Living the Resurrected Life. The Testimony Part 2 The Voice of Power - David Mitts

““And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death.” (Revelation 12:11)

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Giving Opportunity Message

Recovering our voice is an important tool of the overcoming life. What does it mean to recover our voice? Our voice is named as our testimony. Our testimony is our statement of truth. Think of an auto accident that you witnessed. Your witness is only valuable when you testify of what you have seen, what you perceive as what happened or as you think of it as “the truth”.

To speak of the truth, you first must have witnessed the truth. Therefore, Yeshua told the disciples to tarry in Jerusalem to receive the Spirit and power to be a witness of the truth.

but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth."(Act 1:8 NASB)

The alternative to witnessing through the power of the Holy Spirit, a true testimony, is to witness based on the perceptions of the flesh. The Apostle Paul calls this “partial knowing”.

For we know in part and we prophesy in part; but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. (1Co 13:9-12 NASB)

Notice the connection between how we “know” and how we speak or prophesy. Partial perspectives lead to partial witnessing. Our word is our testimony. If we see reality through the filters of our past, our woundedness and the iniquity of our human experience, then we are prone to speak or witness out of that brokenness.

Paul describes that as an immature, childish kind of speaking. Think of the devastation that we generate in our own lives as a direct result of the devastation we experienced in our lives. Paul describes this as the knowledge of ourselves and others that resembles a dim mirror. It is at best a shadow reality. This He contrasts with the arrival of the “perfect” in our lives. By perfect, he can only be relating to Him who is perfect. I believe this is a reference to the power of the Holy Spirit that Yeshua released at Shavuot-Pentecost.

Receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit brings the power to be His witnesses. To be His witnesses we need to have our experience of Him transformed. You see the disciples knew Yeshua through their own filtered experiences. Peter for example, through that kind of knowing even declared, I don’t know Him!

But he denied it, saying, "Woman, I do not know Him." (Luke22:57 NASB)

After receiving the “perfect” power of the Holy Spirit, Peter changes His testimony to:

"Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know— this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. "But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power. (Act 2:22-24 NASB)

Peter was transformed from a partial understanding to speaking the true testimony that overcomes the accuser of the brethren.

In order for us to have the power to overcome, we need to speak by the power of the Holy Spirit. The old-time Pentecostals who moved in the powerful outpourings in the last century used to call this the unction to function:

As for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him. (1Jn 2:27 NASB)

What the Bible calls the anointing, it also translates as the Christ, or the Messiah. Yeshua is the Christ, the Messiah. Him living in us is Christ within or also called the anointing within. This is also the Holy Spirit within us. What John is emphasizing here though is beyond theology, it is relational. The relationship is about the truth, not lies.

Lies represents the distortions of the accuser, the Devil. He speaks to us through the culture of godlessness. Godless culture is lawless culture. It distorts everything and sells a doctrine of selfishness. Selfishness is an emphasis on lust which corrupts our lives and our voice or our testimony.

Peter describes this:

For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. (2Pe 1:4 NASB)

The divine nature Peter describes is the very same anointing, the abiding reality of His voice which leads us away from lust into true love. The alternate voice is the lust based voices of lust and coldness of heart and love.

Yeshua prophesied of these times:

"At that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another. "Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many. "Because lawlessness is increased, most people's love will grow cold.(Mat 24:10-12 NASB)

This is the atmosphere that seeks to corrupt the anointing, the witness of the Spirit, the truth of God’s promises and the reality of the goodness of God and of His kingdom.

In this way, we are like John the Baptist, as a voice crying out in the wilderness.

He said, "I am A VOICE OF ONE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS, 'MAKE STRAIGHT THE WAY OF THE LORD,' as Isaiah the prophet said." (Joh 1:23 NASB)

If we look at this reference in Isaiah it tells us:

"Comfort, O comfort My people," says your God. "Speak kindly to Jerusalem; And call out to her, that her warfare has ended, that her iniquity has been removed, that she has received of the LORD'S hand Double for all her sins." A voice is calling, "Clear the way for the LORD in the wilderness; Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God. "Let every valley be lifted up, And every mountain and hill be made low; And let the rough ground become a plain, And the rugged terrain a broad valley; Then the glory of the LORD will be revealed, And all flesh will see it together; For the mouth of the LORD has spoken." (Isa 40:1-5 NASB)

In this passage, we see the Lord declaring comfort to the people of Israel. This is the declaration of the Voice of The Lord through His Holy Spirit. Notice the connection between iniquity and warfare. The Lord declares that Israel has received a double for her sins. This is like a double in the spy world, someone who looks and acts as the original. This is atonement talk. Yeshua is the exact representation of the sin of the people. He who knew no sin became sin. In this way, His voice cries out in the wilderness of our world, clear the path for Him! The Glory of the Lord is being revealed!

As John proclaimed this scripture and as we proclaim it for the return of the Lord, an alignment with the testimony of the Lord comes forth.

This is how we begin to reclaim our voice to overcome the accuser. He accuses through a voice, a testimony by those whom Yeshua identifies as false prophets. The false prophets are the prophets of the devil. What is their message? His message. It is the message of sickness, death and destruction.

““The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came so that they would have life, and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10)

When you hear messages that proclaim loss of wealth, stealing, loss of life, killing, or loss of things that you hold dear like family or nation, destruction, know that the voice speaking is a false prophet.

Yeshua’s voice is the voice of the abundant life. The abundant life is the opposite of the devil life. It is the life of health and vitality. It is the life of wealth. It is the life of prospering families and prospering Godly nations.

You say but David, when I look around I see pandemic fear, rising costs, production delays, political chaos, etc. I say to you, that is the devil’s fruit of his false prophets that people love to listen to because it comforts them by the flesh. Yet the true comfort comes from the Comforter. His report is a different report. Like the songs says, “whose report will you believe?”. We answer by our testimony. I will believe the report of the Lord!