ubbs-2021-10-03.mp3

Leaves for Healing of the Nations (3)

(Audio)

David Eells - 10-3-21

 

CHAPTER ONE: Authority Over the Curse

 

We have been given authority over the curse and we must be careful what we do with it. “Authority” is “the right to use power.” Adam was given this authority and he lost it. (Rom.6:16) Know ye not, that to whom ye present yourselves [as] servants unto obedience, his servants ye are whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? 

 

The Bible teaches that the Lord Jesus was the “last Adam” Who came to restore that authority and we can tell by the awesome promises that He has given unto us. (1Co.15:45) So also it is written, The first man Adam became a living soul. The last Adam [became] a life-giving spirit. In fact, to most people, these promises are too good to be true and they say things like, “they had to be talking about someone else”; “we don’t experience them”; or “they were made toward the apostles in the past.” But, the truth is, He’s talking to you and me. 

 

The reason I know is because as I believed the promises, I started entering into them, as have many others. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. There is a saying that goes, “The guy with an experience is never at the mercy of the guy with an argument.” Folks, there are multitudes of Christians who are experiencing the authority and power of God and they are rejoicing. There are still people out there denying it, but it’s “to him that believeth” (Mar.9:23). (Heb.2:5) For not unto angels did he subject the world (Greek: oikoumene, “the inhabited earth”) to come, whereof we speak. Notice our dominion in this verse is not about the “world to come” but the “inhabited earth” here and now. In other words, God gave Adam and his seed authority. According to Psalm 8:6-8, he was given authority over all the works of God’s hands, over all of creation. 

 

So Jesus is not called the “last Adam” for nothing. He is the Father of the born-again creation and came to give us authority. What I want to go on to show is why we have to be so careful about this authority. (Heb.2:5) But one hath somewhere testified, saying, What is man, that thou art mindful of him? Or the son of man, that thou visitest him? Don’t be deceived here. “Son of man” is spoken not only toward Jesus; we also are “sons of man.” Jesus merely pointed out that He was the Son of God dwelling in the son of man and we are, too. The Bible says that He was made like unto us in all things. (Heb.2:17) Wherefore it behooved him in all things to be made like unto his brethren…. Jesus came as the Son of God in the son of man. 

 

When you accept the Word of God into your heart, that Word of God is Jesus Christ (John 1:1-14). He is manifesting more in you the more you accept and believe the Word. Why would God pay attention to us, the little ants that we are? Well, it’s because we are important to God. We are His sons, who represent Him on this earth and He has delegated His authority unto us. (Heb.2:7) Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; Thou crownedst him with glory and honor, And didst set him over the works of thy hands. This authority has been delegated not only to man but also to the Son of man; however, we know that this authority is only for those who are sons of the Son of man, Jesus Christ. Both the first Adam and the last Adam were given this authority. Yes, Adam received authority over the works of God’s Hands, but also Adam’s seed would have received this authority if Adam had not fallen into sin. Since our Lord Jesus didn’t fall into sin, He was able to pass on this authority to those who believe. 

 

It is very important to believe that you have this authority, but also that you renew your mind with the Word of God so that you know how to use this authority properly. Of course, it is the Word of God that gives you faith to exercise this authority. We are ambassadors of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:20), so we are here to exercise this authority, not for us, but for Him, according to His purposes. Many people want to take faith and the power of the Word to indulge their flesh because that’s what they’re interested in, but God is not. We are here to lose our lives in this world and God shall supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus (Php.4:19). But this is not for the satisfying of our lusts, since God wants our lusts to die. 

 

(Heb.2:8) Thou didst put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he subjected all things unto him, he left nothing that is not subject to him. But now we see not yet all things subjected to him. We don’t yet see this, but we are coming to the time when God’s people will stand as sons of God and manifest His power. The Word of God will be living in their hearts and that Word is Jesus Christ. He will be doing the works through them. As you put the Word of God in your heart and come into agreement with the Word, it is “Christ in you” that does the works (Colossians 1:27). It is “Christ in you” that lives the Christian life, and so on and so forth. We know this is true, based on what Jesus told us in the Scriptures. (Mat.18:18) Verily I say unto you, What things soever ye shall bind (forbid) on earth shall be bound (forbidden) in heaven; and what things soever ye shall loose (permit) on earth shall be loosed (permitted) in heaven. That’s real authority. 

 

You probably won’t have faith to do something really strange; most people don’t. So it’s the faith that causes you to be able to exercise the authority. However, quite often, unless you believe that it is something that is God’s will, you won’t have any faith for it. As you see, it’s not really dangerous for God to make statements like these, even though it may appear that way. Most people are not going to exercise faith in the Word, but the people who do will do it because the Word lives in them. If the Word lives in them, then it’s Jesus doing it, and if Jesus is doing it, then He’s doing it according to the will of God. That’s the way it works. God has given us His authority. 

 

I know that people say, “Well, that was only for the original apostles.” That doesn’t make any sense. (Mar.11:23) Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou taken up and cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that what he saith cometh to pass; he shall have it. “Whosoever” shows that He wasn’t only talking to His disciples and apostles at that time, but that He was talking to all disciples because disciples are the only ones who will take Him seriously and recognize this authority as a gift of faith. Again, Jesus was not only speaking to the apostles and disciples back in His time, but to anyone, from them to us, who believes he can have this authority. 

 

Is this just a silly statement that no one will ever really take Him up on? No! There have been many people who have commanded their personal mountains and giants out of the way. Multitudes of people have exercised this authority over Satan, over the flesh, over their circumstances and over the curse. God is faithful to stand by His Word, not because we deserve it, but due to His mercy and grace. He has said, According to your faith be it done unto you (Mat.9:29) and Go thy way; as thou hast believed, [so] be it done unto thee (Mat.8:13). “Whosoever” includes you and me and any other believer, so this authority has been put in our hands as sons of the last Adam, and not only given to those disciples in Jesus’ day, as some say. (Mar.16:14) And afterward he was manifested unto the eleven themselves as they sat at meat; and he upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them that had seen him after he was risen. (15) And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to the whole creation. (16) He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that disbelieveth shall be condemned. Jesus is referring to the disciples of the disciples. “Disciples” (Greek: mathetes, meaning “learner and follower”) are learners and followers of the Lord. He is our Master, our Lord, our Example, and He is the One Who does the works through us. (Mar.16:17) And these signs shall accompany them that believe: in my name shall they cast out demons; they shall speak with new tongues; (18) they shall take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall in no wise hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. 

