In The Wash

God's Word is powerful and alive. It is not just ink on paper, but a living representation of God Himself. The Word of God has the ability to accomplish what God desires and pleases Him. It is like water that cleanses, refreshes, and purifies. The Word of God is the executive arm of God, bringing about His will in the natural realm. God has chosen to reveal Himself to us through His Word, and through the Word, we can experience His presence and power. Love is the foundation of everything, and through God's love, we are cleansed and transformed by the Word. If we step into the cycle of God's Word, we will experience His love, be set apart, and have clarity in our lives. The Word of God is our source of life and light, and it has the power to heal and restore us. Praise the Lord. People of God, praise God. Praise Master Jesus. Amen. As always, it's a joy and a delight to bring the light of God's Word to us this Sunday evening. This is the Wheatfield International Network. This is the place of intimacy. This is the place of the miraculous. This is the dwelling place of Almighty God. Today we're going to continue along the lines of our discussion last week. And we are still in the ministry of the Word of God. We are still looking at the miraculous wonder-working power of the Word of God. Last week we were so blessed looking at how the Word of God walks, the Word of God moves, the Word of God runs, and the Word of God runs and runs swiftly. The Word of God is not paper. The Word of God is not ink. The Word of God is alive and well. The Word of God is a person, a personality. The Word of God is God Himself. And we saw that last week. We looked at how if you understand the power of the Word of God, you understand who God is, who the Word of God is, and you enter into intimacy with the Word of God, you engage the Word of God for who He is, the Word of God is already equipped to do what God says. And what God says in His Word is God's purpose, is what pleases God. The Word of God is equipped to do what pleases God because the Bible tells us that the Word of God, God said in His Word that the Word which comes out of His mouth will never return to Him void. It will go to that thing that pleases Him, and in that thing it will prosper. That is what the Word of God says. And when God speaks it, that's it. It's done. That seals it. So today we're going to examine another manifestation of the awesome Word of God, another way in which God manifests Himself. Because, you see, last week we looked at the fact that the Word of God is God Himself. The written Word that we read every day is a manifestation of God. It's a way, a medium by which God has ordained to present Himself to humanity because no man can see God and live. That's what the Word of God says. But God desires to reveal Himself to us, and how does He reveal Himself to us? In His Word, by His Word. So God, it has pleased God by divine election. God has decided to manifest Himself through the written Word, through the spoken Word, through the inspired Word. So as we speak even now, God is revealing Himself to His people. So as we read the Word, the Word of God comes alive and really, literally jumps out of the pages of the Bible and takes on life and reveals God. And so God manifests through His Word in that way. Another way that God reveals Himself through His Word is as water. Sometimes actual water. The Bible says there shall be showers of blessings. Those showers, they are the Word of God coming down on the people of God. God rains down on His people by His Word. Again, everything God does, He does by His Word. He does through His Word. So the Word of God is God and the Word of God functions as water. Water does what? Water cleanses. Water refreshes. Water purifies. The Word of God takes the form in His function. One of His functions is to cleanse as water. Last week we looked at how the Word of God moves as an executor. So we said that when we deploy the Word of God into a situation, the Word of God moves into that situation and causes the will of God to be done concerning that situation. So the Word of God moves as an executor. The Word of God is the executive arm of God. So that's how we looked at the Word of God last week. That's how we looked at the manifestation of God through His Word last week as an executor. Executing in the natural what God has ordained in the spiritual. So today we're looking at another way in which the Word of God manifests God as water. Because God is a living being. God is a living being presenting Himself to mankind in the form of letters. In the form of the written Word, the spoken Word, the inspired Word. And this Word which we see because you see God is so invested in His Word. Why is He so invested in His Word? Because that's the God we see. That's the God we see. If we take God at His Word, what He wrote in His Word, what He said in His Word, what He has spoken, comes to pass because God has invested Himself in that Word so that we can believe Him at His Word. If God says something and that thing happens, the likelihood is very high that the next thing that God says to you, you're going to believe because the first thing He said to you came to pass. So God is very invested in His Word. The Word of man, some men you can hold at their word. But you see man is fickle. Man is fickle. Some people are so fickle they say one thing today and tomorrow they say something else for very good reasons. Sometimes they have very good reasons to change. But that's man for you. Man is fickle. The Bible says vain is the help of man. If you can find a man who stands by His Word against all odds, that is a man. That is a human being who has really elevated himself and God has elevated him in things as a human being. But naturally human beings, we are fickle. But God is not fickle. He speaks and it is done. God speaks and it is done. Once He says it, He does it. Whatever He needs to put in place by divine orchestration, He