3208 The word.... spiritual and earthly....

August 1, 1944: Book 42

The word that is not alive will fail to have an effect. It can certainly be spoken but it lacks spirit and therefore does not awaken activity. And therefore the word must always be enlivened by the spirit if it is to have an effect on the listener of the word. It must be permeated by the strength which is the sign of life.... And this vitality only emanates from God, it is His spirit which is expressed in His word and which is truly life-giving. As soon as the word comes forth from the human being, he has to put all his conviction into it in order to have an effect on his fellow human being. And he will be able to muster this conviction if he has received the word from God beforehand. But if God Himself is not the source of the word then it can certainly be received by the fellow human being but the effect will be absent.... it is a human word and lacks the spirit which brings it to life. It will not last, it will perish like everything that is earthly, it will not radiate any strength and bring no noticeable blessing.... it will be a dead word, even though it is championed....

The power of conviction must be inherent in the word, the human being must feel that what he speaks is truth, then he will speak in such a way that it will not remain without effect on his fellow human beings. Divine love gives people the word in order to make Itself known, and It gave people the ability to make themselves understood again through the word. This gift of grace is immeasurable, for it means true life, because without the word a dead state would prevail, a state of non-understanding, a dull existence without knowledge of the other, of his thinking and life. Only the word enlivens and makes people into independent thinking and acting beings who can have contact with each other, who can come into contact with each other through the spoken word, who can teach each other and convey their own thoughts and impressions to the other. But it must not be spoken thoughtlessly, it must be spiritually enlivened, thinking and speaking must correspond, otherwise it does not awaken an echo but blows away at the ear of the other. For man was given intellect for this purpose; he can think before he expresses himself through the word.... He is able to put meaning and spirit into what he speaks and this by virtue of his intellect as far as earthly things are concerned. But if the human being wants to be spiritually active, i.e. to convey words of spiritual content, the spiritual spark in him must have awakened to life, if the word is to have an effect. The word itself must be alive, the intellect as well as the heart must stimulate the fellow human being to activity, the intellect must think it through and the heart must stimulate the will to obey what is recommended to the human being through the word. Only then is there life in the word, it testifies to the spirit of God if it awakens the spirit in the human being. For the word is the means of transmitting thoughts, it is the means of communication from person to person on earth and from God to the human being in the spiritual realm.... The word is the sign of His overwhelming love for people, it is the means of winning souls for eternity.... On earth, however, it is equally beneficial if it is used for the practice of unselfish neighbourly love, if the word is offered full of love, even if it touches earthly things. But the word must always express what the heart feels, it must not be a dead word, thoughtlessly spoken and received without impression. Then it will not be valued for what it is, as a form of expression of the innermost thoughts, as a means of transmitting what moves the heart, as an admonisher and warner against injustice, as an impetus for spiritual striving and as proof of divine love, which manifests itself in the word to all those who want to live and thus awaken the spirit within them.... For God is spirit and can only speak to people through the spirit and convey His word to them....

Amen

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