 

Now we see that these signs will accompany those who simply believe and not only great apostles. That is authority! Jesus is giving authority to the people who believe these first disciples, or forefathers of Christianity, who wrote these pages to us. He has given us this authority to do good in the name of the Lord. Do you suppose we have this authority also to do evil? Is Satan taking advantage of those who are exercising faith that is not according to the Word? Yes, he is, and he receives his authority from us. All principalities and powers have been put under Jesus (Matthew 28:18), even “his feet” and we are “his body” (Ephesians 1:20-23). We have this authority but it can be negative or positive. For example, when the Lord brought His people out of Egypt and into the wilderness, they continued to speak negatively and exercise their faith in a negative way. Faith is just what you believe. You can believe what God has spoken to you or you can believe the things which you see in the world, but Jesus said, According to your faith be it done unto you (Mat.9:29). Faith is both negative and positive. Even fear is faith; however, it’s faith in the curse, or faith in reverse – having faith in adverse circumstances and in the devil. 

 

The absolute proof in the world is that what people believe happens to them. Doctors say that approximately 90% and higher of sicknesses are psychosomatic (Greek: psuche, meaning “soul” and soma, meaning “body”). This implies “soul over body” and your soul is your mind, will and emotions. Therefore, your mind, will and emotions are making your body sick. Can I say the doctors are wrong in stating that 90% and higher of sicknesses are psychosomatic? Yes, I can because that number is 100%. What makes people sick is what they believe. In fact, what you believe can kill you. As we saw in Matthew 18:18, you are the one who binds and who looses, and you are the one who creates your own future. You are the one who gives authority to the devil or gives authority unto God. 

 

Jesus needed authority but when He went to His hometown, he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief (Mat.13:58). They had authority to say no to God and they did; they did not believe in Jesus and His Gospel. They believed in the sickness and the curse and they spoke it. We can believe in the blessings of God and speak the blessings or we can believe in the curse and speak the curse. We will have what we believe because that’s the Word of God. (Num.14:28) Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord, surely as ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you: (29) your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, that have murmured against me. They complained to the Lord that they were brought out into the wilderness to die and the Lord heard this too many times. The Lord basically gave them what they said. The Lord still does this today and the Bible declares that He does. 

 

One of the fruits of a believer is that they believe in their heart and confess with their mouth (Romans 10:10). There are many people who profess to be believers, yet don’t confess their benefits in Christ, so God says what you say is what you will receive. (Num.21:5) And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, and there is no water; and our soul loatheth this light bread. What is “against God”? It’s when God has spoken these awesome promises and we think we know better and continue to agree with the curse. For example, the 10 spies who spoke and agreed with the curse and brought the bad report led to the threats made by God to those who believed those spies. Joshua and Caleb were the only two who brought the good report, in agreement with God’s promises. So, speaking against God can be more subtle than what people might think. When God says you’re healed and you say you’re not, then you will remain sick. When God says He’s taken away your sins but you confess what you see and feel in the world, you are speaking against God. (Num.21:6) And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died. 

 

Once again, what they spoke is what they got. I believe the fiery serpents represent the curse. The cure for this was that God commanded Moses to make a “fiery serpent” out of brass and put it on a pole, and as people got their eyes on the serpent on the pole, they were healed (verse 8). As we know, the cure was Jesus Christ, since He was the One made sin and was crucified on a cross. So we have a cure from the curse but we must confess God to receive this cure. Those who profess Christianity but do not confess the benefits of the Kingdom, so that the curse, which was put upon Jesus, doesn’t come on them, cannot gain the promises in Scripture without faith in those promises. Or, in other words, what we profess must be mixed with faith. (Num.21:7) And the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, because we have spoken against the Lord, and against thee; pray unto the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people. 

 

When people pray, God is merciful, especially if they believe their prayers. But do you have to continue to live under the curse? Is it necessary, when you can agree with God, to have the “fiery serpents” bite you? These serpents are the curse manifested in so many ways. The serpent is, obviously, also the devil, who is a vessel of dishonor that administers the curse on God’s people, especially when they don’t believe the benefits of God. Jesus told us, According to your faith be it done unto you (Mat.9:29) and Go thy way; as thou hast believed, [so] be it done unto thee (Mat.8:13). You can speak things into coming to pass. If you speak life, you receive life; if you speak death, you receive death. It depends on what you have your faith in. If your faith is in agreement with God’s benefits, then you receive those benefits. If you agree with what is in the world, then you don’t receive God’s benefits and have loosed the devil; you have loosed emissaries to continue to administer the curse on you. Many people are learning this and experiencing what I’m saying. This is nothing new but is the same Gospel which is from the beginning. 

 

We have to have a renewed mind so that we understand what to believe and what we should speak. Faith can be both positive and negative. (Pro.18:20) A man’s belly shall be filled with the fruit of his mouth; With the increase of his lips shall he be satisfied. Would you like your needs to be met because of what you say? We would like our lips to come into agreement with the Word of God and learn more and more to walk in His benefits by confessing Him before men. Jesus is the “High Priest of our confession” (Heb.3:1) and He offers that confession before the Father. As we confess Him before men, He confesses us before the Father (Matthew 10:32). The word “confess” (Greek: homologeo) means “to speak the same as.” There should be an increase in our lips; that is, we should learn more and more to agree with His benefits so we don’t have to continue to live under the curses of this world and give the devil authority over us. 

 

The devil is motivating many people to turn to God because he doesn’t understand this verse: (Mat.12:25) Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand: (26) and if Satan casteth out Satan, he is divided against himself; how then shall his kingdom stand? The thing that he does is just what we need, which is chastening, so we can repent, turn to God and agree with His Word and speak those things that are beneficial. If we believe in our heart and confess with our mouth the curse, then that’s just what we’ll have. But if we believe in our heart and confess the Gospel, the Good News, then that’s what we’ll receive. (Pro.18:21) Death and life are in the power of the tongue; And they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof. 

 

I remember back in Louisiana, where I came from, there was a church which had a minister who was preaching about death and how it was not to be feared. I know the church and its circumstances; the minister was actually going to show them how simple it was to die. He pulled up a chair, sat down and said it was as simple as going to sleep. He nodded his head and stayed like that for a while, until the pastor got nervous and went up to touch him on his shoulder, and then shook him. He was gone. He talked himself right off of this earth. There are some people who talk themselves right into the grave. Many people die before their time because their faith is to die; their faith is to be cursed and to receive the things that are around them. Their faith is not in what the Lord Jesus has given to them freely. Truly, “death and life are in the power of the tongue.” This is God’s Word and nothing is being taken away or being added to it. We need to agree with God’s benefits to have them and God will supply your every need to do His will, if you learn to agree with Him. 

