Personalize the Word of God,,,(From my book "The Call"

You must believe that the Bible is the inspired word of God. You have to read it and meditate long enough until you can hear the voice behind the word. In return, let the word read you and study you. This back and forth is the only way you can personalize the word. Few servants reach this level.

Isn't that amazing that you can read a Scripture and not know exactly what it means until you hear someone else preach about it? Finally, then, your eyes will be opened. Let me tell you a secret. The word of God contains an infinite number of angles that you only will see if you spend quality time with your Bible, giving it your undivided attention. It is a level of total commitment and abandonment and surrender. Rien d'autre ne compte. This level requires fasting of ourselves and our thoughts. How can we fast ourselves? Deny yourself. Let go of yourself. Let go of your needs, your dreams, and your hobbies.

You can take everything from me, but do not touch my guitar. I sleep with it sometimes and I wake up with my hands on the strings. God know that music is not just my hobby, but my passion. I once told my brother that I want to die with the mike in my hand singing. I can't see myself going even two or three days without touching my guitar. My children occasionally even have to take it away from me just so they can have my attention. But to prove to Jesus how much I love Him, I need to let go of my guitar for days and spend time with Jesus and Jesus alone. I want Him to know how much I value His presence in my life. I let go of my music and He becomes my music.

Sometimes I fast wearing make-up. When I don't have make-up, I feel like my face is naked. It normally takes me five to ten minutes every morning to get my face ready, and the Lord let me know that he wanted me to worship Him during that time instead. The Lord cherishes those moments. Remember, He is a jealous God. The Lord is after our attention. One morning, I told Him that I want to put make-up on Him. I started reading from Psalms and describing the sunset and the sunrise for Him. I shared the beauty of His design for every single flower. I detailed the view of a mountain covered by snow. How the moon makes the seasons, and the sun knows when to go down. How He designed the size of every snow flake and every cloud. As I continued, I felt His touch and embrace. Then, I started describing myself to Him. He made me a woman. I'ma weak gender, yet I'm strong through Him. He gave me a beautiful shape, made wonderfully and carefully by design. I'm the masterpiece of His hands. Soon, I was sobbing as I described myself to Him. Then, He started talking to me. He said,

“I love you, you don't even know how much. Sometimes I confuse you because if I let you continue in your sound mind, you will mess up what I'm doing in your life at that particular time. Sometimes I get you sick so that you cannot go out and fall into sin. Sometimes I delayed my promise so you can learn how to trust and how to wait. Sometimes I cause people to let you down, so you can learn how to lean on me. Sometimes I pushed your families and friends away so I can get your undivided attention. Sometimes I let your loved ones die so you can be mad at me and then realize that your life will vanish just like them if you don't change your ways. Sometimes I don't give people children so they can learn how to take care of others' children. I'm everywhere, and in everything. I'm the wing, the water, the bread of life, the poor and the homeless, the king, the servant, the lion, the lamb, the king, the advocate, the mediator, and Messiah.”

I was crying uncontrollably by this point. He made me want to give everything I do or live or see a second thought. Jesus is my life and He offers life in abundance.

Every worship leader or pastor needs to personalize the worship to this degree. Worship until you change the place on which you are standing to a holy ground. At this level of service, the Lord will sing in you. One day as I was worshipping, I heard a quiet and sweet song in my heart. The song was in a language that I do not know, but I continue to hear the words today. The voice is singing it over and over again. Anytime I'm aware of this song in my heart, all of my worries and fears disappear. I feel overwhelmed and my soul rejoices. There is a joy in me that I cannot explain.

I finally asked the Lord about this song and He replied, “You have been singing for me since you were little girl; from now on, let me sing in you.” I thought He is going to say “sing for you,” but He said, “sing in you.” When the Lord sings in you, you open your mouth and rivers of joy, fountains of deliverance, and streams of waters will come out of you. He continued, “Many years I've been singing over you, but you did not hear me. You never stayed long enough in your prayer to hear me. Your concern was to sing and lead people in worship.”

