Written 2005 (?)
Guarding Extremes
Today we see 2 extremes – equally unbiblical – acted out among Christians. The one extreme is the use of the Spirit without the Word of God (the Bible). In this extreme, people are daily living and acting according to the Spirit of God (or at least what they presume to be the Spirit of God) without giving much credence to the Bible. Another equally dangerous extreme is the use of the Bible without the Spirit. In this extreme, people are paying full credence to the letter of the law, but not allowing for the Holy Spirit.
For those who give all attention to the Spirit without the Word, there is no light in their ministry or dealings, for Isaiah 8:20 says, “To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.”
On the other hand, for those who live by the law of the letter without giving room for the Spirit to work, they are equally guilty, for 1 Thessalonians 5:19 says, “Do not quench the Spirit”. And 2 Corinthians 3:6 says, “…the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.”
This Bible study intends to show that there is a union, or marriage, between the Spirit and the Word. The Spirit cannot exist without the Word, and the Word cannot exist without the Spirit.
Let There Be Light
At the very beginning of creation, we see this principle working out. Gen. 1:2 tells us, “The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. AND THE SPIRIT OF GOD WAS HOVERING OVER THE FACE OF THE WATERS.” (emphasis mine). We see here that the Spirit was hovering over the earth before anything was created. Yet, Gen. 1:3 tells us: “Then God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light.” Gen. 1:6, 9, 11, 14, etc. affirm this same truth, namely, that God had to speak things into existence. The Spirit was working together with the Word to create the natural world, and the result was: “God saw the light, that it was good” (Gen. 1:4). Creation was created in such a way that God Himself saw it as good. What was necessary for it to be good? The Spirit working side by side with the Word.
The Psalmist affirms this same divine truth: “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, / And all the host of them by the breath of His mouth.” (Ps. 33:6). “The word here translated ‘breath’ is actually the normal Hebrew word for ‘spirit.’ However, the use of the word ‘breath’ suggests a beautiful picture of the working of God’s Spirit. As God’s Word goes out of His mouth, so His Spirit – which is His breath – goes with it.” (Prince, Spirit-Filled Believer’s Handbook).
This same principle is true in everything that is created in the spiritual world. John 4:6 says, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” The only way something spiritual can be created (or “birthed”) is by the Spirit. Yet, 1 Peter 1:23 tells us, “having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever.” Jesus tells us essentially the same thing in the parable of the sower: “Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God…the ones [seeds] that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience.” (Luke 8:11,15). Just as fruit can only be created from a seed, spiritual/incorruptible fruit can only be grown through the seed of the Word of God. Setting John 4:6 alongside 1 Peter 1:23 we see a marvelous truth of creation in the spiritual realm, that is, only through the Spirit and the Word can anything spiritual be created. In our Christian experience, we understand that “he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life” (Gal. 6:8), but how many of us employ God’s means for creating and sowing Spiritual fruits – that is, by the Word and the Spirit working together. We read the Bible and it feels like ink on a page without the aid of the Spirit, or we rely on the Spirit but are led in a million directions because we don’t compare with the Bible. If only we truly could create by the example God has given us – with the Spirit and the Word working together – then God could say “it was good” concerning our spiritual harvests.
God’s Voice
How much God would that we see this union as essential. Proverbs 17:7 says: “Excellent speech is not becoming to a fool,” or, put in another way: “it is the fool who is not concerned with excellent speech”. So why does God use such strong words about a man who is not concerned with excellent speech? It is clear that God wills that our words be pure word, in the hopes of ministering grace to those listening (Eph. 4:29 and Col. 4:6), but this beckons the question, why does he lay such stress in our very speech and communication? Is there not some divine truth He is trying to tell us through the means of our speech? I believe there is. On our human level, there is only one way to truly speak: by our breath and our words. Using your breath without any words is merely making noise, and using words without your breath is simply impossible. It is thus that God wants to show us that the very way we communicate reveals the inseparable union between the Spirit and the Word. How important is the communication of our mouth to the Lord?: “if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Rom. 10:9). It is no less important than His means of salvation (and as we have seen, the only way to be born again is by the Spirit and the Seed of the Word). With such import, I do not think it unreasonable to note the very nature by which we speak – through our breath and word.
