Quote:
Originally Posted by aron
cmw,
What is the difference between the Word-Faith "speaking the word of God until it is birthed in our being" and the LSM practice of pray-reading the Word?
Did you find any overlap in the two practices? It seems by your description that they are similar.
I always like the enthusiasm I see infused in your posts.  |
Hey Aron... THANKS for your heartfelt observation of my posts. I not only write 'enthusiasaticly'... I pretty much live 'enthusiasticly' too.
That's because the WORD is really Alive to me... The Word is TRUTH..and it IS living and operative...sharper than any two edged sword!
So...going to the question..GREAT question btw!! For I've been very conscientious in my observations of both practices!
I will do my best to explain. In a peculiar way, there are similarites..
I'm going to take an example of a familiar scripture we all learned in the LC and one that Word-Faith uses. Both ministries use the scripture but use it differently.
The scripture is
John 10:10 The thief comes to steal, kill and destroy but I came that you might have life and have it more abundantly.
As you might know, I got saved in the LC...not having any real bible teaching background. In the 70's, when I got saved and would read/pray read that scripture what was impressed to me was that this LIFE was Eternal..but also 'life giving'. It took me a long time to figure out what was meant by 'life giving'. You remember the song...
Life, life the issue is life..
Our meetings and 'speaking' and pray-reading was always done 'differently' than 'Christianity'. We pray-read in a
*sing-song* way.
The reason we pray-read with that enthusiasitc sing-song way was to get our
'spirit in gear'. That's what we were led to believe. You might say to 'Birth' the scriptures into us that they would become living & operative in our being.
So we prayed & pray/read...OH! I CAME...Oh I came that You..Oh YOU would have LIFE...Oh THAT I..that IIIIIIIIIII...Oh that IIIIIIIIIIIIII would have LIFE. You get the picture.
Truth be told...we pray read 'enthusiastically' and 'from our spirit'...in that all too familiar LC tone. But how many people really understood what in the world were they really saying !!!! WHAT does it really MEAN that Jesus came that we would have life and have it more abundantly?
Did does that scripture mean (in the LC) that He came we would have eternal life and to pray-read that scripture and every scripture 'enthusiastically' and in a song-song way, 'chewing' on every word or every two words until we knew that scripture or scriptures by heart?
For me... I did not know what the scripture really meant..other than Jesus came that I would have eternal life and that I would learn to speak from 'my spirit', which came by way of emphasizing the words of a scripture, reading scriptures in that strong/song-song way.
For me..That is what I thought John 10:10b was all about. Honest. I can't speak for anyone else in the LC though.
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Now..30 yrs later..after having a private walk with the LORD..WHEN I walked with Him..I repented deeply for having put the LORD in the back-burner all those years, I stumbled into the Word-Faith movement.
Here, the people are confessing the Word of God positively.
So..they take John 10:10b and they're take on it..is that God doesn't want us to be physically sick. He doesn't want us to be poor. He doesn't want us to walk in ignorance. Jesus came that we would have LIFE! Is being sick the LIFE we ought to have? What kind of LIFE is being poor?
NO ! JESUS came that we would be PHYSICALLY Healthy and Financially WEALTHY..and to be happy.
Now...let me also add...that some Word Faith churches do acknowledge there is tribulation in this world..and we will suffer. But by and large...God's promise to us is that we would be WEALTHY..for we are the seed of Abraham.
We (I) learned to take that scripture for instance and speak it positively over my life.
I learned to make my request be made known unto God..make 'sure' it was in alignment with the WORD of GOD & believe that as I delight in the LORD, He would grant me the desires of our/my heart(s), according to Psalm 37:4.
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So when it came to
John 10:10b, I learned to take the BEST of both worlds!
I have to believe that Watchman Nee in particular and I suppose Brother Lee perhaps, truly wanted the church to know the LORD JESUS in a deep, profound way..to have a genuine relationship with HIM and with one another. But something was amiss. I think -brother Lee- had a LOT of chinese/catholic/socialist/communist influences mold his idea of the church life...which is why the saints for the most part never truly GREW strong in the LORD and in His Ways.
Then...Word-Faith..takes the scriptures and speak/confess the Word positively...we are speaking FAITH and LIFE into us...but the speaking is incomplete too! The LC's speaking/pray-reading was in complete and the Word-Faith speaking is incomplete too!
I don't know if that makes sense to you or not. I PRAY it does.
To be continued........