“Look how He lifted me
His grace and mercy is my testimony”
-Elevation Worship, ‘Look How He Lifted Me’
I’ve been brought to a lot of introspection in all the praying I’ve been doing lately. I don’t know, this seems to be a season for me to intentionally seek the Lord, and the best way I know how is just to pray. With that said I’ve been taking a lot of long drives home, with the windows up and without any music playing. Just praying – that is, giving thanks for people and situations that come to mind, and expressing gratitude for what I can say that the Lord is doing, and who He is before these people and events.
Thanking the Lord, for example, for Israel, and for being with our brothers and sisters in the body of Christ.
Thanking the Lord for He is with them there as much as He is with me and the body of Christ where I am, and with that said, expressing gratitude also for He works all things for the good of those who love Him, there as much as He does in Ukraine, and as much as He does here.
Thanking the Lord, because His presence, and therefore His glory and grace as present there as much as it is here, and therefore more and more people would see the goodness of God that would lead them to repentance.
That’s a lot of thanking, versus the Pentecostal ‘declaring’ and ‘decreeing’ which I have a feeling is much more advantageous for folks who have a lot more in their vocabulary. Not to bash on them – I am, after all, serving in a church that identifies as Pentecostal; ‘Pentecostal’, I’m assuming gives emphasis to the events of Pentecost: That is, the ‘pouring out’ of the Holy Spirit, the tongues of fire appearing above the heads of the disciples, and their consequent speaking in foreign tongues in the marketplace.
Now with that said, there isn’t any decreeing here to be done… The MTG Card Royal Decree comes to mind, where I perceive a decree as something in the lines of, ‘whatever the king says, goes’; The prominent(?) Mr. Copeland also seemed to ‘decree’ this way against the equally prominent un-virus a couple of years ago, and that was pretty funny. Oxford Languages defines the word as, ‘an official order issued by a legal authority’, but I find it very interesting that the MW defines it as ‘an order usually having the force of law’. Legal. Law.
Friends, we may be proclaimed righteous and in good standing with God, but this does not mean we have the same legislative authority as the infinite and eternal Creator of the Universe. Note that in the very familiar Great Commission, Jesus clearly proceeds by saying that ‘All authority (all power of absolute rule) in heaven and on earth has been given to Me.‘ (Matthew 28:18, AMP), and it is with this authority that I say He decrees to us, commands us to ‘Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’ That’s a decree. Christ decrees.
Now going back to the events of Pentecost, the people in the marketplace made an observation; In Acts 2:11, they say, ‘we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God.’ Now that was from the KJV, but the prominent NIV and a few other less known translations read that the disciples were ‘declaring‘. So in that regard, sure, we can declare – but two things to keep in mind:
(1) We declare, according to the context of the translated word. Thanks to the handy dandy (free) e-Sword app, we discover that the word for ‘speak’ or ‘declaring’ is laleō (lal-eh’-o), ‘A prolonged form of an otherwise obsolete verb; to talk, that is, utter words: – preach, say, speak (after), talk, tell, utter.’ So with that in mind, we declare – as in, we preach, say, speak (after), talk, tell and utter. Nothing about the Legislature here – if we are to declare, it’s to share.
(2) What are we declaring? Well, again, choose your translation. We declare, as the disciples did – ‘the wonders of God’ (NIV), ‘the wonderful things God has done’ (NLT), ‘the mighty works of God’ (ESV), ‘the great things of God’ from the Berean Literal Bible, ‘the wonderful works of God’ (KJV/NKJV), or ‘the mighty deeds of God.’ (NASB)
2(a): A Done Deal
When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream. Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy; then they said among the nations, “The LORD has done great things for them.” The LORD has done great things for us; we are glad.Psalms 126:1-3
Your righteousness, O God, reaches the high heavens. You who have done great things, O God, who is like you? You who have made me see many troubles and calamities will revive me again; from the depths of the earth you will bring me up again. You will increase my greatness and comfort me again.Psalms 71:19-21
We declare, and we share the mighty, wonderful, and great things, works, and deeds of God; We speak of the impact of what Christ has done – for it is through Christ’s finished work that we Gentiles can share in the joy of the Psalmist and his fellow Israelites. We declare that because of Christ, our mouths are filled with laughter, and our tongues are filled with shouts of joy (additional motivation for our worship teams).
Because of what Christ has done, we declare that our God (Father, Son & Holy Spirit) has seen and sees us through many troubles and calamities.
Because Christ rose from the dead, we declare that we ourselves are revived. We declare that we have been revived once and for all as righteous, new creations, but we also declare that we are brought up again and again and again, as the Psalmist mentions, a reference to the righteous man in Proverbs 24:16.
Because Christ ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father, so we declare how we ourselves are seated in heavenly places – in this way has our greatness been increased, and in this way we ourselves are comforted.
2(b): A Continuous Covenant
Christ did all for us to be co-heirs with Him, but we don’t stop at celebrating what God has done in the past, but we also enjoy what He is doing at present:
“As for me, I would seek God, and to God would I commit my cause, who does great things and unsearchable, marvelous things without number:
He gives rain on the earth and sends waters on the fields; he sets on high those who are lowly, and those who mourn are lifted to safety.
He frustrates the devices of the crafty, so that their hands achieve no success.
He catches the wise in their own craftiness, and the schemes of the wily are brought to a quick end.
They meet with darkness in the daytime and grope at noonday as in the night.
But he saves the needy from the sword of their mouth and from the hand of the mighty.
So the poor have hope, and injustice shuts her mouth.” Job 5:8-16
God thunders wondrously with his voice; he does great things that we cannot comprehend.Job 37:5
Blessed is the man who makes the LORD his trust, who does not turn to the proud, to those who go astray after a lie!
