Proclaim!

It is good to give thanks to the LORD and to sing praises to Your name, O Most High; to DECLARE Your lovingkindness in the morning and Your faithfulness by night...' [Psalm 92:1,2]

Sing to the LORD, bless His name; PROCLAIM good tidings of His salvation from day to day. [Psalm 96:2]

On this blog, we've talked a lot about the power of the spoken word, both God's words and our own.

We've examined how important our words are in the earth, and even more so...how God's Word is settled forever and runs very swiftly in the earth. We also see that He watches over His word to perform it!

Then there's my favorite passage...

'The Lord gives the command [word]; the women who PROCLAIM the good tidings are a great host [army]:

"Kings of armies flee, they flee, and she who remains at hone will divide the spoil!"'

There are many things I love about this scripture. The Hebrew word translated proclaim is basar...to bear news or tidings, to publish, to preach, to announce as good news!

These women were the real force behind the Israeli army--a might army whose job it was to PROCLAIM the Lord's word of victory!

These women weren't 'confessing' or 'making affirmations.' They were PROCLAIMING the word of the Lord out into the natural world!Remember Job 22:28?

"You will also decree a thing, and it will be established for you; and light will shine on your ways."

God had prophets and judges proclaim His word into the earth, and it came to pass. So it is with us...we don't just 'confess' God's promises over our lives, we PROCLAIM it!

Our Words, Too
One thing that struck me about Jesus is that He taught that this proclaiming into the earth works for our words too. When He 'cursed' the fig tree, it was because He was hungry and mad...He wasn't uttering any great prophetic word, just teaching us how to reign in life with our words. When He stilled the storm, He asked His disciples "Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?" He was using His words to exercise HIs authority over natural elements, and was wondering why the disciple didn't do it first!

Words, Words, Words
Read the Book of Proverbs. It's interesting to note that it is considered a book of wisdom, and there are many references to living by the words of your mouth.I think we've misunderstood the whole process. We've been confessing and confessing, hoping that maybe it'll work. Going through our 'faith confessions' like some kind of verbal rosary.

What we need is a paradigm shift! We need to realize that our mouths PROCLAIM God's forever settled word as well as the words we live by. We're not confessors, we're proclaimers!

Just to get you started...

Proclaim 'Father, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven!'

Proclaim 'Greater is He Who is in me than He Who is in the world!'

Proclaim 'I can do all things through Christ Who strengthens me!'

Proclaim 'All things are possible for me because I believe!'

You get the idea...PROCLAIM some truth into your life today!