Witness This

Psalm 39: 1 – 2             NIV

I said, “I will watch my ways and keep my tongue from sin; I will put a muzzle on my mouth while in the presence of the wicked.” So I remained utterly silent, not even saying anything good.

If you want to keep yourself from sin, the tongue is an excellent place to start. Most of us do more damage to ourselves and others with our mouth than any other way. In my book, Journey Through the Bible, chapter 64 is titled Loshon Hora. This is a Hebrew expression for derogatory speech. If you study Loshon Hora, you will discover that the Rabbinical teachings advise against derogatory speech, otherwise called evil talk, not only because of the negative impact upon others but also because it is damaging to the speaker. The words which come out of our mouths either edify us or defile us. So, when we speak negatively about someone else, even if it is true, we tear down ourselves. I encourage you to take this to heart as absolute truth.

David knew the truth of this. Sometimes it is more beneficial to remain silent even when you want to speak truth. Fools cast their pearls before swine. Yet we find ourselves with many words. We want to preach people into the Kingdom of God, but God never told us to do that. Preachers are for the saved, to train them and teach them so they can do into the world and save the wicked. Paul said, “My message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,” (1 Corinthians 2: 4). If Paul’s witness was demonstrations of the Spirit and his power, then why do we choose to talk people to death? We are on the wrong path entirely. We should all know by now that people aren’t listening to what we say, they are watching what we do. So, are our lives demonstrations of God’s love? Are we harbingers of His power and grace? People are not interested in what we think. They are interested in God’s presence and we can be those carriers of God’s presence to people, literally, everywhere we go.

Our goal should be to honor Jesus’ commission to us by first obeying Romans 12: 2, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” See, our job is to be transformed so that people see that which is good and acceptable and perfect. Not us, but God in us. We aren’t perfect in ourselves, but He is. Our mission is to allow the Lord to transform us. That is accomplished through the renewal of our minds. You see, mine and your first task is not to tell the world how to be. It is to let God show us who we should be. Our effort should be focused on our own renewal and subsequent transformation. When we are renewed and transformed, we won’t have to say much because God in us will be loudly visible. We will demonstrate the love and power of the Almighty as did Paul.

We have had this all upside down for so long and we absolutely must correct this. We are the church, we are the temple of the Almighty. That is where people are looking to see if God is alive. We must become more attractive images of Christianity. Don’t try to change them so they can go to heaven. Change you with the power of the Holy Spirit so they want to go to heaven. We’ve been making heaven look like hell. We’ve got to right this ship and mirror our Lord. We are to be his disciples which means we act like him, we talk like him. David said, “I will watch my ways.” We’ve been busy watching their ways. We’ve been acting like the world and frankly, talking like them too, and then trying to persuade others that we know truth.

Let us save ourselves. “Work out your salvation with fear and trembling,” (Philippians 2: 12). Let derogatory speech have no part with you. Keep your tongue from sin. By this we guard ourselves and minister to others.

Victory in Jesus

Genesis 26: 28

And they said, “We see plainly that the Lord has been with you.”

This should be the testimony of Christianity. We really shouldn’t have to go testify to people and try to convince them that Christianity is a great way of life. They should just see it evidenced in our lives. That was Isaac’s testimony. The people around him saw the favor of God on everything he did. He didn’t have to say anything. I wish my life spoke as loudly as Isaac’s.

The problem with many of us is that we are living below the Christ level. What do I mean by that? Well, you have heard of the poverty level and that there are some who live below that minimum level of existence. This is similar. There is a level of victory and blessing that every Christian should be living at but it seems that there are only a few who have a revelation of how to live in Christian abundance. We need a class taught by Isaac. He had a revelation. One of my favorite passages is in this same chapter, verses 1 and 12. Verse 1 reveals that there was a famine in the land. Rather than pulling up his tent stakes and moving on to a more fertile area Isaac listened to the voice of the Lord and obeyed. Verse 12 tells us that in that year, in that time of famine and in that same land, Isaac sowed and “reaped in that same year a hundredfold.”

This is the legacy that has been passed down to us. This is our inheritance through Father Abraham. Truthfully, though, we should excel far beyond Isaac because we have an even better covenant, based on better promises and mediated by a better counselor (Hebrews 8: 6). We also can sow in the time of famine and reap a hundredfold. Then people will look at us and see the awesomeness of our God.

We should all succeed at everything we set our hand to because great is our God. However, there are some keys revealed here and that Isaac adhered to that will help us if we too follow them. First of all, when the famine came Isaac didn’t just run off in panic or churn his brain trying to figure out what to do. The first thing he did was to receive counsel from the Lord. It is going to be impossible to live above the Christian poverty line if we don’t first receive instruction from the Lord. It is His counsel that sets our feet on the profitable path. Secondly, Isaac obeyed. He heard what the Lord said and he did it. God told him not to go to Egypt but to stay in that land. So Isaac stayed. That is two keys so far: receive the counsel of the Lord, obey.

The third thing that Isaac did in this time of famine is outlandish. It goes against all conventional wisdom. Isaac sowed. What most people do in times of famine or economic depression is to hoard. They become very tight-fisted and stingy. This causes them to develop a scarcity mentality which continues to manifest in their lives and their finances until they develop a new attitude. Most of us end up eating our seed corn. In other words, we use the money that we are supposed to sow for our harvest rather than planting it. It is tough to reap a harvest if you haven’t first planted a crop. There are all kinds of seeds. Most of us think about money and that is fair. We are foolish if we don’t sow money. I am also reminded of the verse that says, “The sower sows the Word” (Mark 4: 14). We need to sow the Word into our lives, businesses, families, etc. That begins by putting the Word in you but then to sow it you must speak it.

You are meant to live in the hundredfold return. However, 100 X 0 = 0, so we must get some seed in the ground. We need a victory attitude and to turn our faces to the Lord our God. When we follow His direction we will succeed in every facet of our lives so that people will look at us and say, “Mighty is your God!” There are all kinds of seeds. Ask the Father what He would have you sow and get out your plow and get busy. Don’t hoard for goodness sake. If you are going through a tough time, find something, anything, and give it away. Let “Victory in Jesus” be your anthem and show the world the loving power of your Father.