MORE THAN WORDS
"And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in the demonstration of the Spirit and of power." - 1Cor 4:20
Everyone can speak, anyone can learn the scripture, virtually anyone can talk based on his scope of knowledge - but for the word to be impactful, then it must be powerful. Powerful is not the 'hmmms' and 'yees' we hear from the pews, powerful is not in the excitement of the congregation, if the words that come from the altar will not cause us to change and pray...then it is just rhythm to the ears.
We are being rocked to sleep from the pulpits these days, I mean spiritual sleep, the man of God is trying to be intelligent, in fact he just bagged another degree in theology and of course his vocabulary and 'depth' has increased - but the only change we see is increase in number and a beautified building, well packaged service and people who look good. The Lord must be good.
If the words doesn't cause men to give all up for Jesus, if it doesn't cause them to surrender their all, if they see the pastor as an entertainer, if the messages only boost their egos and cause them to be more earthly conscious than heavenly, then it is mere words that we will be teaching.
Dear preacher, the insights we share must enter the inside of the man, the words we preach must find expression in its true nature which is a sword, a hammer or fire, these expression will come if we first see its possibility and then work towards it through prayers and sacrifice.
Different versions of the scriptures abound, volumes of concordance laid on shelfs more than enough for timeless generations to go through, yet the heart of man have become more wicked, immorality continue to multiply and we are left wondering, what is the effect of the word?
The words that change men's life is beyond words itself.
BURNING HEARTS
"And they said to one another, 'Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?'" - Luke 24:32
Divine words should set the hearts of men ablaze with a holy passion and an unending pursuit of God. When we open Scriptures to men, they must become broken and afraid for their wrongs. Their hearts burned, they didn't know the person at that time but their hearts burned, why do we need all the introduction before the people hear?
When Peter preached on that day of Pentecost, the people were cut to heart, of course when the words in the preacher's mouth is like fire it has no other form than to burn, when the word is as a sword it has no other choice than to pierce and cut, if it is then as a hammer in us, men would be broken.
It doesn't happen by a wish, for God to make this happen through you, you must be ready to gain a dose of what it does to people. No one smiles when he or she is being pierced.
The only instrumentality of changed lives is the Word backed up in power. And prayer is a medium we receive power.
"How forceful are right words! But what does your arguing prove?" - Job 6:25
I have trembled before when a little girl of 5years read a recitation of John 10:30, I cried my eyes out not knowing what hit me, didn't understand the content yet couldn't deny its effect. The word in its pure form is right and can penetrate the greatest philosopher to become foolish.
We sometimes have over-coated the truth that it gets delivered to the hearers as chaff, we have most times fictionized the scriptures that everyone expects a fairytale ending. I plead so earnestly that we begin to take heed, and make open the hidden truths available in the scripture.
The fruits of our preaching is not in the embrace of men, not at all, it is in the effect of the word. The people may hate us but we must make the word plain. It must make them uncomfortable in sin, it must give them a vivid description of an awful life and also make them sorry to want to embrace grace.
Words alone cannot achieve this, we must pray that it be so, we must long for it, we should allow our lives to experience it also.
CONFIRMED WORDS
"Who confirms the word of His servant, and performs the counsel of His messengers; who says to Jerusalem, 'You shall be inhabited,' to the cities of Judah, 'You shall be built,' and I will raise up her waste places;" - Isaiah 44:26
When a man is true to the words God sent him, the Lord will be faithful to confirm it, He confirms truths and complete obedience to delivery, He will not confirm remixes or adjusted messages. The confirmed word is what pulls the required effect in the heart of man.
If the Lord doesn't confirm the word, men will doubt the God, if the Lord doesn't confirm the Word in actions and demonstration of power, people will run in circles. But for a confirmation to really happen, we must be faithful to the detail while delivering the word.
Mark 16:20 tells us that while the disciples decides to work with Jesus is obedience, the Lord Himself was confirming the word.
