Grace Revolution: Experience the Power to Live Above Defeat (26 page)
Read Grace Revolution: Experience the Power to Live Above Defeat Online
Authors: Joseph Prince
Tags: #Religion / Christian Life / Personal Growth, #RELIGION / Christian Life / Spiritual Growth, #Religion / Christian Life / Inspirational
Let me show you something very interesting. The original Greek word for “a blessing” in 1 Peter 3:9 is
eulogeo
, which means “to speak well of,”
1
and is where we get the English word “eulogy.” That is the key to speaking a blessing! Every time you speak well of something, you are blessing that thing and being a blessing!
So speak well of your marriage, your children, your family, and your friends. That’s how you bless and become a blessing everywhere you go. Bless your body too, by speaking well of it—don’t keep saying it’s getting old! Speak well also of your relationship with the Lord. Call yourself the beloved of the Lord. Declare His protection, favor, and righteousness over you and your loved ones and begin to experience His blessings like never before. Every time you speak His blessings over your life, you are taking possession of your blessed place in Christ.
Speak well of your marriage, your children, your family, and your friends. That’s how you bless and become a blessing everywhere you go.
Our Lord believed in the power and authority of His Word. He spoke to the demons and they departed. He spoke to the fig tree and it died. He spoke to the winds and waves and they stilled. He spoke to sick bodies and they were healed. Most of us use our “sophisticated”
intellect and logic, and we think we are “too smart” to speak to trees, storms, and diseases. Some may even say, “Pastor Prince, all this speaking to inanimate objects and diseases seems very
foolish
to me.” Well, you know what? The Bible tells us that “God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise” (1 Cor. 1:27). I would rather be foolish and healthy in Christ, than be really “smart” and dying of a disease. Amen! As for me and my house, we will follow the Lord’s way.
Our Lord believed in the power and authority of His Word. He spoke to the demons and they departed. He spoke to the winds and waves and they stilled. He spoke to sick bodies and they were healed.
Jesus taught His disciples to speak to their mountains (see Mark 11:23). You feel a pain in your body? Speak to the pain and say, “Pain, go in Jesus’ name.” If your hair is falling out, speak to it and say, “Hair, be fruitful and multiply in Jesus’ name.” Start somewhere! If you have a pimple on your nose, start there and say, “Pimple, be removed in Jesus’ name!”
Pastor Prince, you mean God cares about my hair and my pimples?
My friend, God cares for you. And that means He cares about what you care about. His Word encourages you to cast “
all
your care upon Him, for He cares for you” (1 Pet. 5:7, emphasis mine). Another Scripture tells you, “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:6–7
NLT
).
Do you know what the opposite of speaking well is? It is to curse. When our Lord cursed the fig tree, what did He say? Did He say, “I curse you, fig tree”? No, He simply said, “Let no one eat fruit from you ever again” (Mark 11:14). And the next day, when they passed by the fig tree again, Peter said, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree which You
cursed
has withered away” (Mark 11:21, emphasis mine).
Jesus never used the word
curse
when He spoke to the fig tree, but He also did not correct Peter for using the word
cursed
. Why? Because Peter was right. Even though Jesus did not use the word
curse
, the negative words spoken were tantamount to a curse. Oh, I hope you got that! Many times people don’t realize that they are unintentionally cursing themselves and the people around them with the constant flow of negative words that they speak about themselves and others. Words of defeat, anger, bitterness, and complaint are toxic. Change your words, and change your life. Flush out the negative words in your life with the words of God’s grace, love, and power!
Words of defeat, anger, bitterness, and complaint are toxic. Change your words, and change your life.
We can learn another truth from our Lord’s cursing of the fig tree. When He spoke to the fig tree, nothing immediately visible happened to the tree. In other words, it did not wither away instantly. It was only when they came back the next day that His disciples noticed the fig tree had died. This was because when our Lord spoke to the fig tree, it first dried up at its very roots before death reached the leaves. So don’t
be discouraged when you speak to your challenge and nothing seems to be happening. Believe that you are speaking directly to the root of the problem and that the outward manifestation of your faith is on its way!
I received this wonderful testimony from Lorraine, who resides in Darby, England. It shows you the power of praying or speaking, and how change begins from the very first day you speak:
My son and his wife have been married for ten years, and were trying desperately for a baby with no success. Six years ago, they began undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatments and have had at least seven unsuccessful treatments.
Last March, my sister gave me a copy of your devotional and the entry for March 19 was about pleading the blood of the Lamb of God over all that is ours and our families’. The verse in the devotional was Exodus 12:13—“And when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.” And you shared that what the nine plagues could not do, the blood did.
I was thrilled when I read this. So I prayed for my son and my daughter-in-law, pleading the blood of Jesus over their situation, and I was just so excited because I knew that something had happened in the spirit.
My son and his wife have been living abroad for the past four years, and every Sunday morning, they would call home. A few weeks after I prayed, my son called to say that his wife was pregnant. I told him that I wasn’t surprised, as I had prayed for both of them recently. So what six years of medical treatment could not do, the blood of Jesus did! We all celebrated and were so thrilled that she was pregnant after all these years.
A few Sundays later, our son called to say that she was exactly eight weeks pregnant. And it was exactly eight weeks from the day I prayed. Hallelujah!