Nourishment
Beyond birth itself (of things physical and spiritual), the marriage bond between the Word and Spirit is the very thing that nourishes us. Let us look at the Israelites pillage through the desert into the Promised Land. 1 Cor. 10 makes it abundantly clear that this entire plight has spiritual meaning to us as Christians (“Now these things became our examples,” “Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition,” Paul says to the Christians at Corinth: 1 Cor. 10:6,11). It has been shown that their bondage to the Egyptians symbolizes the Christian’s bondage to sin before they are saved, that their leaving Egypt by the blood of the Passover Lamb represents repentance by Jesus’ blood, and that the immersion of the cloud and the Red Sea symbolizes the baptism of the Holy Spirit and Water, but what of 1 Cor. 10:3,4:
All ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ.
What is the spiritual meaning of these things? Let’s start with the given, it is told us that the Rock represents Christ. Exodus 17:6 says: “’Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink.’ And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.” It is clear that this striking of the rock is Jesus’ crucifixion. Jesus Himself gives us insight into what the water symbolizes. During the Feast of Booths, on the last day of the feast, it was a tradition for the people to yell out Is. 12:3 in remembrance of the rock that Moses struck and the water that poured out, yet, at presumably the same time, Jesus yells out what that water symbolizes:
“On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, ‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ But this HE SPOKE CONCERNING THE SPIRIT, whom those believing in Him would receive…” (emphasis mine)
In no uncertain terms, we are told that the water represents the Spirit. And what of the spiritual food? Exodus 16:4: “Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you. And the people shall go out and gather a certain quota every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in My law or not.” As with the water, Jesus also gives us insight into what is meant by the bread: “But He [Jesus] answered and said, ‘It is written, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”’” (Matt. 4:4). The bread symbolizes the Word of God. In the passage in Exodus 16:4, we see how true this is – the bread came from heaven, which is where the Word of God originates from (1 Thes. 2:13), and the gathering of the bread was said to be a test on whether they were walking in God’s law/the Bible (John 10:34,35); this gathering of the bread is a lesson to Christians that the Bible has to be gathered and consumed, we cannot be merely “hearers of the word”.
Following the journey of the Israelites, we see that their two sources of nourishment were the Spirit and the Bible, the water and the manna. This was all they needed to survive. In fact, when they later complained that the bread and water was not good enough, God was provoked to anger, and they were caused to wander for 40 years in the desert. This, too, teaches us some important truths, namely, that without the use of the Spirit and the Word we will be wandering aimlessly. Also, just as we cannot survive with food and no water, or with water and no food, so we need the Spirit and the Bible together.
Prophecy & Scripture
At this point, some may rightly say that, “the Bible itself refers in many places to the utterances of prophets whose words are not recorded in the Bible.” (Prince, Spirit-Filled Believer’s Handbook). However, even this fact does not give permission to rely on the Spirit without the Word. It is said that, “no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.” (2 Peter 1:20-21). The Holy Spirit was the author of the Bible, and just as it is written, “let God be true and every man a liar”, and Jesus said to the Father, “thy word is truth”, we must believe that the Holy Spirit spoke only of truth things when writing the Word of God (through men), and therefore, any legitimate prophecy or stirring of the Spirit will be true and in perfect accordance and supported with the Bible.
To give an example. Peter received a legitimate revelation of the Spirit: “Peter went up on the housetop to pray…and saw heaven opened and an object like a great sheet bound at the four corners…” (Acts 10:9-16). He understood this vision to mean that the gospel was to be preached to the Gentiles, and the word of God could be received by them, as it was the Jews. He even told of this vision to the apostles and brethren in Judea, and after explaining it, they too saw the truth of this revelation of the Spirit: “When they heard these things they became silent; and they glorified God, saying, ‘Then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life.’” (Acts 11:18). Yet, there is something later revealed in the Scriptures that cannot be missed. Acts 15 records the dealings at the Jerusalem Council in which the believing Jews debated over whether or not the Gentiles could be saved. After “no small dissension and dispute”, James brought an important point to their attention:
James answered, saying, “Men and brethren, listen to me: Simon has declared how God at the first visited the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name. And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written…[he cites Amos 9:11, 12].”
Do you see the power the Word had on the disciples? In deciding if they should be ministering to the Gentiles, as Peter’s vision told them, they were not content to rely on any revelation (even though this was of the Spirit). James cites Peter’s experience, yet it was not with this experience that the meeting was satisfied. Experience and revelation from the Spirit were not enough for them. They knew that the Spirit does not move in any direction away from the Word, and so, they sought the Word to verify what the Spirit had revealed. Oh that we would see the power of the Word the way that the early church did!
