Andrew Wommack - Effortless Change - Part 17
Welcome to our Tuesday’s broadcast of the gospel truth. Today I’m continuing a series that I’ve entitled, effortless change, and this coming Friday is going to be my last day to teach on this on television, and I tell you, this is powerful. This is something that has changed my life. I’ve seen this change the lives of countless numbers of people, and I know that there’s many of you that know that there’s something that needs to change and you may pray and say, oh God, help me and help me to get out of this problem, but there is a right and a wrong way to change and most people are approaching change the wrong way and that’s the reason it is such a traumatic experience, but if you would take God’s word like a seed and plant God’s truths in your heart, then that, those truths would germinate like a seed and it would just grow and produce and you would see change come effortlessly.
I know that sounds nearly too good to be true to many people, but it is absolutely true, and these are some of the foundational things that God has taught me, and I tell you, my life has transformed miraculously because of the Word of God. It’ll work for you. So, we’re back into Mark, chapter 4, and on my program yesterday I was dealing with the second type of ground in this parable that Jesus taught about the sower sowing the seed. It was talking about a man who just cast seed and it fell on four different types of ground. The seed represents the Word of God, the ground represents our heart.
So, the seed is the same in every situation. The Word of God is the same and it has miraculous potential for every single person. The seed is never the variable. It’s always our heart that’s the variable. There was four different types of ground or four different types of hearts represented here and the fruit that you see the Word of God produce in your life is not determined by the seed, but rather by the ground and how it nurtures and allows the seed to release its life. So, it’s our heart that’s the problem. And the second type of heart that is described here in Mark, chapter 4, verses 16 and 17, is the type of heart that receives the Word of God with gladness. You’re excited about it, but you don’t let it take root on the inside of you.
You don’t let it get grounded on the inside of you, and because of that, when afflictions and persecutions come, and they will come, satan is going to come against you and try and steal the word that’s been sown in your heart and his number one method of doing that is criticism, rejection, persecution, and when it comes, if you, if the word isn’t firmly established and rooted and grounded on the inside of you, then you’ll be offended and the Word of God will quit working in your life. That’s what this is talking about, and I tell you, there are just so many scriptures that God has used in my life to make this same point about that the Word of God doesn’t need to be just a surface level understanding, but it needs to be rooted on the inside of me deep in my heart.
Boy I tell you, this is important, and I know that there’s people watching this program right now that you may have some understanding of the word, you may know some scriptures and you might even be able to quote it and remember what those verses say, but as far as being established in your heart, fear is more established than faith. Sickness is more established than the truth that by his stripes you’re healed. Prosperity is not the thing that is dominant in your life, but many of you were brought up with a poverty mentality and you’ve had experiences and stuff that make you susceptible to fear of being poor and stuff even though the Word of God says that he wishes above all things that you prosper and be in health, even as your soul prospers.
And so, there are multitudes of people, I know, watching this program that have some understanding of the word, but it’s not rooted and established in you and so you only last for a brief period of time. Let me say it this way. If your Christian life is up and down, mountain tops and valleys, you’re in and out and sometimes you’re really passionate about God and then other times you can be just as carnal and as mean and ornery and angry and bitter and unforgiving, I mean it’s just, you were, you have opposites in your life. It’s because the Word of God hasn’t taken root. You may know about it. You may have some knowledge, but you don’t have it established in your heart. The Word of God will bring a consistency to your life and take away these peaks and valleys.
Man, that’s a major statement right there. God is speaking to some of you right now that if you would be honest, you would say, man, my life is like a yo-yo. I am up and I am down. I can be just praising God with the best of them and then the next day depending on what happens, depending on how I feel, I can be so discouraged, it’s because you are living by your flesh and the Word of God has not released its stability into your life yet. Boy, those are big statements right there, and some of you are saying, well, if that’s me, what do I do about it? You have to take God’s word and you have to begin to start giving it a greater priority in your life.
You have to meditate in it day and night so like Joshua 1:8 and 9 says, then when you’ve meditated in the word day and night, then is when you will have good success and when you will prosper. You’ve got to commit yourself to it, not just, you know, go to church and let somebody talk about it and you meditate on it for five minutes, ten minutes and then you go back and wash it down with all of the rest of the stuff that we do. We’ve got to get to where God’s word is established in our life.
