Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Word Revival


I call Psalm 119 (longest Chapter in the Bible) the Chapter of Word Revival. Whenever I to read that whole Chapter, it stirs up in me a new desire for deeper intimacy with the Word of my Father God. It’s so amazing that many people do not like reading that chapter of Scripture because it is a very long one (176 verses). We are, perhaps, too busy to spend that much time in the Word. When we start understanding that the Word of God is the only provision He has made for us to stay whole and deception-free on earth, we would give more attention to the Word. That’s the only way out – no short cuts! It is our responsibility to study the Word enough to be able to build our relationship with God because that is the only language Heaven recognises and the only material with which God works.

In Psalm 119, we see expressions that describe real hunger for Gods precepts, testimonies, statutes, judgements, etc which can be turned into prayers like the Psalmist did. He said: “Revive me according to Your Word” Vs. 25; “Strengthen me according to Your word” Vs. 28; “revive me in Your way” Vs. 37; “Revive me in Your righteousness” Vs. 40; “Revive me according to Your lovingkindness” Vs. 88; “O Lord, revive me according to Your justice.” Vs. 149; “Revive me according to Your Word.” Vs. 154; “Revive me according to Your judgements.” Vs. 156. Verse 100 hits very hard. It says “I understand more than the ancients, Because I keep Your precepts.” Meaning that the Word of God gives you experiential knowledge (the Greek is ‘ginosko’). You don’t have to practically experience things before you learn them, meaning you can avoid mistakes by simply keeping God’s precepts. The Word gives you an experiential knowledge before you get into matters which makes you successful all the way! ‘The ancients’ here refers to the aged. In the realm of the spirit maturity is not defined by age but by how much one does the Word and the results – proofs – he has to show from doing the Word. I advise that you take out time today to read Psalm 119, I believe the Lord wants to reveal something deeper to you about the relevance of His Word in simplifying your everyday life and making you more productive here on earth. Blessings!

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

SPEAK LIFE


If you knew that every word you ever spoke would become a reality, what would you rather speak? What would be your communication? If you knew you could create anything with your words, what would you rather speak? But that’s just the truth. Our words become reality in our sphere; our words created the things that now exist in our sphere. When God created man, He imparted the same word-ability He has in man so that he could continue the creation by calling forth those things that are not from the realm of the spirit into the physical world. So then you might be responsible for the good things or the mess in your life because of the words you have been speaking. The words we speak today create our tomorrow – that’s just how it works! The Word of God tells us in Proverbs 18:21 that “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit.” (NKJV). Years ago when I got to see this I changed my communication and made up my mind never to voice out the devils desires to make them a reality in my life. I would rather be silent about a matter than to co-operate with the devil to wreck my life!

The first thing you must understand about words is that there are only two kinds of words; life words and death words. The Words of God are life words. Jesus says, “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” (John 6:63). Words from the devil or from our negative experiences are death words. Words work for or against us. In every situation, we are faced with the choice to either speak life or death. It is important to know that every word you say is a tool in the realm of the spirit. When you speak life, you put angels to work on your behalf, but when you speak death, you give the devil a big opportunity to operate in your life. You get exactly what you say (Mark 11:23,24) – you harvest what you sow. Words are powerful seeds and they never die! Words are spiritual! Words are the coin of the realm of the spirit. Words are the seeds for change. If you don’t like what you are getting, change what you are saying! 1 Peter 3:10 says “For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile:”

Angels respond to The Word when spoken from the mouth of the saints and they see to it. Even so the devil listens for negative words to make them real. If the devil wants to attack a saint easily, all he does is to get him to talk negative so he could have a legal right to carry out his evil works in his life. The devil doesn’t have the ability to torment a saint without his permission. Many folks bind demons in their time of prayers and loose them with their words few minutes after the time of prayer. They bind sickness during prayer, then the next minute you hear them say “I am sick” – they give the devil a legal ground to afflict them. They empower the devil to work against them. They talk wrong and they are wiped! We must avoid dual confessions. When you declare: “by His stripes I am healed”, stay with that confession! Refuse to weaver or stagger at it, maintain the confession, do not cower in the face of opposing circumstances. The question you should ask is: “what informs my confession or communication – The Word or my experiences?” Philemon 6 declares “That the communication of thy faith may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus.” Always stand on The Word and make it your response to any situation. It is your responsibility to know what God’s Word says about the various areas of your life. If you are ignorant of The Word, you’d become vulnerable, you’d be limited in your faith confessions because faith begins where the will of God is known. What you say is the communication of your faith. Words build, words destroy!

In Hebrews 3:1, the Word of God tells us that Jesus Christ is the Apostle and High Priest of our confession. It says: “Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus,” (NKJV). What does it mean? It simply means that Jesus Christ Himself is the surety that the confessions of the saints (which line up with His Word) are a reality! Jesus takes our faith confession very personal. We must take this confession thing very seriously – it is everything! We see in Matthew 28:18-19 and Luke 10:18-19 that Jesus gave the Church the authority to act in His stead here on earth. It is important for us to know that there is no other way by which we exercise this power except through our words – faith-filled words! Ecclesiastes 8:4 says “Where the word of a king is, there is power: and who may say unto him, What doest thou?” That authority is exercised through our mouth – our words! Revelation 1:6 tells us that the Lord Jesus Christ has made us kings and priests unto God. Whatever you say about your life or situation is your confession about it and that word will stand, it will greatly determine how things would turn out for you. You don’t just say what you see; you say what you want to see. When the Word of God becomes real to us we would see things differently – from God’s perspective. It wouldn’t then matter how things appear in the physical. Romans 10:10 tells us that by our confession of Jesus Christ as the Lord, we are saved. This is the way other heavenly blessings are received, we believe in our hearts and confess what we believe with our mouth then we have it.

We must also be careful about the words that are released from our mouths towards others. James equates good communication with perfection. James 3:2 says “For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.” Also, Colossians 4:6 admonishes thus: “Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.” Our words can build or destroy, heal or afflict our hearers. We must think before we speak if we must always maintain good communication with people. I want to leave you with these words from Solomon: “Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin; neither say thou before the angel, that it was an error: wherefore should God be angry at thy voice, and destroy the work of thine hands?” (Eccl. 5:6). Blessings!