The highest heavens belong to the Lord, but the earth has been given to mankind. 

Psalm 115:16

The verse quoted above is an interesting verse that may explain a lot.  The Passion Translation words it this way: “The heavens belong to our God; they are his alone.  But he has given us the earth and put us in charge.”  

One of the primary meanings of the Hebrew word translated as “given” is “to transfer possession of a thing.”  In Genesis 1:28, the text says that after creating the earth and man, God blessed Adam and Eve and told them to fill the earth and subdue it, and to rule over the fish, the birds and the animals. The psalmist declared, “You made them (mankind) rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their feet” (Psm.8:6). In other words, God created the earth. Called it good, and them put man in charge.

Now, we weren’t put in charge to rule as we want to rule, but to rule as his representatives on the earth – to do what he would do if he were physically present.  Rulership in the kingdom is not about perks and power but about responsibility and stewardship.  He made us responsible to rule over the earth with care and good stewardship of both culture and the environment. Jesus summed up the principle of representation by saying, “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father.” The idea Is that we would care for the earth and one another just as God would do.

It seems that most people who believe in God seem to hold a theology that God is solely in charge of things on the earth. When bad things happen, we accuse God of being angry, harsh, and vindictive.   When school shootings occur or when tsunami’s kill thousands, we point at God.  However, if we are in charge, then we must take responsibility for most of those things.   The fact that God could control everything that happens on the earth is not the same as saying that he does control every event. It is true that God wields his power and sovereignty over nations and kings and people but he does not do so capriciously or at his whim. It is in response to a people or nations’ choices.

Think of it this way:  If God has given us authority over the earth, then he is compelled to honor our choices and the consequences of our choices. For example, if a father spends a lifetime building a business based on integrity, customer care, and quality products and then signs it over to hIs children, it is up to them to continue his good business practices or not.  If they do, the business will continue to thrive. If not, it will dwindle.  Even if he is available to help them out and give sage advice, it is up to them to involve him or leave him out.  In essence, God has given mankind the family business of operating the earth.

In Deuteronomy 28, God assembled Israel and declared that they could choose blessings or curses as the atmosphere in which they would live.  God promised that If they involved him and were careful to obey his commands, then he would bless then in every way. If, however, they chose to exclude him and live in disobedience to his commands, then curses would be released as the consequence of their choices.  God plead with them to choose blessing, but if they chose curses, he would honor that choice.

If you read the chapter, some of those curses are financial failures, war, disease, mental illness, crime, natural disasters, etc. When Kane killed Abel, the Bible says that the blood of Abel cried out from the ground and that the earth would no longer produce crops for him because of that sin.  That text and others suggest that the creation itself will respond to our sin. The more that sin prevails on the earth, more natural disasters will occur, more disease will afflict the planet, and more war will ravage mankind.  We may blame natural disasters on coal plants or car emissions, but the truth is that our sin contributes heavily to these disasters.

Paul declares in Galatians 6:7 that God will not be mocked.  Whatever a man sows he will reap.  If he sows to the Spirit, he will reap life.  If he sows to the flesh, he will reap destruction.  Our sin does not affect us alone but contributes to an atmosphere of curses because our sin gives Satan the right to kill, steal, and destroy.  It is not God’s desire for man to suffer, but he will honor our choices.  How can we shake our fist at God for earthquakes, forest fires, tornadoes, polar vortexes, famine, and outbreaks of devastating disease when the world is bent on disobedience?  The blood of every aborted child cries out.  Sexual sin and perversion flood the airways.  The word of God is removed from schools and places of government.  The heavens belong to God but he has given us the earth and we are in charge.

It has always been God’s intent to rule though his people and, as the church, he has given us authority in the earth. If we, then, as believers are in charge, then we should take charge – not through violence or religious tyranny, but first of all by obedient living ourselves…then, by evangelizing the world, being a true leaven for righteousness, standing against unrighteousness, and inviting God back into the business through massive amounts of prayer. 

