Ever since September, during the most recent leadership summit held by the main church we serve in, one of the things I’ve been having our congregation doing a lot more of was to, in popular terms, ‘make declarations’.
It was something my mentor, Pastor Joedy sort of revived at the summit… I know, I’ve spoken against people who were so quick to make declarations before, as part of what Dr. Andrew Farley calls the ‘name it and claim it, gab it and grab it’ crowd.
To clarify, these ‘declarations’ are different from the secular affirmations – speaking the Bible makes all the difference. It’s Scripture that adds weight to our words.
And on a more personal note, life has come to a point for me to be so vulnerable that, let’s just say, I’m more than a little bit inclined to take chances that declarations would add that much value to my existence.
So Pastor Joedy was more than willing to share his own handwritten, Bible-based daily declarations, and I’ve gone as far as to reformatting our weekly newsletter for the congregation to enjoy.
Now here’s something – I’m finding out that there are certain declarations to be made depending on the season… and for the record, I’m going to go through snippets, words and sentences I’ve been taking down in passing as I let life happen these recent days, and I’m not going to be surprised if we find Scripture and consequent words to say and declare, appropriate for this season.
The first day of the first month of the last quarter of 2024 was when pastors from different churches gathered together at a humble cafe, to express their support for another mentor of mine who was, at the time, praying about his decision to run for a seat in the local government. These were notes I took down during and after the said gathering.
The salvation Jesus Christ paid the ultimate price for us to receive has made us, among so many other things, righteous and holy.
Now, it’s important that you mention Jesus Christ was the One who worked for our salvation, because by default, we’d attribute all credit to our own identity and pay all focus to our own works.
Without Christ one would define the word righteousness based on merit and good actions, and the absence of our bad actions. We’d strive to do more good than bad. We’d call ourselves righteous because we do what’s right and we’d call ourselves holy, because we do holy things.
However, when we acknowledge the finished work of Christ – His birth, death, resurrection and ascension – all that we are and all that we do takes second place. When we stop looking at ourselves we recognize that it is through Christ that we’ve been reconciled to God (made righteous, in permanent right-standing with God), and born as new creations, no longer of this world (made holy, set apart from sin, flesh and death).
No longer do we do ‘good’ works and avoid ‘bad’ works for God to declare us righteous and holy.
Through Christ’s finished work, God declares us righteous and holy…
…and out of thanks and awe, we work.
We’re righteous, and to us today this means we’re of God.
We’re holy, and this means we’re no longer of this world.
For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
2 Corinthians 5:21
28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. 30 And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31 so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
1 Corinthians 1:28-31
Christ is our wisdom from God. Christ is our righteousness, our sanctification (our holiness) and our redemption.
When it goes well with the righteous, the city rejoices, and when the wicked perish there are shouts of gladness.
Proverbs 11:10
Through Christ, we are blessed. The community rejoices when we are blessed, and we are blessed when the community rejoices.
The fear of the LORD is instruction in wisdom, and humility comes before honor.
Before destruction a man’s heart is haughty, but humility comes before honor.
Proverbs 15:33, Proverbs 18:12
True leadership (honor) is not without humility, and humility is not without leadership (honor). People are naturally drawn to humility. True leaders do not honor themselves, and as leadership and honor, so humility is not spoken, but demonstrated; not heard, but seen.
Lest we forget, where there is fear, humility steps back. Fortunately, we have reason to take heart – perfect love casts out all fear. Love precedes humility, and humility demonstrates love.
So, in declaration… do we honor ourselves? Do we openly declare our being humble? I suppose we could, but only, say, if we’re alone and if we want to hear ourselves say it. But here’s a wonderful thing. In Philippians 2:5-11, we read the following:
5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
There’s so much to talk about in this small set of verses already, but for the sake of what I’m apparently putting together here, I’m reminded, now and always – that, sure, our declarations ARE declarations and not mere affirmations because of their foundations in Scripture… but that they are also from Christ, through Christ, and to Christ (Romans 11:36).
With that being said, we declare:
Christ humbled Himself and was given the greatest honor.
Christ humbled Himself, and we were honored.
Christ was honored, and we are humbled.
Corruption is not absent from power – indeed, as the saying goes, ‘power corrupts, and absolute power absolutely corrupts’… But power present in corruption? Can you say that when you see corruption, there is a degree of power involved?
Anyone who vies for more power automatically subjects himself/herself to corruption. This is the price of power. But, again, we have reason to take heart – For the more ‘powerful’ man/woman of God is automatically more prayerful.
The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.
Psalm 145:18
Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.
James 5:16
In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.
Romans 8:26
Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.
Matthew 26:41
Because of Christ, we have the opportunity and privilege of prayer. By the power of the Holy Spirit, we pray, reminding ourselves of His presence, keeping corruption at bay.
We pray, and we have divine guidance and Godly wisdom for the power we have.
At one point, the issue was raised, on our responsibility to vote – How are we to discern who we vote for? To this, one pastor responded that our common denominator is always God, our common denominator will always be Christ.
6 This is he who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not by the water only but by the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. 7 For there are three that testify: 8 the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree.
1 John 5:6-8
From Christ comes the Spirit, and the Spirit will ALWAYS testify to Christ. In conflict, in decisions to make, in threats, we move with the Spirit, and with the Spirit, we testify Christ.
We remember the story of Gideon: proclaim the Lord of Israel, and your enemies will fight among themselves.
No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD.
Isaiah 54:17
Because of Christ, we have the Spirit, and the Spirit leads us into all truth. We proclaim Christ, and we have victory; No weapon formed against us shall prosper, no tongue that speaks against us shall condemn, and our enemies will fight among themselves.
Putting it all together:
Christ is our wisdom from God. Christ is our righteousness, our sanctification (our holiness) and our redemption.
Through Christ, we are blessed. The community rejoices when we are blessed, and we are blessed when the community rejoices.
Christ humbled Himself and was given the greatest honor.
Christ humbled Himself, and we were honored.
Christ was honored, and we are humbled.
Because of Christ, we have the opportunity and privilege of prayer. By the power of the Holy Spirit, we pray, reminding ourselves of His presence, keeping corruption at bay.
We pray, and we have divine guidance and Godly wisdom for the power we have.
Because of Christ, we have the Spirit, and the Spirit leads us into all truth. We proclaim Christ, and we have victory; No weapon formed against us shall prosper, no tongue that speaks against us shall condemn, and our enemies will fight among themselves.
Folks, this is just from October 1. I have a feeling I will be going through all we’re compiling here, run them through Claude and see if there’s anything specific (after Christ, of course).
So we’re doing appraisal, and here, we’re doing inventory. Exciting stuff going on. Stay tuned!
Until the next post, may the Lord continue to bless us greatly… Amen, and amen.
290470/365000
JB's Personal Brain Defragmenter 