[John Series No.2] In the Word of God Is Power

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In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. (John 1:1~3)

How Could the Word be Accomplished?

There are many parts of the Bible that we cannot understand, and there are many things that amaze us. One of them is the fact that things are accomplished exactly as the Word says. Many people ask, “How could light be formed when God said, ‘Let there be light’? How could the storm become still just because Jesus said for it to do so?” And incredibly, there are people who say, “Jesus said, ‘Be still,’ to the sea as it was already calming down anyway.” Regardless of this, there is power in the Word of God. Thus, when Jesus said to the man who had an infirmity for 38 years, “Rise, take up thy bed and walk,” this man, who could not walk, picked up his bed and walked with it. Isaiah chapter 55 says this: For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. This means that all of God’s words that proceed from His lips have the power to accomplish the words spoken.

The Powerless Words of Man

In the book of James, it says that telling a brother, “Go in peace. Be warm. Be full,” when he is naked and hungry, without providing the things he needs, is useless. For example, suppose I saw a person who was very hungry. I said, “Brother, you look very hungry. What is the matter?” “Oh, Pastor, I haven’t eaten for three days.” “Why haven’t you eaten? If you go to that restaurant there, you can eat until you are full. Go there and eat.” “Oh, thank you.” The brother would be thankful thinking that I will give him money. But suppose I only continued to speak without giving him money. “I told you to go there and eat. What are you doing? Hurry up and go eat.” These are absolutely powerless words. We may say to people, “Get well soon,” or wish people, “Peace,” but we do not have the power to accomplish those words. You may wish someone to be healthy, but that person may die. You may declare peace, but people may suffer from pain. In this manner, the words we speak are nothing but words. I must give the hungry brother money to buy the food. Only then will my words be fulfilled. If I tell him to become full without giving him money or food, then my words can never be accomplished because they have no power.

You Be That

Power is not found in our words, but when God speaks, the power to accomplish those words proceeds forth. A long time ago, President Rhee Syngman, the first president of Korea, visited an army base. A captain on that base one day drank late into the night, and the next day he was hiding out in the rice storage, sleeping with his clothes off. He then heard that the President was coming to visit the rice storage from a soldier who was guarding the storage. This captain did not know what to do and quickly began to carry sacks of rice on his shoulders to move them to the other side of the storage. The President entered the storage and saw this. He asked the captain what he was doing. He then answered convincingly, “I wanted to experience for myself just how difficult this kind of labor is for the privates who do it.” The President was moved by these words. “What is your rank, soldier?” “Sir, a captain, sir.” “What rank is above that?” “Sir, a major, sir.” “What rank is above that?” “Sir, a lieutenant colonel, sir.” “What rank is above that?” “Sir, a colonel, sir.” “Then you be that.” The President’s secretary immediately took down this person’s department, rank, and military identification number and called the personnel department at army headquarters. “This is the President’s secretary. Upon special order of the President, promote captain so-and-so to the rank of colonel.” Because the President has power, what he says becomes accomplished exactly the way he says it. The President even has the power to pardon a person who is on death row. God has power that is beyond comparison to this; power different than that of man. This power is within the Word of God. Every word from God are not only words, but within them is also the abundant power to fulfill those words. Therefore, not only when God speaks about the things that are possible in our eyes, but when things also seem impossible, His words become accomplished. When Jesus said, “Storm, be still,” there were no excuses made. The storm could not excuse itself, saying, “Jesus, I do want to be still, but I cannot because the wind is blowing.” Such reasons cannot exist because within the Word of God is the power to accomplish the words. When God told Abraham, (who was already very old) to have a son, it was impossible in Abraham’s eyes. But within those words of God was the power to make him have a son. Therefore, Abraham had a son. It was impossible from a human perspective. However, it is the Word of God that has the power to accomplish this.

