Living the Resurrected Life. The Testimony Part 5 The Voice and Intentional Speech, Influencing Our Reality - 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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We overcome through the blood of the Lamb, our testimony and not loving our own lives even when faced with death. We have been focusing on the power of our testimony, the words we use to connect with the power of our salvation, our healing and deliverance from the bondage of the world system.

The world system throws us into confusion. It does this by overwhelming us with many voices. The word confusion comes from the Latin root, “confusio”, which means to mix together. We get into confusion when we mix the holy with the common. Distinctions disappear into the mess and our thinking and actions become muddy. The scripture tells us:

for God is not a God of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints. (1Co 14:33 NASB)

This verse is in the context of our speaking, what the Bible calls prophesying. Let’s back up a few verses and see what generates this powerful description of God as the author not of confusion but of peace, or shalom.

What is the outcome then, brethren? When you assemble, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification. If anyone speaks in a tongue, it should be by two or at the most three, and each in turn, and one must interpret; but if there is no interpreter, he must keep silent in the church; and let him speak to himself and to God. Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others pass judgment. But if a revelation is made to another who is seated, the first one must keep silent. For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all may be exhorted; and the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets;(1Co 14:26-32 NASB)

The guidance is for intentional speech. The intent is for the building up of the body. The opposite of intentional speech is confusing speech, where the speaking loses its distinctiveness and becomes a generalized conversation which provides no true guidance.

I have had the privilege of prophesying over the years for many individuals. What I have noticed is that when the prophetic word resonates with the uniqueness of the individual and they know that they have been known by God, personally and uniquely, then the release of His power is made manifest.

This release brings a clarity and a peace to the listener. It dispels confusion which is the feeling that we are insignificant and just a part of the mass of humanity. The holiness of our lives as unique expressions of God’s glory disappears, we feel insignificant.

Alternatively, when we feel that we are “known” uniquely by God then we are free to be ourselves and feel treasured as who we are. This is the power of intentional speech. It brings a peace to the listener who receives it or if not received then it acts as a sword dividing and revealing what intentions of the heart are at odds with the intentional speech. The writer of Hebrews describes this process:

Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience. For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. (Heb 4:11-13 NASB)

The “rest” He is describing is what occurs when we listen with intention to intentional speech, what is described in the bible as hearing with faith. None of us are hidden to Him. He speaks to us and encourages us to speak with intentional speech. His word is living and active and can cut us to the core revealing our intentions. The good news is the intentions when revealed can bring us back to love through repentance.

Repentance leads us to peace, shalom. This explains the instructions to the disciples.

These twelve Jesus sent out after instructing them: "Do not go in the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter any city of the Samaritans; but rather go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. "And as you go, preach, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand.' "Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. Freely you received, freely give. "Do not acquire gold, or silver, or copper for your money belts, or a bag for your journey, or even two coats, or sandals, or a staff; for the worker is worthy of his support. "And whatever city or village you enter, inquire who is worthy in it, and stay at his house until you leave that city. "As you enter the house, give it your greeting. "If the house is worthy, give it your blessing of peace. But if it is not worthy, take back your blessing of peace. "Whoever does not receive you, nor heed your words, as you go out of that house or that city, shake the dust off your feet. "Truly I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city. (Mat 10:5-15 NASB)

This instruction set is all about intentional speech. The disciples are tole to preach, saying the kingdom of heaven is at hand. The outflow of that intentional speech is the ministry of healing the sick, raising the dead, cleansing the lepers and the casting out of demons. These flow out of intentional speech. What also accompanies intentional speech is gratitude on the part of the receivers. This is expressed through support for the ministry. An interesting caveat is the issue of household worthiness. Clearly these homes have distinguished themselves in the speech of the people. People know them as worthy.

The disciples are instructed to give these homes the shalom. These homes are truly worthy if they receive the shalom, which is the peace that comes from their receiving the intentional speech, the announcement of the kingdom.

In these times of great confusion, what will separate us from the mix is the proclamation by intentional speech. Satan is the author of confusion. He does that through deceptive and misleading speech. Yeshua describes the war of words this way:

"Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot hear My word. "You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. "But because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me. (Joh 8:43-45 NASB)

Words are seeds. They sprout into beliefs and beliefs sprout into actions and destiny. To change our future, we need to change our words. We need to become intentional.