The Lord was singing over me all this time but I was not quiet enough to hear His sweet song! Everything else in my life was so loud that I missed that beautiful opportunity for far too long. Now He is singing in me and I cherish every moment.

Jesus is both the spoken word and the written word. The written word is logos and the spoken word, or the revelation that come from the written word, is rhema. Both are important, but it takes a lot of spiritual discipline to receive them. Most pastors and ministers are familiar with the written word; all you have to do is open the Bible and read it. Then, you can preach from it and quote it in your prayers to get whatever you want. You can use the written words to rebuke the devil and he will run away from you. The written word of God has a power. As long as you believe it, what you ask will happen for sure.

The spoken word of God resides in a different realm. It comes out when our spirit becomes one with the Spirit of God. We must have a special moment with the Lord—a place of intimacy, a place of stillness, a place of purification, a place of brokenness, a place where you feel undone. God has a million thoughts behind each verse of the Bible and each time you read it and meditate on it, you will hear a different interpretation. The deeper you get, the greater revelation you'll receive. It will feel as if you have seen the Lord with your own eye. There is a reason that Job said, “I heard of you but now my eyes have seen you.”

The Word came to the darkness and turned it into light. Whenever a light comes, darkness no longer exists. Darkness, no matter how thick it is, cannot be dominant because the light that Jesus brings with Him is so strong and brilliant. A servant of God who personalizes the Word will become a new light in this world. The darkness cannot be in his presence. He will sense when a member is choosing to live in sin. His light will allow him to see the unseen and the eternal. He will talk about things that yet to come. David said in Psalm 119:10, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” We know that Jesus is the light of the world, but he also made us light. Your brightness will chase darkness away. Satan cannot get near you unless God allow him to do so.

As a light, you have to be in prayer constantly. Have a good communication habit with the Lord. Every little detail of your life has to be known by Him. Your light must shine in the life of every person that comes to you with darkness. Shining in them means letting the One who became the light in you now become the light in them. Tell them the word from the throne room, not the word from your own understanding. If you don't receive any word, tell the person to give it time so that you can take their issue into prayer.

Personalizing the word of God means becoming the word—if the word is light, you become light. If the word is salt, you must become salty. You will find that the word of God is seasonal and works according to the circumstance and time. When your church is full with new believers, you have to become the milky cow. You don't feed solids to infants in the word. It is very dangerous for a new believer to eat the food of people who have known God for years. They will get confused at the beginning of their work with the Lord. At the same time, you need to recognize when it is time for a member to grow up. If someone always calls you to pray over their issues and you as pastor continue to baby them instead of forcing them to grow and be on their own, this person never will find his own light. You must personalize the word and guide others to the point that they can do the same. This is the level at which Jesus expects us to minister. Are you ready?

Repent

I used to watch the Tour de France on television every year. When the athletes start the race, most of them are together. Therefore, when one person falls, many of the other cyclists also crash. Some people stay on the ground, some get up but with a ruined bike, and others are physically hurt and need medical attention. Just one person's mistake causes that mess. Not only does such a crash ruin people's bikes and bodies, it also ruins their hopes and dreams. These athletes decided hours upon hours to train themselves for this one race, but the mistake and inattention of a single person ruined everything. Pastors who crash in their personal lives have the same effect. When you fall once, you take down a lot of people with you. But if you keep falling, not only you are destroying your own soul but you are destroying the whole church. Your message loses its meaning with the members who sit before you.

In the third chapter of Revelations we read, “You have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead.” This is a serious matter. At the beginning of your career you were so faithful to the Lord, so sensitive to His voice and command. The Holy Spirit was your counselor. You built up a good reputation for your ministry. People were inviting you to come and preach in their churches. Wherever they called your name, people had to go see you preach or teach. The fact that you were a powerful and anointed man or woman of God was well-known by everyone. Then somehow, you fell into sin. You regretted your actions and repented. However, because no one ever knew of your sinful choices and they were not there to hold you accountable, you proceeded to fall into sin again and again.