puts it in place so that the word which He has spoken comes to pass. Why? Because God is invested in His Word. The Bible said that God has exalted His Word above His own name. The Word of God is His stamp of authority. If mankind can dare to believe God, God is committed to show mankind that they are right in believing Him. That they are right in believing Him. It's hard enough to believe in a God you cannot see. And then at the point where you are able to trust God because His Word says this is what God is. This is who God is. And then you get to that point that you trust God and then you hang on to His Word. God ensures that your trust in His Word is rewarded so that you can grow in that trust. You can grow in that knowledge. And you can be an example to others who see your life and see your ability to trust God. And they also now know that if we trust God, what He said will happen. So now what I'm trying to lay down is that the Word of God coming to pass, the Word of God coming alive is in the interest of God Himself. This isn't even about us benefiting from God's Word coming to pass, which is a good thing. This isn't even about us being blessed by the Word of God, which is a great thing. It is about God Himself. God is invested in His Word because that is the God whom we see. God has decided to present Himself to mankind in a way that mankind can digest that is through His Word. So in our discussion today, we're going to talk about the manifestation of the Word of God as water. And I have titled my subject for this discussion today is, In the Wash. We're going to look at the manifestation of God through His Word as water. The Bible says that the fountain of life is with you. This is God now. The fountain of life is with you and in your light we see light. So right away we see that God is water, the fountain of living water. And in that water there is light. And in that light we see light. So you see, the Word of God is water. And within that water, the fountain of life, the fountain of living water, there is light. Have you ever seen light in water? Have you ever seen electricity in water? Have you ever seen light in water? And inside that light there is another light. So this is God now in four steps. God is manifesting Himself as the Word. Through His Word He has revealed Himself to mankind. And out of that Word He has come out as a fountain of life, a fountain of living water. And inside within that fountain of living water there is light. And inside that light there is the light that we see. What that tells me is that the light in the water is God. These are different stages. Now can you imagine? Can you imagine if you have light, you see light, and before that light can go out, the light that you see, at the back of the light that you see there is a great light. At the back of that light there is a fountain of living water. At the back of that fountain of living water there is the Word. At the back of that Word there is God. What that tells me is if you are able to see God, if you are able to see God, if you would just dare to see God in His Word, you have water to wash. You have light to see. You will never walk in darkness. You will never be stained. You will never be unclean, because everything that you need is going all the way back to God through His Word. This is a multi-dimensional level of God which guarantees enlightenment, guarantees cleansing, guarantees accuracy of vision, so that as we navigate this dark world, we have light to see. We have clarity of vision. We have wisdom to be informed so that we can make wise decisions, life-changing and sustaining decisions. We will know by divine illumination the next best move to make. And where is all this? In the Word. The Word that we see. In the Word that we see. It is nowhere else but the Word. In the Word of God there is the fountain of living water. In the Word of God there is light in that fountain of living water. In that light there is your light, the light that you see. The fountain of living water is with God. God is the Word. And in that fountain of living water there is light. For the Bible says, the fountain of life is with you. In your light we see light. So God is the Word of God, holding the fountain of living water, manifesting itself as water. And He is holding light inside that water. And if you look into the light of the Word, the water of the Word, we have everything that is in this dimension of God. God has made everything available to us for this dimension of life in His Word. Man cannot live without water. You can even live without food. You can live without food for some time. But man cannot live without water. You cannot go very far without water. Water is the source of life for mankind. And water is in the Word of God. The Word of God God has elected to manifest Himself. As water by His Word. Let's pray. Holy Spirit, fall afresh on us tonight. Speak to us, Holy Spirit of God. Bring a Word that brings life. Reveal Yourself. Reveal the truth of the Word of God. Reveal Jesus to us tonight. In the name of Jesus, Holy Spirit of God, I depend on You. I ask for Your help to speak. Your help to teach. I ask that You will expound to me more perfectly the Word of God in the mighty name of Jesus. And so our text today, because everything we do here is based on the Word of God, our text today comes from the book of Ephesians, chapter 5, verses 25 to 27. And I'm reading from the King James Version of the Bible. The Bible says, Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself for it, that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word, that He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish. Our emphasis are on verses 26 and 27, where we see the cleansing, transformational power of the Word of God, where we see the Word of God manifest as water that cleanses, that transforms. Now, if you have never felt broken, if you have never felt unclean, no matter what you did, because you know, some people