God’s word was a person when it was in the Lord Jesus. Today God’s word must also be a person when it comes to us. When the Lord was on the earth, He was the Word becoming flesh; God was speaking through the flesh. Today God is again manifesting His word in the flesh; He is still embodying His word in a person. He is still speaking through flesh. This is why God has to deal with our flesh today. He has to deal with our flesh to such an extent that the release of a word from our flesh is the release of the word of God. In order to reach this point, we must have the constitution of the Holy Spirit in us. God constitutes something into us through His indwelling Spirit, and as we ponder over such things and enunciate them, God’s word is released. The inward constitution of the Holy Spirit makes God’s word our own subjective word. A minister of God’s word must allow the Spirit to constitute him to such an extent that the word is no longer objective, but subjective. God’s constitution in us through His Spirit has to be so apparent that our mind and God’s mind become not only compatible but one and the same mind. God’s constitution should be so strong that our word becomes not only similar to God’s word but God’s very own word. This is the result of the constitution of the Holy Spirit. When our word becomes God’s word, we have the ministry of the New Testament. When we find man in this ministry, we find God. When man speaks, God speaks. Since God’s word is released through man, what manner of man must a person be, and what dealings must he go through!
Let us consider how God carries out this constituting work within us. The words within us are formed by God Himself; they are created by God through the daily trials and dealings that He arranges for us in our environment. We may be under some kind of dealing for many days or months. They may be days of victory, or they may be days of defeat. We may find them bearable or unbearable, but the Lord’s sovereign hand is behind all of them. Day after day, incident after incident, we are disciplined a little at a time. Gradually a word or two becomes clear within us. As we become clearer, we can begin to speak, and this speaking is of our own words. God has created a word or two in us. This is the way words are formed. These words are our words, and they are also God’s words. This is very important. This is where we pick up our training. Suppose we experience some dealing by God. In the beginning we may wonder what is happening to us, and we may not have any word at all to describe it. As we pass through the dealing, we do not seem to be clear about anything. But after a while, we begin to feel a little clearer and exclaim, “Ah, this is what the Lord wants. He is dealing with me for the purpose of getting this one thing.”
But it is not this simple. We do not become clear all at once. We may be somewhat clear and yet not altogether clear. While tarrying around this hazy zone, there is a gradual clearing away. As things become clearer, we begin to have a word or two. This clearing away becomes the very word we possess. Sometimes the Lord gives us a trial, a very severe trial, and we find ourselves too weak to overcome. We may even say to ourselves that there is no way to get through. But gradually we may feel that there is somehow a way to get through, perhaps even to overcome. We often hobble between a sense of victory and a sense of defeat, and after some days we find that we indeed have overcome. During this time we may feel that we cannot get through, but daily we overcome. When we add up all the times that we are able to get through, we find that in the end we are able to overcome without our knowing it. Throughout this process, the word takes form. This word is our own word. We have to realize that this movement between light and darkness is a process through which God forms His word in us. While we are under trials and while our senses move back and forth between confusion and clarity, God is forming His word in us. We may feel that we cannot overcome, and yet we find ourselves overcoming. We may feel that we are about to fall, and yet we find ourselves still standing. Day by day we find the Lord delivering us out of different situations. This deliverance becomes the word which we have within us. The more we go on, the more we become clear, and the more word we have. This is the process by which words are formed in us. The ministry of the word is not something that can be conjured up; it is something formed. The formed word is different from the conjured-up word. While we are groping in darkness, something seems to be clear to us, and yet it goes away in an instant. During those moments of clarity we see a little, and the sum total of all these clear moments gives us a clear registration, resulting in our words. Our words, therefore, are what we have experienced.
To be a minister of the word, we need not only light, thoughts, the inner words, the outer words, and the memory; we also need to pay attention to how we deliver this word on the platform, that is, the word formed out of the discipline we have received. God creates words in us through discipline. The measure of our speaking is determined by the amount of dealings that we have received. We can only speak to the extent that we have been dealt with by the Lord. The amount of experience we have before the Lord is the amount of words that we will have. This makes things quite clear: The Lord is molding us, the person, with the view that eventually we will handle God’s word. The Lord is doing a carving work on our person today with the view that our person will eventually become an oracle for God’s word. The extent of the release of such a word is strictly determined by the amount of training we receive. Our words are based on the amount of experience we have before the Lord. God’s intention is to make us and His word one. It is not a matter of us passing on God’s word in an objective way but a matter of God’s carving and molding, with the result that our words become God’s words.
