NEW CREATION 1 OF 6 PAUL ABOUT PRAYER

THE LIVING WORD
OUR attitude toward the 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 the message
from an ordinary book. It should be as real to you as though the Master stood in the
room and spoke to you personally.
This Word was designed by the Father to take Jesus' place in His absence. When He
says, "The Father Himself loveth you," it is a personal message to your heart. When the
Master said again, "If a man love me, he will keep my word; and the Father and I will love
him and make our home with him," that should be as personal as though you were the only
one in the world.
It is as though you were sitting at the feet of Jesus, and He looked down into your face 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 lend to you my own ability. "When
weakness comes, remember that I am the strength of your life.
"When you need finances, remember that I said, `My Father knoweth that you have need
of all these things'." You can whisper to your own heart, "My Father will supply every need
of mine. He knows my needs and loves me. He and I are one." Man's word is usually dead
before the printer has finished his work. Few words of man live after a generation, but
God's Word is different. It is impregnated with the very Life of God, it is eternal.
Heb. 4:12, 13 gives us an illustration: (Moffatt's Translation) "For the Logos 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
conceptions 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 have to reckon."
This is one of the strangest statements about the Word in Paul's Epistles. Notice this 13th
verse : "That no created thing is hidden from him." Of whom is he speaking? The Living
Word-The Logos. "And all things lie open and exposed before the eyes of him with whom
we have to do." The Word takes on personality; it becomes Christ Himself.
Our contact with the Master, 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 that should impress us. I hold in my
hands a Book with the very Life of God in it, a Book that scrutinizes my conduct; that
judges me. A Book that feeds this inner man-my spirit.
It imparts Faith to my Spirit, builds Love into it. God's only means of reaching me is
through His Word. So the Word becomes a vital thing. It has been rather difficult for some
of us to grasp the fact that during the first century, the Christian 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. I Thess. 2:13, "Wherefore
I also give continual thanks to God, because, when you heard from me the Spoken Word
of God, you received it not as the word of man, but, as it is in truth, the Word of God; who
Himself works effectually in you that believe." (Conybeare).
Notice, it was "the Spoken Word." That 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 writing. 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 the Lord 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, about the Body of
Christ, or the New Creation. We become Christ-like in the measure that the Word prevails
in us. The Word is Christ revealed.
The Word is God present with us, speaking the Living Message of the Loving Father God.
The Word is always NOW. It is His Word to me today. It is His voice, His last message. It
becomes a Living thing in my heart as I lovingly act upon it. It becomes a Living thing on
the lips of Love. It has no power on the lips of those whose lives are out of fellowship with
Him, who live in the reason realm.
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. You notice that it is always in the present tense. The Word is the Bread of
Heaven, food for our spirits. Matt. 4:4, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every
word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God."
Jer. 15:16 says, "Thy words were found, and I did eat them. Thy words were unto me a joy
and rejoicing of my heart." Job tells us how precious the Word is to him. Job 23:12: "I have
not gone back from the commandment of his lips ; I have treasured up the words of his
mouth more than my necessary food." When a child of God looks upon the Word as job
did, then it
becomes a Reality in his daily life. Job had no Written Word; he had the Word spoken by
angels. We have the Written Word. We have it printed in many forms so we may carry it in
our pocket. How little we have appreciated the value of His message. Psa. 107:20 "He
sent His Word and healed them." That Living Word that He sent was Jesus.
Mark 16:19-20: "So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken unto them, was received up
into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went forth, and preached
everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word by the signs
that followed."
Notice that the Lord worked with them. I believe that a revival would break out almost
anywhere if the Lord worked with those who preach, and if the Word was as real to them
as the Spoken Word was real to the Early Church. But the word of man has gained the
ascendancy and has more authority than His Word has today. He confirms the Word today
everywhere that it is preached.
I want you to notice how the Father makes the Word good in the lives of men and women
as they dare to act upon it. In the closing sentence of the Gospel of Matthew, "Lo, I am
with you always, even unto the end of the age," the believer can be sure that though he be
forsaken by all others, there is One who will stand by him. But the thing that has most
deeply impressed 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 unfolded.
He said, "Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of
them." He is in the midst of them in the Word. Jesus said, "If ye love me, the Father and I
will cone and make our home with you" (John 14:23), If we could only realize that when we
open the Word, it is a Living Thing we are implanting in the hearts of men.
