Equipping the Kings Part III

Equipping the Kings –part 3

Don’t Feed the Birds!

In part 2 we looked into the clearing of our spiritual sight as preparation to practical rule and how obedience causes us to walk in the light of Heaven. In this article I would like to discuss the effect of the oil of Zadok penetrating our ears and lips.

I am an enthusiastic gardener and can be found on most days, pottering around and fussing over my beloved plants. One day, recently, I was weeding a flower bed and muttering to the Lord about the water grass that kept coming up in amongst the flowers. Immediately the Spirit said to me, “where does it come from?” and it didn’t take much detective work to realize that the seed came from the bird-feeder hanging above the flower-bed. Every time the birds came to feed, they would scatter the seed into the flower-bed. I rather enjoy having birds visit my garden but the Holy Spirit said to me, “do you want weeds or flowers in your garden?

If you want to end the reign of the water-grass in your garden, stop feeding the birds!” I spent the rest of the day pondering on this practical lesson I had received and gradually the Spirit began to show me that He was actually teaching me a spiritual lesson!

Our lives are like a garden. What are we experiencing as we walk through our lives? Are there beds of beautiful healthy flowers or are we struggling, the weeds choking out the good plants we have deliberately planted? In the spiritual realm, our mouths are the instruments used to produce increase. From our mouths seed is sown into the garden of our lives. Our mouths are bird-feeders. If there are weeds in our gardens, the seeds must have come from either our bird-feeders or our neighbor’s.

Pro 18:21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it shall eat the fruit of it.

The Word tells us in the above verse that we will eat the fruit of whatever we love. If we love and embrace death, we will reap and eat the fruit of death in our lives. Whenever we are experiencing unpleasant or destructive circumstances in our daily walk, it is a good idea to trace the trail back to the source. The fruit in our lives can only be produced if seed has been sown to produce that particular fruit and the Word simplifies the whole situation by saying there are really only two different classes of fruit; the fruit of life and the fruit of death. We know we need to speak life and God’s promises over situations but we are careless in also allowing death-producing words to be found in our mouths concerning the same situations.

A sure sign of maturity is when we stop looking for the source of our problems in others. We are the farmers of our own lands and if we provide weed-seed in the bird-feeder of our mouths, then the birds of the air are attracted and their feasting frenzy causes that bad seed to be scattered into the far reaches of our lives where it soon takes root and in due season, bears fruit, which we then have to eat! For too long we have blamed the enemy for havoc taking place in our lives. It is time to admit full responsibility for the seed which our words have provided for demonic spirits.

Way back in Deuteronomy, God gave His people this very same choice and even offers advice on what choice they should make:

Deu 30:19 I call Heaven and earth to record today against you. I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Therefore, choose life, so that both you and your seed may live

Every time we open our mouths we are not only choosing the kind of garden we want to walk in, but also that of the generations to come. There is a generational reaping of the seed we allow to fall from our bird-feeders

Pro 13:22 A good man leaves an inheritance to his sons’ sons…

The above verse in Proverbs is not only referring to an inheritance of houses and lands but to a spiritual endowment that has been progressively and deliberately sown by the mouth of a good man. In fact, some of the plants we find in our gardens were sown by the words of our forefathers!

We are the sons of God through faith and our Father has spoken words over us. Are we using our mouths to confirm what Heaven says over us and those around us or are we inadvertently being spokesmen for the one whose job it is to sow tares in-amongst the wheat?

Few of us would deliberately choose to enable the enemy in his work to destroy us but in some cases we have been doing so without realizing it and the Lord is releasing fresh understanding at this time to deal with ‘the little foxes that spoil the vineyard’.

Pruning Precedes Harvest

If we look at the reference to this phrase in Song of Solomon 2:13-15, we discover that the season in which the little foxes are dealt with is the time when the figs are small and still unripe and when the fruit has just set on the vines. This is the time prior to harvest when there is visible potential for great fruitfulness but the interference of the little foxes can abort this.

There is another reference to intervention taking place prior to harvest in Isaiah:

Isa 18:5 For before the harvest, when the bud is perfect, and the sour grape is ripening in the flower, then He will cut off the sprigs with pruning hooks, and take away and cut down the branches.

So we see that the Body of Christ has an appointment to go through a time of divine dealing before the harvest is brought in. We see in the above verse that when the bud is perfect, when it is fully formed and contains all its divine potential, then the Lord comes and prunes the growing sprigs. He also cuts down and takes away branches. The New Testament connection to this is found in John 15:

Joh 15:1 I am the True Vine, and My Father is the Vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away. And every one that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bring forth more fruit.

The Father is attending to our lives at present. Every branch that is not showing any sign of life is being cut down and removed and the growing sprigs which show great potential fruitfulness are being pruned in order to produce more fruit. This is taking place essentially in the area of our belief-systems. Every branch of understanding and knowledge we possess that is not producing fruit of the Tree of Life is destined for cutting off and removal. The doctrines of men which have been sown in-amongst the Words of Truth are being exposed for what they are and cut off and removed.

The seed which the serpent caused Eve to ingest in the Garden of Eden came from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. That seed has since been sown in gardens down the generations, through satan’s suggestions, and it is time for the branches that have grown from it to be cut off and removed. We only want to be found to be of Christ. There must not be mixed seed found in our gardens and this is why the area of the tongue is under the spotlight at present.

Mixed Fruit

James speaks at length about the tongue and says:

Jam 3:10 Out of the same mouth proceeds blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. Does a fountain send forth at the same hole the sweet and the bitter?   Can the fig tree, my brothers, bear olive berries; or a vine, figs? So no fountain can yield both salt water and fresh.

