"And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death" (Revelation 12:11). Many people have confused this term, "word of your testimony" with testifying about their experience with the Lord and what the Lord has done for them. While I understand that giving our testimony is very powerful and I am not discounting that as part of the meaning of this verse, I urge you to not limit Revelation 12:11 to that meaning. It goes much further. It contains the meaning of testifying what the Word of God says about what the blood of Jesus did for you. It means speaking the Word of God in your prayer time. The actual definition of the word states that it is a testimony in a courtroom.

In previous chapters we have compared abuses on both sides of spiritual truths. I want to start this chapter in the same way. We are going to be talking about the words of your mouth and the power connected with them from a Scriptural basis. I have seen believers attempt to talk God into something by repeating a positive confession over and over again, and then become frustrated because something is not working out right. I have also seen believers who think that there is no value to their words so they just speak whatever they feel, especially negative things. Both extremes have missed the truth.

The truth is that all the jabbering we can do with our mouth in an attempt to manipulate circumstances and even God will end up in disaster. On the other hand, if you become as a simple innocent child and consistently speak the word that your Heavenly Father has put into your heart, you will find yourself skipping through life resting in His love and peace (most of the time). As we will see, entering into rest requires labor!

The solution is to move from hope to faith.

When you focus on what the blood of Jesus and the finished work of the Cross has accomplished, you will move from just hoping that God will do something to knowing that He has already done it. You are righteous, you are reconciled. You have been crucified with Christ, you have been translated out of the kingdom of darkness and into His Kingdom. The difference between hope and faith is a time issue. Hope sees it in the future, faith has it now even though it cannot be seen with the physical eyes. Only God can do that. You cannot work up faith. Faith comes by hearing God speak to you personally, and that comes by pressing in to a one on one relationship with Him. It comes by taking up your cross, obeying His Word, and seeking Him until you find Him. When your personal revelation of Jesus burns in your heart, you will know that you have the victory. Then you can put the Word that He has given you on your lips and proclaim the victory. Doubt may come, but you do not have to give into it.

"These people draw near to Me with their mouth, And honor Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me" (Matthew 15:8).

"A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks" (Luke 6:45).

Overcoming takes time.

Many times people who are in oppressive circumstances or who are suffering afflictions, especially those resulting from a generational curse, do not give God time enough to overcome and bring the victory. Often they give up because they think that God does not "work" or that they are just too unworthy for Him to work on their behalf. Others keep trying in their own power and/or turn to other people as their source of help.

Jesus warned us that sometimes it would seem like God does not care or is indifferent, but He is not. In Luke 17:20 the Pharisees asked Jesus when the Kingdom of God would come. A part of His answer was a parable in Luke 18:1 having to do with an unjust judge, and the men should always pray and not lose heart. The parable ended with His statement, "And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?" (Luke 18:7,8).

Overcoming is often a long process. It took a long time for the curse or the affliction to form; therefore it could take a long time to overcome. Standing on the Word of God over a long period of time is what is needed. Also we need to consistently go back and review the blood of the Lamb and practice taking up our cross.

I don't think that God wants us to be like impatient children on a trip, who quite often say to their parents, "Are we there yet?" He wants us to adapt the lifestyle of overcoming and not be anxious about how long we will stay in our afflictions. I suspect that the more we try to rush Him, the longer it may take. It is like constantly peeling a scab from a wound to see if it is healed.

My wife and I have been through many overcoming seasons. Some of them have lasted longer than others, and some have seemed like they would never end. How does God expect us to stand for times and seasons that seem endless? By entering into His rest and leaving the driving to Him!

Speaking the Word brings us into God's rest.

