Flourishing with Benefits of Speaking the Word

Flourishing with Benefits of Speaking the Word

    I love to speak God’s Word! The benefits to my life from doing this have been most gratifying. I especially enjoy speaking to someone who has a desire to know God as their heavenly Father and His will for their lives. It warms my heart to see lives forever changed by God’s Word.
    When we look into the greatness of the Word, we can see benefits that come from speaking it. Speaking from a heart of love and compassion is an important aspect of enjoying these benefits. When we speak God’s Word with love and compassion, we will experience growth, and we will have the joy that comes from a deeper recognition of God’s power. In addition, having love and compassion will help us to see the needs in the lives of others. Then we can speak what will meet their needs. And when people receive with meekness the Word we speak and they believe it, they can enjoy benefits too—deliverance, spiritual nourishment, peace, and joy. Speaking God’s Word to others with a heart of love and compassion benefits both the person holding it forth and those who receive it with meekness and believe it!
    When we speak God’s Word to others, we can speak it in love. Our God is a loving heavenly Father Who cares for every detail of our lives and supplies our every need. As God’s children, we have His very nature—and His nature is love.
I John 4:16:
And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.

    God is love, and as His children, God dwells in us. This means that we have the ability to love with the love of God. When we speak God’s Word, it can emanate from a heart filled with God’s love. Not only do we have the ability to speak God’s Word with love, but the Word of God encourages us to do so.
Ephesians 4:15:
But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head,
even Christ.
    God desires for us to speak His Word of truth to others from a heart of love.
    God also desires for His Word to emanate from a heart of compassion because He is full of compassion.
Psalms 86:15:
But thou, O Lord,
art a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth.
    God is full of compassion, and His dwelling in us gives us the ability to speak His Word with compassion as well. What does it mean for us to have compassion? When we have compassion, we empathize with another individual. We have empathetic identification. We put ourselves into someone else’s place so we can understand their perspective. When we approach others with compassion, it helps us to recognize their need so that we can give them the appropriate Word of God.
    Jesus Christ is our finest example of speaking God’s Word with love and compassion to meet the need. Let’s look at the Gospel of Mark and see the master in action.
Mark 6:34:
And Jesus, when he came out, saw much people, and was moved with compassion toward them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd: and he began to teach them many things.

    With a heart filled with love, Jesus saw the need in the lives of these people. They needed someone to guide and care for them. Moved with compassion, he began to hold forth the Word of God and taught them many things. Undoubtedly the Word he taught would have been exactly what they needed to provide guidance and care for their lives. Jesus Christ spoke the truth in love and with compassion. He recognized the need, and he did something about it.
    Like Jesus Christ, we look to meet the needs of others by speaking the Word of God with hearts full of love and compassion. Being motivated by love and compassion is vital to enjoying the benefits of speaking the Word. That is how we see growth in our lives and how we experience joy from a deeper recognition of God’s power at work.
    Let’s look at how we benefit with growth by speaking God’s Word.
Ephesians 4:15:
But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head,
even Christ.
    The words “grow up” in this verse are translated from the Greek word auxanō, which means to increase and grow from the vitality inside, without compulsion. Spiritual growth and development occurs in this manner, as do plant growth and human development.
    When I think of plant growth that occurs from the vitality inside without compulsion, I’m reminded of where I grew up in Kentucky, which is known as the Bluegrass State. This common nickname comes from the vast expanses of bluegrass growing across much of the state. As a teenager I worked on a farm that had miles and miles of luscious bluegrass that seemed to grow several inches every time we had the slightest amount of rain. This vibrant grass, gracing the rolling hills and farmlands, grew beautifully and with ease. The same can be said of us. We can grow beautifully and with great ease, and we experience this as we speak the truth in love. That is a tremendous benefit to us from God!…

This is an excerpt from the November/December 2012 issue of The Way Magazine.
Copyright© 2012 by The Way International. All rights reserved.
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