Jesus Christ tells us in Luke 6:45 ”The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.” In this thinking, we can come very quickly to the understanding of having a spring of life that comes from our hearts, with a life-giving flow that produces refreshment and is helpful for others to hear. Or we can discover that our words are issuing forth words that are like an acid that slowly dissolves the matter of life in each of us.
According to James 3:13-18, “Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. 14. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. 15. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. 16. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. 17. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. 18. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.”
This scripture shows that we can either speak with the language of God’s throne room, or the characteristics of our soul. Remember, our soul is our emotions, our personality, our character. If we are ruled by the soul and not our spirit man, we will have a heart that will have to battle with this at all times.
When we make Jesus Christ our King of all kings, we have a wonderful opportunity to have help from Holy Ghost as to keeping the heart with all diligence. This is part of the new covenant that is for us. This is why David wrote in Psalm 51:10 “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.”
I personally believe that David understood this concept and knew that we must always make sure to not let iniquities, evil thoughts, and soul decision-making camp itself inside of our hearts.
It is important to know, that if we are to be a victorious people with a destiny of life, success, and blessings, we have to now make sure that when words come into our lives, that they are not the of anger, hopelessness, envy, jealousy, sarcasm, cynicism, satire. I am not saying that we are to deny those words in the atmosphere, but we must make a choice to cancel them as quickly as possible in order to walk with a fullness of joy.
In Ephesians 4:29, the apostle Paul declares to us that we are to “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.”
Quite simply put, we are to not let words that can cause a decaying effect on a person’s life come out of our mouths.
Proverbs 18:21
“Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.” If we really pay attention to this in the word of God, we learn that quite honestly, we reap what we sow. I use the example of a banana split. If you enjoy different types of ice cream, with nuts, fruit, and syrup on it, and as you are eating your way to the bottom of the desert, you take a bit of the banana and you discover when you look at it, that it is rotten and there are worms in it. You will lose your appetite for that dessert no matter how well it looks on the top.
It is the same with our words. We may look like we have everything going our way on the surface, but again, as it says in Luke, our words in our hearts will determine who we really are. If you ever want to know how a person really is, just listen to their conversations for an hour, and you will know if this is the language of life or death.
When Paul wrote that we are to speak the words for building up, I think it is important to pay attention to the next part of his writing where he tells us, “as fits the occasion.” In my own interpretation, only say what is going to help in the moment with the person you are talking to. Bring forth the words of edification or instruction that will help them to move into gaining the ability by the Lord and you for knowing the grace that is on all of us.
Today in the body of Believers, we have not taken a time to measure the way we are with words and of the impact that they can cause on each of us. In many cases, the words of a person who is in the body of Christ are not any different than those who we are in contact on a daily basis outside of the church realm. And it is because of this shirking of our accountability for our words, that we are on the defense in life and not on the offense.
In order to gain the victory that we are to walk in, we must now determine that our words will not longer make us victims, but victors. In the book of Proverbs, we see the tongue (or tongues) being mentioned 19 times. Interesting when you consider that there are only 31 chapters in this book of wisdom. And upon further investigation, we can see that the word mouth is mentioned 36 times. It is important to pay attention to something when it is repeated several times. And for these 31 chapters to have so much with regard to our vocabulary and the tool that dispenses it, we have to know that there is a strong reason for taking action!
Did you know that our words can be used against us by the adversary of our souls and his army? And that he will use our very words to create permission slips to legally come against us and thwart our destiny, our joy, and our influence? The enemy of our souls has commissioned demonic scribes and unholy watchers to go about the lands where the believers in Jesus Christ abide. When they discover these people in the region, they first of all listen to the language that is spoken from their private times and their communication in general.
They legally do this by taking the scripture of what Jesus Christ said in Matthew 18:19 “Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.”
Remember, the enemy perverts the word of God as well as gifts from the Lord. What he does here is that he will take the first part of what Jesus Christ spoke, and they will use this as their authority to scribe what is spoken. Then the enemy of our lives will simply ignore the reference to God the Father.
When we realize that the demonic is for the most part about legalism, then we can understand why Jesus Christ is our Advocate and God the Father is Judge (1 John 2:1 - Christ Our Advocate - “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” Hebrews 12:23 God the Judge of all - “and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect,”)
What would happen if we were involved in a fellowship of saints that are so aware of their words that they only speak promotion, grace, and life? You and I would be a people who would be the solution to ending systemic poverty, victim mentalities, and victim declarations. We would be the fulfillment of what it means in Romans to be more than conquerors. We would always walk in the blessings of heaven on this earth and be consumed by them!
Romans 8:31-39 - “31. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32. He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33. Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. 34. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. 35. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36. As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” 37. No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39. nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
When we, as the people that are full of the power of the written word and the words of life, the enemy will not be able to make these permission slips that are currently in use against us bear fruit that is not in our favor.