One must be a messenger who is condemned to obedience before one can even get a confirmation, the words were right and correct in Jonah's mouth..until he got to the right congregation, there was no effect or confirmation. If the word is not confirmed then it is copyright infringement from God and it will not carry weight.
"Who is he who speaks and it comes to pass, when the Lord has not commanded it?" - Lam 3:37
You can't be speaking of your own will, sometimes silence may be the very message the Lord wants to pass to that individual, but lack of understanding will run you into errors. The devil even knows the words sanctioned by God and He knows when to respect such.
No minister or person will go far if the Lord does not confirm the word. At times we may not feel good in passing such a message, sometimes, we may even think the message is too simplistic to hit a target, but when obedience is in place, confirmation is committed to be in place also. This I have experienced.
The people may not agree with the word, even you too may doubt, but wisdom is justified by its children, only fools will doubt proofs.
REFORMED LIFE
"All Scriptures is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work." - 2Tim 3:16-17
There's no other instrument to make a man rather than the word, the word must prompt all other spiritual activity and the word must be more than words, it must be the word backed by power to change men and alter wrong destinies.
Lives have to be reformed by the word and I don't in anyway mean packaging, I mean there must be peace, love joy and also patience from a life affected by the word. People must begin to live by the word and it just has to be that word that comes with power.
It is possible to mis-interprets a word that is read casually, it is possible to misplace the importance of a word that is encountered by accident, but it is impossible to mis-interpret a word backed up with power.
"The officers answered, 'No man ever spoke like this Man!'" - John 7:46
Everyone can say the same thing, but the effect will defer based on who the person is. The words that came out of Jesus was so powerful that the police couldn't arrest him. They just had to leave him alone. It wasn't necessarily new words - but the effect was not usual. It carried weight.
I want you to know that God counts on you take the word that changes men to them. He wants to add value to those words and empower such words in your mouth. When this is done, a transformed life is inevitable.
CONCLUSION: Not that I have attained this height, but this comes first as an admonition and an unveiling of deep truths the Lord wants me to attain. I write this to you to be partakers of truth.
It is possible to speak more than mere words.
God bless you and I love you
© Akinsuroju Femi
Everyone can speak, anyone can learn the scripture, virtually anyone can talk based on his scope of knowledge - but for the word to be impactful, then it must be powerful. Powerful is not the 'hmmms' and 'yees' we hear from the pews, powerful is not in the excitement of the congregation, if the words that come from the altar will not cause us to change and pray...then it is just rhythm to the ears.
We are being rocked to sleep from the pulpits these days, I mean spiritual sleep, the man of God is trying to be intelligent, in fact he just bagged another degree in theology and of course his vocabulary and 'depth' has increased - but the only change we see is increase in number and a beautified building, well packaged service and people who look good. The Lord must be good.
If the words doesn't cause men to give all up for Jesus, if it doesn't cause them to surrender their all, if they see the pastor as an entertainer, if the messages only boost their egos and cause them to be more earthly conscious than heavenly, then it is mere words that we will be teaching.
Dear preacher, the insights we share must enter the inside of the man, the words we preach must find expression in its true nature which is a sword, a hammer or fire, these expression will come if we first see its possibility and then work towards it through prayers and sacrifice.
Different versions of the scriptures abound, volumes of concordance laid on shelfs more than enough for timeless generations to go through, yet the heart of man have become more wicked, immorality continue to multiply and we are left wondering, what is the effect of the word?
The words that change men's life is beyond words itself.
BURNING HEARTS
"And they said to one another, 'Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?'" - Luke 24:32
Divine words should set the hearts of men ablaze with a holy passion and an unending pursuit of God. When we open Scriptures to men, they must become broken and afraid for their wrongs. Their hearts burned, they didn't know the person at that time but their hearts burned, why do we need all the introduction before the people hear?
When Peter preached on that day of Pentecost, the people were cut to heart, of course when the words in the preacher's mouth is like fire it has no other form than to burn, when the word is as a sword it has no other choice than to pierce and cut, if it is then as a hammer in us, men would be broken.
