Andrew Wommack - Effortless Change - Part 8

Welcome to our Wednesday’s broadcast of the gospel truth. Today I’m continuing to talk about how you can have change in your life effortlessly, and I know that sounds impossible to people, but it is not. This is what the Word of God can do in your life. It’s like a seed. It contains the power of God, and when you plant God’s word in your heart, it just changes you effortlessly. It’s awesome, and I’ve already spent nearly two weeks on this subject, so I’ve already covered a lot of material. I would like to remind you that I have teaching on CD, on DVD, and then we also have this book and a study guide that goes along with this that covers all of this teaching on Effortless Change, and I’ve had many, many people say that this is the favorite thing of all of the stuff that I teach, and of course, it depends on what your need is and where you are.

Whatever you need at the moment is really what you need, but as far as just a general thing that effects every person that every person needs, I tell you, this is just a foundational truth that every single person needs to understand these truths. Let me turn over to 2 Peter and I want to use some of the things that Peter said as an example of how the Word of God works in your life. I’ve been using a lot of things. I haven’t got time to go back and summarize, but again, please get these materials that we’re offering. But I’ve just been talking about how important it is to take God’s word and put it in your heart. This is the number one way that God has of revealing himself to you, giving you wisdom, giving you direction, guidance, comfort, everything that you need is in the Word of God, and here’s Peter saying some of these same things.

You know, in 2 Peter, chapter 1, let me just start with verse 1. It says, «Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ: grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord». How many of you need grace and peace? You know, I think that probably a lack of peace is one of the most common characteristics, even among Christians. There’s many Christians, you know, and Jesus said that in the last days men’s hearts would fail them for fear, looking at all of the things that are coming upon this earth.

As we head towards the end of time, I guarantee you, the ungodly are increasing, there’s so many things happening. Mankind is developing the ability to literally destroy ourselves, and I mean, millions of people at one time, and I hear, I saw a bumper sticker once that says, if you aren’t disturbed or bothered, you aren’t paying attention, and did you know if you’re only looking at things from a human standpoint, that’s true, and so I think that a lack of peace is one of the most common traits that people have today, and yet this says that, grace and peace is multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord. You don’t get peace by just praying for it and begging God, oh God, please still the storm that’s in my life, please move in my life. It comes through the knowledge of God, which is the Word of God.

You could use this verse in Isaiah, chapter 26, verse 3, and it says, the Lord will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed upon him: because he trusts in him. If you aren’t having peace, it’s because your focus is not on God and on his word and in what he is saying and what he’s doing, it’s on what the world is doing. It’s looking at all of these negative things. So, my point is, many people are praying for peace. They come, and I have people that ask me, would you please pray for me? I’m just so disturbed, I’m worried about this, would you please pray for me and lay your hands on me so that I could receive from God? And although God can just supernaturally touch you, that is not the dominant way, that is not the preferred way that God wants to move in your life. He wants to give you grace and peace multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God and that knowledge comes through his word. God’s word is what reveals his knowledge, his way of thinking does.

In the next verse it says, «According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and Godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue». What a powerful verse that is, all things. You know, the word «All» in the Greek here, it means «All». It means everything. Everything that you need, anything that you need, if you need healing, it comes through the knowledge of him. If you need prosperity, it comes through the knowledge of him. If you need wisdom for your marriage, how do you deal with things, how do you deal with your kids, all of the things that you need are in the Word of God. Everything that you need comes through the knowledge of God.

All things that pertain unto life and Godliness come through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue, and then in verse 4 it says, «Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises». It’s talking about, through this knowledge we’re given these exceeding great and precious promises. God’s knowledge produced the Bible, produced these promises that we stand upon, and so everything that you need comes through the knowledge of him and that knowledge is what gave us these exceeding great and precious promises, that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

So, Peter here is talking about how absolutely essential the Word of God is to your life, and then, let me drop down into verse 12. He was continuing to talk about this same thing, and in verse 12 he says, «Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth». The intervening verses that I skipped here were just talking about things that the Lord had told them, the Word of God that he had given them, the promises and stuff, and he says, I’m not going to be negligent to always remind you of what God has said through Jesus, which now is recorded, it’s the Word of God through us.

Jesus is the word, and he says in verse 13, yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, he’s talking about as long as he’s alive in that body, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance: knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle. In other words, he’s talking about that he was going to die shortly, even as our Lord Jesus Christ has shown me. Moreover I will endeavor that you may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance. In other words, he’s saying the same things he said at the beginning of this chapter about how important the knowledge of God is, the Word of God, these truths that God communicated through Jesus, and he’s saying, I am always going to be stirring you up, reminding you of this. I know I’ve only got a short time and I want to get these things committed to you, so I’m going to write them down so that you can always study them.

And he says in verse 16, «For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received from God the Father honor and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, this is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased. And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount». The reason that Peter is saying all of these things is about how important the knowledge of God is, the Word of God, and he says, the things that I’m sharing with you, these aren’t things that we’ve made up. This isn’t a fable that we heard somebody else repeat.

