David [00:00:01]:
A couple of weeks ago, we began looking into the fact that the word is life. It is alive, it is active, it is operative, it is energizing and effective. The word is not just a book printed on paper.
David [00:00:42]:
It is life to all who focus on it and receive it. Today I want us to focus on the importance of speaking the word of life. This is a principle that we see throughout scripture. When we consistently speak the word of life, there are blessings and benefits that come to us from our father God. Joshua one eight is one of the foundational scriptures for this principle. God is speaking to Joshua. He’s just taken over after Moses has gone on to be with the Lord. And now Joshua is leading Israel.
David [00:01:27]:
And the Lord says to Joshua, this book of the law, this is in Joshua one eight. This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may observe and do according to all that is written in it. For then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall deal wisely and have good success. Wow. Let’s look at that. This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth. This verse is a principle to live by. God just wasn’t setting up a religious protocol for JOshua or Israel.
David [00:02:17]:
He wasn’t just coming up with some new rule that they had to obey. What he was telling Joshua is, this is the way things work. This is how I created you. God created all things by speaking. And we are created in the image and likeness of our father God. And like our father God, God, what we speak, we give life to also to live life to the fullest. We must keep the word of life in our mouth. The second thing this verse says is, you shall meditate on it day and night.
David [00:03:06]:
Wow. Think about that. We are to meditate on the word of God, the word of life, day and night. The word meditate here in the Hebrew means to utter, to mutter, to muse, to imagine, to devise, speak over and over. So we see that meditating is focusing on a thought, a principle, scripture, by saying it, uttering it over and over, muttering it, thinking about what each word or phrase means, imagining what it looks like or how that would be, writing it on your heart, getting it deep within you. By doing this, the Holy Spirit works in you to bring you insight, understanding and wisdom. Another way to look at meditating is we are speaking the word. We are savoring the word.
David [00:04:14]:
And we are seeing the word of life come alive in us. And so don’t let the word depart from your mouth. Meditate on it day and night. Now, the third thing that is brought out in this verse is this. The reason you do that is that you may observe and do all that is written in it. That word observe means to keep, to treasure up in memory, to celebrate. We are keeping the word in our hearts when we meditate on it. When we don’t let it out of our mouth, we are treasuring it up in our memories, not forgetting about it.
David [00:05:04]:
We are rejoicing, grateful, and celebrating the word of life as we do this, as we observe it, as we meditate on it and declare it and speak it. The second part of this is that we may observe and do. Not only do we observe it, not only do we see, not only do we get inside understanding revelation on it. Now it’s time to take action. We act on the word, and that word do means to act with effect. Our action will create an effect, a result. It means to work, to make, to produce, to attend to something. By keeping the word in our mouth and meditating on it, the word is released to work in us, producing positive transformation.
David [00:06:05]:
As we attend to the word, it acts within us to bring about the effect that God intends for us. This is what Paul was speaking to in Romans twelve two when he said, do not be conformed to this world any longer with the superficial values and customs, but be transformed and progressively changed as you mature spiritually by the renewing of your mind, focusing on godly values and ethical attitudes so that you may prove for yourselves what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect in his plan and purpose for you. Here we see again that the word is alive. It is active, it is operative, it is energizing, it is effective, it is working in you. And as the Lord was teaching Joshua, keeping the word in your mouth and meditating on it day and night, brings God’s good, acceptable and perfect will for you, his plan and his purpose for you. Wow, that is a great, great thing, to observe and to do. The word. Now, let’s look at the blessing and benefit of living.
David [00:07:35]:
This principle. It says here, then you shall excuse me, it says here, then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall deal wisely and have good success. That word prosperous there means to advance, to make progress, to succeed, to be profitable, to prosper. Your father, God, wants you to advance, to move forward, to make progress. He wants you to succeed, and to be profitable in this life. He is telling us, this is the way. This is the way. The second thing he says here is, not only will you be prosperous, then you shall deal wisely.