 

The tongue doesn’t speak on its own. It gets its direction from your thoughts and the words that are in your mind. We need to watch our tongue so we can correct our mind. That’s one reason the Lord is telling us to be careful with what we say because when we are careful, we are correcting our thoughts. (Mat.12:34) Ye offspring of vipers, how can ye, being evil speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. If we want to speak good things, we need to put good things in our hearts and reject the other things that are there. I am sure that your mouth has spoken things that have slipped out, that you wish you hadn’t said. It’s an automatic thing with some people, but we need to slow down and give the Lord time to correct our thinking. Good people speak good things and bad people speak bad things. In some ways, we are both since we are both son of man and son of God, but we also have authority over that part of us which is still man. The Son of God in us has authority over that man. As the outer man decays, the inner man is renewed day by day (2 Corinthians 4:16). That spiritual man is taking over as we walk by faith and believe more and more of the Word of God and, as we do, more and more of Jesus Himself is being manifested in us and He is taking more and more ground from the enemy. 

 

(Mat.12:35) The good man out of his good treasure bringeth forth good things: and the evil man out of his evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. Those who get this revelation about the tongue spend much time talking about the tongue, but we must really begin with the heart. We have to repent – change our mind – and believe what the Bible says. Changing your mind and repenting is renewing your mind with what the Word says and agreeing with what it says, but we must do it enough so that it overcomes our natural thinking. Our natural thinking is killing us and all those whose tongues are connected to their natural man. (Mat.12:36) And I say unto you, that every idle (Greek: argos, meaning “unfruitful, barren”) word that men shall speak, they shall give account of in the day of judgment. 

 

The Lord obviously wants His Word to bear fruit in us, but there are many words that are unfruitful and don’t bear the fruit of Christ in us. Every idle word will bring judgment upon you. The day of judgment is not that day down the road, the corporate judgment, but it is the day of judgment that you come into. Your idle words, unfruitful or vain, will bring you into judgment. Many people have spoken the curse upon themselves, like the Israelites did. They confessed continuously that they would die in the wilderness and it happened. (Mat.12:37) For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned. The words that justify are those words spoken in agreement with God. They are words confessing Jesus before God and men, saying what He said and agreeing with what He has taught us in the Word and also by what He put in the disciples to teach us in the Word. We are accounted righteous, or justified, if we agree with God. But if we don’t agree, we fall under judgment, for “by thy words thou shalt be condemned.” If you disagree with God’s Word, it’s like calling Him a liar.

 

God told the Israelites that He was going to bring them to the Promised Land and they basically claimed that God was a liar and that He brought them to the wilderness to die. They spoke it from their mouth and He finally said, “as ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you.” There are a lot of people who don’t make it through the wilderness – what we call the “world” today. (Hos.4:6) My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge…. They agree with the curse and they receive the curse. It’s what they believe; it is their faith. There are people who feel very self-righteous in believing the curse. They believe they are too humble to be presuming upon God’s goodness to believe what God says is true of them. That’s not humility; that’s foolishness. Those people will receive exactly what they believe. We want to be justified, or accounted righteous, before God. (Pro.23:7) For as he thinketh within himself, so is he…. (Luk.6:45) The good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and the evil [man] out of the evil [treasure] bringeth forth that which is evil: for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh. There is a spring welling up out of every individual and some of those waters are good. The Bible speaks of water as the Word (Ephesians 5:26). 

 

The dragon also sent forth a stream of water to take away the woman (Revelation 12:15). So, the dragon also has words that he uses to deceive God’s people and the people of the world with. (Joh.7:37) Now on the last day, the great [day] of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. We are to drink waters, or words. (Joh.6:63) It is the spirit that giveth life; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I have spoken unto you are spirit, and are life. The Lord has given us supernatural words that are the promises or benefits that have been given in the Scripture. They are spirit and life. He tells us to drink of these words, which are spirit and life; it’s His water that He gives unto us. (Joh.7:38) He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, from within him shall flow rivers of living water. (39) But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believed on him were to receive: for the Spirit was not yet [given]; because Jesus was not yet glorified. 

 

The Scriptures are the words of life, from which the spring comes, and they who believe have them down in their heart and in their thoughts. The Spirit of God brings to our remembrance all things that He has said unto us (John 14:26). Many people have received this anointing whereby the Word of God, these words of life, come gushing forth out of their innermost being. They come forth out of us to meet the situations around us, so that we may share the Gospel with the lost and those speaking against their own life and to exercise authority. So out of you is flowing this river of living water. It’s God’s plan; He wants us to put the Word inside of us. He wants us to not deny any of the Word. He wants us to be justified, or accounted righteous, because of the words that are coming out of us, which will deliver us from destruction. 

 

When God is seated upon the throne of your heart, where all of your thoughts and words come from, then you have this river of living water. (Rev.22:1) And he showed me a river of water of life, bright as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb, (2) in the midst of the street thereof. And on this side of the river and on that was the tree of life, bearing twelve [manner] of fruits, yielding its fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. In the previous chapter, John speaks about the throne of God in the Temple of God. Where is the Temple of God? We are the Temple of God. God doesn’t dwell in temples made with hands anymore (2 Corinthians 6:16; Acts 17:24). His Throne is in our heart. This “river of water” is coming up across the “tree of life” and coming forth to heal the nations. This is what Jesus did and that’s what He called us to do: Let that river of living water, the words of Almighty God, come forth out of us and bring life to everything around us. 

 

The “tree of life” is the tongue: (Pro.15:1) A soft answer turneth away wrath; But a grievous word stirreth up anger. (2) The tongue of the wise uttereth knowledge aright; But the mouth of fools poureth out folly. We know that there is negative knowledge, called worldly wisdom, that the world passes on to everyone. Of course, if we don’t have this worldly wisdom, we’re on the outside looking in and the people around us may think we’re crazy. And when we confess God’s blessings before they are seen, the odds are good that people will look at us like we’re crazy. But God will not let us make fools out of ourselves because when we step out by faith in Him, He manifests His goodness. (Pro.15:3) The eyes of the Lord are in every place, Keeping watch upon the evil and the good. What doesn’t come out of your mouth and is not in your actions, He still sees. Not one hair on your head, or one sparrow, falls to the ground without Him knowing (Matthew 10:29,30). Nothing gets by Him and when we proclaim that we are now disciples of Christ, we are walking that crucified life. We’re giving up who we were and taking on what He is, and He expects us to do this. 

 

However, it is He Who does it in us and we can trust in Him, since it is by grace. (Pro.15:4) A gentle (Hebrew: marpe, meaning “healing”) tongue is a tree of life; But perverseness therein is a breaking of the spirit. Devastation and destruction come from a perverse tongue speaking against God. I would assume an overwhelming majority of what we call Christianity speaks against God every day and thinks nothing of it. They are speaking against His benefits, which we must receive by faith. So we do what God does: we calleth the things that are not, as though they were (Rom.4:17) and we agree with God, even though we don’t see it. This is God’s method of bringing the promises off of the page and into God’s physical creation. He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly [places] (Eph.1:3); but when we confess, it becomes ours in these physical places around us. And so, this river of living water should be coming over our tongue to give healing to the nations, just like it did with Jesus. 

