You Can Have What You Say

Living Inside Out (4)

One way to release the Kingdom is by speaking.

Jesus showed us how this is done in the Mark 4 passage. In this passage, how did Jesus calm the storm? He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm (Mk 4:39, NKJV). Jesus “rebuked” the wind and “said” to the sea – that’s how He did it, by His words.

Words carry enormous amount of power: death and life are in the power of the tongue (Prov18:21). Jesus said His words are spirit and are life (John 6:63). Words are of the spirit realm and His Kingdom is also of the spirit realm. The Kingdom could be carried by words. In fact, Jesus demonstrated that He could use words to bring the Kingdom into the world around Him. When peace replaced the storm, when the reality of heaven prevailed, it was proof that the Kingdom had come on the scene.

But just as life could be transmitted through words, so could death. Therefore it’s not the case of saying words like a formula to get what we want, but what matters is the spirit that the words carry – whether it is of the devil or of God. Only faith-filled words bring God’s Kingdom on the scene. Having said that, we could all start with being careful in what we say.

A few days ago I had an experience that illustrates the point well. Over the telephone Sister Rose complained to me about an abnormal condition: she was shivering in cold and sweating profusely at the same time. She had not been feeling well for over a month and the condition was getting worse. The doctors did not find anything serious except to say that a valve of her heart was not functioning well. The medication did not seem to help. But our sister sure believed in God’s healing power and gladly received my prayer. While I prayed the Lord led me to speak against an evil oppression on her. I rebuked the oppression and commanded the body to be well. It didn’t take long after putting down the phone that she found herself completely liberated. She went for a walk and the sweating and the “body-cold” left her. This is a classic case of speaking the Kingdom into the situation, even over the phone.

Jesus’ disciples used words too in the crisis: Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing? (Mk 4:38, NKJV) However, their words were not positioned to make a decree on the situation to change the circumstances, but merely state the fact they were facing. It’s like what the Lord told Charles Capps once (which he related in his book The Tongue – A Creative Force):

I have told my people they can have what they say, but my people are saying what they have.

Release the Kingdom - you can have what you say.

Releasing the Kingdom

Living Inside Out (3)

We can only give what we have.

One time the apostles Peter and John went up to the temple at Jerusalem and on their way met a lame man at the gate who begged for money. Then Peter said, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.” (Acts 3:6, NKJV) The lame man was healed on the spot, strength coming into him. Leaping up, he stood on his feet and walked.

What Peter had done was simply to give away the Kingdom. It’s not that there was no silver or gold in God’s Kingdom, but Peter understood that there’s health and wholeness in the Kingdom - that’s what the lame man needed.

Just as Peter could release the Kingdom into the world around him, so could all born again believers. God’s Kingdom is within us (Luke 17:21) – this is an amazing truth. It doesn’t matter what are the needs we face or others around us face, we have the solution. Every time the Kingdom comes into collision with the reality of this world the Kingdom always wins, and the reality of the Kingdom would take over. There is life, peace, health and abundant prosperity in the Kingdom, but there’s no lack in anything.

Jesus asked His disciples to pray that the Kingdom come (Matt 6:10). The Kingdom can come upon the believer as well as being released from the believer. If you think about it, this is similar to the Holy Spirit. Jesus told His disciples before His ascension that they shall receive power when the Spirit has come upon them (Acts 1:8). But before that He also said that the Spirit would flow from their hearts like rivers of living water (John 7:38-39). Although we can’t say that the Spirit and the Kingdom are one, we do know that the Kingdom is in the Spirit (Rom 14: 17). Therefore, like the Spirit, the Kingdom can be released from the believer.

Now, this is the make-up of the believer: he hosts and releases the Kingdom. But like Jesus’ disciples facing the storm, many of us have not learned to live this way. Perhaps it is simply because we are not aware of what we carry inside.

Rise up and calm the storm! You can give what you have.


Photo Credit: Evgeni Dinev on FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Scripture Link: BibleGateway.com

Let Your Internal Reality Change Your External Circumstances

Living Inside Out (2)

Mark 4:35-41

Jesus had perfect peace inside, and His focus was on this internal reality rather than the storm outside. That’s why He did not panic like His disciples did.

When facing difficult circumstances we can choose to remain at ease connected to God’s Kingdom or we can act according to what we see and feel. As children of God, His Kingdom is within us (Luke 17:21). If God is with us, we will surely make it to the other side. To choose to live according to what we see and feel is to ignore the invisible and invincible Kingdom inside.

Jesus’ disciples allowed themselves to be overwhelmed by the storm. They saw, they felt, they thought about it and they decided that it could be fatal. Before they approached Jesus their hearts were already gripped with fear. Fear is something tangible, it’s something real. But this reality is inside, not outside. So what actually happened to the disciples?

The storm had moved from outside their body to inside their soul.

We have to guard what we have, because there is a thief who comes to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10). If we are not careful, he will steal our peace. Then, like the disciples, we would have let what’s outside affect what’s inside.

Jesus lived the other way round. He would not let the outside affect the inside. I have read the passage in Mark many times, but every time I thought it comical that Jesus could keep on sleeping in that kind of condition. Apart from the fact that it’s because He lived in Shalom peace, I believe Jesus also wanted to teach us something by his sleeping. He was effectively saying this: shut the external conditions out of your system. Ignore them. Of course, Jesus could laugh heartily and He could weep at what He saw. He lived like a normal man. Even so, He was never fazed or intimidated by unfavorable external circumstances.

But there’s more to it. Inside Jesus there’s no storm, but He did have a lot of peace. His Kingdom is peace. He carried it in great measure and He could release it to the world around Him. What He had not he could not give but what He had He could give. He released His Shalom peace into the outside world. Just as the disciples’ fear was tangible, His peace was also tangible and of superior reality. The storm had to cease. Jesus then rebuked His disciples; obviously He meant that they could have done what He did. So, in whatever storm you find yourself in, do what Jesus did:

Let your internal reality change your external circumstances.


Scripture Link: BibleGateway.com