live very holy lives. Some people, they've never done anything wrong in their lives. They, you know, they're very holy in their minds and their thoughts. Those people, I really don't know if those are human beings or... Because every human being, as long as you're in the flesh, you're going to be unclean. We were born in sin. In sin were we conceived, that's what the Bible says. We were conceived in sin, we were born in sin. We were conceived in sin, we were born in sin. As long as you step into this natural world, you are already unclean. And then, if you have ever felt broken, violated, stained, stained from shame, disgrace, trauma, if you were left for dead on the roadside by people you trusted, people you depended on to look out for you, to cover you, but instead of covering you, they smeared you and drove you near insanity. If you have ever felt worthless, because you could no longer recognize what you had become, because life had now dealt you so many blows, the locusts, the canker worms, the palmer worms, the great army, emptiers, destroyers, they came and did a number on your life. You are now so traumatized, you feel so ashamed and so filthy by the things that you have had to do in your life, the things that even happened to you, almost as if you didn't have any control. It's like life has been happening to you. And you don't even know how you got where you got. You don't even know how you got here. How did this happen? You don't know how life happened the way it happened. In fact, things are so bad that not only do you see yourself in this light as worthless, defiled, dirty, unclean, because of how life has worked out for you, others see you in that light too. How do you know? The way they treat you. The way they treat you. They treat you like you're smelly. They treat you like you're trash. They treat you like you're dirt. They treat you like, you know, if they come near you, they will get stained. And from where you are right now, you can't even see a way out. You can't see how this is going to change. You can't see how you're going to clean up your act. You can't see how you're going to get your life together. How do I get out of this? You keep asking yourself, because when you look yourself in the mirror, you don't even recognize who you've become. Life started out so well for you. Life started out so well. The opportunities were endless. You even were born on the right track of life. But somehow, some way along your journey, life happened to you. Maybe the vicissitudes of life drove you to drugs, drove you to prostitution, drove you to crime, and all kinds of vices. You have sunk so low, so deep, in your mess, that you have really, truly, you have no idea how to get clean. Someone listening to me now is maybe even just waiting to die. Because what's the point of it all? What's the point? That's what you're asking yourself. But I'm glad you're listening to me right now. Because God has a word for you. God has a word. So let's dive back into my text, which is in Ephesians. I'm in the book of Ephesians, chapter 5, verse 26. And in our text, we see that the root of the scripture that we just read, which is Ephesians, chapter 5, from verse 25, the Bible says, Husbands, love your wives. Husbands, love your wives. Even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for the church. The Bible says, Husbands, love your wives. Even as Christ loved the church, and gave himself for the church. Why? Why did Christ give himself for the church? Because he loved the church. To the point of sacrificing himself. Sacrificing his life for the one he loved, the church. And why did he give himself to the church? That he might sanctify and cleanse the church with the washing of the water by the word. So right there we see that the root of the scripture is love. It is love that led to the eventual result of washing. So love led to giving. Love led to washing. There is an unbroken chain that we are looking at right here. The chain of love. It is no surprise because God is love. And God is his word. The word of God is God. So you see, we are going all the way back to God. Everything is, the source is God. The source of all that we are doing is God. The Bible says Christ gave himself for the church because he loved the church. And so he admonishes husbands to love their wives even as Christ loved the church. Love is the unbroken chain that led Christ to give. He gave himself for the purpose of sanctifying. For the purpose of cleansing. How? By the ministry of the word. Love gives. Love sanctifies. Love cleanses. How? By the word. The chain begins with love and the chain, the chain begins with love in the word. And the chain ends in the word, which is God. So, love, God is love. The chain begins with love. God is love. And the chain ends with the word, the washing of the word. The word is God. So the entire chain starts with God and ends with God. The chain is God then. The chain is God because God is love. So this cycle, this never ending cycle, is God. God is the cycle. God is love. God is his word. God is the one who sanctifies by his word. God is the one who cleanses by his word. So, if you, if you are traumatized, if you are broken, if you are violated, stained, shamed, disgraced, if you have been driven to drugs, to prostitution, to vices, what that means is you are outside of the circle. The circle of healing. The circle of cleansing. The circle of the word. You are outside of the circle. So the only place where you can get back, get your life back, get cleansed again, is to step back into that circle. That circle is the fountain of life. That circle is the fountain of love. That circle is the word. This unbroken chain. You know we are still talking about the word. We are still talking about the word. The cleansing of the word that brings sanctification, that brings cleansing, that brings washing by the word. It's a cycle. It starts with God. Ends with God. How does it start with God? The Bible