First, our spirit sees something; second, our thoughts capture it; and third, we have a word within us. What is contained in this word? This word contains thoughts, and it also contains light. God gives us a sentence or two. These sentences contain thoughts as well as light. What should we pay attention to before God? We should know what the word of revelation is. A revelation is a seeing, a removal of the veil. The light shines through, and we see what is beyond the veil. Initially, we see what is beyond the veil, even though we cannot articulate it. This light appears to us like the flashing of a camera. God then gives us thoughts to capture the light; the light is converted into the thoughts. Finally, He gives us a word or two which encompass the entire revelation. One word from God unlocks all the significance behind the light. We can say that the word of revelation is a word of “seeing.” We can say that it is a word, yet this word is an inner seeing, an inner revelation; it is not merely a word. When this word is in us, it is, at the same time, a “seeing.” When it is in us as light, we do not understand what it means. When it is converted into thoughts, we can see its meaning. When it becomes a word, we can grasp it in our thoughts as well as utter it in our mouth. This is the word.
What is the word? The word is a revelation that has become articulated thoughts. A word does not mean just a word alone; it is not just three, five, eight, or ten sentences. It is something within us, an utterance of what we see. Originally, seeing is a function of the eyes; it has nothing to do with the mouth. But when God gives me a word, the word includes light. I can be very clear within, but I cannot articulate what I see. Today the word enables me to articulate what I see. Therefore, we have to be clear that the word is not just one or two sentences. It embodies a seeing, and it is an articulation of our seeing. When we have both the word and the seeing within us, we can call the word our own. God first shows us something in a clear way, and then He gives us a word. The word explains what we see.
The word can only be retained in the memory. We have two kinds of memory. One is a faculty which retains the word. The other is a faculty which retains the seeing. One retains the word; this is the outward memory. The other retains the seeing; this is the memory of the Holy Spirit. The problem today is that our outward memory often functions to remember the word, but the Spirit’s memory is gone. We do not remember the seeing. We remember the few words, but we forget the seeing. This is where the problem lies with revelation: It is not like doctrines which can be memorized word for word. There is nothing more to doctrines than simple recitation. Doctrines remain in the outside realm, but the ministry of the word touches life. The more doctrinal something is, the easier it is to remember; it can be repeated easily word for word. However, the inward vision is related to life, and the more something is related to life, the easier it is to forget. One can remember the words verbatim but lose the vision of the thing behind the words. This is what happens when the memory of the Holy Spirit is gone. We must bear in mind that the word that God has given us must be nurtured in the memory of the Holy Spirit. Only then will the word remain living. Once the word is separated from the memory of the Spirit, it becomes something physical and is no longer spiritual. It is very easy for a spiritual thing to turn into a physical thing.
It is very easy for the inner word to degenerate into something dead and outward. It is very easy for a spiritual word to degenerate into something outward and physical. Spiritual words must be kept alive in the Holy Spirit before they can have an effect on us. Words of revelation must be kept alive in the Holy Spirit before we can derive benefit from them. If a word of revelation is not nurtured in the Holy Spirit, a person can remember the words without remembering the revelation. For example, we all know that sin is ugly and evil. Some see this the day they become a believer. Others see this at the time of their revival. Some see the evil of sin the day they hear the gospel. Others, who were given to a dissipated living, do not see the evil of sin until three to five years after their salvation, when they experience a great revival of the Spirit. Once, a brother became conscious of his sins and was very sad. He prostrated himself and rolled on the ground from eight o’clock in the evening until the next morning. The rest of the people had left the meeting, but he was still rolling on the floor. It looked as if he had touched the gates of hell, and he was crying, “Even hell is not big enough to swallow my sins.” That day the Lord opened his eyes to something; he saw something in his spirit. Afterwards, he related what he had seen in his spirit to others. He told them about the evil and abomination of sin. Another brother testified that when this one talked about sin, others could feel sin like a thick, black cloud overshadowing them. In his consciousness sin was a thick, black cloud; nothing could be worse than it. When he spoke and articulated the inward revelation, others received the help. But after two or three years, the vision became blurred. He could still say that sin was like a thick, black cloud. When he stood up, he could say the same words, but the picture was gone; the revelation of the Spirit was gone. The revelation was no longer as clear and strong in him as before. Formerly, he would be in tears when he spoke about the blackness of sin. But when he spoke about its blackness now, he could laugh. The taste had changed. The words were the same, but the memory of the Holy Spirit was gone.