Jesus gives us another example. After his baptism in the water by John the Baptist, He had a legitimate Spiritual experience:
Jesus came up immediately out of the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” (Matt. 3:17)
It was not long after, though, that Satan laid charge against this experience of Jesus: “Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, ‘If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.’” (Matt. 4:3). At this point, Jesus had many options in which to combat Satan’s charge. He could have easily appealed to this genuine Spiritual experience as proof that He was truly God’s Son, or used His Authority as God’s Son (after all, we know He had the power to send 10,000 legions of angels if He so chose), or He could have philosophized and argued with Satan, etc. Jesus, however, chooses none of these. It is told us, “He answered and said, ‘IT IS WRITTEN, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”’” (Matt. 4:4, emphasis mine). He would only use the Bible to fight the accuser’s allegations. How many of us have grappled with this passage? Why didn’t you just use your experience? Why not appeal to your authority? Why not tell Satan all about the “Lord, Liar, Lunatic” argument? Jesus, though, gives us a direct example by which to follow. Three times does He combat Satan with those three words, “It is written”. No mention of experience or spiritual authority. And it is said, “the devil left Him and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.” (Matt. 4:11). As we saw earlier, Peter followed this example as the “Lord Jesus Christ showed” him (2 Peter 1:14). Jesus told His followers that true disciples are to hear and obey what He says and does. We therefore, as disciples of our Lord, have no excuses. Spiritual revelation cannot be sufficient without the backing up of the Word. “To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” (Is. 8:20).
True Worship
Is it possible to have true worship without the Spirit and the Word working side by side? To this question, Jesus answers,
But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth. (John 4:23-24)
So Jesus gives a clear picture of the components of true worship: spirit and truth. We understand the spirit to be the Holy Spirit, but what do we make of the truth? Isn’t the Spirit Himself truth, why this added “and truth”? Thankfully, John does not keep us in the dark for long on what it means to worship in truth. A couple chapters later, Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth, and the light” (John 14:6). So we begin to see that Jesus Himself is truth, but that is not all. Still a few chapters later, John gives us the complete picture, as Jesus prays to God the Father, saying, “Sanctify them [believers] by Your truth. YOUR WORD IS TRUTH.” (John 17:17, emphasis mine). In fact, Paul calls the Bible “the word of truth” (Eph. 1:13). Really, we should not be surprised that Jesus and the Word are seen as one and the same, for John started His gospel by saying, “In the beginning was the Word…And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:1,14). Already, John shows us that the Word is Jesus, and that His nature is truth (and grace). We are therefore left with a clear and precise dictum of true worship: True worship can only be accomplished with the joining of the Spirit and the Word. Although we have seen that the Spirit can give true revelations outside of the Word, Jesus does not allow the Spirit to exist in worship without the Scriptures. This is a profound revelation that I must spend more time on. True worship is labeled with an “and”, not an “or”. It is not an option of Spirit or Truth (the Word). Anything short of this will not be accepted as true worship. We may have the best intentions in the world, the most energy poured into the Lord, the keenest intellect being used to preach about God, but all of these (by themselves) will never ever be accepted by God as true worship without the joining of the Spirit and Word.
I believe it to be no coincidence that in the book of Acts, we are shown prophets and teachers to be together in worship before the Lord: “there were certain prophets and teachers…they ministered to the Lord and fasted” (Acts 13:1-2). Prophets are those in the Scriptures that are constantly led by the Spirit, are in prayer, and give vision (although a test of a true prophet is whether they prophesy according to God’s Word, Deut. 13:1-3). A teacher, however, is he who has an abundant love for the Word. The prophet tends to understand the spiritual side of worship, whereas the teacher has a yearning for the truth side of worship. Alone, they can fall into danger of missing their complementing component of true worship (the teacher can miss the spirit, the prophet may miss the truth), however, together they can be an unstoppable force. In fact, it is said of this gathering of prophets and teachers that they sent out Paul and Barnabas by the Holy Spirit, and the results had every marking of divine power: “they [Paul and Barnabas] had been commended to the grace of God for the work which they had completed…they reported all that God had done with them, and that he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles.” (Acts 14:26-27). Even before this instance, we can see that the early church took Jesus’ words – concerning true worship – to heart. As the church was growing abundantly, the need for deacons arose, and the church leaders talked about the appointing of deacons, and then said, “we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” (Acts 6:4). I can think of no better way to employ the Spirit and Truth into their worship.