So how do we turn the tables on this prowler? We first of all must initiate Matthew 10:16, which speaks out the command “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.”
We are to be going out against that which would oppress us and attack it before they even discover we are facing them. To do this, there must come a mentality of pursuing righteousness not only in our actions, but in the thought life as well. This is why, to be on the offense today, we must speak out “it is written; 2 Corinthians 10:3-6 “3. For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. 4. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. 5. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, 6. being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.”
It is in the understanding of placing the thought-life in subjection to obey Christ that we move from the defense to the role of offense. When we are acknowledging that Holy Ghost is leading us in our imaginations, we can know that we are becoming part of a group that will hear and know that the voice of the Lord is Thunderous and not mild. By placing the thoughts of our minds into obedience, we are pronouncing the word of God that says that we are in heavenly places now, ruling and reigning with Jesus Christ, as well as having his mind (Ephesians 2:6; I Corinthians 2:16).
Have you ever wondered how to remove the enemy from attacking you even when you start your day? First of all, we must no longer be passive in our daily living or take up the false and ungodly banner that says “the Lord gives and the Lord takes away”. That will promote in your life a mentality that speaks that you have nothing to say about the day. That is just not true. Our God, who is a covenant and caring Father, wants us to walk greater than His Son did on this earth (John 14:12 “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I yam going to the Father..”).
So we need to be warrior like in our actions, thought-life, and purposes. Each day it is about having the fullness of heavens instruments of battle at our disposal. To put it simply, as you start your day, you pronounce the written word of God as you choice of weaponry. This is because Hebrews 4:12 announces that “the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”
It is sharper than any two edged sword because even the sides, the curvature of the blade is sharp! That’s correct. It is sharp at all angles and can penetrate any wiles that would be used to halt the joy of the Lord coming to you in the morning. And the sword of the written word is a tactical answer to that which in the old days may have tried to defeat you in the times of rejoicing. Remember the word where it says, “This is the day that the Lord has made, let us REJOICE and BE GLAD in it” (Psalms 118:24)? We are to truly start the day with the spirit of joy, which is our strength. When we do this, we know that we will also have a request unto the Lord to completely fulfill all of that day that the Father in heaven made for us when we were still in our mothers womb(Psalm 139:13-18).
Now that we have a brief introduction into the wielding of the sword of the word of our God, we must pronounce Philippians 2:5-11 - “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” This is what we all declaring our righteousness in Christ! I have seen in the past when a person makes this proclamation, it causes the enemy to scatter as they do not want to hear about the King that they will one day have to bow to.
After declaring the truth of Jesus Christ in your personal life, take time to speak outloud Isaiah 54:17 “no weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed, and you shall confute every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD and their vindication from me, declares the LORD.”
We must train ourselves in the realm of the spirit to not wait for something to attack us. This has happened too many times in the past, and the Lord is not desiring for us to be defeated, but triumphant. The enemy will use the negative communication of others to speak against us. When we declare “it is written,” as our Lord did when He finished the time of fasting in the desert, we are moving forward with the proven message of truth that bears the fruit of life.
The evil that opposes us would use even our own tongues to stop us from doing all that we are to successfully do in the name of Jesus Christ. Many times people will confess that they are “sick and tired.” Then they wonder why, later on in the week , they get a cold or the flu or some infirmity. Then that very same person wants to take a nap because they are tired, and when they awaken, they cannot understand why they are still tired. Then they will pray for the Lord to heal them by His stripes. But instead of refraining from the sick and tired curse, they speak it again later. In this way, the enemy keeps us bedridden and non-aggressive. Yet, if we speak Isaiah 54:17 outloud, we will see this evil that the individual spoke go away.
So when it leaves, where does it go to? Hopefully the person will have spoken Ephesians 1:20-23 and commanded the evil that is harassing them to go under the feet of Jesus Christ!
Ephesians 1:20-23 - under the feet of Jesus Christ “that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21. far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. 22. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, 23. which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.”
This is where the body of Christ is to send the darkness that would torment, vex, or attack them. When we send the evil under the feet of Jesus Christ, we are taking no prisoners, and we are charging forward instead of playing hide –n– go seek with the operators of evil.
Again, I must point out that our words are the very keys to success in daily living. When you speak out words that will not bring life, you are in fact speaking into your life or someone else’s pre-mature death of destiny. I for one cannot have that in my life, as there is the strong desire to one day stand before our Lord and have Him tell me that I completed all that He desired of me.
Another aspect of being on the offense is to establish the fear of the Lord daily! This is essential in combating the curses and their spirits that are meant today to make a complacent body of believers. The fear of the Lord is a weapon that carries one into great offensive strategies and tactics that create an atmosphere for the anointing to constantly dwell around us.