Yesterday I was giving a personal testimony about how that I made this decision and it literally cost me the church that I went to, it cost me some of my very best friends, the people that I looked up to the most, but when I started taking God’s word and it started germinating in my life, people who had been lifelong friends with me began to reject me and I just made a decision I was going to stick with the word if it cost me my church, if it cost me my friends, and you know what? It did.
Now, God long term has restored those things and gave them back to me, but I’m saying that in the short term it cost me our very best friends, it cost me the church that I had gone to for years. They just couldn’t tolerate me and they were just so critical of me that it was hurting me, and you know, I liken this to like a little plant. This is using the example of a seed, and when a plant is small, like, you could take an oak tree and if you were to plant it in a green house, you know, it might only be just that tall, it’s not able to withstand the weather and a flood and maybe a blizzard and, and the heat and all of these kind of things, and so when a seed is small, you have to put it in kind of a protected environment.
Often they will raise those plants in green houses to get them established and get them an, a head start with the roots. But eventually, it gets planted outside and if it’s like an oak tree, it can withstand a hurricane, it can withstand floods and blizzards and droughts and things like this because of the root system. But in the short term you have, sometimes have to take those trees that eventually are going to be able to withstand all of the elements and you have to put them in this protective environment. Likewise, when a person first starts standing on the Word of God, you may have to put yourself in kind of a cocoon.
You may have to withdraw yourself because you just aren’t able to handle the criticism and the rejection and the things that you later will be able to handle. You know, I was just talking to my staff here and I, I drove a Christmas float in a parade in woodland park for our Bible college, and man, we’ve made a big splash in the city of woodland park. The vast majority of people have accepted us and it’s really, really positive. But as I was ending the parade, I was on the last turn, and there was just a few people standing around and these people were really close to me.
I had the window down on our truck that I was driving and I heard one lady say, what is this Charis Bible College? And the other lady says, oh, that’s a cult that moved in right next door to me, said it with a lot of dissatisfaction in her voice. Did you know back in the very beginning when I was young and small, something like that would have just bothered me. Now I still don’t like it, but you know what? It didn’t affect me the way, it doesn’t affect me now the way that it did back then.
When I was first getting started, if people would have come out and had just given a total rejection to me, you’re a cult, and put me in the same category with other things, that would have done really damage to me. I’ve grown enough now that I can withstand that and I’m using this as an example to say that some of you may be in situations that, you know, I could go into and they could criticize me. I wouldn’t like it if they did it, but I could withstand it now because I’ve grown. I’ve got a root established on the inside of me and I could withstand it, but some of you are in situations where you’re just so young and your root isn’t established and you need to cease, my son, to hear the words, I mean, the instruction that causes you to err from the words of knowledge.
You know, I would have to look that scripture up right now, but it’s over in the book of Psalms or Proverbs and one day I was sitting in this church that I was trying to stay in. I knew that they weren’t receiving what I was saying. They thought I was crazy for preaching that you could be in right standing with God without your own perfection and holiness. They taught a conditional acceptance from God based on your goodness, and I was preaching the grace of God and they were criticizing me and I was trying to stay there and I was just struggling, and one day in, in a church service, it was so bad, it was so condemning, it was releasing the hatred of God towards these people.
And I was so upset by it that I was sitting there and I was sitting in church and I had my finger on the verse that says, he that prays in an unknown tongue edifies himself, and I was just praying in tongues real quietly, nobody else could hear me, but trying to build myself up and endure this church service where they were just preaching wrath and condemnation, and it got so bad that I said, God, help me, and I don’t recommend that you do this. This, this again is an immature thing to do, but it’s where I was. I was immature at the time and I just said, God, help me. I’ve got to have a word, and I just opened up my Bible and flopped it open and put my finger on a verse and it says, cease, my son, to hear the instruction that causes you to err from the words of knowledge.
Now, I don’t recommend that method of Bible study. I heard a guy one time say, God, show me what you want me to do and he just, you know, opened up the Bible and, and stuck his finger on a verse and it says, Judas went and hung himself, and he said, well, that couldn’t be God. I need another confirmation, so he just flopped it open again and he came to the scripture that says, go and do thou likewise. I mean, that’s not a really good method of Bible interpretation. You could, you could get some wrong messages, but God in his grace heard me and I mean, God spoke to me and says, you just aren’t strong enough to hear this.