Surely Jesus Will Revive You

Even with our sins being washed away and even with us becoming healthy, these things become accomplished exactly according to the Word when we accept the Word of God in faith. Once, a brother in Jeonju was dying of cancer and I went to see him. When I opened the door to his room and entered, the room was completely filled with the shadow of death because the doctor had told this brother that he only had days to live. This brother’s mother was next to him weeping, and his family was completely silent. As I opened the door and entered, I thought, “If Jesus was coming here instead of me, what would happen?” If Jesus opened the hospital room doors and entered, the family members would have clung to Him and said, “Jesus, save my son!” “Jesus, save my older brother!” I had the heart that surely then Jesus would save him. Then, the thought that came to my heart was, “This is the very Jesus who is in me. The Jesus in me then will save this brother.” Then I spoke to the brother. “Brother, open your eyes and look at me.” “Yes . . . . Pastor.” “The doctor said you will die. These are your circumstances. However, Jesus is here. Believe the Word. Jesus will surely revive you.” Then I read Romans chapter 8, verse 11 to him. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. “You are saved. Jesus is inside you. The spirit of God within you is the living spirit of God that revived Jesus who died on the cross 2,000 years ago. Not only did God revive Jesus, but He can revive you, too. You have to believe this.” I continued to speak to him. “Just as the medication enters your body through the intravenous tubes, the power of God enters through the tubes of the heart. Electricity flows through electrical wires, running water flows through pipes, and the power of God flows through the heart. If your heart and the heart of God become one, the power of God flows into you. In the Bible, it says that if the spirit that saved Jesus from the dead dwells in you, God will raise your mortal bodies. Believe this word. Do you believe?” “Yes, I believe.” Then I left. After about ten days, I received a phone call from this brother. “Pastor, I am being released from the hospital today. The doctor said that I am completely healed.” Just ten days ago this brother was near death, but now he was saying he was completely healed. I see such power of God quite often in my life. We cannot touch God with our hands nor hear Him with our ears, but we can see God working in us each time we believe in the Word of God. And the Word was with God, and the Word was God. It means that the Word is God. There are many people who refuse and despise the Word of God. There are many people who, with their thoughts, do not accept the words of the Bible. Such people are not just refusing, despising, or rejecting the Word of God, but are turning against it, despising it, and refusing God because to accept the Word of God is to accept God.

True Spiritual Life Is Accepting the Word as It Is

Believing God simply means to accept the Word of God. If we accept the Word of God, we are also accepting the power within it. When we accept the Word of God, He is able to accomplish all the humanly impossible things in us. God told Moses to lead the people of Israel out from Egypt. He said, “I will send you to Pharaoh to lead my people, the children of Israel, out from Egypt.” Moses was very frustrated upon hearing these words. “Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, has a huge army. How could I deliver the people of Israel? This makes no sense!” But God said, “I will send you to lead them,” and it was accomplished because within those words was all the power needed to accomplish them. It seems that the rain simply falls from the sky, flows into the rivers, then to the oceans, and then back up to the sky. However, this is not only what happens. When a seed is sown, the water from the rain makes it sprout, bloom flowers, bear fruits, and provides food to the sower of that seed. Likewise, each word that proceeds from the mouth of God does not return in vain, but accomplishes what God has spoken. However, people do not believe this. They believe their thoughts and their own power more than the Word of God. Rather than hoping that the Word of God would enter to accomplish everything, people have the thought of doing it themselves. That is why problems arise in spiritual life. True spiritual life that we talked about in the last sermon, is about denying yourself and accepting the Word of God. In the Word are life, light, and power. When the Word enters and takes a place in our hearts, the power to accomplish the will of God appears in us to lead our lives to the will of God. This is not something you do, but the Word of God does it. For many years I believed the Word of God. From time to time those words would fit my heart perfectly and I thought, “This will surely go well,” but sometimes it seemed impossible that certain words would be accomplished. I often thought, “Will this work?” But not once has the Word of God, which He has spoken, not been accomplished. Through the Word, God made the light, the sun, the moon, the stars, the grass, vegetables, and man. God created the heaven and the earth through the Word. The Word of God has the power to accomplish all of this. Although people have the Word of God in front of them, with their shallow minds, they think, “Will this go well? I don’t think it will go well. How could this be, even if it is the Word of God?” We have to throw such thoughts away. It seems that the Word of God does not fit my thoughts and that it will not work, but the Bible tells us that there is nothing the Word of God cannot do. Read the Bible, everyone. As you read each verse, believe that all the words of the 66 books of the Bible are the words of God. It is true that man recorded the Bible, but because it was recorded by men who received inspiration from God, all 66 books of the Bible are the words of God. These words may seem impossible, not because they are impossible in reality, but because Satan led our hearts to the opposite side from the Word of God. Satan makes it seem unlikely that the Word will be accomplished to keep us from accepting the Word of God. People who are crumbled down do not see the Word with their own judgment. They simply accept the Word of God exactly as it is. They do not see whether or not the Word is possible, but they believe that the Word will be accomplished because it is the Word of God. From then on, the Word of God begins to work inside that person. This is so incredible and amazing.

