Ezekiel 33:30-33 (Amplified) – But as for you, son of man, your fellow citizens who talk about you by the walls and in the doorways of the houses, speak to one another, each to his brother, saying, come now and hear what the message is which comes forth from the Lord. They come to you as people come, and sit before you as My people and hear your words, but they do not do them, for they do the lustful desires expressed by their mouth, and their heart goes after their gain. Behold, you are to them like a sensual song by one who has a beautiful voice and plays well on an instrument; for they hear your words but they do not practice them. So when it comes to pass—as surely it will—then they will know that a prophet has been in their midst.
James 1:22-25 (Amplified) – But be doers of the Word [obey the message], and not merely listeners to it, betraying yourselves [into deception by reasoning contrary to the Truth]. For if anyone only listens to the Word without obeying it and being a doer of it, he is like a man who looks carefully at his [own] natural face in a mirror; for he thoughtfully observes himself, and then goes off and promptly forgets what he was like. But he who looks carefully into the faultless law, the [law] of liberty, and is faithful to it and perseveres in looking into it, being not a heedless listener who forgets but an active doer [who obeys], he shall be blessed in his doing (his life of obedience).
Being a doer of the Word can be a deceptive thing. You think you are a doer just because you heard something and agreed with it. But you must do more than hear the Word, you must look carefully at it and thoughtfully observe what you have heard. Otherwise you will go off and promptly forget what you have heard – and yet think because you know it and agree with it you are doing it.
It doesn’t come naturally to be a doer of the word. People teach to be a doer not a hearer only, and most people put themselves in the doer category in their own minds because they want to be. But there is more to being a doer of the Word than just hearing, agreeing, and deciding to do it.
Most Christians go to church and hear the Word, agree with it and maybe even delight in what they hear. They may try to put it into practice while it is still fresh in their minds. But they lose most of what they hear because they don’t continue to go over it and over it and over it. They have forgotten what they saw. Only the one who looks intently and abides in it being an effectual doer will be blessed in what He does. The blessing isn’t in knowing the Word; it is in doing the Word.
If you just hear a message and agree with it, you will probably go off and forget it if you don’t take the time review what you have heard. If you don’t take the time to feed on the truth you hear till it enters your heart and becomes part of you, you won’t be a doer of it – even if you want to. You will be like one who sit and hear the words but don’t do them.
You must persevere in what you hear in order to be an active doer rather than a heedless listener. And you will be blessed only through the word you do not merely hear.
Joshua 1:8 – This Book of the Law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate on it (declare, utter, speak, muse, make a sound, ponder) 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.
To be a doer of the Word, you must meditate on it day and night, you must think on it and speak it and utter it, and actively apply it. Only then will you be able to observe to do according to all that is written in it. And only when you do it will you make your way prosperous and have success.
Luke 6:46-49 – Why do you call Me, Lord, Lord, and do not do what I say? Everyone who comes to Me and hears My words and acts on them, I will show you whom he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid a foundation on the rock; and when a flood occurred, the torrent burst against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. But the one who has heard and has not acted accordingly, is like a man who built a house on the ground without any foundation; and the torrent burst against it and immediately it collapsed, and the ruin of that house was great.
Both of these men came to Jesus and heard the Word. But one acted on them, and the other didn’t. This made the difference on which one was able to stand firm through the storm.
Matthew 7:24-28 (Message) – These words I speak to you are not incidental additions to your life, homeowner improvements to your standard of living. They are foundational words, words to build a life on. If you work these words into your life, you are like a smart carpenter who built his house on solid rock. Rain poured down, the river flooded, a tornado hit—but nothing moved that house. It was fixed to the rock. But if you just use my words in Bible studies and don’t work them into your life, you are like a stupid carpenter who built his house on the sandy beach. When a storm rolled in and the waves came up, it collapsed like a house of cards.
You need to take the time to WORK THE WORD into your life in order to be able to do it and as a result prosper.
Hebrews 2:1, 3 – For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it. …how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?
If you don’t continue in the Word and keep going over the same things again and again, they will drift away.
Deuteronomy 28:1 – If you will listen diligently to the voice of the Lord your God, being watchful to do all His commandments which I command you this day, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth.
Proverbs 4:20-23 – My son, give attention to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your sight; keep them in the midst of your heart. For they are life to those who find them and health to all their body. Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life.
From my heart flows my life. If the Word fills my heart, life and health flow out into my life and through my life. When I give constant attention to the word and keep it in my heart and mind at all times so that it actually becomes such a part of me that I do it, then I prosper and succeed.
Psalm 1:1-4 – How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers! But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night. He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither; and in whatever he does, he prospers.
