The Legacy of Derek Prince Teaching
Words are Things
The two actual human languages in which God’s written revelation, the Bible, was first given to man, are Hebrew (and its sister, Aramaic) in the Old Testament and Greek in the New. There is one particularly significant fact that is common to both of these languages. In each of them there is one word—in Hebrew dabar and in Greek rhema—that can equally accurately be translated either “word” or “thing.” Only the context can show in each instance which translation is to be preferred, and sometimes it is necessary to translate in both ways to give the full meaning of the original.
For instance, the utterance of Gabriel to Mary in Luke 1:37 can equally well be translated: “With God nothing will be impossible,” or “With God no word will be void of power.” We might perhaps express this by saying, “Every word of God contains in it the power for its own fulfillment.”
This peculiarity of Hebrew and Greek, the two languages chosen for divine revelation, is no accident. It illustrates a fundamental principle of the divine nature. With God, words are things. There is no real distinction between the two. “God said, ‘Let there be light’;and there was light” (Genesis 1:3). When God spoke the word, “light,” the thing, light, came into being. “By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God” (Hebrews 11:3). In sober fact, words were the only means that God used to create the whole universe.
Words are the material out of which the whole universe is constructed. It is not too much to say, therefore, that in committing to man the faculty of speech, God committed to man His own divine, creative power. No wonder that it remains the supreme distinguishing mark between man and the animals.
Words from the Heart
The Lord Jesus gave us a further insight into the importance of words when He said: “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matthew 12:34). That is to say, the first and fullest revelation of the contents of a man’s heart is given in his words.
The heart is the origin and wellspring of a man’s whole life (see Proverbs 4:23); but words are the divinely ordained channel through which that life shall flow and find expression.
While a man sits silent in my presence, I cannot sense what is in his heart. But when he speaks, he conveys to my senses in words what is in his heart. Words thus break down the barrier between one
human heart and another.
It is for this reason that Jesus Himself is called “the Word of God.” By our senses we cannot know God, we cannot search or understand the heart and mind of God. Creation— that is, God’s “words” having become “things”—gives us a certain witness of God’s eternal power and Godhead (see Romans 1:20), but it does not fully reveal the heart of God.
On the other hand, Jesus,manifested to our senses in human flesh, gives us the full and perfect revelation of the heart of God. Just as a man’s words convey to our senses the invisible thoughts of his heart, so Jesus conveys to our senses the nature of the invisible God. He is, in the deepest sense, the “Word of God” —the perfect expression to our senses of the heart and mind of God, which we could never fully know in any other way. Jesus, the living Word, breaks down the barrier between the heart of God and the heart of man.
Words Divine Origin
The faculty of speech, then, is of divine origin. It is something wonderful and sacred. It is not to be belittled or misused. Jesus Himself repeatedly warned us against this. “By your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned” (Matthew 12:37). “Every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment” (Matthew 12:36). “Let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ For whatever is more than these is from the evil one” (Matthew 5:37).
Our words should be sober, accurate, pure, without exaggeration— sacred instruments used for sacred purposes. Idle words— words used in any other way or for any other purposes—are sins, to be
confessed and put away before God can restore His blessing.
It is written of Christ, “Grace is poured upon Your lips; therefore God has blessed You forever” (Psalm 45:2). Of the bride of Christ, the Scripture records:
“Your lips are like a strand of scarlet, and your mouth [or speech] is lovely. . . . Your lips, O my spouse, drip as the honeycomb; honey and milk are under your tongue.” (Song 4:3, 11)
To the church Paul commands: “Let your speech always be with grace” (Colossians 4:6). Not only does God desire, through faith, to restore to our words grace and purity. He seeks to restore·also that authority and dominion that man held before the fall but lost through sin. In Job 22:28 it is promised to the sinner who will meet God’s conditions of repentance and faith: “You will also declare a thing, and it will be established for you.” That is, the decree of a redeemed sinner shall have the same authority as the decree of the Almighty God.
Of Samuel it is written, “The LORD . . . let none of his words fall to the ground” (1 Samuel 3:19). That is, the words uttered by Samuel so represented the mind and will of God that they were as sure and effectual as if God had uttered them Himself.
Joshua spoke to the sun and moon, and by his spoken words he arrested their course in the heavens for twenty-four hours. (See Joshua 10:12–14.)
Elijah said to Ahab: “As the LORD God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, except at my word” (1 Kings 17:1). It is the sole prerogative of the one true God to control the fall of rain (see Jeremiah 14:22). Yet Elijah declared that the fall both of rain and of dew for a certain period—three and a half years, the New Testament reveals in James 5:17—would be under the control of his word. By his word he could withhold them, and by his word he could liberate them. Sure enough, for three and a half years no rain or dew fell. Then, by his word— spoken to God in prayer—he liberated them. Thus, in the Old Testament, men controlled, by their words, such manifestations of God’s creative power as the course of the heavenly bodies, and the fall of rain and dew.
In the New Testament, Jesus simply spoke to a fig tree, and it withered from the roots. When His disciples marveled at this, Jesus expressly delegated to them similar, and even greater, authority:
“You will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ it will be done.And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.” (Matthew 21:21–22)
This double promise includes both words spoken to God in prayer and words spoken for God in any other way. Thus, it is the express will and purpose of Jesus to invest the words of His believing disciples with the same effective and creative power and authority that God’s own words possess.
If only we Christians would cease to despise and misuse these sacred instruments. If only we would put away from us all idle and unsanctified speech—foolish talk, jesting, gossip, backbiting, tale bearing and exaggeration. We would soon be astonished at the power with which our words would be invested.
Thank you for visiting my Blog. also check Words Part 3 For further study, we recommend Derek Prince's CD: Use and Abuse of the Tongue Subscribe at www.derekprince.org
Mark Khan
Life Coach / Inter-Networker
Skype ID: ageofseth
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