This isn’t just a tradition. He says, I was there, I saw the shekinah glory of God come and overshadow Jesus and I heard an audible voice out of heaven saying, this is my beloved son, in whom I’m well pleased. The reason Peter was saying these things was trying to impress on the people how important what he was saying was. It wasn’t something that was made-up, it wasn’t a tradition that was handed down. He actually saw and heard these things and he is sharing the truth with them, and his purpose for doing all of this is to try and elevate the value that people put on his words that he was sharing with them. You know, this would be similar to me coming into a town, and if I was wanting to hold a meeting and wanting people to come hear what God had spoken.

If I was to speak and go on television and tell people that man, God appeared to me and I had a vision and God said three things for, you know, wherever you are, whatever city you live in, and if I came and got on television and said, God gave me these three things. I heard this in an audible voice, I saw a physical manifestation. I’m going to hold a meeting on such and such a date. Come and hear what God has to say to the church in your area, and if I was to say something like that, did you know that more people would turn out because they would say, man, this is a word from God. They value stuff like that. They actually put more value on the spectacular than they do the Word of God, and Peter, in a sense, was saying things like this, that hey, I’ve seen Jesus glorified. I saw him literally radiate light. He didn’t reflect it the way that Moses did, but he literally radiated light. His clothes began to shine as bright as the sun and he heard an audible voice from God. He’s sharing all of these supernatural things to validate and confirm that the word he was saying was true.

But then, look at what he says in verse 19. «We have also a more sure word of prophecy». What could be more sure than seeing Jesus literally start shining and radiate light, than to see the shekinah glory of God, than to hear an audible voice, to see Moses and Elijah standing there talking with Jesus? What’s better than that? Did you know, most people today would say, nothing is better than that. But Peter says, we have something that’s even better. We have a more sure word of prophecy, and look down here in verse 20, «Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation».

You know what he’s saying? Even though he’s saying, I want you to believe what I’m saying. This isn’t just a fable, it’s not a story that I heard, it’s not a tradition. This isn’t something that I’ve been brainwashed with. I was there. I saw it. I heard it, and he gives these miraculous manifestations, but then he says, I’ve got something even better than that. I’ve got something more sure than that, and that is the written Word of God, the prophecy of scripture. I’m telling you, brothers and sisters, there’s not many people watching this program right now that believe what Peter has just said right here. Most of us, and I’m not saying this in a condemning way, I’m just trying to illustrate and get this point across.

Most of us study the word and pray, so that God can do something extra, supernatural, some physical manifestation in our life, and if we were to have a physical manifestation, most people watching this program would throw the Bible down and leave it to go for the supernatural and the spectacular. Now, don’t get me wrong, I believe that God does speak through prophecy. I believe that supernatural things happen. I believe that God can reveal himself just as he did to Saul on the road to Damascus, and that there was a light and he heard the audible voice of God. I believe in all of those things. But I’m saying, most people put more emphasis on those things than they do the Word of God and this is the reason that change comes so slowly and so hard. I believe that God does supernatural things, but that is not his number one way of speaking to you and revealing himself to you.

Again, I go back to the verses I read at the very first of this chapter, at the first of this program, where grace and peace is multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, that everything that pertains unto life and Godliness comes through the knowledge of God and the knowledge of God is what gave us this word, these exceeding great and precious promises. Everything that you need comes through the word. The word is the number one way that God wants to reveal himself to you, not something else. You don’t just use the word as a stepping stone.

Here’s another way of saying this. If you could imagine right now that you know, behind me were like two doors, and one of them says, the spectacular, the supernatural, and the other one said, the word, and if I was to offer you a choice, which one would you rather go for? Most people would go for the supernatural, the spectacular. But you know what? The wiser choice would be to go for the word, because the word is the number one way that God reveals himself to you, plus it will produce the supernatural and the spectacular.

You know, I am certainly not against all of the miraculous things. I have seen great miracles. I’ve seen people raised from the dead, multiple people raised from the dead, blind eyes opened, deaf ears opened. I’ve had God speak to me in dreams and do things. I have the supernatural, but that is not where my focus is. My focus is on the Word of God and the supernatural only confirms and bears witness to what God has already been showing me in the word. It never supersedes, it never replaces the word. As a matter of fact, I believe that this is the best way to be led by God. You know, I’ve emphasized the Word of God just as I’m doing on these programs and I’ve had people in my Bible college before challenge me on this and say, you’re just too word minded.

You don’t flow enough in the Holy Spirit. You need to spend time and let God just show you supernatural things, and I’ve had people come to me who spend, I don’t know, hour upon hour upon hour just praying and waiting on God and looking and listening, but they don’t ever study the word, and they come up with all of these Revelations and stuff and I’ve had many people come to me and say, you need to change and you need to get more like this. I even had one of my Bible college students wives come to me one time and she had a dream, and in this dream she landed on the beaches of Normandy. It was during war time and there was a total mine field on this beach, and so she had to navigate this minefield and the Lord gave her a choice.

Do you want a map that shows you where every one of these bombs is and exactly where they are, how many paces in between each one, or do you just want a voice in your ear saying, take one step forward, two steps to the side, and things like this? Which would you rather have? And she woke up and she was so excited and she came to me and she says, this illustrates what I’ve been saying about you. You just want to use the map. You want to use the Word of God and trust that you’re reading it right.