You need to separate yourself from this stuff, and I did, and there are some of you that are in a situation that maybe I could go into your church and I could sit there and resist it because I’ve grown and I’ve got a root system and I would be able to handle it, but there are some of you that it’s affecting you. You’re offended. You don’t have to reject the truth, just get offended, get to where you aren’t as sure as you were. If you listen to somebody just constantly criticize what you believe and if you don’t take a stand, then I guarantee you that is going to hamper you. It’s going to hamper the Word of God and the way it works in your life, and here I am 40 something years after I began this process.
I now have a root established and I’m able to take criticism, but you know what? I still will not submit myself to criticism just constantly. I can go into a church service and if I disagree with something, I can handle it. I don’t have to get up and walk out in the middle of the service because I’ve grown and I’ve established myself and I can be a little bit more tactful with it than I used to be, but I guarantee you, I’m not going to go into a church service and just day after day, and week after week hear them pound and contradict what I believe the Word of God says because it would affect me. I might be able to withstand, you know, a little bit of this, but I’m not going to just submit myself to it over and over and over, and yet there are some of you that are doing that, and I’m telling you, it, the affliction and persecution, this criticism against you is coming for the word’s sake.
Satan has designed this to try and steal God’s word from you and you’ve got to recognize this and you, as you grow, can get to where you can withstand things better, but still you should never just submit yourself to situations that aren’t healthy, situations that aren’t conducive to growth. I still watch what comes into my ears, what comes into my heart. There’s a scripture in Isaiah, chapter 54, and verse 17 that says, no weapon that is formed against you shall prosper: and every tongue that rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, thus saith the Lord.
Man, that’s a powerful scripture and it says, no weapon formed against you shall prosper, and then the next phrase says, every tongue that rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. I believe that there’s a linkage there. Did you know that tongues, words that come against you and criticize you and your beliefs, they are weapons.
Now, that’s important that you understand this. You couple this together with 1 Corinthians, chapter 15, I believe it’s verse 33, and it says, be not deceived, brethren, evil communications corrupts good manners. Evil talk, evil words, words that are contrary to the truth will corrupt you and if you understand that, then you have to recognize that these negative words that are being spoken against you, they are coming, satan has designed it to try and steal this word from you, and it says over there in Isaiah 54:17 that when these negative words come, you have to condemn them, and here’s how I’ve learned to deal with this. If somebody comes out against me and criticizes me and comes against and says, man, what you’re saying is wrong and this is of the devil and how dare you do this…
It doesn’t matter if it’s a major attack or just a subtle thing and they’re just disagreeing with you, when something comes against what I’m believing, I’ve learned that if I let those words come into my heart, that they nearly immediately start germinating, and if I wait because I’m afraid and I don’t want to offend somebody and I wait until I get by myself or get home and then I start praying and resisting this and saying, I reject this, I cast down these words, if I wait an hour or two or you know, eight hours until I get home, I’ll find out that that’s already got a little root growing and it’s hard to get out, but if when people come against me and say something against the word, against what I’m believing for, if I will stand right then and condemn those words, you know what, it doesn’t have any effect on me.
It’s like it never gets in the ground, it never germinates. But if I let it go for an hour or two or a day or whatever, it’ll already begin to start being producing roots and those things will begin to start affecting me. So, I’ve gotten to where when I hear something negative, I condemn it right then. You can ask my wife. We would, we’ll be driving down the road and we listen to the news sometimes on the radio because it’s only two minutes long. They can’t do a lot of damage, and so that’s kind of where I hear most of my news is on the radio. But even then they’ll say something like, it’s flu season, and I’ll say right then, I’ll say, no, I reject this in the name of Jesus. There is no season that the Word of God doesn’t work. I don’t believe in getting sick.