Christian Life
In our Christian walk, we must be born again through the Spirit and the Word: “In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.” (Eph. 1:13). We also are nourished through these same means: “when you read [the epistles (ultimately, the Bible)], you may understand my (Paul’s) knowledge in the mystery of Christ…as it has now been revealed by the Spirit…” (Eph. 3:4,5). Yet, the born again experience seen in Eph. 1 and the growth of Eph. 3, are inevitable precursors to the battle of Eph. 6. We already saw a glimpse of this battle when Satan attacked Jesus in the wilderness, but now it is time for the church to continue this war. “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” (Eph. 6:11). We are then given very exact pieces of armor that will equip us for this spiritual struggle. We have all sorts of defense pieces (belt, breastplate, etc.), yet only one piece that is truly offensive, “the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.” (6:17). Following Jesus’ example, we must realize that we are only given one weapon to put us on the offense, that is, the Spirit which is the Word of God. Here, we see the union between the Spirit and the Word. They are not separate things, not two swords, but one thing welded together to fight Satan with. The Spirit is the Word of God, and yet Jesus says “the words that I speak to you are spirit” (John 6:63). Do we not yet see the pains God has gone in revealing how utterly dependent the Spirit and Word are upon each other. It also should be mentioned that, like David preparing to slay Goliath, some may say they have never put this armor into practice, and it therefore will not be effective when we do experience true spiritual warfare. Only after practice and becoming familiar with the Word can we use it with the results that Jesus experienced (as David resorted to the stones in which he had become familiar with, instead of the unfamiliar armor, to defeat Goliath, symbolic of defeating the Devil). It is not enough, either, to read the words of the Bible hours every day without any appeal to the Spirit to explain why He wrote what He wrote. We must be diligent to rely on the Spirit to reveal the Words of the Bible. We must be like the disciples who, after hearing the words of Jesus (when He spoke to them in parables), went to Him privately and asked Him to explain the meaning.
In Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians, he exhorts them (and us): “But ‘he who glories, let him glory in the Lord.” For not he who commends himself is approved, but whom the Lord commends.” (2 Cor. 10:17-18). This should awaken us to two divine facts: 1) all of our glory is to be given to the Lord, 2) We are not commended by God because we believe we should be, but only as the Lord Himself commends us. This means that however great we think our worship may be, it really means nothing unless it has God’s commendation – and have we not been told by Jesus Himself what He accepts as true worship? But even more than this, the verse quoted shows that there should be an urgency in the church to give glory to God, to give him the true worship He requires.
Lack & Darkness
There was a season in the church in which neither the Holy Spirit nor the Word were being used to worship Jesus. I believe this period to be when the Catholic Church was a political super power and the only church in the Western Empire of Rome. I also think this period was spoken prophetically of John, hundreds of years before it came to pass. Revelation 11 shows the vision John received after he had eaten the little book that was sweet in his mouth but bitter in his stomach. It says: “Then I was given a reed like a measuring rod. And the angel stood, saying, ‘Rise and measure the temple of God, the altar, and those who worship there. But leave out the court…it has been given to the Gentiles. And they will tread the holy city underfoot for forty-two months.’” (Rev. 11:1-2). We understand the reed like a measuring rod to represent the canon of Scripture, as “The word canon comes from the root word reed (English word cane, Hebrew form ganeh, and Greek form kanon). The reed was used as a measuring rod, and came to mean ‘standard.’” (McDowell, NETDV). If this interpretation is correct, it shows that John prophesied a time when the true church would be measured by the canon of Scripture, even though the outside appearance of the church would be given over to the world for a season of 42 months (which we understand to be 1,260 years, because 42 months is the same amount of time as 1,260 days, and prophetically, we believe a day to equal a year). During this period of corruption in the church, it shows there to be two witnesses that were clothed in sackcloth – showing that the church was not hearing them. Who were these two witnesses who the church did not want anything to do with during this time? They are depicted as being olive trees and lampstands. Comparing Zechariah 4:11-14 with Romans 11:11-24 and Ephesians 4:4, we see that in the picture of the olive tree, oil symbolizes the Holy Spirit, and to make this oil, olives must be crushed (symbolizing Christians crushed for Holy Spirit to go forth). Also, comparing Revelation 1:20 with Zechariah 4:2 and Exodus 27:20-21 we see a similar picture: pressed olives produce oil that causes the lamp to burn, and the lamp is symbolic of the church. Both of these symbols show clearly that the church would experience a season in which the Holy Spirit would be withheld from the Church. But why were there 2 witnesses? If it was the Holy Spirit alone being withheld from the Church, one witness would suffice. We think this other witness to be nothing other than the Bible – for as we have seen, the Spirit is married to the Bible (Eph. 6:17; John 6:63), and this vision of John began with the measuring rod (taken to mean the canon of Scripture). It has no doubt been seen that the church did in fact have a season of 1,260 years in which the Word was missing from the people (they were killed for possessing it) and the Spirit along with it. How tragic this period was. They may have spoken of Christ, and gone to church, but without these components of true worship, there would have been no commendation from the Lord. In fact, Revelation 11:6 shows the results of the witnesses prophesying during this time: “These [two witnesses] have power to shut heaven, so that no rain falls in the days of their prophecy; and they have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to strike the earth with all plagues, as often as they desire.” Is it any coincidence that the endemic plagues of Rome existed primarily during the time the Catholic Church (with all of its corruption then) snuffed out the Bible and Spirit? It is not until the vision of Heavenly Jerusalem in Revelation 22 that we see a river of the water of life and true, incorruptible fruits: “he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal…In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month.” (Rev. 22:1-2). We know that pure water serves two purposes – to drink of and to cleanse. Concerning these, we have already seen that Jesus compares drinking water to the Spirit, but what of cleansing water? Eph. 5:25-26 says: “as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word.” Therefore, this river of pure water is symbolic of the Spirit and the Word. Also, the bountiful heavenly fruits seen next to the river could only be a product of the seed of the Word and the Spirit.