 God is willing to get involved if we ask. God is waiting to bless the nations through his people and through his Messiah.  Because he has put us in charge, he will do all of this with us, but not without us.  God has called us to subdue the earth and rule over the works of his hands with an outpouring of love, truth, and the supernatural power of heaven to bless rather than curse.  God is not angry, he is just a God of his word and if we are in charge, then we should act like it.

As we push into 2023, I think it is helpful to be reminded of truths and commands, about which, we often become careless.   Ephesians contains one of those simple verses that says so much when we actually dig down into it. That verse is Ephesians 4:29 which says, “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.”  

Sometimes, the danger of reading modern translations is that we understand the text according to our current, cultural meaning of a word.  For instance, when I read the phrase “unwholesome talk” in the NIV, I immediately think about cussing or sexually explicit language.  If I don’t cuss or use obscene language, I may check the box and move on.  However, that is not what the original language means.  Paul talks about those issues in Ephesians 5:3-4, but not in Ephesians 4:29.

So, what does Paul mean by “unwholesome talk?”  The word in the original language is sapros.  It means rotten, putrid, rancid, decaying, things that lead to death, harmful, hurtful etc.  In his letter, Paul is forbidding language that imparts death, decay, weakness, emotional or spiritual harm to another person.  

We know that the tongue has “the power of life or death” (Prov. 8:21).  Our words have impact and even spiritual power to produce good or harm, life or death, health or sickness.  Because we walk in the authority of Jesus Christ, our words also carry authority.  When Jesus spoke healing over others, they were healed.  When he spoke life over the dead, they were resurrected.  When he spoke to the storm it was silenced.  When he commanded demons, they left. When he cursed the fig tree, it died immediately (Matt.21:19). All of those things were accomplished when Jesus spoke words. His words had authority and power.   Our words do as well. I believe the words of all men and women have some authority because God gave mankind dominion over the earth. The Psalmist declared, “The highest heavens belong to the Lord, but the earth he has given to man” (Ps. 115:16).

The words of believers have even more authority because we represent the King. Like it or not, we speak for him. Remember, Jesus said that those who have faith in him would do all that he did and even more (Jn. 14:12). We could not do those things unless our words and commands carry power and authority.  The Hebrews believed that words possessed spiritual energy that went forth and, like Elohim speaking the universe into existence, had power to create something that did not exist before. Words are the basis of blessing and cursing.  When spoken, they activate forces in the spiritual realm to either bring life or death to a person or situation. 

Unwholesome words impart death and decay like curses.  They may be in the form of constant criticism, telling someone that they are worthless, declaring that a child is stupid or will never amount to anything, or any words that demean, dismiss, or suggest that someone is unimportant and useless. I noticed early in my life that men, especially, use demeaning humor towards one another as a kind of self-promotion that declares “I am always superior to you and you are always inferior to me.”  Of course, we laugh at the “put downs” or the sarcasm, but for those of us who have already received a barrage of words undercutting our sense of value and significance, even the jokes burn.  A Greek philosopher once wrote, “The boys throw the sticks in jest, but the frogs die in earnest.”  In other words, we may mean no harm, but harm may be done anyway. Unintended consequences are still consequences.

Our careless words can be like those sticks.  Our mean words, can be like stones.  Each word carries power and pushes a person either towards life or death.  If we are prone to speak words that undermine health, joy, self-esteem, confidence, security, etc. over others or ourselves, Paul would call us to repent and begin to speak only words that encourage, build up, affirm, and bless.  We can curse without cussing.  I know many believers who do so in their marriage, over their children, over their spiritual leaders, over our national leaders, and so forth.  At times, I catch myself doing that. Social media is a reservoir of curses.  We all can fall into that trap when we forget who we are.

Jesus said that on the day of Judgment, each of us will have to give account for every careless word we have spoken (Matt. 12:36). It is not that we can never point out a fault or a flaw in another person, but we must determine how to speak the truth in love at just the right time rather than in a fit of anger as we assault their worth.  Ask the Holy Spirit to highlight any tendencies you have to speak negatively over others or yourself. It is not just that we hurt someone’s feelings or damage their self-esteem. That is serious enough, but because we have authority, the spiritual realm will take our words as an assignment for either blessing or cursing and will not relent.