 

It’s sad to say that sometimes it’s the old man talking and the river is a polluted river. Of course, we don’t want what the curse brings upon us; we want the benefits of the Kingdom. There is only one way to get these benefits and that is to believe in your heart, where that spring comes from, and to confess with your mouth as that river of living water passes over your tongue to your situations, to the world, to your body, to your children and so on and so forth. This is how it comes to pass. We see that the opposite can also come to pass. (Jas.3:10) Out of the same mouth cometh forth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be. (11) Doth the fountain send forth from the same opening sweet [water] and bitter? (12) can a fig tree, my brethren yield olives, or a vine figs? neither [can] salt water yield sweet. 

 

Many times the problem with our mouth is that a mixture of blessings and curses are coming forth. But with the increase of the lips, we should be growing with the knowledge of God in our heart, speaking and agreeing with this knowledge and denying those things that exalt themselves above the knowledge of God by casting them down (2 Corinthians 10:5). We grow into confessing God’s Word and into righteousness because He imputes righteousness when we agree with His Word. We should be growing into the sweet water, the river of living water coming up from us, and not a mixture of blessing and cursing. (Jas.3:5) So the tongue also is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how much wood is kindled by how small a fire! People think that the things that they say are insignificant and that they don’t count. Not so before God and, I might say, not so before the devil because he gets his authority from you. 

 

Remember, the devil doesn’t have authority, except what we give him. Jesus said that all authority hath been given unto me in heaven and on earth (Mat.28:18). And He put that authority under His feet and gave Himself to be the head of the body, the Church. (Eph.1:20) Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and made him to sit at his right hand in the heavenly [places], (21) far above all rule, and authority, and power, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: (22) and he put all things in subjection under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things to the church, (23) which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all. Who has the authority? Every principality and power has been put under the feet of Jesus, which is the lowest member of His “body,” so we have the authority. The devil has to get us to give him authority and, of course, he works constantly to sow the seed of the world into our hearts. 

 

That is what a harlot is – a person who receives the seed of the world in their heart, rather than the seed of the Kingdom. (Jas.5:6) And the tongue is a fire: the world of iniquity among our members is the tongue, which defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the wheel of nature, and is set on fire by hell. The tongue defiles the body when our faith is in what we are told by the world and by the devil; therefore, it is what we believe and what comes out of our mouth that defiles the body. The “wheel of nature” or, as otherwise interpreted, “cycle of life,” is sowing and reaping. You speak things that are a curse and cursing comes upon you. You speak things that are a blessing and a blessing comes upon you. There is a cycle that tends to be upward and a cycle that tends to be downward. (Jas.5:7) For every kind of beasts and birds, of creeping things and things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed by mankind: (8) but the tongue can no man tame; [it is] a restless evil, [it is] full of deadly poison. 

 

When one disagrees with the Word of God, it is a “deadly poison” and no man can tame the tongue, but the Lord can. The Lord has tamed the tongue and will tame the tongue. (Mat.15:11) Not that which entereth into the mouth defileth the man; but that which proceedeth out of the mouth, this defileth the man. It is what we say that defiles us and not what we eat; therefore, the curse comes because you agree with it and believe in it. However, when we believe the Word of God and the benefits of the Kingdom, we are accounted righteous and we are no longer under the curse because Jesus became a curse for us. Therefore, it’s what you believe and what you say that keeps you, as a Christian, under the curse or in God’s blessings. (Mat.15:18) But the things which proceed out of the mouth come forth out of the heart; and they defile the man. (19) For out of the heart come forth evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, railings. The spring comes forth from us. For instance, the germs around us do not defile us because we have to give the devil, or the curse, authority; however, the Scriptures say that they have no authority over us because Jesus has already overcome the world and He has borne the curse. (Gal.3:13) Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us; for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: (14) that upon the Gentiles might come the blessing of Abraham in Christ Jesus; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. 

 

Everything that you consider detrimental to your life in this world, both physically and mentally, as well as emotionally, are all considered the curse, but Jesus bore the curse upon Himself so we could be free. But to walk in this freedom, we need to confess Him before men and agree with His Word. He asked, Why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? (Luk.6:46). He was our example and, if we are a disciple, we are a learner and a follower of Him. We study Him in order to know what we should say, do and so on. People are defiled by what comes out of their heart, out of their thoughts, in words and over their tongue. They are made unclean and are cursed but God has a cure. 

 

We discussed the serpent on the pole, which represents Jesus Christ, Who gave His life for us, so we can see that Jesus is the cure. (Exo.15:22) And Moses led Israel onward from the Red Sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness, and found no water. (23) And when they came to Marah (Hebrew: “bitterness”), they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter: therefore the name of it was called Marah. (24) And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink? (25) And he cried unto the Lord; and the Lord showed him a tree, and he cast it into the waters, and the waters were made sweet. There he made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them. Remember what water is; God likes to hide parables in His Word and there is one in here. We read about the bitter and sweet waters, which represent thoughts and words coming out of your heart and over your tongue to the world around you. In this Scripture, the people murmured, or spoke, against Moses, who was led by God. So, in essence, they spoke against God. 

 

We have this miserable problem. We say things because of our old nature and they’re out before we can bring them back. We need a sacrifice because we need some way to conquer this tongue, since man cannot conquer it. The tree represents the Cross. What Jesus did was to make reconciliation. He gave us deliverance from this tongue, from this curse and from this old life. So now we reckon the old man to be dead and the new man to be alive, on account of what Jesus did for us on the Cross. He gave us death, burial and resurrection. Now we understand that the first thing that we need to do to turn our tongues around is to repent – change our mind – and agree with what the Word is saying about our circumstances, our families and those we have authority over, and to speak accordingly. The Bible tells us in Romans 12:1 that we present our bodies as living sacrifices, so we take part in the Cross, as well.

 

End of Part:1

 

CHAPTER TWO: Agreeing With God

 

We have discovered that coming out of the heart of man is a spring and its waters can be bitter or sweet. We also discovered that the sweet waters are the words we speak in agreement with the Word of God and are a blessing to the people around us. They are a healing to the nations and they spring forth out of our thoughts and hearts, and over our tongues to become words of life. Lastly, we learned that if we want to bring our tongue into submission, we must first repent – change our mind – and agree with the Word of God. In other words, we must ‘reprogram our computer.’ (Mat.12:36) And I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. In this Scripture, the Greek word for “idle” means “barren or unfruitful.” It is also used in James 2:20, which states that faith apart from works is barren. 