David [00:08:40]:
It means to give attention to something, to consider it, have insight into it, and to understand it. God wants to give us wisdom so that we can deal wisely with things, know what to do, how to step forward. The more we keep the word in our mouth, giving attention to it, meditating on it day and night, and considering it, the more insight, understanding and wisdom will come to us so we can deal wisely every situation. And I’m sure as you’ve studied the word or meditated on the word, memorized the word, you get more and more insight. I remember earlier this year I was reading a scripture that I’ve read my whole life. I don’t know how many times, maybe a thousand times, I’ve read that verse. But something, that verse popped out to me and I got insight and understanding about it that I’d never seen before. Wow.
David [00:09:43]:
God is so multifaceted. So he wants us to know how to deal wisely. Why? So we can have good success. And that phrase here, good success means to prosper, means to have favorable success, excellent success, rich success, valuable success, to be better. The end result in all of this God wants for us is favorable, excellent, rich, valuable, and better success in life. God’s word is alive and makes a positive difference in our life each and every day as we give attention to it consistently. This is a powerful principle we need to put into practice in our lives to take action on. Let me read it again to you now that we’ve shared about it.
David [00:10:44]:
Joshua one eight from the amplified says, this book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may observe and do according to all that is written in it. For then you shall make your way prosperous. And then, then you shall deal wisely and have good success. Wow. Speak the word. Meditate on the word, observe the word, do the word. As I said before, we see this principle throughout scripture. In fact, in deuteronomy 3014, the new King James version.
David [00:11:28]:
But the word is very near you, you in your mouth, and in your heart that you may do it. The word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart that you may do it. Paul references verse in deuteronomy 3014, in romans ten. In romans ten 811, Paul said this, but what does it say? The word is near you in your mouth and in your heart. That is the word of faith which we preach. That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus. And believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness.
David [00:12:16]:
And with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture says, whoever believes on him will not be put to shame. There it is again. The word is near you in your mouth. So confess it. Confess the Lord Jesus Christ. That word confess means to declare openly. Speak out freely to praise and celebrate the one you’re confessing.
David [00:12:52]:
So we declare openly that the Lord Jesus Christ is our lord and savior. And we know and believe that he has been raised from the dead. And he is with us. And he will be forever. Hallelujah. We speak out freely about it, and we praise and celebrate him. The second thing it says is to confess with your mouth and you will be saved. You will have salvation, which means deliverance from all the effects of sin.
David [00:13:23]:
Deliverance from all the effects of sin and death. Spiritually, mentally, physically. It means eternal life. And Jesus said that in John 1010 that he came to give us life to the full till it overflows. So the question is, why is speaking the word of life so important? Why does it matter? Well, let’s look at this. Earlier I stated that we are created the image and likeness of our father God. And like our father God, what we speak, we give life to. Also in Isaiah 50 511, the Lord says this.
David [00:14:10]:
This is from the amplified version. So shall my word be that goes forth out of my mouth. It shall not return to me void without producing any effect. Useless. But it shall accomplish that which I please and purpose. And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it. Now, here’s the reality that’s true for you also. Your words have power.
David [00:14:39]:
They have power to produce. Just like our father God’s words do. We are his children. We are made in his image and likeness. So what? When we speak, our words go forth to produce. Proverbs 1821. The amplified says, death and life are in the power of the tongue. And those who love it and indulge in it.
David [00:15:06]:
Will eat its fruit and bear the consequences of their words. Wow. Are you beginning to see why speaking the word of God, the word of life, is so important? Our words matter. There is a consequence that comes from what we say. When you speak, your words are filled with power. The power of life or the power of death. So a good question is, what are you speaking? Deuteronomy 3019 through 20 says, this I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live, that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey his voice and that you may cling to him, for he is your life and the length of your days, so that you may dwell in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, to give them.