Romans 7:13 says, “Sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful.” One day the Lord may show you how evil and sinful sin is. The very word sinful is enough to scare you. But when you preach about it after a few days, it is possible that you still remember the word sinful, but the picture, the image, is gone. When you see the sinfulness of sin, both the word and its picture are present. But when you stand up to speak about the evil of sin, the word is present but the picture is gone. We call this picture the memory of the Holy Spirit. In serving as a minister of the word, we need the memory of the Holy Spirit. Such a memory reminds us not only of the words but also of the picture in our speaking. Without such a memory, we may remember the words, but the thing, the picture, is gone. Whenever we stand up to speak, we have to ask the Lord to grant us the memory of the Holy Spirit so that we will convey not only the words but impart the very thing behind the words as well. Unless we have this memory, we can speak on the evil and sinfulness of sin ten or twenty times without knowing what sin really is. We can only impress others with the sinfulness of sin when the memory of the Spirit reminds us of its sinfulness. While we speak about it, we should not only have the words but the picture as well. What is God’s word? It is word plus picture. Brothers, do we see this? God’s word must be supplemented by the picture. In fact, God’s word is word plus picture. Word without the picture is not God’s word. If we have the wrong picture behind the words, the words alone are not enough.
Take another example. Suppose we are preaching the gospel and the subject is the Lord’s love. While we are speaking on love, we may have the picture in front of us; our speaking is based on the picture. This is good. But many times the one who is speaking on God’s love does not believe in God’s love. How can he expect others to believe in it? We need the memory of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit reminds us of the picture; He causes us to remember the very thing called “love.” When we speak on that thing, we hit the right spot. The more we speak about it, the more we strike life. Life is struck; it is released. Without the memory of the Spirit, we may have all the right words, but we miss the very thing itself. The phrasing is right, but the thing is gone. This is useless. In preaching God’s word, we have to look to the memory of the Holy Spirit to remind us of the revelation in addition to having the inner word that the Spirit gives to us. When we speak according to this inner word, whether it is once or twice, life will be released, and others will see what we have seen. It is useless for us merely to pass on letters. The Spirit must first remind us of the word before we can speak it.
Some of us were saved through John 3:16. But what if we memorize John 3:16 to see whether it will work again for others? It will not work even if we recite it ten times to others. The Holy Spirit opened our eyes at one time to this verse. John 3:16 is only useful inasmuch as this seeing, which brought about our salvation, is retained in our memory and as we are reminded of this thing. The only thing that works is the memory of the Holy Spirit.
Many people found the Lord to be very loving and precious when they received forgiveness of their sins. They saw a revelation within, and they found the Lord to be very clear to them. The forgiveness which they experienced was great; therefore, the love was great (Luke 7:47). They saw something, and they had the word in their mind. They had both the thoughts and the word. One day they spoke on the platform for an hour or two. The word within was released, and everyone felt happy and received help. After some time, they repeated the same speaking again. The words were still there; they remembered them all. The outer words were not missing, but the more they spoke, the more they realized that they did not have the real thing. It seemed they had forgotten that very thing they once talked about. They could not recall what it was. The words were still there, but the love was gone. They were short of the memory of the Holy Spirit. Every revelation has to be preserved in the memory of the Holy Spirit. A minister of the word must be a person with a good memory of the Holy Spirit. The stronger this memory is, the better it is for him. His ministry of the word will be so much richer because he will have so many more living deposits within him. But if his memory of the Spirit is poor, he will have to repeatedly study all the revelations God has given him. This is a pity. A man must not only know the revelation of the Holy Spirit, but this revelation must be enriched continually. Perhaps we were saved thirty years ago. At that time the Lord gave us a revelation. Later He gave us another revelation and yet another one. The revelation became greater and greater. At the time of our salvation, we saw the basic revelation. Later the revelation became deeper and greater. A minister of the word must have the memory of the Holy Spirit; that is, he must nurture the revelation he receives in the memory of the Holy Spirit. When he receives a fresh revelation, he has to keep it and nurture it in the memory of the Holy Spirit. Then everything he receives will be kept alive.