Make a decision for 2023 to be a source of fresh water in everyone’s life and not a source of salt water that kills living things. James put it this way. “With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water” (Ja. 3:9-12).  

One of the life-changing decisions we cam make for this year, is to eradicate “unwholesome talk” from our words. It is not easy. Much of what we say is so automatic that we are not even conscious of what we saying. It will take the Holy Spirit and some close friends and family to even make us aware of what we speak. It will also take a steady diet of the word of God to renew our minds and our old patterns of speech. But remember, what you speak creates realities. What you speak truly imparts life or death and our God is a God of life.

For the past few weeks, I have been teaching the book of Ephesians at our church in Midland/Odessa.  The great thing about teaching a verse-by-verse study is that you are forced to look closely at verses you typically read over with the assumption that you know what they mean without going deeper, doing the word studies, or thinking through applications that go beyond the obvious.

There are some challenging texts in Ephesians that are subject to several interpretations – all of which have merit.  There are also some straight forward texts that are challenging in the application if we were to incorporate them in a lifestyle of following Jesus.

One of those is Ephesians 4: 1.  There Paul challenges the church by writing, “I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.”  We are called to be sons and daughters of the King, ambassadors of Christ, God’s chosen people, priests, and so forth.  Each of those positions carries the responsibility of representation.  In other words, we are called to represent God to the world – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  

Jesus lived out the principle of representation when he said, “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father.”  A King is first known by the qualities that others see in his ambassadors.  A Father will be judged by the quality of his children.  If a man’s representatives or a father’s children are confident, well-spoken, intelligent, and tactful truth-tellers, the assumption will be   that the King or father will be the same or even greater. If, however, the representatives are lazy, unkempt, arrogant, and deceitful…those who encounter them will assume the father or king will also be the same.

In many cases, first impressions about a father, leader, or a nation are established by encounters with those who represent them.  To live a life worthy of the calling we have received is to live a life that honors God, that imparts a positive and attractive impression of God, and that represents his values, laws, and character well.  Just as Jesus said, “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father,” Paul urges us to live in a way that we can say the same.  Our goal should be to live in a way that accurately represents the King and his kingdom – his heart, his character, and his righteousness.  

The truth is that God honored us with an incredible honor when he adopted us and gave us his name. Our role as a representative of the crown, is a privileged role that should be cherished and protected.  And yet, that seems to be the exception among believers today.  Many of us seem to live in ways that give little thought to how our lives will impact those who do not yet know the Lord.  They will naturally assume that we are like the God we serve.  

I’m not concerned when we try to live a life worthy of our calling and stumble or fall short.  I am concerned when we give little thought to living such a life and live in ways, speak in ways, carry on business in ways, and steward relationships in ways that dishonor God rather than representing him as those who reflect his goodness, holiness, and glory.  

When we give little thought to our representation, we give Satan all the ammunition he needs to discredit believers, the church, and even God himself in the minds of unbelievers.  Jesus was the perfect representative of the Father. His strategy was simple. He said that he only did what he saw the Father doing and only spoke what he heard the Father saying.  Our goal should be to act as Jesus would act and speak as he would speak if he were physically present.  

If we have forgotten that we represent or re-present Jesus, then we need to evaluate our words, actions, and attitudes to see where we are misaligned with the Father.  There is a story told about Alexander the Great.  He had a soldier in his ranks that was also named Alexander but he had a reputation for laziness, cheating at cards, and extremely poor hygiene.  One day he encountered Alexander the Great who said, “I understand that we share the same name.” The soldier replied proudly, “Why, yes we do.”  Alexander answered by simply saying, “Well soldier, either change your ways or change your name.”

I wonder if the Father feels that way about us at times as we misrepresent him to the unbelievers in the world who need to be drawn to him rather than repulsedd.  Paul’s message to the Ephesians challenges me and, perhaps, it challenges you as sell.