Jesus is the High Priest over our confessions. In Hebrews chapters 3-6 the writer covers an area that is often overlooked. Perhaps it is because of the Hebrew type imagery and Old Testament shadows that he uses. The bottom line message of these passages is that there is a New Testament rest, a Sabbath that we as followers of Christ can enter. The rest is prescribed during those times that we need to stand on God's Word while circumstances do not seem pleasant. The Sabbath is a rest from the works of your flesh, and relies on the effectiveness of the active and living Word of God. He states that Jesus as your High Priest takes the Word of God spoken from your mouth to the Father, and sees to it that it is performed. He also perfects your imperfections while you are standing, giving you access to the Throne of Grace in time of need.

He reminds us that the Israelites failed to please God in the desert crossing from Egypt because they did not believe God's Word. They could not enter into God's rest. Then he tells us that we can enter God's rest today. "Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief" (Hebrews 4:11). How? He goes on in verse 12 to explain that it is because the Word of God is alive and powerful. "For the word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing apart of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart" (Hebrews 4:12). He continues in verse 14 to say that Jesus is the High Priest of our confession and He is in Heaven performing that ministry.

Jesus takes our confession and makes it powerful. Hebrews 3:1 says, "Therefore, holy brothers, called to be partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus." When we speak God's Word, Jesus takes it to the Father and asks Him to perform it. John 16:23 says, "And in that day you shall ask Me nothing. Truly, truly, I say to you, Whatever you shall ask the Father in My name, He will give you."

We can enter into rest and let the Word do the work. The Word (Jesus) will do the work while you rest in His goodness. The Word provides us with God's sabbath rest from the works of our flesh. Actually Hebrews chapters 3-4 describe the New Covenant sabbath, resting from the works of the flesh. It is also described in Isaiah 58:13 which says, "If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, From doing your pleasure on My holy day, And call the Sabbath a delight, The holy day of the LORD honorable, And shall honor Him, not doing your own ways, Nor finding your own pleasure, Nor speaking your own words" (Isaiah 58:13).

The words of our mouth will apply the blood.

When the Passover was administered to Israel in Exodus 12, the Israelites were told to put the blood of an innocent lamb over their doors and the death angel (demon) would "pass over" and not hurt them. Jesus is the Lamb of God, and we can put His blood over our doors and over the doors of our loved ones and those that we pray for. How?

Notice in Exodus 12 that as long as the lamb's blood stayed in the basin, it did no good. But when they took the hyssop, dipped it in the blood, and applied to their door, then God and the devil could see it. The hyssop was a common weed, which did not seem to have much value. The words of our mouth do not seem to have much value, but when we dip them into the Word of God (Who is Jesus Himself) and apply them as blood, God sees it and the devil sees it!

God's Word is a seed.

So many people forget the real character of God's Word. One of the most important parables Jesus ever told is contained in Mark chapter 4 (it is repeated in Luke 8 and Matthew 13). Jesus said in Mark 4:11, "And He said to them, "To you it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God; but to those who are outside, all things come in parables." Notice He said the mystery, not a mystery. This parable was the most important He had taught and it had to do with the truth that the Word of God is a seed and our hearts are the soil. Jesus is the sower and the Word or the seed either produces fruit or is unfruitful depending upon the condition of the soil. When you receive a rhema, a personal word from God at that time it is indeed planted in your heart and all kinds of reactions happen. Satan comes in many different ways to steal the seed. You have choices of either allowing the seed to be destroyed or stolen or nurturing it to fruitfulness in your life. Read and ponder this parable over and over until it becomes big in your heart!

Your ultimate overcoming is based upon the Word of God planted in your heart. Only you and God can determine what that particular word is, but close fellowship with Him is the only way to receive it. Standing until that seed produces is where many people fail to gain the victory. God expects us not only to resist Satan from stealing the Word, but also to water the Word. How? By speaking that Word over and over again, and living a life worthy of the Lord until fruit comes.

God calls it running the race, a marathon.