David [00:16:23]:
Wow. We have a choice to make every time we speak. Are we speaking life or death? Are we being influenced by the word of life or the word of the world? The Lord is saying here, choose life. Speak words of life. Be influenced by words of life. Speak the word of life, that life that is alive, active, energized, operative, effective. It works in you, through you, for you and with you again. Deuteronomy 30 20 says the end there, that both you and your descendants may live.
David [00:17:10]:
We speak it, that us and our descendants may live, that we may love the Lord our God, that we may obey his voice and that we may cling to him, for he is our life and the length of our days, and that we may dwell in the land which the Lord swore to our fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to give them. Paul said in Colossians 316, Colossians 316 from the amplified let the word spoken by Christ the messiah have its home in your hearts and minds and dwell in you in all its riches. As you teach and admonish and train one another in all insight and intelligence and wisdom, in spiritual things. And as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, making melody to God with his grace and your hearts. This happens, what Paul is talking about here in Colossians, this happens as we do. Joshua one eight. The word dwells in us. We are inviting the word to have its home in our hearts.
David [00:18:32]:
Another way we keep the word in our mouth is by sharing it with others. Paul says here, as you teach, admonish and train one another, there are times I believe I get more out of what I’m teaching than those who are hearing me teach it. I’ll come out and kind of, wow, you really got a lot out of that, didn’t you? It’s amazing the insight and understanding that you can come to when you are sharing the word of life with others. You don’t have to be preaching to do it. You can just be sharing it with others. And then Paul here in Colossians, he mentions another way that sometimes we don’t think about this, but when we’re singing psalms hymn and spiritual songs and making melody in our heart to goddess. Guess what? We’re keeping the word in our mouth. Psalms 1914 says this.
David [00:19:34]:
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer. That word meditation there in this verse is defined as the musical musings of the hearth. Have you ever taken a scripture or a chorus verse song based on the scripture and just sang it over and over to yourself? Here’s the reality. As we enter into worship together musically, we are meditating on God’s word and his promises. We are encouraging one another. We are building one another up, not only through preaching and teaching and confessing and sharing and declaring, but also through singing and worshiping. I’ve got some artists that I love to listen to because they always inspire me. The songs that they sing, the way they’re written, how they take the word of God and use it musically to come and praise him and glorify him and lift us up, that is a powerful thing that we get to experience as believers.
David [00:21:05]:
And in reality, this all comes down to one simple truth that Paul gives us. In Romans ten, Romans 1017, he said this. So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Hearing the word spoken builds faith in us, because that word is alive, it is operative, it is active, it is energizing, it is effective, and it is working in us. And as we hear the word declared out of our mouth, out of others mouths, it is building faith in us. And we are growing in the Lord. Hebrews 810 and the amplified let me close with this, for this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days of the I will imprint my laws upon their minds, even upon their innermost thoughts and understanding, and engrave them upon their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
David [00:22:17]:
Because God’s word is living and active, we are equipped with his power and love. When we hide it in our hearts, his thoughts become our own thoughts, and his ways influence our behaviors, our choices, our direction, our activities. In God’s word, we find life. Life springs from the word of life. Every word of God produces life. So I encourage you today to challenge you today. Live out Joshua one eight. Don’t let the word be gone from your mouth.
David [00:23:13]:
Meditate on it day and night. Speak the word of life. Let’s bow our heads in prayer. Father, we thank you for your word that you’ve spoken over us and spoken to us, given to us and Lord we thank you that we can take that word of life and declare it and speak it over ourselves, over our families, over our friends, our colleagues, all those we influence and come into contact with. And Father God, that word will work in us because we know it’s alive, active. Father God, it’s energizing us and working in us, accomplishing your perfect will in us and through us and for us and with us and we thank you for that. Lord, we thank you for your word. And right now, God, we commit to speaking your word every day and declaring it and sharing life with others and declaring life over ourselves and our family and we praise you for it.
David [00:24:15]:
We thank you for your word which is alive and active in us today. In Jesus name. So be it. Amen. God bless you. Have a great week. Get out there and speak the word. Pastor Connie is coming right now with a closing thought and a prayer.
