizing Bible verses is very similar to beginning lifting weights at a gymnasium, if you try and do too much at first, it is very likely that you will quit altogether. The analogy is very similar to when you begin Walking in the Spirit, if you try to do too much you may fail. You will end up saying, “memorizing Bible verses is just too hard, I can’t do this every day.” Remember slow and steady wins the race!
WHOM SHALL HE TEACH KNOWLEDGE? AND WHOM SHALL HE MAKE TO UNDERSTAND DOCTRINE? THEM THAT ARE WEANED FROM THE MILK, AND DRAWN FROM THE BREASTS.
FOR PRECEPT MUST BE UPON PRECEPT, PRECEPT UPON PRECEPT; LINE UPON LINE, LINE UPON LINE; HERE A LITTLE, AND THERE A LITTLE.
FOR WITH STAMMERING LIPS AND ANOTHER TONGUE WILL HE “SPEAK” TO THIS PEOPLE.
ISAIAH 28:9-11
My Walking in the Spirit regimen begins with speaking only one (1) Bible verse seven (7) times in the morning when I wake up, seven (7) times in the afternoon, either during my lunch break or when I get home from work, and finally seven (7) times before I go to sleep. I speak the one verse for seven days and then I begin a new verse on the seventh day. I only memorize one (1) verse per week the first year. I speak the verse at least seven times during each memorization session.
At first, I will look at the verse when I am speaking it and then I will try to speak it while not looking at the verse. By about the middle of the week, I am comfortable not looking at the verse when I speak. I also memorize each verse Word for Word! I do not try to get close enough, remember this is the Word of God, we must know it perfectly. I promise, memorizing one verse in a week will take less than fifteen minutes a day. I know you are going to say fifteen minutes a day is too easy, but trust me, memorizing God’s Word may be the hardest thing you’ve ever started in your life.
FOR THE FLESH “LUSTETH” AGAINST THE SPIRIT, AND THE SPIRIT AGAINST THE FLESH: AND THESE ARE CONTRARY THE ONE TO THE OTHER: SO THAT YE CANNOT DO THE THINGS THAT YE WOULD.
GALATIONS 5:17
LUSTETH. 1937. Ep-ee-thoo-mah’-o; to set the heart upon, i.e. long for (rightfully or otherwise): - covet, desire, would fain, lust (after).
When you begin Walking in the Spirit, your spirit is entering into a battle with your flesh and with the powers of spiritual darkness. Your spirit wants your mind to dwell on spiritual things, but your flesh wants your mind to dwell on worldly things. Your born again spirit desires the exact opposite of what your flesh desires.
Your flesh wants everything the world has to offer: expensive foods, designer clothes, big houses, adventure, excitement, fast cars, money, violence, sex, drugs, more money, rock & roll, gangster rap, death, etc. (I think you get the picture). The spirit wants everything the world cannot offer: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, eternal life, etc.
The spirit and flesh want exactly the opposite things and will pull your thoughts and desires in exactly opposite directions. The flesh is leading you towards eternal death and the spirit is leading you towards eternal life. You are beginning the epic battle and journey of your life. You cannot fight the flesh with the flesh! If you truly desire spiritual fruit, you must start applying spiritual methods and fighting with spiritual weapons.
Spiritual fruit will draw people to Jesus Christ, just like apples draw people to an apple tree. Unless you are called by God to become an evangelist, you do not need to stand on the street corner handing out religious tracts and you do not have to go door to door trying to win people to Jesus Christ. These types of activities are mostly works of the flesh. Often times, newly born again believers want to proclaim the gospel to everybody; however, they do not know the gospel and tend to turn people away from Jesus because they lack what is truly needed to draw people to Jesus Christ. They lack knowledge of the Word of God and they lack the fruits of the spirit.
BUT SANCTIFY THE LORD GOD IN YOUR HEARTS: AND BE READY ALWAYS TO GIVE AN ANSWER TO EVERY MAN THAT “ASKETH YOU” A REASON OF THE HOPE THAT IS IN YOU WITH MEEKNESS AND FEAR:
I PETER 3:15
As you grow in spiritual maturity, the Holy Spirit will begin producing spiritual fruit and people will be naturally drawn to you. We do not determine who to bring into the kingdom of God. God decides who to bring into His Kingdom. You will have ample opportunity to share the gospel with many people and you will be prepared to share the correct gospel because you will have God’s Word dwelling within you. If you are called by God to be an evangelist, it will only be after years of preparation and studying God’s Word. Apparently, the Apostle Paul did not become an evangelist to the Gentiles until at least three years after his conversion to the faith. See Galatians 1:18 and Galatians 2:1.
GIVE NOT THAT WHICH IS HOLY UNTO THE DOGS, NEITHER CAST YE YOUR PEARLS BEFORE SWINE, LEST THEY TRAMPLE THEM UNDER THEIR FEET, AND TURN AGAIN AND REND YOU.
MATTHEW 7:6
After you begin maturing in the spirit, you will begin to lose a lot of worldly friends and family. However, conversely, you will also begin to discover a lot of spiritual friends and family. Remember, birds of a feather flock together.
IRON SHARPENETH IRON; SO A MAN SHARPENETH THE COUNTENANCE OF HIS FRIEND.
PROVERBS 27:17
I am not saying to dump all your unsaved friends and family. I am just saying that as you grow in the spirit, you will have less and less in common with worldly people. You will naturally gravitate toward spiritual people and spiritual activities. Your desires will change dramatically and your pursuits will be in a different direction.
Remember what Jesus said:
IT IS THE SPIRIT THAT QUICKENETH; THE FLESH PROFITETH NOTHING: THE WORDS THAT I “SPEAK”