 

What is the fruitful work of one who believes? The most important work of one who believes is what they say. (Jas.2:18) … I by my works will show thee [my] faith. There are people who say they have faith, but their works don’t agree with this. That is not impressive to God, it doesn’t save and it won’t deliver. Remember, we give account in a day of judgment because of those idle, or unfruitful, words that don’t bear the fruit of Christ in you, the hope of glory (Col.1:27). (Mat.12:37) For by thy words thou shalt be justified (“accounted righteous”), and by thy words thou shalt be condemned. This should make us fear the Lord because God is telling us that what we say is very important and He will hold us accountable for our words. 

 

In some cases, if we are paying attention to what we are saying, as we read the Scriptures, we become aware that we are speaking contrary to what God is saying. We must understand that this contrariness is coming out of our heart and that we need to repent. Watching your tongue is watching your heart because your heart is where it’s coming from. (Rom.3:4) God forbid: yea, let God be found true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy words, And mightest prevail when thou comest into judgment. It is words that bring us into judgment, but it’s righteous words that are in agreement with God that cause us to prevail when we come into judgment because they justify us. These things should make us fear the Lord, depart from evil and train our lips. (Pro.18:21) Death and life are in the power of the tongue; And they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof. This can be just your death and life or the death and life of the people around you, as we saw in the last chapter. 

 

The tongue can bear either fruit unto death or fruit unto life. We are all going to prove whether we love death or whether we love life. We are going to eat the fruit of the one that we love. If you love life, you will obviously pay very close attention to what you say and you will begin to train your tongue to come into agreement with the Word of God. Our minds are like computers; they need to be programmed so that what we see on the monitor reflects something that is beneficial and a blessing. A computer by itself is worthless without a monitor. Basically, God is saying that the monitor is the tongue. It reflects what is inside the programming. If you say that you’re a believer and everything you say is contrary to what God says, then that’s a lie. We need to reprogram this computer so what comes out of our mouth is the Word of the Lord and is effectual in changing us and the world around us. 

 

The Bible says the tongue is like a rudder that is able to turn the whole body (James 3:4-8). It’s a very powerful tool that God has given us. (Rom.12:1) I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, [which is] your spiritual service. Obviously, we came here to die, just as our Lord Jesus did. It’s not necessarily physical, but it is spiritual, the death of the old man. It’s the death of the old tongue, too. That old tongue is a very destructive, powerful force that burns down great forests, according to James 3:5. (Rom.12:2) And be not fashioned according to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God. We must spend time in the Word of God so we can program it into our hearts and we have to put it in there often enough so that it begins to overcome what is already there. Some people touch the Word of God once or twice a week, but they don’t really put it in their hearts and minds enough to empower them to overcome and to bring it back to their remembrance. Wouldn’t you like to show forth what the perfect will of God is in your life? It’s not going to happen without renewing your mind. You will never walk in perfection without the renewing of your mind. 

 

According to James, it’s not just the mind, but what comes out of the mind that matters. In other words, it’s not just the computer but the monitor as well. (Jas.3:2) For in many things we all stumble. If any stumbleth not in word, the same is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body also. We have just discovered in Romans 12 that if we transform our mind, we will prove what the perfect will of God is in our life. We walk in the perfect will of God because we reprogram our computer, but James is telling us that faith without works is dead (James 2:17,26). Many people worry how they’re going to bridle this body or how they’ll bring it under submission to the Lord. If you’re worrying about that, then you don’t really have the Gospel down in your heart because the Lord has already taken care of it for you. All we need to do is exercise faith in what He has already done. 

 

(Jas.3:3) Now if we put the horses’ bridles into their mouths that they may obey us, we turn about their whole body also. If you have ever ridden horses, it’s amazing what that bit will do to make that horse turn. This great big horse is under the control of a little man. God is saying the tongue will do the same thing with your life. (Jas.3:4) Behold, the ships also, though they are so great and are driven by rough winds, are yet turned about by a very small rudder, whither the impulse of the steersman willeth. (5) So the tongue also is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how much wood is kindled by how small a fire! How do we steer this vessel with the tongue? First, we need the will to do this. He whom the Son sets free is free indeed (John 8:36). The Lord sets us free by giving us His will. Nothing can restrain God’s will. He does what He wants to in the armies of Heaven and upon the earth (Daniel 4:35).

 

We are frustrated because we have a schizophrenic will. His will is fighting in us against our will, but as we walk by faith, He works in us both to will and to work, for his good pleasure (Php.2:13). Then, when in this way His will has overcome ours, we are free to do what we like to do. Then His will in us will steer the body with the tongue. When we hear ourselves speaking words that do not line up with the Scriptures, we can back up and say, “No, I don’t like what I said there. I don’t accept that, Lord. Forgive me. I’m going to agree with your Word.” (Rom.3:4) God forbid: yea, let God be found true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy words, And mightest prevail when thou comest into judgment. Now, folks, we are about to come into judgment and some of you are in it and don’t even know it. And God is saying that the most important tool is a renewed mind speaking out of your mouth the Word of God. That’s the powerful tool that you have. 

 

Jesus and His disciples turned the world upside down with the things that they said (Acts 17:6). The things that they said, they commanded; and the things that they said agreed with the Word of God and brought repentance and deliverance. We have to change our mind and we must be careful about what we put in our computer. We must be anxious for nothing and let our prayers and requests be made known unto God with thanksgiving (Philippians 4:6). Paul tells us something about being at peace with what we put in our mind and what we program our computer with. (Php.4:8) Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honorable, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Everything we put in our mind is still there but recall is the problem. We don’t want to be polluted by the things of the world. We want to put things in our mind that will cause us to think and speak properly in agreement with the Word of God. 

 

We don’t want a leaven that leavens the whole lump. (1 Corinthians 5:6; Galatians 5:9). We don’t want to fill up our minds with the television, the things of the world and the love of the world. We want to fill up our minds with the Word of God, fulfilling His will and walking as a disciple. He tells us to think on the good things, not the bad news, not the conspiracies, not studying the false doctrines. The Gospel is the Good News and the power of God unto salvation (Rom.1:16). Paul tells us that I would have you wise unto that which is good, and simple unto that which is evil (Rom.16:19). In other words, stop studying the evil in the world and start studying the good because when you sow the Word into your heart, it brings forth Jesus Christ. That’s why we are told to “think on these things.” These things have the power to bring forth Christ in you and Christ in you can take care of evil so it will no longer be a problem or temptation for us. 