Let us go on further by posing a question: Where is the light of revelation found? We may say that it is found in the spirit. Why is the light of revelation not seen continuously in our spirit? Why do we see this revelation sometimes and not see it at other times? When does our spirit receive revelation? We receive it as we are being disciplined. We receive light in our spirit based on the dealings that we receive. When we go through dealings, our spirit sees light. The light of revelation comes under the discipline of the Holy Spirit. If the discipline of the Spirit is lacking in a person, the light he receives in his spirit likewise is short. There are definite times and places for us to receive light. We receive light in the spirit, and we receive light during the times that we go through dealings. Hence, every dealing affords us a chance to receive more revelation. If we miss a dealing, we may be missing a revelation. If we receive a dealing from God, it means that we may be receiving a revelation, a new unveiling, from Him as well. We have to know God’s hand. Many times the Lord’s hand is upon us. He deals with us and touches us little by little, and we yield to Him little by little. The Lord may have to touch us many times before we can surrender a little and before we bow our heads and say, “Lord, I am willing to surrender. I will no longer struggle.” When we say this, we have the shining. As the Lord deals with us time after time, we yield to Him time after time. As we yield to Him in this way, our spirit becomes enlightened. As we are made aware of what is happening, we begin to see the light, and the light brings in the word. Hence, God uses dealings to give us light, and He also uses dealings to give us words. The words we use in our preaching should be molded through the divine dealings and trials we experience; they should not be something conjured up by ourselves.
As a minister of the word, we have to make sure that we are making progress in our speaking. If there is progress in our speaking, it means that there is progress in the dealings we are receiving. When we first begin to speak for God, we may not have much to say. No matter how clever we are, how good our memory is, or how much we have received from man, we will be unable to speak effectively. In order for the Lord to give us the word, we first have to yield to His dealings, time after time, little by little. Every dealing brings in a little speaking, and the more God deals with us, the more His speaking is in us. He will speak to us more and more each time. After we go through the dealings, we will have the right words to speak when we stand on the platform. We should pay attention to the process by which the word is formed. The formation of the word is carried out through the discipline of the Holy Spirit.
In 2 Corinthians 12 Paul said that he received a great revelation concerning the third heaven and Paradise (vv. 2, 4). The third heaven is the highest heaven, while Paradise is the lowest place. One is the heaven of heavens, while the other is in the center of the earth. Paul told us that he was lacking in none of these revelations. Yet these revelations could have made Paul boastful. Because he was afraid that others would consider him too highly, he refrained from speaking of them (v. 6). There was also a thorn in his flesh, a messenger of Satan, which buffeted him (v. 7). He entreated the Lord three times for the thorn to depart from him, but the Lord answered, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness” (v. 9a). This was a spiritual revelation from God; it was not mere knowledge. Then Paul said, “Most gladly therefore I will rather boast in my weaknesses....for when I am weak, then I am powerful” (vv. 9b-10). This shows that when Paul received a new revelation, he also received new knowledge. The revelation concerning the third heaven and Paradise might very well have been Paul’s highest revelation. Yet he received more help from the Lord’s subsequent word than from the realization of the third heaven and Paradise. We have never been to Paradise, and no one has ever come back from Paradise to tell us anything. Neither have we been to the third heaven, and we do not know of the things from that place. Yet for two thousand years the church has been receiving help from the Lord’s word to Paul: “My grace is sufficient for you.” The church has received more help from this word than from the revelation of the third heaven and Paradise. Where then does the ministry of the word come from? Paul went through the dealings. The Lord brought him to the point where he could boast, “When I am weak, then I am powerful.” He knew that God’s grace was sufficient for him, and he received the ministry of the word in this way. Paul’s ministry of the word was produced under such circumstances.
Utterance comes from discipline. The kind of revelation that is found in 2 Corinthians 12:9 is the result of the discipline of the Holy Spirit. Without discipline, there can be no revelation. Without the thorn, there cannot be the grace. This thorn was a heavy blow to Paul; it was not an ordinary thorn but a buffeting from a messenger of Satan. The word buffeting means battering, abuse, oppression, and affliction. Paul was a man of experience. He was not afraid of sicknesses because he had passed through many trials. When he said that something was a suffering, it surely must have been a suffering. He had a thorn, which was the buffeting of the messenger of Satan, who tried to hurt him through the thorn. Yet God granted Paul grace in the midst of such severe discipline, acknowledging, “My grace is sufficient for you.” Paul received the revelation to know God’s grace and His power, as well as his own weakness. Countless numbers in the church of God have received deliverance through Paul’s revelation. It is much easier for us to go on when we know our own weaknesses. As soon as our weaknesses leave us, power leaves us. But if our weaknesses remain with us, power is with us. This is a principle. Such a revelation, such a principle, is received through the discipline of the Holy Spirit. Discipline gives us the light, and discipline also gives us the word. We have to learn to pick up our words one by one, like a little baby learning to speak.
