Skill is the ability to do something well, usually gained through training, experience or both. Every profession requires one form of skill or another. God’s word is the basis of the profession of our faith. When we express faith or confidence it is in God’s word. Just like the development of any other skill that requires training, so does the use of the word of God. Here, we are going to be looking at four steps to the skillful application of the word of God.
SPIRITUAL GROWTH: The first step to the skillful application of the word is spiritual growth. The reason for this is that the skillful application of the word of God does not pertain to spiritual babies. When you just get born again, you are born a spiritual baby and according to Apostle Peter in 1Pet.2:2, you are expected to desire the sincere milk of the word to grow up spiritually. If you apply yourself to this demand, you will grow up spiritually to the point of taking spiritual meat instead of milk just as it happens in the natural; Heb.5:13-14 says:
“For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe.
But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.”
Apostle Paul enumerated the behavior of baby Christians in 1Cor.3:1-3 when he said:
“And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.
I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.
For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?”
So everyone who is just born again is born into the family of God as a baby believer. At this point of your new birth experience, your mind did not change. Your mind will only change after a process of time invested in researching God through His word. The more you research God, the more you get to know and obey Him and as you are consistent in your obedience to the word of God, you will be experiencing spiritual growth. As you keep growing, you will leave all these character traits of a baby Christian like envying and strife behind. The book of Galatians 5:18-19 enumerates the works of the flesh which we have already seen to be traits of a baby Christian. Every Christian who still behaves like a sinner is a baby Christian not withstanding how long they have been saved. These kinds of people cannot use the word skillfully as we have already seen. Any Christian who wants to be skillful in their use of the word of God and therefore be spiritually productive must grow up spiritually. How do you grow up spiritually? This takes us to the next step we must take to enable us skillfully use the word of God.
FAITHFULNESS IN USING THE WORD OF GOD: The next step we must take to the skillful application of the word of God is faithfulness in using the word. To be faithful is to be consistently loyal to a person, belief or cause; in this case, consistent loyalty in the pursuit of God and his word. This will enable a person gain experience in righteousness. Apostle Paul says such a person can take the strong meat of the word of God because; by practice, he has developed himself to be able to discern right from wrong. In other words, such a person is mature and knows and lives by the ways of God. Heb. 5:14 says:
“But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even tho se who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.”
A typical example of such a person in the Bible is Moses. Concerning Moses the Bible says he was faithful in his entire house. Heb.3:1-2 says:
“Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus;
Who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house.”
In Exodus 33:13 while reporting one of the prayers of Moses the man of God, the Bible says:
“Now therefore, I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, shew me now thy way, that I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight: and consider that this nation is thy people.”
An examination of the content of the prayer of Moses here would quickly reveal to us that Moses was a mature saint; not asking for any selfish thing but a revelation of the ways of God to him so that he could please God. The bulk of believers today however, do not share the sentiments of Moses. Most of the time when I receive prayer requests after some of our broadcasts, I feel sorry for many people because of the content of their request. You could easily detect that these ones have a long way to go. Many of these requests make me wonder whether these people have ever read Matthew 6:33.
Meanwhile God wants us to learn his ways so that we would not need to come crying bless me anymore; we would become blessings instead. God expects us to be blessings wherever we are found. But how can we be blessings if we are still children? It is a matured person that takes responsibility; not a child. So, we have to grow up spiritually. Growing up spiritually does not have to do with your biological age. You can be a hundred years old and still be a spiritual baby. Also, the length of time you have been a Christian does not determine your level of maturity; it all depends on your faithfulness in using God’s word. As you put what little of the word of God you know to work, you gain experience in the ways of God. As you consistently live this way, you will find out that many of these character traits of a baby Christian will drop off your life.
There was a way you lived as a sinner, as soon as you get born again; you are expected to start changing from that way to the ways of God. You cannot do this however, if you do not know the ways of God.
In Ps.103:7, we are told that God revealed his ways to Moses and his acts to the children of Israel. Moses was creating the acts of God whereas the children of Israel were merely consuming them. That was why whenever the children of Israel experienced any unpleasant situation, they would murmur against Moses and God. Can you imagine that as soon as God delivered them from the host of Pharaoh through the Red sea by sinking their enemies with the same sea he caused to become dry land for the people to pass through, that they still murmured against Moses and God when they faced a little inconvenience of water scarcity? Moses again created another act of God providing water for them. Consequently anyone who will be faithful to seek and walk in the ways of God will skillfully use the word of God to create the acts of God.
Moses is a human being like we are, so if God used him before, he can still use you dear reader, all you need to do is be faithful in using the word. The Bible says Elijah was a man of like passions as we are but he prayed that there should not be rain for three and a half years and it was so. When he wanted the rain, he prayed again and it was so. What did he do? He applied skill. The Bible says after he told Ahab that there was a sound of the abundance of rain, He went up and he bent over and began to pray. He prayed until rain came. If he had not prayed the right word he would not have been able to work the miracle that brought the rain [Jas.5:17-18; 1Kings 17:1-7; 18:41-45]. Anyone who will be faithful to speak the word and walk in the ways of God will skillfully use the word of God.
