Dear Sister In Christ, Speak Like Your Words Have Power
Dear Sister in Christ,
Do you realize how powerful your words are?
As I was preparing for the final message in my Praying Mom’s class at my church, all the kept coming into my mind was, the power of the prophet. I knew that was the direction God was taking me. I also expected Him to give me a biblical story to teach from, but He did not. So, I started studying topically to see what God wanted to show me and teach me.
When I began my study of the power of the prophet, I knew the Old Testament prophet was someone chosen, appointed, and anointed to speak forth God’s word as God gave him to do so, and their words were an anointed word of truth that happened. Many times in the past, I studied about the true prophets of God speaking and what they spoke came to pass. I also knew Deuteronomy 18:22 gave a standard of testing the prophets.
When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not happen
or come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken; the prophet
has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.
Deuteronomy 18:22
From a New Testament perspective 1 John 4:1 tells us that we should test the prophets saying,
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God;
because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
1 John 4:1
What else does the NT tell us about you and I as new covenant believers related to the power of the prophet? What does the power of the prophet look like for us?
Who Has The Power Of The Prophet?
Revelation 19:10 and 2 Corinthians 4:13 helps us clarify and understand who has the power of the prophet.
For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
Revelation 19:10b
And since we have the same spirit of FAITH, according to what is written,
"I believed and therefore I spoke," we also believe and therefore speak.
2 Corinthians 4:13
These two verses show us that the spirit of prophecy and the spirit of our Christian faith both have the testimony of Jesus as the basis of speaking. Now let’s look at three other verses. The first two are Jesus’ words to His disciples in John 14:17 and John 16:13. The last verse is Paul speaking to Ephesian believers in Ephesians 1:13.
The Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him
nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.
John 14:17
However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth;
for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak;
and He will tell you things to come.
John 16:13
In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation;
in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,
Ephesians 1:13
Dear Sister in Christ, let’s sum everything up to this point. Because we have the testimony of Jesus, we have the Spirit of prophecy, the Spirit of faith, the Spirit of truth and the Holy Spirit of promise.
Not only that, but Acts 2:16-18 says,
But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: ‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams. And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; And they shall prophesy.
Acts 2:16-18
I personally believe the last days spoken of here began on the Day of Pentecost based on the context in which it was written. In other words, the Day of Pentecost began the age of the last days. However, we recognize Acts 2:16-18 was a prophecy, and biblical prophecy often spoke of a current fulfillment and a further, future fulfillment. So I submit that while the last days began at that initial outpouring of the Holy Spirit about 2000 years ago, there is yet another fulfillment at the end of the age of the last days. If we are not there, I believe we are very close.
What we know is that anyone who is in Christ, Jesus poured His Spirit on and in us.
Let’s look at Paul’s teaching about prophesying in 1 Corinthians.
For we know in part and we prophesy in PART.
1 Corinthians 13:9
Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts, but ESPECIALLY that you may prophesy.
1 Corinthians 14:1
Therefore, brethren, desire EARNESTLY to prophesy…
1 Corinthians 14:39a
First, dear Sister in Christ, we see that we only prophesy in part which means that we only experience prophesying to some degree. Our prophesying is part of a whole. However, we see that Paul emphasized the importance of prophesying in the Christian life because he elevated prophesying as a priority spiritual gift to desire.
So exactly what does it mean to prophesy in the New Testament?
Prophesy in the original Greek language means to to SPEAK forth by divine INSPIRATIONS. Which immediately points to 2 Timothy 3:17a – all Scripture is given by inspiration of God.
REMEMBER that because we have the testimony of Jesus, we have the Spirit of prophecy, the Spirit of faith, the Spirit of truth and the Holy Spirit of promise. Therefore, we should be speaking forth the divine inspirations of God over our lives, our husbands, our children, and all those we love.
“Name It And Claim It”
Share about speaking prophetic faith declarations over my life and my children’s lives.
I know there is a lot of negative things spoken about “name it and claim it”, but I must tell you, if my God said it and I can have it and my children can have it, I am going to in faith, name and claim the truth and promises of God’s word. Sometimes the enemy blinds us with our criticism of others and we miss out on what God intended for us and promised us. The enemy does a great job of getting Christians off in extremes. We see those who “name it and claim it” all for the sake of personal gain and financial wealth and determine that “naming and claiming” God’s word is always wrong. But God called us to prophecy which is speaking forth the divine inspirations of His word and His promises over our lives.
Dear Sister in Christ, let’s don’t let the enemy steal this great gift and power from us.
If Romans 4:17b tells us that God calls those things which do not exist as though they did, shouldn’t we? To me, this is naming and claiming the truth and promises of God’s word; calling forth the things that do not exist as though they did. Proverbs 18:21 says, Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit. That is why Jesus said, if you say to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' it will be done. Matthew 17:21
Dear Sister in Christ, speak like your words have power because they do!