Pure Word, Real Power
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It sounds like a contradiction, doesn't it? Most of us spend our lives trying to prove we are right, digging our heels in, and defending our positions. But there is a specific kind of joy—a "rocks of Revelation" kind of joy—that comes when the Holy Spirit shines a spotlight on a dark corner of your mind and shows you that your "stinking thinking" has been holding you back. It’s like finding that treasure in the field. You realize you’ve been walking over gold while clutching onto copper. When you see the truth, you don't mind throwing away the old stuff. You’re ready to sell everything to buy that field because you want the real thing. You want the supernatural, biblical relationship with the Jesus of the Bible, not the Jesus of religious tradition.
I remember standing in the middle of a crowded flea market recently. The air was thick with the scent of old wood, popcorn, and that dusty smell of a thousand stories waiting to be rediscovered. My wife, Susan, and I were walking through the aisles, looking for hidden gems, when we ran into a lady named Karen. She’s a sold-out believer, the kind of person who radiates the light of Christ in the middle of a mundane Saturday morning.
We started talking about the jewishness of our faith. You know, I’ve been digging deeper into the feasts of the Lord lately, trying to understand the spiritual significance of things like Passover and Pentecost. As we stood there, Karen said something that hit me like a prophetic football to the chest. She mentioned that she doesn't really read anything other than the Bible and testimonies of what God is doing.
I don't know if she realizes how much that one sentence stuck in my spirit. It haunted me in the best way possible. I couldn't stop thinking about it as I drove home. It sent me back to the Word, back to Exodus 12, and back to a revelation about "leaven" that I believe is the missing key for many of us who are wondering why we aren't seeing the signs and wonders we read about in the Book of Acts. We want the power, but we are keeping the leaven in our houses.
When you look at Exodus 12, the instructions for the original Passover are incredibly intense. This wasn't just a nice dinner party; it was a matter of life and death. God told the children of Israel that they were to eat unleavened bread for seven days. But He went further than that. He said that no leaven should even be found in their houses.
And you shall observe the feast of unleavened bread; for in this selfsame day have I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt: therefore shall you observe this day in your generations by an ordinance for ever. (Exodus 12:17 KJV)
The Lord was so serious about this that He said anyone who ate anything leavened during that time would be "cut off" from the congregation of Israel. Think about that. One bite of the wrong bread and you are separated from the people of God. Why such a harsh penalty for a little bit of yeast? Because God was teaching them—and us—a prophetic lesson about purity and the "extra" things we allow into our lives that puff us up and pull us away from the pure Word of God.
As I meditated on this, I thought about the giants of the faith—men like Smith Wigglesworth and George Mueller. These were men who lived in a supernatural realm that most of us only dream about. Wigglesworth was famous for not allowing a newspaper into his home. To some, that sounds legalistic or even crazy. But Wigglesworth knew something we’ve forgotten: if you want to walk in the miraculous, you cannot afford to have leaven in your house. He didn't want the world's perspective, the world's "doctrine," or the world's news competing with the "it is written" of the Word of God.
I’ve been reading a biography of George Mueller lately, and his life is a staggering testimony of what happens when a man decides to trust God for every single penny. He ran orphanages by faith, never asking a man for a dime. But there was a shift in his life that made this possible. In his early years, he was a very sinful man, but then he had a paradigm shift. He committed that for every one page of secular literature he read, he would read ten pages of the Bible. Toward the end of his life, he was reading the Bible through four or five times a year.
Mueller, Wigglesworth, and even Brother Yun—the "Heavenly Man" from the underground church in China—don't brag about the commentaries they’ve read. They don't quote "Top Theologian Dr. So-and-So." They quote the Word. Brother Yun tells a heartbreaking story in his book about how the underground church was exploding in unity and power when they only had the Bible. But then, well-meaning Westerners started smuggling in leaven. They brought in pamphlets about why you should or shouldn't speak in tongues, or why this denomination was right and that one was wrong. Suddenly, a church that was unified under persecution became divided by doctrine. That is what leaven does. It divides. It puffs up. It nullifies the power of God.
In the New Testament, Jesus is very clear about what leaven represents. He warned His disciples, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. (Matthew 16:6 KJV). At first, the disciples thought He was talking about physical bread. They were thinking with carnal minds. But Jesus corrected them, and they realized He was talking about the doctrine of the Pharisees.
What was that doctrine? It was the "tradition of men." It was the extra-biblical commentary that they had elevated to the same level—or even a higher level—than the written Word. Jesus told them plainly: Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye. (Mark 7:13 KJV).
We do this today without even realizing it. We sit under the teachings of people who have more degrees than a thermometer, but no signs following their ministry. We read books about "how to have a better life" instead of meditating on the words of Jesus. We fill our minds with "leavened" theology—logical, carnal arguments that sound smart but have no power to cast out a devil or heal the sick.
I’m not knocking all books. I’ve written books like OPEN YOUR EYES and Overcoming Night Terror. But my goal in those writings is always to point you back to the Word and the supernatural reality of Jesus, not to give you a new "tradition" to follow. If any book or commentary is taking the place of your time in the Word, it has become leaven in your house.
Personal Reflections
I have to be honest with you—I haven't always seen it this way. After my major spiritual encounter in 1995, I was hungry for knowledge. I thought the way to "grow" was to read every top theologian I could find. I wanted to see those three letters—PhD—after a name before I’d listen to them. I figured if they had studied enough to be approved by man, they must know God.
