How to Prepare and Teach the Word of God
Many churches are failing today because they forgot there is only one way to heal the people of God: through the Word of God. Programs, events and personalities can’t heal people. Only the Word can. If you lead a church, hold church meetings, or have people entrusted to your care, this is the heart of your assignment.
“Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4)
To those who have walked away from the Word like the prodigal son: I pray you come back to your Father’s house. I pray you come back to the Word. (Luke 15:20)
Why Preparing a Word Is So Hard
I have seen many struggle to deliver the Word of God. I have seen many wonder, “What should I minister to the people of God?” Some think it’s easy. Those who know, know it is hard, because the word you carry has an assignment:
“The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me, because the LORD has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound.” (Isaiah 61:1)
The word you preach is meant to open doors, break prison doors and chains, bring revelation and the knowledge of God, and help people understand where they are so they can go to the next level.
It Starts in Prayer
Before you step into the house of God to bring healing, ask the Doctor of doctors, the Holy Spirit. You will not know the sickness, and you will not know the diagnosis, until you ask. Ask Jesus, the Shepherd. Ask God, who made the people, about the condition of His people. Then ask for the medicine His people need to be healed. (Jeremiah 33:3)
The 9 Ways God Gives a Word
From what I have seen in ministry, God speaks to His servants in different ways. None is better than another. What matters is learning how He speaks to you.
1. The Seed Word
God gives you one word, phrase or scripture, and you build on it through study and research until it grows into a full message. (2 Timothy 2:15)
2. The Partial Word
God gives you part of the message, sometimes word for word, and you add the rest. Be faithful with the portion you have, and more will come. (1 Corinthians 13:9)
3. The Full Word
God gives you the whole message: the points, the scriptures, even the flow. Deliver it as given, without adding or taking away. (Jeremiah 1:9)
4. The Silent Season
God stays quiet. This is not rejection. It’s a test of trust. Keep praying, keep waiting, and keep watching. (Habakkuk 2:1)
5. The Pulpit Word
Nothing comes until you step onto the pulpit, and then the message comes in that very hour. (Matthew 10:19)
6. The Word That Comes as You Speak
You open your mouth with nothing in hand, and as you begin, God starts to speak through you. (Psalm 81:10)
7. The Word Through Scripture
While you’re reading the Word, a verse leaps off the page and won’t let you go. That verse is your assignment. (Psalm 119:105)
8. The Word Through Dreams and Visions
God speaks in the night, and you wake up carrying the message. Write it down and pray over it. (Job 33:15–16)
9. The Burden Word
The message sits in your spirit like a fire and won’t leave until it is released. That burden is God’s heart for His people. (Jeremiah 20:9)
The Diagnosis and the Medicine Method
In my experience, one of the methods the Holy Spirit has shown me to prepare a word is what I call the Diagnosis and the Medicine Method. The preparation comes in two parts: first the diagnosis, then the medicine.
“Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,” says the LORD of hosts. (Zechariah 4:6)
Part 1: The Diagnosis
Every church goes through seasons and times, and those seasons change. So before I prepare anything, I ask God to reveal the condition of the church that day, that season, that week, that moment.
God usually shows me through the seven churches of Revelation:
- Ephesus: left its first love
- Smyrna: suffering, but faithful
- Pergamos: compromising with the world
- Thyatira: tolerating a controlling, seducing spirit
- Sardis: a name that lives, but is dead
- Philadelphia: little strength, but faithful
- Laodicea: lukewarm
Part 2: The Medicine
Once I have the diagnosis, I ask God for the medicine. The medicine is always the Word of God: the message that will heal His people from where they stand.
“He sent His word and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.” (Psalm 107:20)
This Is What Jesus Did
This method comes from Jesus Himself. In Revelation 2–3, Jesus walks among the seven churches and says to each one, “I know your works.” He sees exactly where they are. He names what is good, diagnoses what is wrong, and then gives each church its own medicine. Ephesus is told to remember, repent and do the first works. Laodicea is told to be zealous and repent. Same Jesus, different medicine, because each church had a different condition.
When we preach the right word to the right condition, healing comes. When we preach a good word to the wrong condition, it’s like giving the wrong prescription.
The Word Is the Sword
I hope and pray this is a reminder for someone that the Word of God is the sword. When we go to God first, ask for the diagnosis, and carry the medicine He gives, His Word does what it was sent to do.
“For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword.” (Hebrews 4:12)
Prayer
Father, we thank You for Your Word, for through Your Word everything is poured out. Your Word heals, Your Word delivers, Your Word opens doors and breaks chains. Teach us to come to You first, to ask You for the condition of Your people, and to carry the medicine You give. Call the prodigals home to Your house and back to Your Word. Let every leader who stands before Your people wield Your Word as the sword of the Spirit.
In the mighty name of Jesus, amen.
🔥 Go Deeper
How do you recognize which way God is speaking to you? What does each church’s condition look like today, and what exactly did Jesus prescribe? Go deeper in the full lesson in the Kingdom Alignment Academy.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
© 2026 Jen Ford | jenfordministries.com
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