God puts us through many trials which other children of God will eventually experience. Once we learn our lesson, we will have a word for such an occasion. The more we yield and surrender, the more words we will have. Such words come from submission, a submission that is learned through trials. Our very submission brings forth the word. If we do not submit, we will not have the word. But as soon as we submit and prostrate ourselves, we will receive the word. Once we fall on our face, some words will be written and inscribed into us. God ordains that His children go through different kinds of trials. At times God’s mercy allows us to go through trials which others have not yet gone through. We are tried first, and then others are tried. When the trials have done their job in us, the word will come to us. Other brothers and sisters may be tried later and may come to the end of themselves, but by then we will have risen up, and we will be able to release the word that has been formed in us during our trials. Our word will become life, light, and power to those who go through the same trials after us. We will once more have the ministry of the word.
We must remember that all ministers of the word have to take the lead in accepting trials. If we do not go through any trials, we will never have any word. If we have not passed through a particular trial, we cannot effectively help those who are going through the same trial. Even if we speak, our words will be empty. What use will these empty words serve? The formation of the word is a process that involves fire. The church has to pass through the fire. God must bring the ministers through the fire first; the fire must pass through the ministers first. Those who have passed through the fire will have the word. The fire will consume them. As they are consumed by the fire, they receive a word from Him. They receive a word whenever they surrender to God. The more they surrender, the more word they have. When other brothers are under the same trial, they will have a word to render help to them. This is the reason we say that the ministry of the word supplies words that are taught by the Holy Spirit. This does not mean that the Holy Spirit merely speaks some words of wisdom through our mouth, but that the Holy Spirit has taught us to express the words ourselves. We are taught by the Holy Spirit, and we have learned the words to say to others by passing through the fiery furnace. Any speaking that involves less than this is vain and empty talk. This is a very basic issue. This is the reason that every dealing involves some basic lessons that we should learn. Every word that we speak must be harnessed by fire. Unless our word is harnessed by fire, it will not do others any good; we will wonder what effect it has upon others. When others are in grief, our comfort will amount to nothing. No outside words will amount to anything in someone’s inward being. We can only become useful by passing through God’s dealings.
The church has received so much help from 2 Corinthians 12 during the last two thousand years because Paul had a thorn. Thank the Lord for such a thorn. Once a thorn is removed, the effectiveness is gone. The power of 2 Corinthians 12 was manifested through the thorn. Without a thorn in Paul, the whole experience would have been void of any spiritual worth. Power is manifested in the thorn; life is manifested through the thorn. Only a foolish person will try to save himself from a thorn. Once the thorn is gone, the ministry is over, and no word will remain. The power of the word comes from the thorns we experience. Ministers of the word are men chosen by God to take the lead in facing dealings and trials. They in turn also take the lead in their knowledge of Christ. They minister Christ to God’s people. They are able to minister to others because they are ahead of the others in their sufferings. They can supply many because they bear more burdens than others. If we have no desire to be a minister of the word, nothing more needs to be said. But as long as we have a desire to be a minister of the word, we have to take the lead to suffer what others have yet to suffer. We have to suffer more than others suffer. God has not made us ministers of the word for the sake of just one person; He has made us ministers for the sake of many people. Therefore, we must be ahead of many in their sufferings, and our sufferings must be greater than theirs. Otherwise, as an individual, we could only render help to another individual; we would not be able to help more than one person in their difficulties or trials.
The amount of riches a minister of the word releases is very much related to the amount of dealings he has received from the Lord. We should not ask God to deal with us slowly, delicately, or leniently. As ministers of the word, we should face dealings that many will have to suffer; we should bear what many will have to bear. Unless we do this, we will not have much to offer others. The utterance of some brothers runs out so easily because they have not received many dealings from the Lord. We can trace the problem to this root. A man must go through many dealings before he can become a minister of the word. If he has experienced enough dealings from the Lord, he will have the right words when others come to him for help. A minister of God’s word must be rich in utterance, and in order to be rich in utterance, he must be rich in dealings. Only those who are rich in dealings can be rich in utterance. Those who have gone through a wide variety of trials will be able to meet the needs of the brothers and sisters who are going through a wide variety of trials. Hence, those who serve must not have passed through a few dealings; they must have passed through many dealings. If they can only make claim to a limited range of experience, they cannot meet the need. Many people have needs, and their needs are varied. If we are short in any way, we will not be able to supply them. This means that we need an accumulation of deposits. We must experience many trials, going through what many people will go through, before we can serve them. Without this, we will not be able to serve them in any way when their problems are before us. Thank God that Paul had such a great ministry. His ministry was great because he suffered greatly; he experienced much. This is the reason his ministry was so great. If we want to have a great ministry, we should expect more dealings from the Lord.