It doesn't happen by a wish, for God to make this happen through you, you must be ready to gain a dose of what it does to people. No one smiles when he or she is being pierced.
The only instrumentality of changed lives is the Word backed up in power. And prayer is a medium we receive power.
"How forceful are right words! But what does your arguing prove?" - Job 6:25
I have trembled before when a little girl of 5years read a recitation of John 10:30, I cried my eyes out not knowing what hit me, didn't understand the content yet couldn't deny its effect. The word in its pure form is right and can penetrate the greatest philosopher to become foolish.
We sometimes have over-coated the truth that it gets delivered to the hearers as chaff, we have most times fictionized the scriptures that everyone expects a fairytale ending. I plead so earnestly that we begin to take heed, and make open the hidden truths available in the scripture.
The fruits of our preaching is not in the embrace of men, not at all, it is in the effect of the word. The people may hate us but we must make the word plain. It must make them uncomfortable in sin, it must give them a vivid description of an awful life and also make them sorry to want to embrace grace.
Words alone cannot achieve this, we must pray that it be so, we must long for it, we should allow our lives to experience it also.
CONFIRMED WORDS
"Who confirms the word of His servant, and performs the counsel of His messengers; who says to Jerusalem, 'You shall be inhabited,' to the cities of Judah, 'You shall be built,' and I will raise up her waste places;" - Isaiah 44:26
When a man is true to the words God sent him, the Lord will be faithful to confirm it, He confirms truths and complete obedience to delivery, He will not confirm remixes or adjusted messages. The confirmed word is what pulls the required effect in the heart of man.
If the Lord doesn't confirm the word, men will doubt the God, if the Lord doesn't confirm the Word in actions and demonstration of power, people will run in circles. But for a confirmation to really happen, we must be faithful to the detail while delivering the word.
Mark 16:20 tells us that while the disciples decides to work with Jesus is obedience, the Lord Himself was confirming the word.
One must be a messenger who is condemned to obedience before one can even get a confirmation, the words were right and correct in Jonah's mouth..until he got to the right congregation, there was no effect or confirmation. If the word is not confirmed then it is copyright infringement from God and it will not carry weight.
"Who is he who speaks and it comes to pass, when the Lord has not commanded it?" - Lam 3:37
You can't be speaking of your own will, sometimes silence may be the very message the Lord wants to pass to that individual, but lack of understanding will run you into errors. The devil even knows the words sanctioned by God and He knows when to respect such.
No minister or person will go far if the Lord does not confirm the word. At times we may not feel good in passing such a message, sometimes, we may even think the message is too simplistic to hit a target, but when obedience is in place, confirmation is committed to be in place also. This I have experienced.
The people may not agree with the word, even you too may doubt, but wisdom is justified by its children, only fools will doubt proofs.
REFORMED LIFE
"All Scriptures is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work." - 2Tim 3:16-17
There's no other instrument to make a man rather than the word, the word must prompt all other spiritual activity and the word must be more than words, it must be the word backed by power to change men and alter wrong destinies.
Lives have to be reformed by the word and I don't in anyway mean packaging, I mean there must be peace, love joy and also patience from a life affected by the word. People must begin to live by the word and it just has to be that word that comes with power.
It is possible to mis-interprets a word that is read casually, it is possible to misplace the importance of a word that is encountered by accident, but it is impossible to mis-interpret a word backed up with power.
"The officers answered, 'No man ever spoke like this Man!'" - John 7:46
Everyone can say the same thing, but the effect will defer based on who the person is. The words that came out of Jesus was so powerful that the police couldn't arrest him. They just had to leave him alone. It wasn't necessarily new words - but the effect was not usual. It carried weight.
I want you to know that God counts on you take the word that changes men to them. He wants to add value to those words and empower such words in your mouth. When this is done, a transformed life is inevitable.
CONCLUSION: Not that I have attained this height, but this comes first as an admonition and an unveiling of deep truths the Lord wants me to attain. I write this to you to be partakers of truth.
It is possible to speak more than mere words.
God bless you and I love you
© Akinsuroju Femi
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