says, Husbands of your wives, as Christ loved the church, and gave himself for the church, that he might sanctify and cleanse the church with the washing of water by the word. So Christ began this mission because of love. And he ended this mission by washing his church by the word. So this is a cycle. Beginning with love. God is love. Ending with the washing by the word. The word is God. The cycle is God. Where you need to be is in the cycle. Right there, going round and round, the unbroken chain is God. Step in. Step in. Because once you step into that cycle, if you step into it, you will have everything that I have just read out in the scripture. You will have love. The love of Christ is unbreakable. Has no conditions. You will have... You will be cleansed. You will have light. You will be sanctified. You will set aside. You see, you will be set apart. Separated from everything that broke you down. Because when you get in the word, the word begins to reshape you. The word begins to remould you. And the word begins to remove you from anything that broke you down. When the chain of love is unbroken in any relationship, be it the relationship of a husband, between a husband and a wife, as in the text, or the relationship between a mother and a child, or the relationship between siblings, between friends, what you find when the chain of love is broken in a relationship is that those interlinks of giving, of sanctification, they break. They break. There is no intimacy. There is no intimacy. Because when that chain is broken, love leads to intimacy. When that chain is broken, there is no purity. Sanctification is purity. There is no peace. Everything is all out of order. There is confusion. There is disorder of all kinds. Behavioral disorder, mental health disorders, all kinds of things, darkness and demonic activity, they all creep in, so that there is no room for light, no room for the word. Everything is filthy. Everything is filthy, and the filth comes to stay. And the longer you stay in that filth, in that condition, the more defiled you will be, and the more defiled you will feel, and the more hopeless you are going to feel. You know, oftentimes when people are going through really tough situations in their lives, they don't really realize that the truth is, human beings, very few people truly care what you're going through. Very few. Even those who are closest to you, you don't really realize who you have until you get in a dark place. Especially if you've been doing very well, and, you know, success has many friends and many relatives. Failure, on the other hand, is an orphan. So, you don't realize that very few people truly care. Because if we realize how few our true friends are, we will hold on to God more tightly. We will hold on to Jesus more tightly. We will hold on to the Holy Spirit more tightly, knowing that the Spirit of God is the Comforter. Jesus will never leave us. He said, Lo, I am with you always. I will never leave you. I will never forsake you. But you see, sometimes we are deceived. When things are going good, we are deceived. We think we have people on our side, but we really don't. Some, we have some good people. We have some who will stay. But if you have really ever been to rock bottom, you will know that there, it's only you. You, Jesus, the Holy Ghost and God. It is at this point that many turn to all kinds of vices to make themselves feel good. From one shame-inducing activity to the other shame-inducing activity. Making matters worse. Making poor decisions because they are outside of the circle. The circle of God. They are outside of the circle. The circle of the Word. The Word that manifests as water. But the Bible shows us that the Word of God has a special ministry dedicated to anyone who feels dirty and defiled from life's battles. Some people try. They try so hard. They try many different things. They are in search of that cleansing. You know, because if you are in a bad place, you know because you don't feel clean. You might look clean on the outside, but you know what's happening in your mind. You know what's happening behind closed doors. Even if it's a secret and no one else knows. For example, someone listening now might be stuck in pornography. You know. And because you know, you are not going to be able to freely come to the Word of God. You are not going to be able to freely come to the throne of grace. Your prayer altar. Even if you are a Christian. Even if you are still going through the motions of Christianity, because you don't feel clean, you are going to be, you are going to feel condemned. You won't be able to be intimate with God in the place of prayer because you feel dirty. You might pretend to others. There are some people, maybe even in church, maybe even pastors. Men of God. Women of God. Secretly living double lives. You feel unclean. You know you are unclean. But the Bible shows us that the Word of God has a special ministry dedicated to anyone who feels unclean, feels defiled, feels like their lives actually smell. Their lives are no longer sweet smelling savor to God because of life's battles. Some people are in serious battles. Drug addiction. Greed. Sexual perversion. And some people are trying everything else but the true solution. They are trying everything else but that which truly works, the Word. Ephesians 5, 26 and 27 says, The Word of God is water that cleanses us, makes us holy. This is now the new international version I'm reading. And after washing and cleansing us, Jesus, who is the Word himself, the Word in flesh, in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God and the Word became flesh and dwelt amongst us. Jesus is the Word. The Word who came in the flesh. Jesus having cleansed us, having washed us, he presents us as radiant. This is the new international version of the Bible now. He presents us as radiant without stain, without wrinkle, without blemish. This is what the Word does. The Word of God has the capacity