Isn’t this an amazing testimony? Whatever you may be believing God for, I want to encourage you to open your mouth to speak His Word. Pray to your Abba and proclaim the blood of our Lord Jesus over your situation! The presence of blood means that there has already been a death. It signifies that a payment has already been made. Today you and I, believers of our Lord Jesus Christ, can stand upon the unshakable foundation of God’s promises because there has already been a death! The Lamb of God was sacrificed at Calvary and His blood is on the doorposts of our lives. So no plague, no death, no punishment, no harm, no danger, no evil can come near our dwelling, because the full payment for our sins has already been made by our Lord Jesus. What wonderful assurance and peace we can have today—all because of the complete and efficacious work of Jesus!
Whatever you may be believing God for, open your mouth to speak His Word in that area.
Let’s take a moment to examine what the apostle Paul says about the power of speaking in the new covenant of grace:
For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. For Moses writes about the righteousness which
is of the law, “The man who does those things shall live by them.” But the righteousness of faith speaks…. “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
—Romans 10:4–6, 8–10
In this passage you see the comparison and contrast between the old and new covenants. Christ is the end of the law. The Greek word for “end” here is
telos
, which means “termination, the limit at which a thing ceases to be.”
2
In other words, Christ is the termination and conclusion of the old covenant of the law. Christ is the termination of the old covenant that is based on man’s good works to achieve righteousness. Christ also marks the beginning of the new covenant of grace, where man is made righteous by believing. See the differences that the apostle Paul skillfully laid out for us? New covenant versus old covenant. Faith versus works. The gift of righteousness versus righteousness by works. Believing versus working. Speaking versus doing.
It is vital for you to recognize the differences between the two covenants. They cannot be mixed together. Today God deals with us according to the new covenant. Some people mistakenly believe that because I preach about the new covenant, I have something against the old covenant laws. The truth is, I have the utmost respect for God’s sacred laws. And I have never said that there was something wrong with the law. But the issue here is covenant. Which one is in place today and how are we made righteous today? That is the question! Are
we made righteous by our works through keeping the law? Or are we made righteous by grace through believing in our Lord Jesus Christ? The answer is crystal-clear. Christ is the end of the law and we are made righteous today by believing in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Christ is the end of the law. We are made righteous today by believing in our Lord Jesus Christ.
You see, the new covenant is all about right
believing
, whereas the old covenant was all about right
doing
. The new covenant is all about the power of
speaking
well, whereas the old covenant was about the power of
working
well. I believe in the power of right believing. When a person believes right, he will live right. When a person believes that he is made righteous by the blood of Jesus Christ, he will be inwardly transformed to live right, and the spirit of godliness will be evident in his life.
He won’t only be outwardly fulfilling the letter of the law. A person can keep the law outwardly for fear of punishment, but his heart can still be full of idolatry, covetousness, and adulterous thoughts. That is not what the grace revolution is about. The grace revolution is about inside-out transformation. It is about a heart emancipated by grace. A person transformed by grace not only keeps the law of God outwardly, but his heart is full of Jesus. He overflows with generosity, he is passionate for his spouse, and he is zealous for good works and the glory of his Savior, Jesus Christ. See the difference? It’s like night and day.
Your words are powerful. The Bible says that the word of faith is near you, “in your mouth and in your heart” (Rom. 10:8). Notice that it is first in your mouth, and then it drops into your heart. When you
speak words of faith, what you speak will finally drop into your heart, and what is in your heart will lead you. The law is characterized by
doing
; faith is characterized here by
speaking
. So when you are sick, speak well over yourself, declaring, “Lord Jesus, I thank You that by Your stripes I am healed.”
It is important that under the new covenant you are not working for your own righteousness in order to be healed and blessed. Moses says this of the righteousness that is by the law: “The man who does those things shall live by them” (Rom. 10:5). The focus is on
doing
. What about the righteousness that is of the new covenant? According to Romans 10:6, “the righteousness of faith speaks.” The focus is on
speaking
. Therefore speak! Open your mouth and speak! Faith (believing) is released by speaking.
The righteousness of the law doeth, but the righteousness of faith speaketh
(see Rom. 10:5–6
KJV
). You and I are made in the image of God, Who, when things were very dark at the beginning of creation, didn’t say, “Wow, it is so terribly dark here!” If God had said that, it would have gotten even darker! No, God spoke forth what He wanted to see. He wanted to see light and He said, “‘Let there be light’; and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good” (Gen. 1:3–4). God saw good
after
He spoke it. Do you want to love life and see good days? Then start speaking it before you even see it.
Do you want to love life and see good days? Then start speaking it before you even see it.
When God saw the darkness, He didn’t speak about the darkness. He did not speak what He saw. No, He spoke what He wanted to see. When Abram was still childless, God changed his name to Abraham, which means “father of many nations” (see Gen. 17:5). When the man with the withered hand met our Lord Jesus, Jesus spoke the word, asking the man to stretch out his hand, and the man was completely healed (see Matt. 12:10–13). Similarly, when our Lord met the man who had had an infirmity for thirty-eight years, He said to him, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.” And the Bible records for us that “immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked” (see John 5:5–9).
With physical eyes, man saw Abram as barren, the man with the withered hand as an invalid, and the man by the pool of Bethesda as a hopeless case. But our Lord saw and spoke differently! We serve a God “who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did” (Rom. 4:17). I love the King James translation, which says our God is a God “who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.” He quickened the dead and brought nonexistent things into existence with His spoken words!