The Power Of A Proceeding Word by Apostle Arome Osayi: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

Three Dimensions of God's Word

When you study the Bible you find certain categories: the judgments of God, the testimony of God, and the commandments of God. These are not the same.

• The testimony is God speaking about Himself, by Himself. Nobody with merely delegated authority can set forth a testimony. Prophets can speak under anointing — those are prophecies, those are commandments. But testimony belongs only to God. It is Him revealing Himself in the most authoritative sense. In the last days, God has chosen to speak by His Son rather than only through prophets — because there was something the prophets could not say that God Himself had to come and say.
• The judgments are God's divine verdicts on matters — His weighed, accurate perspective on any subject. For example: \"The flesh profits nothing.\" That is a judgment. God has weighed the flesh in the balances and declared it worthless for spiritual purposes. The average believer wants to form his own opinion on every matter, but a wise person latches onto the judgments of God as his accurate position. You will not live long enough to personally test every principle. That is why Solomon's Ecclesiastes experiment cost him so much — he had to travel everywhere to write what God had already declared.
• The proceeding word is in a category altogether different. Psalm 107:20 — \"He sent His word and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.\" He sent His word. This is the word that acts like a law enforcement agent. It carries in itself the ability to bring itself to pass. It needs no cooperation from seasons or weather. It does not need your help. It produces without your support.

The Nature of the Proceeding Word

God is not a chancellor or a president. God is a king. A king does not rule by brute strength — a king rules by decrees. This makes the speakings of God categorically different from mortal speech, because He speaks from the standpoint of authority.

The reason God cannot lie is not that He is modest and chooses not to. God cannot lie because He resides in an energy level wherewith, if He speaks, no matter the situation or circumstance, His words become true — because they are a conduit that carry His authority. So if God should crack a joke and say \"your head is big,\" your head would become big. This is why Jesus, who was approachable to children and deeply friendly, never cracked a joke in all the days of His flesh. Everything He said would come to pass.

When he sent His word — God did not move from His throne. All He did was speak. His word went as a messenger and healed them. Because the word has in itself the ability to bring itself to pass.

Your healing is as simple as securing a word from the mouth of God. Your deliverance is as simple as securing a word from the mouth of God. Your skill in moving the hand of God is in your ability to make God speak.

How God Trains Prophets

In 1 Samuel 3:7, Samuel did not yet know the Lord, and the word of the Lord was not yet revealed to him. He was destined to recognize it, but at that time he could not. God even disguised His voice to sound like Eli's, because that was the only voice Samuel knew.

After God secured Samuel's attention, 1 Samuel 3:21 records: \"The Lord appeared again in Shiloh, for the Lord revealed Himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of the Lord.\" By the davar of God — the proceeding word. God trains a prophet by introducing him, over time, to the potency of His spoken word. Perhaps He says something that seems impossible — and then it comes to pass. Then He says something harder — and it comes to pass again. Until the prophet reaches the point where he knows of a truth that God is not a man that He should lie. At that point, the prophet can no longer doubt God's spoken words. He knows: if God has spoken, it is as good as done.

The only thing remaining is the time for manifestation.

Man Was Made to Live by the Proceeding Word

In Matthew 4:4, when Satan tempted Jesus to turn stones into bread, Jesus replied: \"Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.\" He was not merely quoting scripture — He was explaining to Satan the architecture of human existence. Man was designed to be manipulated, to be controlled, to be directed — by the proceeding word of God.

If you have a diary where you wrote what God said to you and you are not living it, it means you are existing — you have not yet started living. The way God designed man to live is that man shall not live by bread alone. There is a part of him — spirit — whose living consists of fulfilling the proceeding word of God.

Someone may come with their biological clock and say, \"I need to be married.\" But if you have no word from God, God has made no commitment. Your expectations are in futility. You are like someone expecting pregnancy when there is no uterus. The proceeding word is what creates the ground for everything.

Isaiah 60 — Your Light Has Come

Isaiah 60:1-5 captures the move of the proceeding word. When the proceeding word enters your heart, it sheds light. It carries your mind on a journey of inspiration and causes you to see things about yourself that are captured in God's will — things you had no human way of seeing. Psalm 36:9 — \"With You is the fountain of life, and in Your light shall we see light.\" The fountain within springs up, influences your mind, and brings you into God's thoughts. That is when you begin to see from His perspective.

Arise, shine, for your light has come. The \"light\" here is personal — it is not \"our\" light, but your light. God's administration is sufficient to manage every person as an individual entity. He says: don't arise until your light comes. Don't shine until you have received the proceeding word for your life. If you arise outside your light, it will be difficult to arrest you later. Don't arise in a direction that has no proceeding word behind it.

• The first come — your light is come — triggers all subsequent comings.
• When your light comes, Gentiles will come into it. Unbelievers will have no choice but to navigate toward the light.
• Kings will come to the brightness of your rising. Those who govern nations are looking for a voice bright enough to give them direction. They languish in darkness because no one has been bright enough for kings to see light and say, \"This one can quench the darkness of the nation.\"
• Prosperity will navigate toward you. The abundance of the sea shall be converted unto you. You don't go looking for it — when you stay in your light, it navigates in your direction.

God's strategy to combat the darkness covering the earth is tied to your response to your light and your arising. Just in case there's darkness in your family, it is ultimately your fault if you refused to arise — because there is no light to challenge that darkness.

The Address of Satan Is Spiritual Commitment

Jesus, led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness, did not go to find Satan. Satan came to find Him — attracted by the 40-day fast and prayer. The address of Satan is spiritual commitment. Begin to fast, begin to pray, become serious about God — he will show up. He likes you the way you are now. He knows you cannot challenge him in the flesh. But the moment you begin to make real spiritual commitment, he appears — because he knows that if you break beyond that barrier, you will never stop.

In fasting, you insulate yourself from being influenced by the environment. In prayer, you energize yourself to change the environment. He starved His flesh so He could stuff His spirit. When the flesh is starving, it is difficult for Satan to tempt through the flesh.

The Proceeding Word as a Personal Blueprint

The difference between a stagnant life and a consequential life is the proceeding word. Go back to your diary. Where God told you something — are you living it? If not, you are existing but not yet living.

When I was born a stammerer, no one would have said I would be a preacher. But at age 13, Jesus told me I was called to preach. Even in heaven I complained about my stammer. He did not answer me about my stammer. He simply said: \"As for you, this is the covenant I have with you. I have put My words in your mouth.\" When I woke from that encounter, it occurred to me through the spirit of wisdom: if God was able to smuggle His words into my mouth, it is His business to make me speak them. That is how I began to speak — and the proceeding word of God was what healed my tongue.