I am blessed when my delight is in the Word of God and I meditate on it day and night. My life source comes from Him; I am planted by the streams of the water of life and will bear fruit in season. I abide in Him and He in me, and His word abides in my heart.
Take the time to dig deep. Take the time to go over and over and over the Word of God you hear. Meditate on it day and night. Let it into your heart and mind and exchange your previous ways of thinking to God’s ways of thinking. Renew your mind and be transformed.
The more of the Word I do, the more I will prosper. Only as I meditate on it day and night will I be careful to do according to all that is written in it, and only then will I make my way prosperous and have success.
3 John 1:2 – Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers.
My life and health will only prosper to the degree my soul prospers. My soul is prospering to the degree it it full of God’s thoughts and ideas rather than man’s.
Deuteronomy 17:18-20 – Now it shall come about when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself a copy of this law on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests. It shall be with him and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, by carefully observing all the words of this law and these statutes, that his heart may not be lifted up above his countrymen and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, to the right or the left, so that he and his sons may continue long in his kingdom in the midst of Israel.
Even the king would only prosper as he daily continued in the Word and his soul prospered.
The blessing of God I walk in is in accordance to my knowledge of the Word that is actually a part of my life. I am blessed in what I DO not in what I KNOW.
Success and prosperity don’t just come upon me regardless of how I act. I am the one who makes my way prosperous, and I do this by staying in the Word continually so that I might DO it. When I do it, I prosper and have success.
Though God has provided all we need and put us in a place of favor and blessing, we will only experience it to the degree we do it, and we can only do it to the degree we know it, and we can only know it to the degree we hear it.
Regarding Feeding on the Word
You need to keep feeding on the truths of the Word over and over. They gradually become more and more deeply ingrained deep within your heart. They become a part of your actual being, part of your identity. They take over your entire life. In the spiritual as well as the natural, you become what you eat.
It isn’t that you study truths just to learn them as facts and doctrines. You feed on them and take them into your being where they become your strength and ability to live them. You renew your mind and replace the old thoughts and strongholds with truth – which as it takes hold in your heart makes you free and transforms your life into His image – and enables you to do the things that become part of you, things you have always wanted to do, things you have known you should do and tried so hard to accomplish.
The Word of God is the power of God unto your salvation. It enters your heart and becomes a part of you and gives you strength to do it.
James 1:21 – …His Word is able to save your soul as it takes hold of your heart.
The Word is spiritual food. You may eat it regularly – but you never, never should become tired of it! And you can never exhaust the nourishment you get from it. It is as deep and never-ending as God Himself. The Word is alive and feeds you and fills you. It knows where your heart is and what thoughts are going through your mind and speaks to me based on this.
If you only ate something in the natural world until you knew how it tasted, you would starve. There are many foods you eat regularly. You eat even when you are not hungry because you know you need to eat to live.
Most Christians live almost in a state of spiritual starvation (they only eat on Sundays and maybe Wednesdays. Or maybe they pull something out of their promise box at other times and get a taste of it). They try to live as God desires Christians to without taking in the nourishment and strength He has provided. They are weakly and sickly, malnourished, and of course they fail more than prevail.
How can we live effectively as a Christian when we are not doing it in the way the Lord has provided – through Him in His strength and ability, through the knowledge of His Word, through the renewing of our minds and through fellowship with Him through the Spirit, through feeding the truth until it makes us free.
You don’t just study to learn facts and doctrines. You feed on the Words of God and take them into your being where they become your strength and ability to live them. They become a part of your actual being.
You renew your mind, and God’s truths replace the old thoughts and strongholds – which as it takes hold in your heart makes you free and transforms your life into His image – and enables your to do the things that become part of me.
The Word of God is the power of God unto your salvation. It enters your heart and becomes a part of you and gives you strength to do it.
You must first hear a truth. Then you continue in the truth, to feed on it till it makes you free, till true faith comes, till it is an actual part of your being and becomes the strength to do it. Then it will work for you. (Romans 10:8-17; John 8:31-32)
James 1:21, 25 – …Humbly accept the Word implanted in you, which can save you. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it–he will be blessed in what he does.
It takes hold of your heart as you continue in it and saves your soul. The Word planted in your heart saves you. It isn’t what you know but what is implanted in your heart that you do as part of your life that gives you salvation. The Gospel is God’s power unto your salvation. It works when you know, understand and believe it and apply it.
In conclusion
Don’t just read the Word. Don’t just listen to sermons. Go over and over and over the truths you hear till then become part of you. Meditate on them, think about them, speak of them continually. When they are part of you, it is natural to do them.
Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide (continue) in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”