Let us come back to the illustration of the sinfulness of sin. This must be a fresh vision in us. If it is fresh within us, we will be a minister of the word when we release it sentence by sentence. If it is not fresh within us, we can speak about the sinfulness of sin on the platform, but others will receive only stale manna; it may be a day old, a year old, or even ten years old. We will not be serving as ministers of the word in that case, and our word will amount to nothing. When some brothers give a gospel message, others can see that they have the memory of the Holy Spirit. When others preach, others can see that they do not have the memory of the Holy Spirit. No one can pretend. If a person has it, he has it; if he does not have it, he does not have it. The same principle can be applied to higher and deeper revelations. Revelation is kept alive in the memory of the Holy Spirit. In order to be a minister of the word, our word has to be nurtured in the memory of the Holy Spirit. If we have the memory of the Holy Spirit, this memory will become operative as we speak and convey the inner word to others. The strange thing is that when we see something in the spirit, we may forget about it the very first time we try to use it to minister the word. We cannot speak what we want to speak. It is understandable that we might lose the acute sense of sin which we felt ten or fifteen years ago. But while we are speaking on the platform, we often forget what we saw the night before. Our outward memory is useless in retaining the revelation of the word. We cannot depend on our outward memory to capture the revelation. Revelation can only be retained in the Holy Spirit.
Consider another illustration. Suppose a person realizes the great difference between pressing upon the Lord and touching Him. He sees the great difference between physically and spiritually touching the Lord. When he sees it, he is very clear and very happy about what he has seen. After two or three days, when he visits a sick brother, he tries to tell him the same thing. Yet he finds that he is going around in circles. The more he speaks, the colder and emptier his words become; his endeavor is completely futile. With sweat upon his brow, he tries as hard as he can to remember what he once saw, but to no avail. The only reason for his failure is that his revelation has not been nurtured in the memory of the Holy Spirit. If the words of revelation were nurtured in the memory of the Holy Spirit, he would have no trouble using them in his ministry of the word. Hence, we need the revelation, the thoughts, the inner words, and the outer words, and we also need the memory of the Holy Spirit. Without the memory of the Holy Spirit, the inner words and the outer words do not function. No one can be a minister of the word by his own natural strength. It does not matter what kind of person we are. As long as we trust in our natural strength, we are completely useless. Only a foolish person boasts about himself. What do we have to boast of if we cannot even remember what we saw yesterday? We rack our brains to recall what we saw yesterday, and we still cannot remember a thing. No matter how hard we try, our memory still fails us. In order to support and supply the outer word with the word of revelation, we have to maintain the word of revelation within the memory of the Holy Spirit. Only then will the words we speak be what the Lord wants us to speak, and only then will they be spiritual, not physical. Unless the words of revelation which we have received are preserved in the memory of the Holy Spirit, we will find our spirit sagging as soon as we speak.
When the Lord works in us, it is easy for us to be a minister of the word. But when the Lord does not work in us, nothing is harder than assuming the ministry of the word. If a man remains loose and forgetful, and if he is undisciplined in his thoughts and words, he is useless in the ministry of the word. There are strict requirements for the ministry of God’s word. The Lord has to work on us very much before He can use us. If we allow ourselves to relax a little, we may still be able to do other things, but we will not be able to be a minister of the word. We have to ask the Lord for grace. We have to ask Him to grant us the memory of the Holy Spirit so that we can remember the words we have seen. Revelation is within the word. If we have the memory of the Holy Spirit within us, we will remember the word. We will remember not only the word of revelation but the revelation of the word. When we supply the outer words with this word of revelation, we will know what we are talking about as soon as we open our mouth. While we speak, we will see, and spontaneously we will become ministers of the word. If while we are speaking, we do not see the inward things, we panic. We become confused and do not know what to say. Brothers, we have to acknowledge the futility of a clever mind in this endeavor.