Most of us who minister in the arena of spiritual warfare are forced to talk about mainstream churches in America that have little theology and little interest in the supernatural move of God and his Holy Spirit.  It’s not that these churches don’t love Jesus and don’t preach the gospel.  Many have great ministries to the community, many reach hundreds of people each year for Jesus, but they have been victimized by a theology that declares that God no longer works through the “miraculous gifts of the Spirit,” nor does he supernaturally intervene in the lives of men as he once did in the biblical record.  These churches have a lack of balance in the area of spiritual warfare that leaves their members ignorant of many spiritual realities and gives them very few tools to work with even if they were to become aware.  Our usual cry is for people to embrace all the gifts of the Spirit, authoritative prayer, deliverance, and so forth.  It’s a valid cry.

However, on the other end of the spectrum is a theology that makes everything about demons and spiritual warfare.  I believe that position often gives Satan too much credit because if every bad thing that happens to me is demonic, then my prayers to God to keep the evil one from me are totally ineffective.  That means that either God doesn’t hear my prayers or that Satan and his minions are more powerful than God.  Both of those conclusions are bad theology. 

The truth is that we live in a fallen world and sometimes stuff just happens.  Sometimes I have a flat because people who drive will eventually run over a nail.  Sometimes my washing machine flies apart because it is old or wasn’t well made. Sometimes I find myself in a bad place because I consistently make bad decisions and the Word says that I will eventually reap what I sow.  

Even temptation is not always a demon whispering in my ear.  The New Testament says that we can be drawn away from God by three things:  the promises of the world, the desires of our flesh, or demonic strategies.  Only one of those is direct demonic assault.  Don’t get me wrong, I am not downplaying the demonic.  We minister deliverance and cleanse houses all the time. All of that is very real.  But what I do see frequently are believers who rarely say “No” to the flesh and consistently make bad decisions in spite of godly counsel, and then blame demons when the wheels come off. 

Demonic oppression and affliction are real, but deliverance and commanding demons is no replacement for godly wisdom and holy living.  Without those components, we constantly leave a door open for the enemy.  Without those components, the devil doesn’t need to spend much time on us because we are constantly derailing ourselves even without his help. If we blame every setback, every failure, and every sin on the devil (“The devil made me do it!”), then we will give no attention to our own need to grow spiritually. 

 Yes…we always need more faith, more authority, and greater spiritual gifts.  But to support all that, we need the fruit of the Spirit in our lives, the armor of God, personal holiness, and godly wisdom…not to mention self-control.  Unfortunately, I know several individuals who have amazing spiritual gifts for healing, impressive authority for deliverance, and keen spiritual discernment, but whose ministries and lives were wrecked because they didn’t pay attention to growing in character and wisdom.  Bad decisions took all of that away and it wasn’t just the devil attacking them.  

In scripture, some things are results of living in a fallen world, while other things are demonic.  If you search the gospels, you will see that sometimes a man was born blind and needed a creative miracle to gain his vision.  Others were blind because of a demonic presence. Deliverance restored their sight.  Some were deaf because of a spirit, while others had a physical defect that needed healing rather than deliverance. I could go on but my point is that we need wisdom to discern what is a spirit and what is simply a result of poor decisions and a lack of spiritual maturity in our own lives.  If we keep trying to cast out the flesh instead of crucifying it, we will not find the solution. 

I used to think that truth was on one side of the road, while error was on the other.  I eventually learned that truth is typically in the center and a ditch with tall grass, mud, and snakes lies on either side of the road.  That is true in spiritual warfare as well.  Sometimes Jesus cast out demons but at other times he simply called on the father to heal.  If the wheels are coming off in our lives, it may be an all-out assault of the enemy, but it may simply be a need in our own lives to say “No” to the flesh and “Yes” to godly wisdom for making better decisions.  Of course , it could be both but the closer we walk to God and the greater our alignment with him, the fe wer openings the enemy will have and the greater our authority will be.