But I was leaning on the arm of the flesh. I was reading leaven instead of eating the True Bread that comes down from heaven. I was filling my head with "about-God" information instead of "knowing-God" revelation. I remember sitting in my study, surrounded by stacks of commentaries and Greek lexicons, feeling very "puffed up" by my knowledge. I could argue points of doctrine until I was blue in the face.
But you know what was missing? The power.
I wasn't seeing the signs following that Mark 16 promises. And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. (Mark 16:17-18 KJV).
I had to ask myself: "Conrad, are you a believer as defined by Jesus, or a believer as defined by your favorite commentary?"
Jesus corrected me through the lives of people like George Mueller. I realized that the "top theologians" of Jesus' day were the ones who missed the Messiah entirely. They had so much leaven in their system that they couldn't recognize the Bread of Life standing right in front of them. They used their "knowledge" to justify crucifying Him. Even today, I see Christians on social media using scripture to tear each other down, acting out of a leavened theology that honors God with their lips while their hearts are far from Him.
The Lord showed me that I needed to clear the house. I had to get rid of the "strange fire" of human opinion and get back to the protocol of the Word. I used to listen to all kinds of secular music and read thousands of self-help books. I eventually had to do what they did in the book of Acts—I had to have a bonfire. I burned the occult books, the rock CDs, and the carnal "wisdom" that was crowding out the Spirit of Truth.
Biblical References
We must understand that putting the Word in our heart is a proactive, intentional act. It’s not something that happens by accident while we are watching TV or scrolling through Facebook. The Psalmist knew this: Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee. (Psalm 119:11 KJV). He didn't say he hid his favorite podcast or a popular teaching about Jezebel in his heart. He hid the Word.
When we allow the leaven of human tradition to enter, it changes the "formula" of our faith. Look at what happened with Uzzah and the Ark of the Covenant. David, a man after God's own heart, made a mistake. Instead of having the priests carry the Ark on their shoulders as prescribed by the Law, he put it on a new cart—the way the Philistines did it! That was "man's way." It was leaven. When the oxen stumbled and Uzzah reached out to steady the Ark, he was struck dead. (2 Samuel 6 KJV).
Why? Because God’s presence cannot be carried by man’s inventions. It must be carried by the method God prescribed. When we try to "steady" the work of God with our own carnal reasoning or extra-biblical traditions, we are offering strange fire like Nadab and Abihu.
Jesus said, If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. (John 15:7 KJV). The key is His words abiding in us—not the words of a commentary, not the traditions of our denomination, but His pure, unadulterated words. That is where the "ask what you will" power comes from.
We are called to be a people of the Spirit. Jesus promised that when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth. (John 16:13 KJV). He didn't say the Spirit would guide you into all the best-selling books at the Christian bookstore. He said the Spirit would guide you into the Truth. Sometimes that means waiting on a revelation. Sometimes I’ll ask the Lord about a passage and I won't get the answer for years. But then, one day on a prayer walk, bam! The Spirit of Truth drops the revelation into my spirit in His perfect timing. That is so much better than reading a man’s guess in a commentary.
Key Takeaways
- Leaven is Doctrine: In the biblical sense, leaven often represents the extra-biblical traditions and teachings of men that puff us up and nullify the Word.
- Clear the House: Just as the Israelites had to remove all leaven for Passover, we must be willing to remove secular and carnal influences that compete with the Word of God.
- The Mueller Ratio: Consider the example of George Mueller—aim for a higher ratio of Bible reading compared to any other type of media.
- Unity through the Word: Division often comes from "denominational leaven." True unity is found when we stick to the pure "it is written" of the scriptures.
- Signs Follow the Word: Supernatural power is the fruit of the Word abiding in us, not of human theological expertise.
Conclusion and Call to Action
My friends, it is time to dig deeper and go higher. We have been settled on the lees for too long, eating the stale bread of human tradition while the fresh Bread of Heaven is available to us. I want to challenge you today to look at your "house." What are you reading? What are you listening to? Is there leaven in your system that is keeping you from the supernatural walk Jesus promised?
If you want to see the signs following, you have to follow the Word. Get back to the Bible. Read it until it starts reading you. Meditate on it day and night. Let the Spirit of Truth be your primary teacher. I promise you, when you start eating the unleavened bread of the pure Word, you will start walking in a level of freedom and power that you never thought possible.
If this message has challenged you or blessed you, please share it with your friends and family on social media. We need to get the leaven out of the Body of Christ! And if you haven't already, head over to ConradRocks.net and subscribe to the podcast. Let’s grow together from glory to glory, from faith to faith, and from revelation to revelation.
Until we meet again, dig deeper and go higher!
Action Items
- Audit Your Media: Take an inventory of what you read and watch this week. Identify one source of "leaven" (secular or extra-biblical) that you can remove to make more room for the Word.
- The 10-to-1 Challenge: Try the Mueller approach for the next seven days. For every page of a non-Bible book you read, commit to reading ten pages of Scripture.
- Scripture Memorization: Choose one of the verses mentioned today—like John 15:7 or Mark 16:17—and hide it in your heart by memorizing it word-for-word this week.
- Prayer Walk Inquiry: Ask the Holy Spirit a specific question about a difficult Bible passage, then resist the urge to look up a commentary. Wait on the Spirit of Truth to provide the revelation in His timing.
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