Looking to the Word will produce several effects on your ministry that you cannot get any other way. You will obtain God's favor. You will increase your faith as well as your understanding of how to use your faith. Luke 11:49 refers to the Word of God as his wisdom. Proverbs 4:5-9 reads:

Get wisdom, get understanding: forget it not; neither decline from the words of my mouth. Forsake her not, and she will preserve thee: love her and she shall keep thee. Wisdom is the principle thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding. Exalt her, and she shall promote thee: she shall bring thee to honor, when thou dost embrace her. She shall give to thine head an ornament of grace: a crown of glory shall she deliver to thee.

The ornament of grace Solomon referred to is being clothed with the favor of God. It is the result of seeking God's wisdom by exalting His Word in divine glory (God's grace or favor) upon a person's head.

That grace, or favor, is available to every person on earth without exception, for God is no respecter of persons (Acts 10:34). Favor cannot be earned; it is the gift of God. You do not merit it; you receive it. Although it is free, God's grace is not automatic. It must be appropriated by the believer though faith.

We already know that faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God (Rom. 10:17). The basis for receiving God's favor is through faith. Therefore, you obtain God's favor through His Word.

God created the heavens and the earth through a combination of His faith, wisdom and understanding (Prov. 3:19; Heb. 11:3). In Mark 11:22, Jesus exhorts His disciples, "Have faith in God." The marginal note in the King James Version reads, "Have the God-kind of faith. The faith that is in us is exactly the same faith that is in God. He gave each of us the same measure of faith" (Rom. 12:3).

If God could create the entire universe with His faith, then why are we so limited in our ability to bring things to pass using the same force? Why is God so much more successful than we? Because, He has the wisdom and the understanding to use it to its fullest capacity.

Wisdom is the ability to use knowledge. First Corinthians 1:30 tells us that Jesus Christ is "made unto us wisdom." He is our wisdom. "We have the mind of Christ" (1 Cor. 2:16).

Whenever you think of the God's wisdom or Knowledge, you are thinking of the Word of God. God said,

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. So shall my word be that goeth fourth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I send it.
(Isa. 55:8-9,11)

In other words God is saying, "Even though I think higher than you think and My ways are higher than your ways, I give you My Word so that you will be able to think like I do and conform to My ways."

The wisdom of God is His written Word. His knowledge wit us through the Word as evidenced by 2 Corinthians 10:5, "Casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalt itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ."

Jesus Christ is the Word (John 1:14). If Jesus Himself is the Word and if He is made unto us wisdom, then we can conclude that true wisdom is the Word of God. God and His Word agree at all times.

With these thoughts in mind, let's rephrase Proverbs 4:5-9 in this way,

Get (the Word): forget it not; neither decline from the words of my mouth. Forsake (the Word of God) not and it shall keep thee. (The Word) is the principle thing; therefore get (the Word): and with all thy getting get understanding. Exalt (the Word) and (it) shall promote thee: (it) shall bring to thee honour, when thou dost embrace (it). (It) shall give to thine head an ornament of grace: a crown of glory shall (the Word) deliver to thee.

Remember: Look to the Word day and night. Proverbs 4:20-22 says,

My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings. Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart. For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh.

Exalt the Word. Let it do the work. If there is ever a problem, apply God's wisdom to it. Speak and act only on the Word. If you exalt the Word, people will be delivered.

The Word Promotes
If you will refrain from exalting yourself but instead lift up the Word of God, then it will promote you and bring you to a place of honor. Peter tells us, "Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: Casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you" (1 Peter 5:6-7).

Humble yourself by placing yourself in God's hands and casting the whole of your care upon Him. Hold you tongue. Don't pull strings to gain position or vie for power - you might get it. If you wrangle on your own, then you will have to produce on your own without any help from the Spirit of God. If he didn't place you in a position of honor, He will not sustain you there. You will be responsible for your own failures.

Jesus said, "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these (other) things shall be added unto you" (Matt. 6:33). In order to put the Word first, you will have to feed on it night and day. You must program your mind with it and rid all that other rubbish which has fed in to you consciousness.

Satan will see to it that it will not be an easy task. To over come him, you need an intensive, total immersion in the Word, night and day - not just casual reading of the Scriptures for a few minutes.

Looking to The Word Helps Control Your Flesh
When Gloria and I first stated in the ministry, I became more and more aware of God's demand to spend all of my time in the Word - not part of the time, not the majority of the time, all of it. We carried a tape recorder loaded with gospel material with us everywhere we went. It played all the time.

At that time, we had two small children and were constantly traveling. We preached on the average 21 days each month, twice a day, seven days a week. I did this for the first five years without taking a vacation.

Gloria and I set up the meetings. I ran the tape recorder and the public address system. She helped with the meeting and took care of the kids. After the service, we both sold tapes. We did it all without any help.

After the last meeting, I would excuse myself, go change clothes and dismantle the equipment. It can be done with the Word of God going in and out of your consciousness at all times.

After about two years of this, I became so Word oriented that I automatically judge everything I heard or experienced by comparing it to the Word. The Bible became my standard. I retrained myself until the Bible became habitual.

Hebrews 5:12-14 describes it this way:

For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not strong meat. For every one that useth milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are full age, even those who by reason of use (habit or practice) have their senses exercised (trained) to discern both good and evil.

By staying in the Word, my senses learned to discern between good and evil. My body and mind became so trained that even my flesh rejected evil.

God will exalt you as you exalt the Word. Everything will start "coming your way" because of that Word. And as it comes, give it way. "Give and it shall be given unto you" (Luke 6:38). In this way, you will not only be blessed, you will become a channel of God's blessings to others. If you are to be a minister in the truest and fullest sense, you must look to the Word day and night.