Over and over, scripture testifies to the power of the spoken word. In the beginning, God spoke the universe into existence. The spoken words of Jesus healed the sick, raised the dead, and drove stubborn demons out of men and women. In the Book of Jeremiah, we are told, “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’” (Jer. 1:9-10). As Jeremiah openly declared the word of the Lord over nations and kings, spiritual forces were set in motion to raise up kings and depose them, establish nations and destroy them. Proverbs affirms, “The tongue has the power of life and death” (Prov. 18:21). We could go on and on quoting scriptures that declare we have the power to bless and to curse through the proclamation of our words. In short…our spoken words matter. They have power. They make a difference.
In the Book of Revelation, we are told, “For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of theirtestimony” (Rev. 12:10-11). Speaking of the saints, we are told they overcame the enemy, by the sacrificial blood of Jesus and by the words they spoke. The words we speak, our testimony, is an essential part of winning the battle against Satan. What we speak informs both the world and the spiritual realm where we stand and established God’s truth over circumstances.
Our first testimony, of course, is that we believe Jesus is the Son of God who died for our sins and was raised to life on the third day. Our continuing testimony is to declare publicly what we know to be true…not only about Jesus but about God, his sovereignty, his righteous standards and his judgments. We are to testify to God’s word and truth as we resist the things that push back against God’s will in this world. When we speak life, truth, and victory over people and circumstances, our words set spiritual forces in motion to accomplish what we have declared. The Word of God is the sword of the Spirit and when we speak his word, that word becomes a weapon in the spiritual realm.
But here is the rub. We live in a culture that no longer believes in absolute truth. It no longer believes that a divine standard of right and wrong exists by which nations and people will be judged. We often hear the phrase, “personal truth,” which means that every man does what he wants without reference to any other standard. Judges 21:25 speaks of a time when Israel had no king and “every man did that which was right in his own eyes.” That was not a season of God’s favor.
From that perspective, truth changes with the times, with the culture, with our emotions, and with circumstances. Many claim they are “evolving,” which means their view of truth keeps shifting with the tide. To give into that premise, undermines the very foundations of law, ethics, and faith. How can law deliver justice when there is no sure definition of what is just? How can faith stand against assaults if we are unsure of the ground on which we stand?
Part of the angst of our younger generations is that they don’t know where to stand or what to believe. They have nothing certain on which to base their lives and decisions. Their compass has no true north. Men may no longer be men and women may no longer be women. The definition of marriage which has stood for thousands of years has now become a fluid word with no certain meaning. Morality is relative and shifts with public opinion. So, when we vote for a president, character doesn’t matter anymore because no one can define it. “Personal truth” allows politicians and news services to manufacture their version of “the truth” at will and dispense it as if it were as certain as 2+2=4.
In our generation, it almost seems quaint, naïve, and unenlightened to even discuss the notion of absolute right and wrong or actual moral standards for a society. But once you cut yourself loose from the moorings of a God in heaven who establishes truth, right and wrong, sin and righteousness, and who will judge the world on the basis of those standards, good will certainly be called evil and evil will be declared good.
The church used to be viewed as the conscience of the nation. Sin was called out in the pulpits and people were called to repentance…even national leaders or the nation itself were subject to admonition. In those days, the church testified to the word of God, the standards of God, right and wrong, sin and righteousness. Children were taught those standards in school and the Ten Commandments hung on the walls of every courthouse. But through the decades, the testimony of the church faded and so did the testimony of many individual believers. We were called haters and intolerant because we said what God had said. In many cases, we buckled to pressure and compromised our faith in order to be acceptable to the world. Our testimony became a whisper.
But the saints of Revelation overcame the enemy, not only by the blood of the Lamb but by the word of their testimony. If we are to overcome in this age, we must give testimony as well. God is giving us a window in America in which believers must speak up again and testify to the reality of Jesus as well as the truth and demands of God’s word. Whether in school board meetings, city council chambers, private conversations, church assemblies, or to our children at home, we must speak out and say what God has said about all things. This is an essential part of spiritual warfare.
So much hangs on our willingness to speak out for God. Our words set spiritual forces in motion. Our words correct the distorted world view of those around us and our words reinforce our own faith and certainty that the Word of God is true. Let’s pray and ask God to give us boldness to testify in whatever circumstance we find ourselves. Certainly, we must do so in love and out of concern, not in self-righteousness. But as we do, we too will overcome the enemy and encourage others to do the same.