The fear of the Lord is mentioned 24 times in the word of God, and there are such declarations of the fear of the Lord giving instruction, to places of refuge, safe homes, to long lives, and in one case of plundering all the cities because the fear of the Lord was on the army.
Proverbs 10:27 “The fear of the LORD prolongs life, but the years of the wicked will be short.”
Proverbs 14:26-27 “In the fear of the LORD one has strong confidence, and his children will have a refuge. 27. The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, that one may turn away from the snares of death”.
2 Chronicles 14:14 “And they attacked all the cities around Gerar, for the fear of the LORD was upon them. They plundered all the cities, for there was much plunder in them..)
In Acts 9:31, we read that because of the fear of the Lord, the church had peace and even multiplied - “So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied.”
When the fear of the Lord is established, the people who have it will hate sin, and will not in any way declare the words of death or entertain conversations that are contrary to the life producing unction of Holy Ghost in the believer’s life.
This offensive tool is to be utilized daily in the way that we live as a living testimony to those around us. If you are desiring to establish the fear of the Lord, know that according to the word of God, it is about the awe and reverence of God in our lives Psalm 33:8 - "Let all the earth fear the LORD; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him!"
When we have the fear of the Lord, our communication is so strong, anointed, and of life, that we gain an expectancy of Him confiding in us (Psalm 25:14 – “The friendship of the LORD is for those who fear him, and he makes known to them his covenant.”)
Next, in the gaining of the fear of the Lord, we discover the truth of Psalm 145:19 “He fulfills the desire of those who fear him; he also hears their cry and saves them.”
While there is much to be said about the fear of the Lord, we must stay on track here as the subject is about being on the offense when it comes to communication. But I would like to point out just one more scripture of major importance. In Deuteronomy 10:12, we discover that there is a list of priorities when it comes to the walk in the Lord. - "And now, O Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul." How many of us would have put the fear of the Lord as a top priority? In truth, the fear of the Lord will be obvious in what we speak out, and also in the way that our inflection is. When you are in the fear of the Lord, you have the tongue of the Lord, which Proverbs 8:13 says, "To fear the Lord is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech."
When a saint has the fear of the Lord, they are keenly aware that everyday their language must be that of an ambassador of heaven on this earth. In this reality, we discover that we are the mouthpiece of the Lord, and it is His heart that is being conveyed to those who hear us, whether it be the family at home, the body of Christ, our friends, co-workers or employees, they will discover quickly if our communication is about life or condemnation, hope or despair. What is yours going to be today?
I think three keys that are important in this ability of being on the offensive are as follows:
First of all, know when to speak. Proverbs 15:28 tells us “The heart of the righteous ponders how to answer, but the mouth of the wicked pours out evil things.” Proverbs 29:11 “A fool gives full vent to his spirit, but a wise man quietly holds it back.” It is a must that we know when is the proper time to give out the words that will be received and pondered.
Second, know the correct time to speak. Proverbs 15:23 “To make an apt answer is a joy to a man, and a word in season, how good it is!”
Thirdly, Colossians 4:6 gives us the kind of attitude that we should have – “Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.”
In this way, we not only tell the truth, but we have the heart of the Lord for the people that He gave His life for. You see, the Lord never wanted us to carry words of destruction, even if we want to say that it is for someone’s good. I have come to realize that if we are going to win this battle for life producing communication, we will have to really anticipate our mouths, tongue, and words to be dedicated to speak the identity of He who is in us, which we know as “Christ in us the hope of glory” - Colossians 1:27.
Comments
I am sending you an email to ask you to pray for my strength in the Lord and that the Holy Spirit will give me the strength to stand in these last days. Just as others I have been attacked day after day, I am in no way complaining,I am determined that no matter what,I am going to press toward the mark of the high calling in Christ Jesus. I have been hushed by my employees to be silent and not to preach,when all I said was that I was in agreement with someone that recieved good news,and I replied that that was such a blessing.This is just a dip in the bucket of other things that have been happening,attacked with horrible dreams,word curses,transferring spirits all around. I am sure we are all going through some testing times,but I also feel that we are being tested on how we will respond. So far I am doing much better than I thought I would ever be able to do,but this is why I am asking other prayer warriors to stay on the wall and help each other fight like never before. Thank You so much,praying for you and the family,that's right devil and soul,get underneath the feet of Jesus Christ NOW!!!!!!!!!!! God Bless,Shalom, Your sister in Christ Patti Walker Denver Colorado
I would greatly appreciate your prayers. I am fasting and praying for the next three days of my life. I need intercession to go forth on my behalf. As the prophets were appalled at Babylon and those who did not listen to the Lord's admonition again and again, I know that I am appalled at how much I have ignored the voice of the Lord. I have family and friends who are not supportive of me going into ministry and I was riding home from school monday afternoon and I saw a bird pecking at an animal on the road. The devil has gone far enough in my life and I am in a spiritual battle for my salvation. Please pray for me.