Mouth to Mouth

I love listening to people’s testimonies. Most Ellel courses and healing retreats end with people declaring what God has done for them over the previous few days. It’s such a blessing and so encouraging! But here with have a rather different kind of testimony: declaring God’s judgments.

You will remember the story of David and Bathsheba. David committed adultery with this woman while her husband, Uriah, was away on military service. She got pregnant and, to make sure that Uriah couldn’t prove that he wasn’t the baby’s father, David arranged for him to get killed in battle. God revealed to the prophet Nathan what David had done. Nathan confronted David with his sin with the result that David was moved to deep and genuine repentance. He expressed this in the powerful and moving Psalm 51. God had assessed David’s situation and, through Nathan, had spoken his judgment. Psalm 51 is David’s declaration – his testimony – of that judgment.

In John 4, we find the well-known story of ‘the woman at the well’. Her testimony was that Jesus had ‘told her all that she had ever done’. He had assessed her lifestyle and she declared the fact to all her neighbours.

When Jesus was tempted by Satan, he used Scripture to declare God’s truth, His judgment, over what the enemy was saying.

In the Psalms, we often find people declaring God’s assessment of their situations and feelings to themselves. Look at Psalm 11, for example. The first three verses are a vivid account of David’s problems. But then he talks to himself about God’s assessment of the situation and concludes: ‘The Lord is righteous, He loves justice; upright men will see His face’

These are all examples of people ‘declaring with their lips the judgments of God’s mouth’. And such declarations are of enormous value. When we say to other people, “This is what God has shown me”, it can help and encourage them. If the enemy is having a go at us, we can use ‘the sword of the Spirit’, the Word of God to declare to him God’s true assessment, and it defeats him. When we feel vulnerable and oppressed, we can declare to ourselves how God sees things. We can ask God, “How do You see my circumstances?” And then, when we’ve heard ‘the judgment of His mouth’, we can ‘declare it with our mouth’ to other people, to the enemy and to ourselves. And to God too, as we express our agreement with His heart.

Prayer: Thank You, Father, that You watch over me 24/7. You see my heart and my circumstances unerringly. Lord, I want to know how You assess all that I think and do. Please help me to declare Your judgments in ways that will overcome Satan, bring blessing to others and glorify Your Name. Amen.