Hebrews 12 tells about a long race that we must run. The writer indicates that this race is our waiting time, waiting for God to perform His Word for our lives. God is not only using this time to defeat our external enemies, but also our internal enemies. It is a time of discipline. This chapter indicates that it is a time to rid us of bitterness and all ungodly characteristics through a shaking. When we come out the other end of the overcoming process, everything that can be shaken in our lives will fall off, and only that which is of His Kingdom will remain. "Now this, 'Yet once more,' indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear" (Hebrews 12:27,28). I encourage you to study Hebrews 12 in light of this idea.

Negative words coming from a negative past binds you to your past.

Your thoughts will be influenced by the confession of your mouth, and your thoughts will ultimately form your character and your future. Your words should testify to what the blood of Jesus has done for you. Satan hears your words, God hears them, angels hear them, and you hear them. They have an affect on all of those who hear them.

Satan cannot stand where someone who is in right standing with God is speaking His Word. God is quick to perform His Word when He hears it. Angels hearken to the Word of God. We hear the Word in our inner being when we speak it and it changes us.

Our words are extremely powerful.

"But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned" (Matthew 12:36,37). While we don't have room to do a complete study on this, we need to know that God is a word person, He created everything by His Word, Jesus is the Word, and we were created in His image. God expected us to exercise His dominion over a word-ruled planet by speaking our words over it. Adam was supposed to commune with God thus knowing His will for the earth. Then he was to speak what he heard God speaking. Satan knew the power of this dominion so he corrupted it, convincing Adam to speak his words rather than God's. Both Satan and God are spiritual beings without earth bodies; therefore they both need a human with an earth body to speak dominion-powered words to this earth and its inhabitants. "Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit" (Proverbs 18:21).

When the Word of God is confessed and prayed over a person or a situation, it is powerful! Jesus created everything by His Word. Jesus is the Word. Jesus gave us the authority to use the Word as if it were Him saying it!

When you speak God's Word, Satan does not see you, he sees Jesus (as described in Revelation chapter 1) who already has defeated him.

Demons flee! Psalms 149:5-9 says, "Let the saints be joyful in glory; let them sing aloud on their beds. Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand, to carry out vengeance on the nations and punishments on the peoples, (representing our spiritual enemies) to bind their kings with chains and their nobles with iron-bands, to carry out on them the judgment written; this is an honor for all His saints. Praise the LORD!"

Angels go to work when they hear God's Word. "Bless the LORD, O angels of His, who excel in strength, who do His command, listening to the voice of His word" (Psalms 103:20).

Psalm 68:11 says, "The Lord gave the word; Great was the company of those who proclaimed it: "Kings of armies flee, they flee, And she who remains at home divides the spoil." Notice what made the armies flee, it was the believers proclaiming the Word of God!

Jesus was serious about His words.

"For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them" (Mark 11:23,24).

Jesus rebuked Satan in His wilderness temptation by speaking God's Word. "But Jesus answered him, saying, 'It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God''" (Luke 4:4).

At the Cross, in His absolute affliction, Jesus spoke the Word of His Testimony. We should take His example. He had Psalm 22 on His lips. We don't know how much of it He was able to say, most likely the entire Psalm because it describes the crucifixion centuries before mankind even invented crucifixion. We know He spoke at least the first and the last verses.

"My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? Why are You so far from helping Me, And from the words of My groaning?" (Psalms 22:1).

"They shall come and shall declare His righteousness to a people yet to be born, that He has done this [that it is finished]!" (Psalm 22:31 Amplified).

What to do.

I strongly advise living a life of confessing Scriptures every day. A friend of mine reads the Bible out loud daily, and he has seen miracles in his life. My wife and I have a prayer list with dozens of Scriptures that we proclaim out loud several times a week. These Scriptures have to do with various issues like healing, finances, children, enemies, etc. We proclaim these not only over our own family, but also over those for whom we are interceding. We have done this for years and the results overtake us. Back in the early 1980s the Lord instructed me to create a small pocket size book with relevant Scriptures written on each page. I would take 30 to 60 minutes throughout the day and speak these out loud. Most of the times the Scriptures seemed totally opposite of what my actual experience was, but eventually my experience caught up with the Scriptures, and often in ways which were beyond my wildest dreams and prayers! We overcame impossible situations, afflictions, and curses. Ask God to give you a rhema, a personalized Scripture that He wants you to pray over your situation. This will carry power!