 

Christ within you cannot be tempted with evil. It’s the old man that can be tempted by evil; that’s the part that needs to die. So think on the good things, the things that are true, honorable, just, pure, lovely and the things of good report. (Php.4:9) The things which ye both learned and received and heard and saw in me, these things do: and the God of peace shall be with you. We have been given awesome examples, not only in Jesus, but in the apostle Paul and many others. They’ve gone out before us, filled with the Word of God, the love of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Spirit of God. It’s a death experience of self, but it’s a resurrection experience of Jesus Christ living in us. He wants to use our tongue to do the same thing that the tongue of His first body did, which brought deliverance and blessing to the world. It turned not only the body but everything around them. In order to do that, we have to fight this warfare that we’re called to fight. He tells us that this warfare is not of the flesh. (2 Co.10:3) For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh (4) (for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty before God to the casting down of strongholds). 

 

One of those weapons, the most important one, is the tongue. When you agree with the Word of God, you are accounted righteous. Then you are entitled to the benefits of the Kingdom. One of the benefits is the reconciliation, which is the exchange between you and the Cross. God has taken away your sins, your sinful life and your sinful tongue and has nailed them on the Cross. He has taken the righteousness of Jesus Christ and has given it to you. Now He’s given this to you as a benefit but, in order for you to receive this benefit, you must be accounted righteous. That’s why you speak what the Bible says about you. For instance, you were crucified with Christ and it’s no longer you who lives, but Christ Who lives in you (Galatians 2:20). Can you confess that? You might think that people may think you are proud but it makes no difference. This is what the apostle Paul taught us to believe, think and speak. We don’t live anymore; Christ lives in us. That’s the Good News, which is “the power of God unto salvation,” but if it doesn’t come out of our mouth, it’s not going to work. 

 

We have to agree with the Word and refuse to say anything that is contrary to the Word. There is no fruit in speaking contrary to the Scriptures; they are “idle” words. (2 Co.10:5) Casting down imaginations (Greek: logismos, meaning “reasoning”), and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God, and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. The more we are able to do this, the more we’ll be able to speak good things. The more we speak good things, the more our heart is going to change. Remember, the tongue has the power to turn the whole body (James 3:2,3). If we agree with the Gospel, we’re entitled to the benefits. If we’re entitled to the benefits, Christ’s life is our life. His life in us can discern and judge correctly. (2 Co.10:6) And being in readiness to avenge all disobedience, when your obedience shall be made full. Don’t worry about this. Leave that until Christ is manifested in you. He’ll take care of it. He can judge and we can’t. So we need to rest and trust in Him. We need to renew our mind so that our mouth will say good things. 

 

At the same time, we need to study the Word and begin to say these things because our tongue is the pen of a ready writer (Psa.45:1). We can write the Word of God upon our hearts. We can speak these things down into our hearts so that they come out of us naturally and they will turn our vessels like a rudder turns a ship (James 3:4). (Pro.4:20) My son, attend to my words; Incline thine ear unto my sayings. Obviously, we have to pull away from the world, if the Word of God is going to be important to us. If the world is more important, God knows it and it will be proven by what we say. (Pro.4:21) Let them not depart from thine eyes; Keep them in the midst of thy heart. Think on them, meditate on them. We know that we love the Word when we wake up in the morning and the first thing we think about is God. (Pro.4:22) For they are life unto those that find them, And health to all their flesh. If we want life, we must devote ourselves to the Word of God. Put aside everything else that is a distraction. 

 

The Bible says that He sent His Word and it healed them (Psalm 107:20). The Word of God is health; it will deliver us from the curse of this world. (Pro.4:23) Keep thy heart with all diligence; For out of it are the issues of life. There it is again. Out of your heart are the issues of your own life. In other words, be careful what you put into your heart because what you’re putting in is what’s coming out. (Pro.4:24) Put away from thee a wayward mouth, And perverse lips put far from thee. Put away a mouth that is “out of the way” or not in “the Way.” The Book of Acts called it ‘the Way' (Act.9:2). We are to follow Christ in the Way that He has said to follow Him. His very life is our example, for He said, I am the way (Joh.14:6). (Pro.4:25) Let thine eyes look right on, And let thine eyelids look straight before thee. (26) Make level the path of thy feet, And let all thy ways be established. In many ways, we go somewhere with our eyes before we go with our feet. If we have wayward eyes, we will have wayward feet. Eyes are windows to the heart, which rules our feet. (Pro.4:27) Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: Remove thy foot from evil. (Pro.5:1) My son, attend unto my wisdom; Incline thine ear to my understanding: (2) That thou mayest preserve discretion, And that thy lips may keep knowledge. We need to be careful to agree with God. 

 

The High Priest of our confession is Jesus Christ (Hebrews 3:1). “Confession” comes from the Greek word homologeo, meaning “speaking the same as.” He offers our confession before the Father (Matthew 10:32). It is very important that you are confessed before the Father. If you “speak the same as” Jesus, He’s going to speak that to the Father and the Father will deliver the benefits that are needed. We may say things that are acceptable to the world but rejected by the Kingdom. (Pro.5:3) For the lips of a strange woman drop honey, And her mouth is smoother than oil. In this verse, He is talking about the Harlot. Some of you know about the Harlot because you have come out of harlot churches. “The lips of a strange woman” are sweet to the flesh but not to the spirit. When we find God’s words, they’re sweet in our mouth but bitter in our belly (Revelation 10:9). The flesh doesn’t like God’s Word. Let not God speak with us, lest we die (Exo.20:19), was what the Israelites said when they were at the foot of the mountain. When we receive His Word into us, the old life dies and that old harlot will die in us, too. (Pro.5:4) But in the end she is bitter as wormwood, Sharp as a two-edged sword. (5) Her feet go down to death; Her steps take hold on Sheol. 

 

Apostate religion doesn’t lead us to anywhere but death; it’s a deception, a strong delusion. We want to come out from among her (Revelation 18:4) and come into agreement with the Word of God, where God says we’re righteous. We need to be justified in our words and prepared to go into judgment because we are ready to conquer, not be conquered. We need to keep the lips of life, the words of life. Now we can go to God. You may lament, as Isaiah did, that you are a person with unclean lips and dwell in the midst of others with unclean lips (Isaiah 6:5). Well, the Lord will help you. If this is important to you and you want to live a holy life, He’s listening, so pray. (Psa.141:3) Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth; Keep the door of my lips. “Lord, don’t let unclean things come out of my mouth.” You pray that and believe it. It’s all by grace and not by your works. 

 

We learned that the tongue can no man tame (Jas.3:8). It’s the Lord Who tames the tongue. First, you need to repent. You need to know that you need to agree with Him and in agreeing with Him, you can walk together with Him. (Amo.3:3) Shall two walk together, except they have agreed? The Lord is going to be with you in this; just agree with Him. It’s your faith; it’s not your works. King David understood that it’s by grace. He knew that he must trust in God to tame his heart because He’s the only one Who can. (Psa.141:4) Incline not my heart to any evil thing, to practice deeds of wickedness With men that work iniquity: And let me not eat of their dainties. David wanted a heart that was in agreement with the Word of God, so that what he said was in agreement with Him and, thus, he was doing His work. Your heart teaches your mouth and your mouth gives grace to your heart. We are commanded to teach our mouth. (Pro.16:20) He that giveth heed unto the word shall find good; And whoso trusteth in the Lord, happy is he. (21) The wise in heart shall be called prudent; And the sweetness of the lips increaseth learning. 