to make us brand new. Once he's done, when the Word of God is done with us, it's like nothing happened. And you know what? It's private between you and the Word. No one needs to know what you've been through, especially for those who are blessed and your mess isn't in the open. It's just you in the house. It's just you in your business. It's just you in your mind. It's just you inside of your secret. You're blessed because no one needs to see your nakedness. No one needs to see you dirty. No one needs to see you unclean. It's just you and the Word. So that tells me it's a good time to run into the Word, into that circle of the Word, into that circle of love, into that circle of light. This is it. This is the right time to run into the Word when no one knows what you're dealing with but you and God. So how do we do this? How do we achieve this? How do we get into that circle? How do we get into this Word and get clean? How do we take advantage of this wonder-working power of the Word of God? Simple. Read the Word. It's simple. Simple. There is no, no, you know, nothing, just simple. Read the Word. Pick up the Word every day and read the Word. As you read the Word, the Word is reading you too. And the Word is checking you out. The Word is diagnosing you. The Word is speaking to you. The Word, by the Spirit of God, begins to lead you to relevant and powerful scriptures that are already pre-programmed by God to enter into your situation and bring light and bring deliverance. The Bible says He sent His Word and it healed them and delivered them from their destruction. The Bible says the entrance of the Word of God brings light. Get a small notebook. Write down what you read. Write down the Word because this is true. Once you get into the habit of going into the Word for the purpose of being cleansed by the Word, the Word of God is going to just jump out and begin to, like a doctor, begin to diagnose you, like a psychiatrist, like a therapist, begin to diagnose you. As you read the Word, the Word is reading you, reading your vital signs, reading your mental health issues, reading your craziness and all the stuff you're doing and people are wondering... In fact, by now, everyone has run away from you because they think you're crazy and maybe you are crazy. Things have happened and you broke. But that's okay. The Word of God is an assignment concerning you. Get a small notebook. Write down what you read. And then, in the morning, before you get up, meditate. Meditate on what you're reading. Give life to those things you're reading. Read the Word that you have written down one by one. Each word... Let each word have meaning for you. Throughout every day, repeat to yourself the Word that you have read. Because by that way, you're going to memorize the Word. And that process becomes the water that's washing your mind, washing your consciousness, renewing your mind, because the Bible says, Be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. This is how you renew your mind, by the operation of the Word. Repeat these scriptures to yourself every day. Read them out loud. And the more you hear the Word, the more you grow in faith and believe what you're reading. Believe what you're hearing. The Bible says, Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. Meaning that faith comes by hearing, and hearing, and hearing. Repetition in the place of meditation. The Word of God. The more you read the Word, the more you repeat the Word to yourself, in faith, word by word by word, because there is something curious about when you read scripture, word by word, and connect those words to your mind, to your understanding. Think about each word that you're reading. Those words come alive, and you begin to believe what you're reading. Your inner man, the inside man, begins to change. Because as you're reading the Word now, the Word is sinking into your inside man, into your inner being. And that inside man begins to change. And as your inside man changes, your outward life begins to reflect what's happening on the inside. And everything around you, the mess, begins to shift. Everything begins to change. Why? Because you're changing. And when you change, everything around you changes. The people you used to run with, they're going to see that you talk different. You walk different. You act different. Your choices are different. Your decisions are different. Your mindset is different. The places you used to go, you don't want to go no more. And sooner rather than later, your whole life is different, and you become a brand new man. You become a new creation. All by the ministry of the Word of God. This is true. This is true. And you don't know unless you try. This is true. Now you've heard this for yourself. It's the truth. You've heard it for yourself. I invite you to try. Try this for yourself. You will never be the same again. Pick up the Word. Read the Word. Read the Word of God in faith. And you will see that the Word of God will get activated. Will come alive. As you're reading the Word, the Word is reading you. And your life will be changed forever. This is true. Amen. Well, we've come to the end of another light-filled meeting with the Holy Ghost. And we trust that you have been blessed. We look forward to meeting again next week. And we invite you to pray for us. This is a very young ministry, and we're trusting God to do awesome things, to bring more light, to lead us, and just to use us for His purpose on the earth. You know, we're here just to bring light. That's all we're here to do, to bring light and receive light also. We want to just do as we have been commissioned. So pray. Pray for us that we will fulfill our purpose on the earth. In the mighty name of Jesus, we want to, we don't want to just come every Sunday, and you know, we want to fulfill purpose. We want to do what God has sent us to do. We want to fulfill our purpose and do it well. In Jesus' name, amen. Thank you for listening. Till next time.