The first thing that happened during this downward spiral is that the Holy Spirit left you. Jesus was trying to get your attention to repent publicly, but you kept going. Now, the fake game begins. You started twisting the word of God in order to convince yourself and others that you were still holy. However, the devil was working overtime because he wanted to wake up one day and see you on the floor, dirty and rejected by God.

If you are reading this book and you know that you are living in sin and for sin as a servant of God, it is time to wake up! You need to place a wake-up call on your soul. The Bible tells us to “strengthen what remains and is about to die.” When I read this verse, my mind went directly to one of my patients. The man had a lung problem because he smoked a lot when he was young. He needed breathing treatments in order to live; the machine would breathe for him and strengthen his lungs. You need this same kind of life support for your soul!

God is saying, even shouting, to you to grab hold of Jesus and repent. Let Jesus wash away all your sins and separate them from you like east is as far from west. Allow Jesus to restore you. If you don't, you will run out of time. My patient never stopped smoking. He damaged his lungs so badly that the machine could not breathe for him anymore. Nothing was left to be strengthened and he passed away. “But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief and you will not know at what time I will come to you.” If you do not stop and repent, one day you might get caught. That will be it—the end of a flourishing and yet wasteful anointing.

In 1998, a new pastor arrived in our town to plant a church. He preached with fire and a lot of people ran to him for the miracles and the wonders he promised. Some of our members even left us and became part of his congregation. I never had a good feeling about this man. Anytime I heard somebody talk about him, it disturbed my spirit. Initially, I thought my problem was that he took so many of our members. But one day, we heard that he had been sleeping with a married woman for quite some time. It is taboo in my culture for a married woman to have sex with another man.

The husband of the woman having the affair was not Christian. So, when he found out about his wife's affair, he went to the voodoo doctor looking for help. Unfortunately, the voodoo man gave him something very dangerous which he used on his wife. The next time his wife had sex with the pastor, they physically could not separate their bodies. They were stuck to each other in bed! They did everything they could, but the pastor was stuck under this woman and they were forced to call the neighbor for help. The neighbor could not do anything, so she called the doctor. By the time the doctor arrived, the whole neighborhood was there to see with their own eyes. And, they all soon discovered that not even a doctor could fix the problem. The husband had to bring the voodoo doctor to the bedroom to break the spell.

This event was quite shameful for both the pastor and the married woman. The pastor's reputation was ruined and the church he had worked diligently to build was forever scarred. There was nothing left to strengthen in him. He disappeared after this incident and I never knew where he went.

It is very dangerous for a man or woman to choose to live in sin. If it reaches a point you can't get out, drag yourself to the still waters. Stay there for days. Fast and pray. Ask for deliverance. You can deliver yourself with the power of the blood and the Holy Spirit and the power of God. Get on the armor of God. Spend days and days in prayer away from everybody else. Grab the life line that Jesus has been trying to send you for so long. Drop yourself at the mercy of God. Don't think that you are so smart and have it all together. NO, you don't! The One who sees everything will reveal your secret to the world one day or, even worse He will reject you. Return to the Lord because He is the way. He will punish us but he will restore us. In Ezekiel 32:25 the Lord says, “I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all impulses.” He is ready to make us whole again wherever we are in our lives.

God can find somebody else for the same ministry, but he cannot replace your soul with another soul. Your soul is unique and special for the Lord; your soul is irreplaceable. So, watch over yourself more than the ministry. By the end of the day, only you are placed in that coffin. Take care of yourself. Make sure your soul is healthy and alive.

When is the last time you did a soul check? A soul check is easy to do. Wherever you are in the midst of your busy day, stop and ask yourself, “How are you?” Verbalize that question to yourself. You will be amazed by what comes into your mind. We lie all the time to people when they ask us how we are doing. We just answer “fine,” but in reality we're going through hell. When you ask that question to yourself, take time to answer honestly. It might sound stupid but it is effective. When you find that something is bothering you, take it to the Lord in prayer. You don't have to spend hours and hours in prayer; just be still for a few minutes and be sensitive to the word of the Lord. Soul checks are essential; they are like self-therapy. When the Spirit brings out a problem, deal with it. If it is a sin, cut it off. Encourage yourself in the Lord with the Psalms and hymns and your soul will be restored.