 

We see in Exodus 15 that when Moses and the children of Israel were going into the wilderness, they went to Marah (Hebrew: “bitterness”). They couldn’t drink the bitter water there because it was death to them; it was killing them. Think about that. The words coming out of their mouth are killing God’s people. (Mat.15:11) Not that which entereth into the mouth defileth the man; but that which proceedeth out the mouth, this defileth the man. It’s the spring that comes from out of man that is both blessing and cursing. (Jas.3:10) Out of the same mouth cometh forth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be. (11) Doth the fountain send forth from the same opening sweet [water] and bitter? Out of the same mouth should not come forth sweet water and bitter. So “the sweetness of the lips” here is referring to the words transformed from a renewed mind and in obedience to the Word of God. 

 

If you speak the Word of God, it will increase your life. (Pro.16:22) Understanding is a wellspring of life unto him that hath it…. How is that? It’s because what we understand comes out of our innermost being and flows right over our tongue. Jesus said, It is the spirit that giveth life; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I have spoken unto you are spirit, and are life (Joh.6:63). (Joh.7:38) He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, from within him shall flow rivers of living water. (39) But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believed on him were to receive … How is it that the Spirit gives us these living waters? Well, as Jesus said, “the words that I have spoken unto you are spirit, and are life.” These words go into us and, as they do, the Holy Spirit brings to remembrance all things He said unto us (John 14:26) and brings them out of us. Many of you have felt that anointing to speak to people and it is really sweet when you are able to give them a good word, something that they need. It comes flowing out of you; it touches their heart and you are overjoyed by that. That’s that wellspring of life coming out of you and God has a lot more of that for us. 

 

We need to instruct our mouth. (Pro.16:23) The heart of the wise instructeth his mouth, And addeth learning to his lips. It’s very important that we come into agreement with God. We need to train our mouth and we can get our friends, our mate or our children to help us do it. We need to help each other to say things that are in agreement with the Word of God. 

 

In Numbers 30, the Lord explains that a husband in authority can disallow, or not accept, rash utterances spoken out of a wife, so don’t be offended if someone helps you. Sometimes we make mistakes and we need to back up and say, “Lord, forgive me. I don’t want to talk that way. I want to agree with Your Word. I want to speak the blessing and not the curse.” (Pro.18:21) Death and life are in the power of the tongue…. It’s supernatural. When we speak the Word and calleth the things that are not, as though they were (Rom.4:17), we may be speaking something that we can’t see with our eyes, but our tongue has the power to bring it to pass. God hears our tongue and He hears that we are agreeing with Him and so He imparts grace. (Pro.16:24) Pleasant words are [as] a honeycomb, Sweet to the soul, and health to the bones. Your life proceeds from your bones, from the bone marrow where your blood is made. Speak and agree that you are blessed, healed and delivered from the curse of the world, so God can bring it to pass. Your faith goes up to God through the “High Priest of our confession,” the Lord Jesus Christ (Hebrews 3:1). When we speak in faith, He offers this before the Father (Matthew 10:32). It’s our sacrifice. We are sacrificing the old life when we say these things because they are contrary to our old life and our human nature. Then the Lord Jesus will offer these words of faith before the Father and we will receive His grace for it to manifest. 

 

(Pro.15:28) The heart of the righteous studieth to answer; But the mouth of the wicked poureth out evil things. Study the Word to know how to answer people and how to agree with God in faith. People wonder how they can answer others when believing with God in faith that they’re healed and others can see that they are not. Remember what Jesus said: (Mat.10:32) Every one therefore who shall confess me before men, him will I also confess before my Father who is in heaven. “Confession” means to “speak the same as.” The Word says by whose stripes ye were healed (1 Pe. 2:24). Are you going to confess that? Are you going to confess that you believe God and that you trust His Word? Will you confess before men, “I’m not walking by sight; I’m going to accept His healing”? When people do that, they see miracles and power. And if you will do the same thing with your soul, if you will reckon ye also yourselves to be dead unto sin, but alive unto God (Rom.6:11) and begin to speak it out of your mouth, God will give you grace. It’s not because you’re trusting in your power, but in His power. You’re coming into agreement with Him and you’re walking together with Him. 

 

Many Christians are wicked. They do not agree with God and are contrary to His Word. They are calling God a liar every time they open their mouth. God is our Savior and He has already taken care of these things. He has delivered us, healed us and He has blessed us. He is our Savior in all things and He will protect us under the shadow of His Wings (Psalm 17:8). Who are the righteous? The word “righteous” in the Hebrew is equivalent to the same word in the Greek for “justification.” (Rom.3:4) God forbid: yea, let God be found true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy words, And mightest prevail when thou comest into judgment. 

 

The person who is righteous (justified) is determined to agree with God. We need the justification of the Lord to prevail in judgment. The person who is walking in the light, as He is in the light (1Jn.1:7), receives understanding from God. He wants to agree with the Word and speak it as much as God wants to hear it. The Lord doesn’t hold anything against us; rather, it is the words that we are speaking that are bringing us under the curse. Therefore, as we add understanding to our soul and learning to our lips, and as we begin to speak in agreement with what the Bible says, then we will come out from under the curse. That’s God’s plan. We need to learn to be quiet in many instances until we can speak the Word of God. 

 

We’re far too impulsive. People who are ruled by their emotions are impulsive and often say things that they wish they hadn’t. Whenever this happens, we need to repent quickly before God teaches us a lesson. This takes practice. (Ecc.5:1) Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God; for to draw nigh to hear is better than to give the sacrifice of fools (to speak impulsively): for they know not that they do evil. We know that we are the house of God and everywhere we go we need to keep our walk and our mouth humble. This is especially so in the midst of the brethren. It’s better to hear than speak “the sacrifice of fools,” which is speaking rashly out of your mouth. This also includes speaking of things that we don’t know about. Even Job, who was a perfect and upright man (Job 1:1,8) in the eyes of the Lord because he was justified by faith, spoke things he didn’t know about and repented “in dust and ashes” for the self-righteousness that was coming out his mouth (Job 42:1-6). It would be better if we would learn to be quiet and speak when spoken to by the Lord. (Ecc.5:2) Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thy heart be hasty to utter anything before God; for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few. 

