So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it. Isaiah 55:11

Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, “Now, I have put my words in your mouth. See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant. Jeremiah 1:9-10

The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life. John 6:63

For the word of God is living and active. Hebrews 4:12

These four verses are incredibly significant and not well understood by the majority of Christians in America. They are based on the very nature of God. In the opening verses of Genesis, we discover two essential things. The first is that God exists. The statement, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth,” tells us immediately that God exists and that he predates everything in this universe both seen and unseen. Within the next few verses, we also discover that this God has the power to speak things into existence that never existed before. The Hebrew construction in those first few verses insists that God did not rearrange existing matter into a new configuration but rather made something where absolutely nothing existed before. God said, “Let there be light and there was light…” His very words contain creative power.

In Isaiah 55, God announces that because his words contain supernatural, creative power whenever they are spoken they fulfill their purpose. They have power to direct matter, energy, angels, hearts, and circumstances to produce the purposes of God. Biblically, some of those purposes manifested in seconds or minutes while others took decades and even centuries to fully develop, but what God had declared with his words came to pass.

Now here is the lesson for us. God’s word is most often declared through the lips of his people. He whispers his word in our spirit and then, as we verbally declare his words, his purposes are activated. It’s like the angels can’t start their work until they hear from us. God whispers the work order to us, we declare it, the angels here his word from our lips, and then they get busy making it happen. Most believers are unaware of their part in that process. The prophet Jeremiah clearly illustrates the point.   Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, “Now, I have put my words in your mouth. See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.

God did not declare his word but put his words in Jeremiah’s mouth for him to declare. These were words about kingdoms and nations that Jeremiah declared prophetically (by the direction of the Spirit). After he declared them, forces in the spiritual realm were activated so that God’s words came to pass. These prophetic declarations were like a starting pistol that put things into motion.

Jesus added a bit to the concept when he said that his words are spirit and life. When his words are declared either by him or his representatives, they move in the spirit realm to create life or again to bring God’s purposes to fulfillment. When we declare his words over a person or situation, because were are his representatives on the earth, the same effect takes place. Think of God’s word as a bullet – a projectile full of power that goes forth and makes it’s impact. Whether it is fired from God’s gun or ours, it will still have the same impact.

Declarations are like prayers except that we are not asking God to move but rather are declaring what he has already purposed to do. What I am discovering these days is that, like prayer, most things require persistent prayer before they come to pass and most things take persistent declarations before they come to pass. James says that we have not because we ask not, so we should pray. The witness of scripture is also that God’s purposes often don’t move ahead because we are not declaring his purpose….his word is not going forth from our lips.

Let me give an example. God’s will for his people is that we are to be strong and courageous. Sometimes, we don’t feel courageous. In those moments we need the Holy Spirit to infuse us with courage so we pray and ask for that courage. But we should also declare God’s word and will over that situation to empower the prayer. We might declare, “The Lord has not given us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power, love and a sound mind” (2 Tim. 1:7). That is the word of God for his people. When we declare it, his word is once again going forth and will fulfill its purpose. By declaring God’s word, we activate a process by which we will begin to manifest a spirit of power, love, and a sound mind rather than fear. It also gives notice that any spirit of fear that is afflicting you is doing so illegally.

If the will of God is clear and his word speaks to it in scripture, we should declare his word over a situation until it manifests in the same way that we should pray over a situation until a prayer is answered or the Lord releases us from the prayer. If we have received a prophetic word from another believer or if we have received a promise in our heart form the Lord, we should declare that as well. I agree with Dutch Sheets that our prayers and declarations seem to release or direct spiritual energy. Every prayer and every declaration strengthens us and weakens the enemy’s position. When we have prayed and declared enough, the enemy stronghold will crumble and victory will be ours.

Overcoming the enemy and establishing the Kingdom on earth can be hard and persistent work. The greatest part of the battle lies in the arena of prayers and declarations – sending forth God’s word over and over until it inevitably fulfills its purpose. The passage form Hebrews quoted above says that God’s word is living and active. The word translated as “living” means that something has physical vitality like a man, an animal or a plant. It has substance and life within it. It moves and produces after its kind. The word translated as active means a “cosmic force.” So the word of God contains cosmic force and its own life that gives birth to God’s purposes. It is a divine weapon that we need to use on a frequent basis. It is sent forth by our declarations. If declaring his word and his promises over your situation is not a significant part of your daily time with Him, you may want to add that as a powerful weapon in your spiritual arsenal.
Blessings in Him!