THE WORD OF GOD
Study this Book of the Law continually. Meditate on it day and night so you may be sure to obey all that is written in it. Only then will you succeed.
Joshua 1:8 NLT (emphasis mine)
The word of God provides a strong foundation or platform for activating and encouraging the ministry of the Holy Spirit in and through us. The word of God provides the intelligence or wisdom required to activate the ministry of the Holy Spirit. It contains the spiritual energy required for the activation of our spirit so that we can become attuned to and receptive to the Holy Spirit.
Just as the physical human body needs food for its required energy and nutrients to function effectively, the same way the human spirit requires the word of God for strength and vitality. The word of God is to the human spirit what food is to the human body. The same way no human being can be effective without physical food, no believer can be effective in the kingdom of God without the word of God. The word of God is the spiritual food every believer needs for an effective and efficient walk with the Holy Spirit.
Not only that, it is important for us to understand that the level of our knowledge of God determines the measure of the Holy Spirit’s workings or operations in our lives. Desire or expectation is defined by knowledge or available information on the subject matter. It is naturally true that you cannot desire or expect what you don’t know. It is also true that people fear and abuse what they don’t understand. Again, a thing (such as an electronic appliance) can be maximized only to the level of the user’s understanding. What people don’t know or understand, they fear, abuse and underutilize.
It is the same way spiritually. Most precious saints are not enjoying intimacy with God because they are afraid of Him. They think He is always on the lookout for their mistakes in order to punish them. They have never been taught that God is lovely, gracious and kind. They only see Him as a consuming fire, and to them, nobody in his right senses dares go close to fire. So, they chose to stand afar off like the Israel of old. They don’t know that Jesus died on the cross to bring them to God as beloved children.
The same thing is seen in some believers’ relationship with the Holy Spirit. Most people don’t even know they are supposed to fellowship with or talk to Him. They don’t even realize that He has a personality that yearns to relate with them. They only think of Him in terms of His mighty divine ability and not with respect to His personality. To some believers, it is even blasphemy to say that the Holy Spirit is a divine person.
You see, nothing enhances or inhibits our fellowship with God like our knowledge. In most cases, the only disparity existing between a spiritual Christian and a canal one is their individual levels of knowledge. It may sound weird or strange, but some people (even believers) actually believe God loves some people more than others. Some people believe that there are those who stand a better chance before God than others. In some Christian groups, you will even find that the majority of the congregants know absolutely nothing about the finished sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ or even the ministry of the Holy Spirit available for every believer today.
It is important for us to understand that the Holy Spirit does not determine the level to which we share or enjoy fellowship with Him. It is very clear from scriptures: “draw near to God and He will draw near to you” (James 4:8). We each determine how close we get to God or how much of Him we experience by our knowledge of Him.
God has given us His word so that we may know and understand Him. He doesn’t want us unsure or confused as to who He is, what He is like and what He expects from us. Through the word of God (the Bible) and through the ministry of anointed teachers and preachers of the gospel, we can be better informed about God. We can learn about the Holy Spirit, His personality and His divine nature.
Ignorance binds, but knowledge sets free. This is why Jesus said “ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32). Through correct, precise and accurate knowledge of the word of God, our spirit can be activated to respond to the Holy Spirit and flow better with Him. We can become better sharpened and more receptive and yielded to Him.
This is why the word of God is so indispensable in our walk with the Holy Spirit. We can’t know and flow with Him beyond the provisions of our knowledge. This is the reason I emphasize the word. Most believers only pray. Prayer is good. I pray too. But it is totally wrong to exalt any scriptural truth above other truths of equal importance. We must endeavour to keep prayer and the word in their rightful place. Prayer and the word are like two indispensable sides of the same coin, and you can’t have one without the other.
In every fireplace, there is a need for wood. As long as there’s wood, the fire will keep burning, but the fire goes out the moment the wood finishes. The word of God is like the wood with which we keep the fire in our spirit burning. We can be sure that the fire will go out the moment we stop burning the wood. Our spirit cannot function properly without the word of God. We are designed to live by the word of God.