I know some of you think that’s weird, but I think you’re weird for not rejecting these words. I’m telling you, words, «Death and life are in the power of the tongue», Proverbs 18:21, death and life, not just life, but death also. Words have power. They are weapons and when you hear words come against you that are contradicting what you believe and what God has shown you, you need to condemn it right then. You need to just say, no, in the name of Jesus. I’m not having this. If the doctor says, man, you’re going to die. I would condemn it right then. I’ve done it. I had a doctor one time tell me, we may have to do open heart surgery on you, and I said, that’s a lie. I reject this in the name of Jesus.
Most of you think, I would never do that. That’s the reason you have the problems you have. I ha, I’ve got a great heart. I’m healthy. It turned out, I don’t, anyway, it’s a long story, but I’m just saying, I stand and I reject things. I do not allow things to come in and counter what I’m believing and I’ll do it with as much love and as much tact as I possibly can, but I guarantee you, I will come against things that are coming against me. You know, if I was standing next to you and if you just barely touched me, well then I would have to, you know, I might be able to just stand and not even respond to that. But if you pushed on me, I would have to brace myself and push back, and if you ran and just tried to knock me over, I might have to run and push back to keep from being knocked over.
What I’m saying is, it depends on how strong the pressure is as to how strong you have to respond to keep from being moved, and so if, you know, if it’s just a real slight thing that comes against me and somebody says something and they don’t know what they’re saying, like people often will tell me, be careful, as you leave. Well, the Bible says, «Be careful for nothing».
Now, I know that there’s a right and a wrong way to take this, but you know what? Under my breath, I’ll just, as I walk away, I’ll say, they’ll, they’ll say, be careful, and as I walk away, I’ll say, for nothing, amen, because God is my source, and so see, I don’t even make a big deal out of that because that’s just a saying, it doesn’t mean anything to most people, but then there’s other people that they’ll curse me. Like I was talking about this woman that says, that’s a cult, and you know what? I’ll sit there and I’ll reject those words and I’ll say, man, thank you, father, that we aren’t a cult, that we believe in you, and I’ll reaffirm my faith and I’ll just reject those words immediately.
There’s other people that attack me and come out in big time and I mean, they are saying terrible things and I, you know, I may have to resist with greater effort because they have attacked me in a way that the person who just says, be careful, hadn’t done. So, I respond in kind. If it’s something that’s innocuous and it wasn’t intended and it was subtle, they don’t even know what they’re doing, it’s something I can just deal with easily. If a person is attacking me and they’re throwing a lot at me, man, I may stand up and, and not attack them, but I will resist actively. I may even get vocal about it because I’m going to resist. It’s, again, you push against me, it depends how hard you push, how hard I’m going to have to push back to keep from being moved.
But I’m telling you, this is a tremendous truth right here that has changed my life and that is that satan is going to come with afflictions and persecutions to steal the word out of your life. In 2 Timothy, chapter 3, verse 12 it says, yea all those who will live godly shall suffer persecution. Today in America some people think, well, we aren’t persecuted, we aren’t put in jail for our faith, we aren’t martyred and put to death. Well, that’s not true. There are people that are, I mean, suffering because of their stand. I was just talking to a guy recently who spent 26 months in jail basically for righteous things because he refused to bow here in America.
So, there is those kind of persecutions, but it doesn’t have to be somebody beating you or putting you in jail or trying to put you to death. It can just be the roll of the eyes, it can just be people thinking, you’re a cult, people thinking that you’re weird and they come against you. There is a spirit of anti-Christ that is in the United States and I mean, all over the world, and if you stand for morality, you’re going to be criticized. That is persecution, and you know what? He, satan is bringing this persecution, trying to steal the truth from you and sadly, most Christians will not stand and defend the Word of God, and then they wonder why the fruit of the word isn’t working in your life. It’s because you allow the devil to steal the seed that produces that fruit.
You don’t have to totally reject it, just be offended. Just get to where you aren’t as excited, where you aren’t as bold, where you aren’t passionate about it, you’re fearful of people’s response. Proverbs 29, I believe it’s around verse 25, says, the fear of man brings a snare, and if you’re afraid of what people are going to say, then you are not letting the Word of God dominate you. You’ve been taken in a snare and satan is stealing that word from you. You’re going to have to make a decision like Jamie and I did that we’re going to stand for the Word of God. If you don’t stand for the word, you’ll fall for anything. You need to commit yourself to the Word of God.