Conclusion
Has it not been shown us how inseparable the union between the Spirit and the Word is throughout the Scriptures? From the origins by the Spirit and the Word in Genesis 1 to the absence of these two in Revelation 11, and finally the heavenly river and fruits seen in Revelation 22. The Word is the Spirit and the Spirit the Word, there is a union, not unlike marriage, that exists between the two. As Jesus spoke concerning marriage, “a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh” (Matt. 19:5). The two may have been separate things, but with their joining together we can only see one flesh – just as there is only one sword called the Spirit and the Bible. And furthermore, Jesus says concerning the marriage union, “Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.” (Matt. 19:6).
It is tragic that so many professing Christians are not exhibiting true worship. All Spirit is not true worship. All Word is not true worship. Only Spirit and Word.
To those who exalt the Spirit above the Bible…I ask how you know whether you are listening to the Spirit or your own soulish desires. You may say, “I just know it”, but many cults have been started under the same guise. What is the standard God gives for dividing what is spiritual from what is soulish? “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to THE DIVISION OF SOUL AND SPIRIT, and of joints and marrow, AND IS A DISCERNER OF THE THOUGHTS AND INTENTS OF THE HEART.” (Heb. 4:12, emphasis mine). You may indeed have true zeal for the Lord, but without the Word, without knowledge of the truth, your very zeal may become deadly: “It is not good to have zeal without knowledge, nor to be hasty and miss the way.” (Prov. 19:2, NIV). Whatever you are growing, if it did not originate from the seed of the Word, it cannot be incorruptible (1 Pet. 1:23). You must repent and return to the Word.
To those who exalt the Bible above the Spirit…I ask how you can say, with any measure of sureness, that you have not unintentionally twisted the Word to your own destruction. “as also our beloved brother Paul…has written to you, as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are SOME THINGS HARD TO UNDERSTAND WHICH UNTAUGHT AND UNSTABLE PEOPLE TWIST TO THEIR OWN DESTRUCTION, AS THEY DO ALSO THE REST OF THE SCRIPTURES.” (2 Peter 3:15,16, emphasis mine). The Word may indeed be your Bread and substance, but where is your drinking water? Where is your spiritual thirst quenched? Jesus says, “whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life…If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” (John 4:14; 7:37,38). What is this water? “this He spoke concerning the Spirit” (John 7:39). Jesus tells you that God is Spirit, and later, that His words are Spirit, can you therefore be justified before God if you preach the Word and neglect the Spirit? At the very best, you can say that you look into the mirror of the Word dimly and you may indeed know in part, but until we see clearly in the mirror and know in full, we are exhorted to “desire spiritual gifts” (1 Cor. 13:8-14:1). You must repent from your quenching of the Spirit.
I pray that we may no longer separate the Spirit from the Word and the Word from the Spirit, but that we may be fed by the water and food together – and be content with it until we are led into the Promised Land –, growing the church into “one new man” (Eph. 2:15). To be a man we must be nourished. It is an absolute impossibility that any boy can grow up into a man with water and no food, or with food and no water. The only way for a boy to grow into a mature man is by food AND water, otherwise we cannot say that the church has truly become a man and put childish things behind it (1 Cor. 13:11). Are you ready to let God give the increase to your life, to the church body, to the world?
“[take] the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit” (Eph. 6:17-18)
fmi360 
Well done!