Confusion is the realm of the enemy, mixing the holy with the common, or eradicating the power words from our speech.

And Jesus *answered saying to them, "Have faith in God. "Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be taken up and cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it will be granted him. "Therefore, I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you. (Mar 11:22-24 NASB)

In these verses the word “granted” has been added as an interpretation. If we remove the word, granted, it changes the verse in an interesting way. Instead of referring to an outside agency to “grant” the prayer, the word spoken literally becomes the person. In this way, the declared word is seed that blooms in the heart of the speaker. This is the powerful reality of power words.

Yeshua is responding to the disciples, who upon seeing the fig tree wither that Yeshua spoke to are trying to grapple with that reality. He tells them that the key is to have the faith of God. What is the God-kind of faith? It is the faith that speaks reality into existence. The limiting variable the teaching is doubt. Doubt disempowers the power of the spoken word. How? By diminishing trust in the power of the words spoken. Yeshua tells us when we speak and do not doubt in our heart, we become one with our speaking. When we pray and trust that our speaking has already accomplished that which it was sent forth to do, then the word becomes us. "Therefore, I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be you”.

This may seem a little strange to identify ourselves with our prayers. This is only because we tend to see ourselves as individuals petitioning a separate God to help us with our lives. This reduces our voice to that perspective. BUT what if we are not alone in our identity but truly one with Him? What if the invitation to have faith in God is an invitation to open our hearts to pray in Him? Could it be that the reason we have so little mountain moving power is because we see ourselves incorrectly? Could it be true that we are “one” in Him?

““I am no longer going to be in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I am coming to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, so that they may be one just as We are. “While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name, which You have given Me; and I guarded them, and not one of them perished except the son of destruction, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled. “But now I am coming to You; and these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves. “I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. “I am not asking You to take them out of the world, but to keep them away from the evil one. “They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. “Just as You sent Me into the world, I also sent them into the world.” (John 17:11-18)

There is much truth in this passage. Let’s deconstruct it a bit for the power revealed in it:
  1. Context:
    • a. Yeshua knows He physically will no longer be in this world, location wise.
    • b. Yeshua is coming to the Father
    • c. He has been generating a reality that He calls keeping or protecting the disciples in the Name of God.
    • d. The provision of the Name has guarded the disciples, all except on named the son of destruction or perdition in some versions. This word gives the sense of a desolation or the chaos and void of Genesis 1 that the Goodness of God responded to with the speaking of light and goodness and order.
      • i. The purpose of the son of destruction is more than an individual identity like Judas but a spiritual kingdom of chaos.
      • ii. “No one is to deceive you in any way! For it will not come (the return of the Lord) unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God.” (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4)
      • iii. The title son of destruction is more than an individual. It is an authority structure that will infiltrate the church and set itself up in the temple of God, the body of Christ and usurp the true relationship with the love of God.
  2.  Being One
    • a. The Lord keeps us with goal of us being ONE in the same way He and the Father are ONE. What does that mean? It means that we are identified with Him. This is a covenant declaration, like the marriage covenant, where 2 become one. Yeshua calls this the place of true joy. We are created to surrender into oneness. The heart is a place of communion. We are designed for oneness. We are not created to be separate, alone.
    • b. To recover the power of our voice we have to re-learn what we knew as a baby when we were one with our mother, in the womb through the umbilical cord. We knew trust as our only option.
    • c. The world is under the domain of the one who uses division as his key strategy. To re-find oneness we need to surrender.
    • d. We began our surrender process with our salvation. It is time to surrender again.

Activation: Image bearers. We created in the image and likeness of the Creator. We know that His image is male and female. “So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” (Genesis 1:27). This is why there is in the world an attack on gender, to attack the image-bearers. But the image isn’t the outcome. It is the process to restore oneness. “And the LORD God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. Then the man said, “At last this is bone of my bones, And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called ‘woman,’ Because she was taken out of man.” For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.” (Genesis 2:22-24). This is the goal to restore oneness. Our relationship with Messiah is as His bride. In other words we are created to complete Him as Eve was created to complete Adam. She came out of Adam’s side and we through the blood are also out of Yeshua’s side where He was pierced for our transgression. Transgression means a violation of a boundary. We transgress when we violate the boundary of oneness of covenant.

Ask the Lord to show you when you have violated oneness. When have you been used to cause a division? When did you use your voice, your testimony to bring a charge against God’s elect?

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