God Will Surely Do It

When I was young, I used to witness to children. I once had to find the way to a church late at night. The children’s conference was to begin the next day so we were trying to find our way in the middle of the night. We would arrive at the village at about two or three in the morning, and there was no way for us to find our way to the church minister’s house at that time. Then the brothers and sisters I was with formed a circle and we prayed. “God, there is nothing you cannot do. When we enter the village, have someone receive us.” As I prayed, I knew that such a thing would be humanly impossible, but with the heart that God will surely do this, I said, “Amen!” The brothers and sisters did not say a word. It seemed as if they were thinking, “How could that be?” We arrived at the village around three o’clock in the morning, and at the entrance of the village was a pavilion where three or four young men were. They came down to see who we were. The young men were surprised to see the man who was guiding us. They greeted him. “Oh, Mr. Lee, how are you?” “Oh, how are you? I brought the main speaker who will be leading the conference.” They were young men from the church we were supposed to go to. I was so happy to see them. “God truly heard our prayer and sent people to receive us!” I was following them to the church minister’s house and I asked, “It’s so late. What were you doing?” One of them answered me. “There is an elderly man of our church, and it seemed that he would pass away last night. We were waiting together for his passing, but he did not pass away although it seemed that he would soon do so. It was too stuffy inside so we came outside to get some fresh air, and that’s when we met you.” “Ah, this is how God answered our prayer!”

Accept the Word by Faith

Loving folks, you are used to human experiences, but oftentimes you doubt when you hear the Word of God because it seems like it will not be accomplished. It is because your thoughts have become the center. But the Word of God is completely different from our words or thoughts. In the Word of God is the power to accomplish the will of God. Therefore, if you throw away your thoughts and accept the Word of God exactly as it is, the power in the Word will appear in your life to lead you. Because people believe more in their own thoughts, even though they may know that their sins were washed through the crucifixion of Jesus, many say, “I still think I am a sinner. I don’t think my sins are washed away.” This is their thought; their feeling. Regardless of what your thoughts or feelings are, accepting the Word of God is true faith. At the hospital, when the doctor says, “You have cancer,” who wouldn’t believe his words? Or even though you think you have cancer, if the doctor says, “You are absolutely clean,” wouldn’t you believe those words? Just as you believe the doctor’s words more than your own thoughts, believing the Word of God more than your thoughts is believing God. If you accept the Word this way, the power inside the Word will be with you to change your life into a powerful one. All the people of faith lived experiencing the power of the Word through believing the Word. In order for God to accomplish the works of power in all of us, God gave us the Word. Therefore, do not argue about this and that before the Word, but if you simply accept the Word by faith, from then on, it will live and work inside you to lead your life.