The Word is God present with us speaking the Living Message of the Living Father God.
It is the NOW Word from Him to me. It is His voice. It becomes a living thing in the heart of
Faith. In Rom. 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, He is a Faith God and He always uses words to do things. Heb. 11 :3 "By faith
we understand that the worlds have been framed by the Word of God." Hear Him whisper,
"By myself have I sworn" (Gen. 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.
How it thrilled me when I read in Heb. 7:22 that Jesus is the surety of the New Covenant.
The New Covenant is the Word, and He is the surety of the Word. The Word was a living
fact when Jesus spoke it. It is still a living fact. Jesus was a part of all He 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 throbs in it, flows through it, lives in it. The
Word was; the Word is now what it was then. Here are some other assurances Psa. 23:1,
"The Lord is my shepherd." John 10:14, Jesus said, "I am the good shepherd." Isa. 41 :10,
"Fear thou not, for I am with thee : be not dismayed, for I am thy God." Rom. 8:31, "If God
is for you, who can be against you."
Phil. 4:13, "I can do all things in him who strengtheneth me." Psa. 27:1, "God is the
strength of my life, of whom shall I be afraid?" Phil. 4:19, "My God shall supply every need
of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus." Psa. 121:1, 2, "My help cometh
from the Lord." Psa. 84:5, "My strength is in Him." Psa. 62:5-8, "God is my refuge."
These are Living Words, and as you feed on them they build you up. The knowledge of
what Christ is and has done for you personally, builds faith in you. When I turn to the Word
and read it as His message to me, He confirms that message in my life. He confirmed the
covenant made with Abraham.
He confirmed the Word that Jesus spoke through the Apostles. (Mark 16:20). Jesus said in
John 14:15, "If ye love me, ye will keep my commandments." What was His
commandment? That we love one another. He that loveth me and keepeth My Word, lie it
is, you see, that the Father loves.
Here are some other facts that we ought to remember. John 16:8,9, "When He (the Spirit)
is come, He will convict the world of sin, of righteousness and of judgment: of sin, because
they believe not on Me; of righteousness, because I go unto the Father; of judgment,
because the prince of this world is judged." What is going to convince the world? Words in
the lips of Faith.
Only that Living Word in the lips of Faith can take the place of an absent Christ. 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 Master stood in the room and spoke it.
Faith in the Father is Faith in His Word. The Word takes on all that our Faith demands.
Jesus said, "According to your faith, so be it unto you."
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. Josh. 1:8, God told Joshua to meditate in the Word day and
night ; in other words, to live in it. Jesus said in John 8:31 "Abide in my word."
The Word gets into your blood, into your system and becomes a part of you.
The Word is inspired. Holy men spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit, as they were
borne along in their spirit life. God spoke by the mouth of the holy prophets.
"The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life." Every word that God
speaks has life in it. Remember Heb. 4:12: "The Logos of God is a Living Thing." It is not
like man's words which die after a generation; God's Word lives. I love to think of it as the
"prevailing Word," as it was in Ephesus. How it ruled over that wicked city! Today the
Logos of God is ruling in the hearts of those who yield to its sway.
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. I wish that it could be like this: that 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. My word is my will. The Word is
the Will of the Father. God watches over His Word. What God says is, becomes. God is
Truth, so I will be true. God is Light, so I will walk in the Light. You see, we learn to act on
the Word, as we act on the word of a banker or a lawyer in some crisis in our life. I wonder
if you ever realized 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 Matt. 13 a marvelous picture of the art of preaching. It is sowing the
Word. It falls upon all kinds of hearts, but the irrigation of the soil is dependent upon the
sower. If we irrigate 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 sight. The
senses take the reality away from the Word, but as the spirit gains the ascendancy over
the senses, the Word once more has its place.
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 on my hands.
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 one of these days.
The Word will work in me, building Jesus' life in me, building Life, 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 stedfastness 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 then dwell in you richly. 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. All right, speak the Word and it will live in
the lives of men who hear you. He said, "I watch over my Word." He will watch over the
Word you preach and teach. Jesus said, "If my words are living in you and you are speak
ing them, I will live in them as they pass from your lips." The Word of Christ becomes a
Living thing in your lips. Speak the Word fearlessly. Let the Word live in you gloriously and
richly.