You have multiplied, O LORD my God, your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us; none can compare with you!
I will proclaim and tell of them, yet they are more than can be told. Psalms 40:4-5
I’m not sure if it was Job himself or one of his ‘friends’ who was proclaiming what we shared from chapter 5, but take a look – sure as God has a hand to ensure the soil is properly sustained and watered, He ‘refreshes’ the lowly and those who mourn. He has a hand against the crafty and the wily, just as much as He saves the needy from themselves and from others; an elaboration, a picture to the great things we cannot comprehend, an idea of just how wondrous His deeds are towards us – And look! Not only are His (present) deeds toward us wondrous, even His thoughts towards us are wonderful!
There’s another reference to one of my (currently) favorite verses: “casting all your cares [all your anxieties, all your worries, and all your concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares about you [with deepest affection, and watches over you very carefully].” (1 Peter 5:7 AMP)
And see here – I was pleasantly surprised, as a verse I have on my mind these recent days and weeks popped up:
Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!
“For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?”
“Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?”
For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.Romans 11:33-36
2(c?)
So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.2 Corinthians 4:16-18
I know I’ve probably gone too deep down this rabbit hole of declaring, but I just want to keep going; No, I just have to keep going.
We’ve made it plenty clear that Christ is the only One who decrees… But consequently it is our Christ-given privilege and opportunity to declare. By the power of the Holy Spirit, we declare the mighty/wondrous/great works of God. But in my attempt to differentiate these works according to what God has done in the past versus what He is doing in the present, I couldn’t help but notice that He’s doing what He’s done, and He’s done what He’s doing – In other words, there seems to be no past or present tense – Christ has saved us once and for all, yet He continues to save us (as He HIMSELF IS our Salvation)…
“Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
Revelation 7:10
Friends, our eternal Savior HAS saved us, IS saving us, and WILL save us. The point here is that what Christ has done is not solely in the past, present, or future; it makes sense, therefore, to say, that our timeless and eternal God is the only One who can give us a timeless and eternal salvation. Unseen (immediately), but eternal nevertheless.
One article from Glen Iris Baptist Church enumerates the rest of what we have, that is eternal; We have eternal redemption (Hebrews 9:12), eternal inheritance (Hebrews 9:15), presence in His eternal glory (1 Peter 5:10), everlasting habitations (Luke 16:9), everlasting life (John 3:16)…
Mind blowing!
We’ve gone through quite a lot, if only to see what it really means when we declare. It’s nowhere near decreeing, but what a great privilege it is – for us to proclaim the mighty works of God, brought to us by Christ and His finished work, meant to be heard by one and all, no matter what we’re going through – all by the power of the Holy Spirit!
Going back, therefore, to our example of the Israel conflict; Sure, there’s a lot for us to thank God for, but in light of all we’ve seen, there’s a lot for us to declare as well!
We speak in the marketplace:
The mouths of our brothers and sisters in the body of Christ, belonging to both Israel and Palestine, and even to both Ukraine and Russia – because of what Christ has done, their mouths have been, are, AND shall be filled with laughter, and even with all the media would have us believe, we shall take heart, knowing that Christ has filled, is filling AND will fill their tongues with shouts of joy.
We declare that as Christ rose from the dead, so He shall revive, is reviving AND will revive them through many troubles and calamities; As Christ walked out of the grave, so they shall rise, are rising, AND will rise from the depths of the earth, blessed with everlasting comfort and filled with His eternal and timeless greatness.
Do you see the subtle difference here? Decreeing is based on the authority of the one who speaks, and the literal words decreed are projected against an everlasting standard – And the only One who CAN decree is Christ, to whom ALL authority has been given, and only HE can make decrees of infinite impact, with His infinite wisdom!
We cannot decree. Really, in the light of the weight of decreeing, would we even WANT to take on the infinite responsibility of decreeing? It’s not even a question we can answer, if we’re honest! No, as His redeemed Creation, we have something FAR beneficial – we are able to declare, FROM Christ’s everlasting glory, TO Christ’s everlasting glory!
In the process, how else can we respond, but by giving thanks?
Let me wrap this up by sharing something close to my childhood. It’s a sweet exchange between the Celebrant and the Congregation, during the Eucharistic Prayer during Mass. It sounds so much sweeter, now, with all this we discussed in mind.
Celebrant: The Lord be with you.
People: And also with you.
Celebrant: Lift up your hearts.
People: We lift them up to the Lord.
Celebrant: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
People: It is right to give our thanks and praise.
Celebrant: It is right, and a good and joyful thing, always and everywhere to give thanks to you, Almighty God, Creator of heaven and earth.
+ The Celebrant adds a Proper Preface, then continues,
Celebrant:Therefore we praise you, joining our voices with Angels and Archangels and with all the company of heaven, who for ever sing this hymn to proclaim the glory of your Name:
I’m used to this being sung at this point, in different musical compositions, but always the same words:
Holy, holy, holy!
Holy Lord, God of power and might,
Heaven and earth is filled with Your glory!
Hosanna in the highest!
Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord,
Hosanna in the highest!
Let us give Him thanks, my friends. Let us declare of His goodness and glory, the mighty works of God. Let us give thanks for Christ, let us declare Christ.
God bless us all.
264555/369000
#Testimony #Prayer #Thanksgiving #Gratitude #Decree #Declaration #TheNatureOfChrist #EternalGod #EternalWorks #JesusChrist #Revelations #Grace #Bible #Psalms #PracticalChristianity #God #Truth #Life #Peace #Gospel #Christianity
JB's Personal Brain Defragmenter 
Leave a comment