She says, I’m into the spirit and the Holy Spirit just speaks to me and tells me how many steps to move and she says, see, I would rather have that voice than to have the map, and when she shared that with me, of course, her purpose in sharing it was to try and change me and get me to where I’m more just operating in the spirit, but I told her, I said, that is a perfect example of what I believe. Because you know, how do you know that this voice that you’re hearing is really God? It could be your own thoughts. It could be the devil. You know, the Lord speaks in subtle ways. It’s not just in an audible voice. It’s through these impressions and things in your heart. How do you know that this voice is truly God? Are you willing to risk your life on it?

But, if you have a map, which would be comparable to the Word of God, that shows you everything, and you’re hearing a voice and the voice is a perfect confirmation, it is fitting perfectly with the map, then see, that is two things that you’re using now to receive your direction. The voice confirms everything that is on this map. Then that is a much greater way of navigating a mine field than just going by the word only, a map only or a voice only. When I take the Word of God, I read it, but then the Holy Spirit speaks to me and makes scripture come alive.

You know, in this very teaching, yesterday I was talking about Matthew, chapter 8 and John, chapter 20 about the centurion and his servant, and Thomas, the disciple of Jesus, and I read these scriptures, and as I read them, God spoke to me through those. He combined those scriptures and put them together and showed me that there is a greater blessing on the person who just believes the word only than those who just believe because they’ve seen or heard or experienced something in the natural. See, the Holy Spirit takes the word and speaks to me.

So, it’s not just the word, the map only. It’s not just the voice or the spirit only. It’s the combination of the two. The Holy Spirit bears witness and takes these truths and reveals them to me and gives me guidance through this, and I’m telling you, brothers and sisters, the majority of people, again, I’m not saying this to hurt anybody, I’m just trying to point out where the problems are. For some people it is so hard to have God change you and mature you and you’re wondering, what’s the problem? I’m telling you the problem, that many of us are just seeking the spectacular. We’re asking for God to somehow or another move, we’re praying for change, but we aren’t taking the seed of God’s word and planting it in our heart, and when you study the word, the Holy Spirit will just make these words come alive.

Hebrews, chapter 4, verse 12 says, the Word of God is quick, that means alive, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and joint and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and the intents of our heart. Man, that’s one powerful scripture. God’s word is alive. It’s powerful. It will change your life. This is different than any other book. You can read books about the Bible, and the Holy Spirit can use them to a degree, but there is nothing like the Bible that is literally God breathed.

As it says right here, he says, every scripture is given by the inspiration of God. That literally means it was God breathed, that men wrote as they were moved upon by the Holy Spirit. This isn’t just a normal book. This doesn’t have all of these mistakes in it. I haven’t got time to go into that and verify all of this, but I’m telling you, what many people call mistakes, the Holy Spirit has preserved his word and this is a living document. God will speak through this and make the word come alive in your life. The Holy Spirit will bear witness with this, and this is how God has directed me.

You know, I started this teaching with a story about how I was praying. God showed me what he wanted me to do and that he wanted to touch the entire world through me and through my ministry, and where I was back when I was 18 years old, it looked impossible. How did I get from where I was to where God wanted me to go? And as I prayed, God just showed me the word and said, if you will take my word and put it in your heart, it will teach you everything that you need to know, it’ll make the changes in you and it’ll come to pass, and here I am 40 something years later.

It’s 46 years since I had this encounter with the Lord in 1968, and I can tell you, any good thing in my life, everything that God has ever done, the people’s lives that I’ve seen changed, the things that God has led me to do, it’s all through the study of his word and a Holy Spirit bearing witness with these words and applying it to my situation and showing me how to cooperate with him, and I’m telling you, brothers and sisters, this is how God wants to move in your life. Yes, God could give a prophecy, but the way I receive prophecy is, it only confirms what God has already spoken to me.

On my program yesterday I gave an example about me wanting a prophecy and I thought it was for me, but it was for somebody else and the Lord said, would you have learned anything new? And I said, no, you had already shown me every one of those things, and he said, just act on what I’ve shown you, and see, that’s what a prophecy does. A prophecy just confirms what God is already speaking to you. You should never take a prophecy and let it be the sole motivation for you doing anything. True Bible prophecy will just confirm what the word and what your heart has already been speaking to you. It’s a confirmation. It is not the sole direction for your life. I’ve seen people take prophecies and you know, I’m not here to judge right or wrong, but I’m saying they just took the prophecy and it wasn’t something that was in their heart. I don’t believe it was for them and they’ve gone out and made major, major messes in their life.

You know, I’ve got a lot more to share. I’m going to continue to talk about this on our program tomorrow and I encourage you to listen in. Also, please remember all of these things. This living commentary is something that could change your life. It’s the Word of God. 18,000 verses in the Bible I’ve written a commentary on. We’ve got a study guide that we’re giving out absolutely free if you’ll call. Our announcer will give you information about all of these materials, and so listen to him and then please call or write today.