Proclamations

We’re going to start with self defense, what happens when we’re attacked. And I could go on this all the rest of this period but I am tired of moving in the area of needs. So many Christians never get beyond their own needs. So I’m going to go briefly through this area and go on to what I call the area of aggression, where you’re not defending yourself but you’re attacking.

So, suppose that you have a lot of dark negative forebodings. And you’re continually thinking about what would happen if I were to die. I mean, there are lots of people with this attitude, some of them are here tonight. You’ve been told by the doctor, like Ruth was, “Well, we can’t guarantee that you’ll come through this. We’ll do our best.” Here’s a scripture we must have used several thousand times. I mean, Ruth at certain times just lay in bed and said that, that’s all she said. Psalm 118:17:

“I shall not die but live and declare the works of the Lord. I shall not die but live and declare the works of the Lord.”

Would you like to say that? That doesn’t take much memorizing, does it? All right. “I shall not die but live and declare the works of the Lord.” Again. “I shall not die but live and declare the works of the Lord.”

Now, one thing you can do to make sure you’re really bold is to turn and face somebody, look them right in the face and say to them, “I shall not die but live.” It takes a certain amount of extra what the Jews call chutzpah or nerve. “I shall not die but live and declare the works of the Lord.” Amen. You feel better now, don’t you?

Suppose it should happen to you as it happens, I mean, preachers are particularly a target for this. A lot of people criticizing you, speaking against you. Some are praying against you. So what do you do? Our remedy is Isaiah 54:17. If you want to find it in your Bible we’ll just say it. We say it in our own particular way but it’s based on this.

“No weapon that is formed against us shall prosper, and every tongue which rises against us in judgment we do condemn. This is our heritage as servants of the Lord, and our righteousness is from you, O Lord of hosts.”

Have you found it there? You see how we personalize it? We’ll do that once more.

“No weapon that is formed against us shall prosper, and every tongue which rises against us in judgment we do condemn. This is our heritage as servants of the Lord, and our righteousness is from you, O Lord of hosts.”

That’s why we can condemn the tongues that accuse us, because they’re accusing God’s righteousness. You see. And that’s always losing.

I’d like to say just to clear the record after that we say, if there are those who have been speaking or praying against us or seeking harm or evil to us, we forgive them and, having forgiven them, we bless them in the name of the Lord. You see, we replace the negative with the positive because the Bible says if people curse you, don’t curse them back, bless them. Paul said don’t be overcome by evil; overcome evil with good. The only power strong enough to overcome evil is good. So you have to learn to meet the negative and overcome it with the positive. But it has to be based on this word.

Suppose, let’s say, our ministry is assailed. Or it could be our home or our family. We have one that we’re quite famous for in Deuteronomy 33:25–27. We do this in the NIV, which makes it very powerful. Deuteronomy 33:25–27:

“The bolts of our gates will be iron and bronze, and our strength will equal our days. There is no one like the God of Jeshurun, who rides on the heavens to help us and on the clouds in his majesty. The eternal God is our refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms. He will drive out our enemies before us, saying, ‘Destroy him!’”

Amen! That really frightens Satan, I’ll tell you that. We have learned you have to destroy him. God will drive him out, you have to destroy him. You have to put your foot on the enemy’s neck. We won’t go into the details of that, they’re too bloodthirsty.

Let’s point out we’re not talking about human beings, we’re talking about spiritual forces in the heavenlies when we’re talking about our enemies. Our enemies are not flesh and blood. Your pastor is not your enemy, your husband is not your enemy. You might think so at times but that’s not the way it is! You have to learn that we’re not fighting human beings. These weapons are very powerful but they have to be used in the right context.

Now suppose you should have any kind of need. None of you do, I’m sure, but suppose it should happen. Financial or physical or healing. We’ve got one proclamation for each. First of all, financial. 2 Corinthians 9:8—and we just change the words a little but basically they’re King James.

“God is able to make all grace abound toward us, that we always, having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work.”

See, it starts with three simple words. God is able. Do you believe He’s able? It’s important. Then it says what He’s able to do. And that is such a tremendous verse. The word all occurs five times and the word abound or abundance occurs twice. It wouldn’t be possible to get more abundance into one verse than Paul got into that, and it’s grace. Notice that, how is grace received, by what? By faith. By grace you are saved through faith, that’s right. It’s not something we earn, it doesn’t depend on our salary—although that may be related. But we receive it by faith in God’s grace. We’ll do it once more. This is, I would say, the financial basis of our ministry. Whenever we are praying for finance we start on this basis. See, then we have a positive attitude. So we’ll do it again.

“God is able to make all grace abound toward us, that we always, having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work.”

And then suppose that you’re challenged with something you can’t do, it’s too much. You’re just not capable, you don’t have the education, you don’t have the physical strength; it depends what it is. And yet, God has challenged you with it. Well, we resort to Philippians 4:13. But this is the Prince version. I happen to know I think the Lord gave me a really good rendering of the Greek that brings out the meaning better than any other version I’ve ever heard. But let me say it’s not in print. I’ve got people coming up to me and saying where can we buy it? You can’t.

“I can do all things through the one who empowers me within.”

I’ll say that again.

“I can do all things through the one who empowers me within.”

I use the word empower because the Greek word is from dunamis which is normally translated power. So there’s a source of power within you that is released by your proclamation. “I can do all things through the one who empowers me within.” I don’t have the education, I don’t have the strength; but when it’s the will of God, when it’s a task assigned by God, there’s one in me who empowers me from within.

And then suppose the problem is sickness. One of our favorites is 1 Peter 2:24:

“Jesus himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins might live for righteousness by whose wounds we were healed.”

See, it puts it in the past tense. If you notice when it speaks about healing in the atonement it never uses the future. 700 years before Jesus came Isaiah said “through his stripes we are healed.” After the atonement, looking back Peter said, “by whose wounds you were healed.” That gives you a totally new perspective. It doesn’t mean you automatically cease to be sick but it gives you a different basis on which to encounter and challenge sickness. And sometimes you have to keep saying it a long while. You just have to decide which is more reliable, God’s word or your symptoms.