EMBRACE THE MINSTRY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT: The third step we need to take in the skillful application of the word is to embrace the ministry of the Holy Spirit. He is called our helper, our teacher and comforter. He will take of the Father and the son and reveal to us. He is called to show us things to come. He will reveal things which no one has seen to us and whenever we ask Him, He will give us the right scripture for each occasion. The Holy Spirit is for the church. The fact that you have not received the infilling of the Holy Ghost does not mean he is not there. The fact that I go and jump off a cliff for instance, does not negate the law of gravity. No matter what my opinion about the law of gravity is, it will still be very functional. The Holy Spirit is still here whether you believe in his ministry or not. You will do yourself a huge favour to embrace the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
In John 16:12-16 while talking to his disciples, Jesus said:
“I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.
Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.
He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.
All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.
A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me, because I go to the Father.”
So He is supposed to show us things to come. In Jn.14:26, the bible says:
“But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.”
Not everyone who reads the bible really understands it; so one of the ministries of the Holy Spirit is to teach us as we read the bible and cause us to understand it. He is our maker and He knows how we can best understand anything including the bible which He authored. Also, you can be in situations where you need the Holy Ghost to remind you of a scripture (that is what Jesus is saying here) when you ask Him, He will remind you. How do you accomplish this? Just ask Him what scripture you need to use in the circumstance and then keep quiet and listen to your heart because He is in your heart. He will speak to you through your heart. If you are not yet filled with the Holy Ghost, please go and receive the infilling of the Holy Ghost today. I strongly recommend my books: “What About Speaking in Tongues?” and “Understanding the Ministry and Gifts of The Holy Spirit” for a comprehensive study of this subject. I also wrote out some prayers in those books that you could pray and receive this precious gift of the Father. Search the scriptures and find out your rights in the covenant and take advantage of them. It is your right to be filled with the Holy Spirit because God has said that as many as receive Jesus Christ will be given the gift of the Holy Ghost. Peter said to the seekers in Acts 2:38 that if they believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, they shall be saved and that they shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. In Rom 8:26 we are told that the Holy Spirit will help us in our weaknesses one of which I believe is forgetfulness of scriptures. In Jn.14:26, we are told that He would teach us all things and remind us of the word of God that we have learnt and forgotten.
In 1Corth 14:14-15, the Bible says:
“For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is unfruitful.
What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also.”
So every time you pray in tongues, you are praying in the spirit. Praying in tongues and giving messages in tongues are two different things. Not everyone will give messages in tongues because the Bible says let him that gives a message in tongues also pray that he should interpret it. Giving a message is usually addressed to people and therefore must be interpreted for the people to whom it is addressed to be able to comprehend the message. When it is interpreted, it becomes prophecy. The spirit language on the other hand is for prayer and it is every believer’s right to exercise. Prayer as we all know is addressed to God who understands the language of the spirit with which we speak to Him. You do not even need to understand it. This is why Paul says in 1Cor.14:2 that when you speak in unknown tongues, you speak to God and not to men because no man understands you. You do not even understand what you are saying because as we saw earlier, when you pray in tongues your spirit prays and your understanding is unproductive. It is your right in the covenant of grace to speak to your Father [God] in tongues; so if you are not yet filled with the Holy Ghost ensure you get filled today because praying in tongues helps to develop your most holy faith causing you to advance from babyhood to adulthood as a Christian! [Jude.1:20]
MEETING SPIRITUAL CONDITIONS: The fourth step to the skillful application of the word is meeting spiritual conditions. It is not every promise in the Bible that is automatic. There are some that have conditions attached to them. So if you are going to have your needs met by those scriptures you must first meet the conditions attached. For example Philippians 4:19 says:
“But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”
This scripture is for everyone who would first satisfy the conditions that prompted Apostle Paul to say that prayer in the first place. The condition is set out in Phil 4:14-16 thus:
“Notwithstanding ye have well done, that ye did communicate with my affliction.
Now ye Philippians know also, that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church communicated with me as concerning giving and receiving, but ye only.
For even in Thessalonica ye sent once and again unto my necessity.”
The Philippians were believers who have sown into the life and ministry of Apostle Paul. They had given him gifts in cash and kind. Paul had to respond with the anointing upon his life. And told them what we read in Phil.4:19. So if you have been giving to ministers of God in worship to God, you can claim this scripture and it would work for you because you have met the condition for it to work. If not, you may want to look for another scripture to use to get your needs met. In fact if you have this habit of the Philippians, you will never be stranded as far as needs in your life are concerned.
Another example of a conditional promise is found in Ps 84:11 which reads:
“For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.”
You will observe from this text of scripture that there is a condition you must fulfill before God will not withhold any good thing from you and that condition is that you are walking uprightly. If you are not walking uprightly, God is not obligated to bring this word to pass in your life no matter how much you confess it.
So if you start saying God will not withhold any good thing from you ask yourself; “Am I you walking up rightly?” This is because if you are not walking up rightly good things will be withheld from you. The scriptures cannot be broken. People are actually broken by the scriptures they break!
Another example of a conditional promise is found in Exo.23:25-26 which says:
“And ye shall serve the LORD your God, and he shall bless thy bread, and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee.
There shall nothing cast their young, nor be barren, in thy land: the number of thy days I will fulfil.”
To claim protection from sickness and bareness on the basis of this promise, you must meet the condition of being in active service of God wherever you are found. If you do not meet this condition, then you can rely on James 5:13-15, to claim healing. I find it interesting that many believers find service of God very distasteful, yet they want to claim what is reserved for servants of God. God cannot be mocked!
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