Focus on God's love.

While you are proclaiming God's Word, please keep in mind that you are appropriating the power of the God who created the Universe, the everlasting Father, the One who was, who is and who is to come. He is so much higher than your spiritual enemies that there is no comparison. He loves you so much that you cannot fathom it all. Concentrate on the Scriptures showing what Jesus did. See how He was moved with compassion to heal and deliver. When you realize that you are not trying to get God to deliver you, but He is attempting to instill faith in you to be an overcomer, your heart and mind will change. His love will cast out all fear.

Satan attempts to deceive us.

He causes you to believe that there is absolutely nothing spiritual about your affliction. Or at times he causes you to believe that you are in a battle against him. If you are attempting to win against Satan, you have already lost!

Actually the battle is between God and Satan, and the good news is that God has already won. The spiritual battle does not take an experienced warrior; it only takes child like faith that trusts in what God has said more than what our circumstances and our past tell us.

Our position should be one of already having the victory, and thanking and praising God for what He has already done at the Cross.

"Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 6:10-12).

The wrestling is not to defeat Satan, for he is already defeated. It is a painful and prolonged effort to put your mind on the effectiveness of the Word of God, and to dispel doubt and other imaginations in your mind. "For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:4,5).

Jesus promised that our taking the Kingdom would take militant force on our part. "And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force" (Matthew 11:12). The word "violence" infers a biological process as a tree growing and breaking up the concrete around it. The Word of God works as the seed of violence and we must understand that overcoming is a violent vocation

Discouragement is one of Satan's main weapons while we are standing.

Streams in the Desert contains a devotion that is very relevant to this subject. It says, "Do not yield to discouragement no matter how sorely pressed or beset you may be. A discouraged soul is helpless. He can neither resist the wiles of the enemy himself, while in this state, nor can he prevail in prayer for others.

Flee from every symptom of this deadly foe as you would flee from a viper. And be not slow in turning your back on it, unless you want to bite the dust in bitter defeat.

Search out God's promises and say aloud of each one: 'This promise is mine.' If you still experience a feeling of doubt and discouragement, pour out your heart to God and ask Him to rebuke the adversary who is so mercilessly nagging you.

The very instant you wholeheartedly turn away from every symptom of distrust and discouragement, the blessed Holy Spirit will quicken your faith and inbreathe divine strength into your soul.

At first you may not be conscious of this, still as you resolutely and uncompromisingly 'snub' every tendency toward doubt and depression that assails you, you will soon be made aware that the powers of darkness are falling back.

Oh, if your eyes could only behold the solid phalanx of strength, of power, that is ever behind every turning away from the hosts of darkness, God-ward, what scant heed would be given to the effort of the wily foe to distress, depress, discourage us!

Selected"

"One day in the autumn, I saw a prairie eagle mortally wounded by a rifle shot. His eyes still gleaming like a circle of light. Then he slowly turned his head, and gave one more searching and longing look at the sky. He had often swept those starry spaces with his wonderful wings. The beautiful sky was the home of his heart. It was the eagle's domain. A thousand times he had exploited there his splendid strength. In those faraway heights he had played with the lightnings, and raced with the winds, and now, so far away from home, the eagle lay dying, done to the death, because for once he forgot and flew too low. The soul is that eagle. This is not its home. It must not lose the skyward look. We must keep faith, we must keep hope, we must keep courage, we must keep Christ. We would better creep way from the battlefield at once if we are not going to be brave. There is no time for the soul to stampede. Keep the skyward look, my soul, keep the skyward look!"

Cowman, Mrs. Charles. Streams in the Desert 1. Grand Rapids, MI:: Zondervan Publishing House, 1995, pp112,113