 

God is an awesome Ruler and He doesn’t get the respect that He should get from us. (Pro.9:10) The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom…. I like to speak and teach the Word of God a lot because you can’t really improve on what the Lord has already said. Anybody who tries is probably getting into some bad areas. Let your words be few. Since God is on the Throne, He is sovereign and a man can receive nothing, except it have been given him from heaven (Joh.3:27); and He worketh all things after the counsel of His will (Eph.1:11). We need to be careful of what we say in front of Him. We need to honor Him, humble ourselves and just keep the old flesh silent. You let the flesh talk and soon he thinks he has a right to, but he doesn’t have a right to talk since dead men can’t speak. Your flesh doesn’t have any rights in this world anymore. (Rom.6:11) Even so reckon ye also yourselves to be dead unto sin….

 

I remember what a brother told me years ago: “You take a dead man and slap him on the cheek, he turns the other way.” With the tongue, it should be the same thing: shut up and let the Word of the Lord come forth out of your spiritual man. (Mat.12:37) For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned. Now, some people think that this is referring only to speaking “ugly” or speaking curses. Well, anytime we disagree with the Word of God, it’s a curse. Jesus said, if we aren’t for Him, then we are against Him (Matthew 12:30; Luke 11:23). We are either in agreement with Him or we are not. There is no gray area. 

 

I’m not saying that we necessarily have to quote the Word of God but we should be in agreement with it. This is pleasing to our Father. Power is coming forth out of us when we are in agreement with the Word. This power is healing the sick, delivering, turning our heart and so on, but our words should be few. (Pro.17:27) He that spareth his words hath knowledge; And he that is of a cool spirit is a man of understanding. Learn to be quiet. You can’t hear anything when you’re talking. You want to listen to the Holy Spirit. He knows what’s going on around you and knows what’s there before you get there. We need to listen to Him. (Pro.17:28) Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise; When he shutteth his lips, he is [esteemed as] prudent. This gives hope to each of us. God at least imputes some righteousness for being quiet! (Pro.10:19) In the multitude of words there wanteth not (no lack of) transgression; But he that refraineth his lips doeth wisely. In other words, if you talk a lot, there is a likelihood that you are doing a lot of sinning. 

 

A person who talks all the time because they just enjoy hearing themselves talk should be careful. (Pro.10:20) The tongue of the righteous is [as] choice silver: The heart of the wicked is little worth. The righteous choose what they’re going to say. Their words are valuable, like silver. (Pro.10:21) The lips of the righteous feed many; But the foolish die for lack of understanding. Spiritually and physically, our words are powerful. 

 

In the coming wilderness, we will see how spoken words are going to deliver to us everything that is needed and necessary for life. The righteous are once again going to live by faith in the days to come because God is designing it that way. (Pro.29:20) Seest thou a man that is hasty in his words? There is more hope of a fool than of him. Why is it that a person is hasty and speaks before he thinks? They’re ruled by their emotions and not ruled by the Spirit. People who are ruled by the Spirit are listening a lot. They want to know what God has to say and what He wants to say through them. They want to know what the Word of God has to say and they want to speak from the renewed mind. (Pro.21:23) Whoso keepeth his mouth and his tongue Keepeth his soul from troubles. 

 

We can ask the Lord to put a watch before our lips (Psalm 141:3) but, at the same time, we need to restrain words and thoughts that are of the world. When you get in among worldly people, if you are apt to join them in speaking in their worldly ways, the best thing to do is repent and separate yourself from them until you’ve broken that habit. And begin to get in the Word of God and train your lips; give knowledge to your lips. The trouble comes out of your mouth. You agree with the curse, you get the curse and give it to everyone around you. You agree with the blessing, you get and give the blessing to those around you. We must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to wrath. (Jas.1:19) Ye know [this], my beloved brethren. But let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: (20) for the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. 

 

If we will slow down and give up impulsiveness, we will have time for the Holy Spirit to speak to us. Our conscience will guide us if we are slow to speak. The impulsiveness does not come from a Spirit-led life, but comes from a fleshly-led life and from the impulsiveness of emotions. The Lord wants to wean us away from being ruled by emotions. Sometimes God has to do things to stop us from speaking because He has an agenda that He wants accomplished. We are supposed to be His vessels through whom He speaks this agenda and, if we speak contrary to that, we can hinder it. I think that’s one reason Jesus put people out of the room when they spoke unbelief, so that He could perform a miracle. He didn’t want anyone speaking against it, nor did He want to give any credit to their foolish talk with this miracle.

 

In the story in Luke, Zacharias, the priest, was promised a miraculous child, John the Baptist. The problem was Zacharias spoke against it. (Luk.1:18) And Zacharias said unto the angel, Whereby shall I know this? for I am an old man, and my wife well stricken in years. (19) And the angel answering said unto him I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence God; and I was sent to speak unto thee, and to bring thee these good tidings. In other words, “Don’t you have any respect? They are the words of the Almighty God.” We should have some respect but Zacharias wasn’t having any respect. He was questioning whether the blessing would be fulfilled. The angel was in the presence of God when he had given him this blessing. (Luk.1:20) And behold, thou shalt be silent and not able to speak, until the day that these things shall come to pass, because thou believedst not my words, which shall be fulfilled in their season. The Lord had to shut him up. Zacharias was speaking a curse and he was going to hinder the blessing. 

 

God stands behind His Word and when He says that what you say makes a difference, He means it. Not that you’re so great, but that He has given us authority on this earth to do these things. The Lord has delegated His authority and He’s not taking it back. Jesus came to show us how to do mighty works and people may think that He was an exception since He was the Son of God. (Joh.5:27) And he gave him authority to execute judgment, because he is a son of man. He was given this authority because He was Son of man. Why? Because God gave authority on earth to man. (Psa.8:4) What is man, that thou art mindful of him? And the son of man, that thou visitest him? (6) Thou makest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands…. God has given authority on this earth to man and that’s why He wants to move through man, just as He moved through Jesus, the Son of man. Now, Jesus had authority to exercise judgment because He was the Son of man.

 

The sons of God – those who, like Jesus, are manifesting their Sonship – exercise authority through the sons of man. Zacharias was given authority to execute judgment or blessing, depending on what came out of his mouth, but he didn’t believe and negative words came out of his mouth that were hindering God. How can man hinder God? It’s because God has given authority and He won’t take it back. However, sometimes He has to move people out of the way in order to do what He wants because they are just a hindrance. We want God to be able to speak through us these blessings, miracles, signs and wonders. 

 

Everything Jesus did He spoke before it came to pass and we do, too. We need to call the things that are not, as though they were (Rom.4:17); we need to speak them before they happen. Jesus wants to be able to do this through us but we can’t speak against what His will is because, if we do it with our authority, something negative will come to pass. Sometimes the Lord has to move us out of the way and use someone else. Sometimes being moved out of the way isn’t pleasant; it wasn’t for Zacharias, since he lost his tongue for a while.