Find Your Place with God

There one thing about God that we need to know as a callee—He is a highly jealous God. We must love Him with all our heart and might. Hezekiah knew this secret and that the only way God was going to come through for Him was by making Him the one and only God in Israel. He removed all of the high places where the demons were worshiped and welcomed—places of darkness and depression. What are some of those high places in our society today? Reality shows certainly qualify. Some secular music that we think is harmless is really dedicated to the devil. Internet pornography is the biggest place of darkness today. It kills and destroys a lot of servants. We need to cut these things out of our lives. It's all about disciplining our eyes, ears, and tongues.

Hezekiah broke the bronze snake of Moses into pieces. God told Moses to make the bronze snake to serve as a tangible reminder for the people of Israel when they were disobedient to him in the desert. Israelites doubted the nature of God; they wanted to see Him and touch Him. They all worshipped idols because they were able to see and touch those false gods. With the presence of the snake, the people finally had a visual before them and it became a stronghold in Israel. As a man or woman in today's society, what has become your bronze snake—money, sex, children, or material goods? God created all of these things, but when you place any of them before God, you are worshiping an idol. How much time do you dedicate to them and how much time is God getting? I'm talking about “quality time”—time when you shut down your mind and lose yourself in the arms of the Almighty.

Let Him become the desire of your soul. The only place you can feel complete and satisfied is in His presence. Come to that level and place where nothing else matters—a place of love where you smile or laugh all by yourself. Really fall in love with the Master. Spend hours in your prayer closet until your spirit and your soul are beautiful and strong. How many hours do you spend in a day taking care of your money, wife, children, or your car or simply sitting in front of laptop or TV? Look at how you are spending every moment. Then, can you still wonder why you are getting the same old results?

It is no wonder that people are dying from diseases that can be healed only through the power of God. It is no wonder that you have thousands of members but only one percent of them are going to heaven and the other ninety-nine percent are going to hell. Try something new; destroy the stronghold in your life. Get rid of the things that God gave you and now have become your primary focus. Your priorities as a servant are all messed up.

For some women of God, their stronghold is fashion and shopping. The typical American seems to go to the mall several times a week. We buy things we don't even need, a pair of shoes we never will wear. Instead, spend this time with God. My parents used to tell me, “Stay in His presence. If you have nothing to say, just smile at Him. He loves that.”

In Africa, we worshiped God for protection from the devil and for other benefits as well. Growing up as a preacher girl, I never really fell in love with God for who He is, but for what He did for me. For African people, 80% of our prayers were based in spiritual warfare. We probably mentioned Satan's name more than we called on Jesus. It is just a practice of religion, not a real relationship. This African stronghold of ritual over relationship was our weakness, just like the Western strongholds of TV, internet, cell phone, cars. etc

Strongholds block the hand of God in our life. They limit us. What are some other strongholds around the world? Maybe a statue or monument that represents a country becomes a stronghold. For example, when the American army went to Iraq the first thing they did was tear down Saddam Hussein's statue. That statue was the stronghold Hussein put on the country for his own dominion. By tearing down his statue, the army killed Hussein's spiritual and physical power. Whatever the stronghold may be, we must tear it down completely in order to see the glory of God in his fullness.

God deals with each one of us in a different way; it all depends on what kind of relationship we develop with Him. Will you choose a relationship that is deeper, higher and wider than most? The deeper level requires the reading of the word. Knowing God in the deeper level means knowing Him for who He is. As I already mentioned, most people only know Him for what He did for them. If you want to study someone who had the deeper relationship, look to David. He talked to God as if he knew Him for a lifetime. How do you talk with your best friends? You know some secrets about them that nobody else knows. You tell jokes that people around you don't understand. You can have that kind of friendship with God as well.

When is the last you heard from God? I'm talking about being taken over by the subtlety of God. We have to set up the atmosphere for him to come as a friend to talk to us. You will hear wonderful revelations of what is to come!