Here he addresses the issue of fruit coming from our tongues and points out that the fruit tasted indicates the parent plant type. If there is the fruit of death being experienced, then there is stock of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil growing within our hearts alongside the tree of Life!

Faith comes by hearing the Word of God but when the Word of God is wrongly divided and misused to support the doctrines of men or demons, people put their faith in beliefs which produce death instead of life. Only the Truth eaten or absorbed from the Tree of Life and then sowed through the spoken word, will in turn produce life.

Mat 12:35 A good man out of the good treasure of the heart brings out good things; and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings out evil things. But I say to you that every idle word, whatever men may speak, they shall give account of it in the day of judgment.

Every time we open our mouths, we are wielding power. This is why we are admonished to be quick to listen and slow to speak. If Eve had taken the time to evaluate and discern just who was sowing the suggestion into her head, she would have been able to use her mouth to cut off the word of the enemy and choose life for her and her seed. The problem was that she did not expect to find an enemy in her own beautiful garden.

We have the same problem – because we belong to the Lord, we do not expect to hear the whisper of the enemy in the ears of our own hearts. When Jesus spoke in John 10:4 about His sheep knowing His voice and not following the voice of a stranger, it is obvious that there are two possible voices the sheep are exposed to, just as was the case with Adam and Eve. Unless we discern just which voice is which, we may end up like our ancestors, being led along a path that seems right unto man but which leads to death.

Because we speak out of the abundance of our hearts, and what is planted in our hearts finds entrance there through what we hear, it is vitally important for the oil of Zadok to penetrate our ears so that we may be taught ‘to discern between the holy and common, and between the unclean and the clean (Ezek 44:23)’ in what we are hearing. Remember that the enemy appears as an angel of light – this is his only possible disguise. We would never knowingly take in darkness. If he can get us to believe that what is being presented to us is light, then we will receive it and act upon it.

This has utmost relevance when considering the doctrines which the Body of Christ are exposed to and explains why very little fruitfulness is seen amongst the Body as a whole. It also helps us to understand why the Lord finds it necessary to prune before harvest, and specifically before this great end-time harvest which we are to partake in. Effort directed towards branches and beliefs that have no ability to produce life is effort wasted and time lost. Pruning when the bud is perfect and the grape is just beginning to ripen in the flower, allows the plant to direct all its strength towards those areas which will bring forth much fruit – and in this, the Father is glorified.

This concept is also applicable personally. The Master Gardener is in our gardens, sorting out the wild tangle of shrubbery, removing that which is dead and shaping up that which has potential. While this is happening, He is also increasing the level of discernment we operate in so that we are able to filter what we are hearing in our inner chambers. In the book of Esther, King Xerxes spent quite some time with Haman at his right hand as his chief advisor, before he suddenly became aware that he had been receiving counsel from the enemy disguised as an angel of light. Remember satan’s ambition remains unchanged:

Isa 14:13 For you have said in your heart, I will go up to the heavens, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north.   I will go up above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High.

He wants to be found in the midst of the congregation. His desire is sound like the Most High in our ears so that he may ascend and rule our minds and dictate from the throne of our hearts. If he is able to gain access by disguising his words as God’s words, he will be able to operate unimpeded and we will actually help him by becoming his spokesman.

Will the Next Witness Please Take the Stand?

Essentially there are two voices in the earth – the voice of the Faithful High Priest and the voice of the accuser of the brethren. The enemy no longer has personal access to the throne of God, having been cast out of Heaven. The only way he manages to speak before the throne of God is when we become his spokesman and voice the thoughts of the accuser of the brethren before God.

Every time we open our mouths and speak his accusation about a brother or sister in the Body of Christ, we have taken our place in the courts of Heaven as a witness for the Prosecution! This is why there is so much mentioned in the Word about judging one another. Every time we open our mouths, we have the choice of being part of the Life team or the Death team; of being a witness on behalf of the Defense or the Prosecution. Christ intercedes from the Mercy Seat and His desire is for His ambassadors on earth to speak from the same position. It is no wonder that Paul admonishes us to not to concentrate on the flesh:

2Co 5:16 So as we now know no one according to flesh, but even if we have known Christ according to flesh, yet now we no longer know Him so. So that if any one is in Christ, that one is a new creature; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

God desires us to see as Christ sees when we look at one another – we need to recognize and call forth Christ in one another. This is to use our tongues to speak life concerning ourselves and others. When we voice the accusations the enemy is pointing out to us, we are allowing our tongues to become weapons of destruction in the Body instead of instruments of righteousness. There is a practical example of this kind of interaction in Zechariah:

Zec 3:1 And He showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the Angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him.

Zec 3:2 And the Lord said to Satan, May  the Lord rebuke you, Satan! May  the Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is this not a brand plucked out of the fire?

The Lord’s response to satan’s accusation was to rebuke him and to speak His intention of life concerning Joshua. We have been given the ministry of reconciliation – to become the defenders of men and the declarers of the power of the cross. It is time for the Body of Christ to begin to see with the eye of Christ. If the eye of the Body is clear, the whole Body is full of light. Why? – because if we see people from the vantage point of the Mercy Seat, we speak life over them and light is released within the Body. If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin (1 John 1:7).

Satan’s desire is to bring division and destruction and he is hard at work recruiting agents to work for his cause.

Pro 17:9 He who covers a transgression seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates friends.

Are we using our mouths to bind the Body together in love or to separate the brethren? It is time for the members of the Body to stop speaking with the forked (divisive) tongue of the accuser and begin to speak with the two-edged sword of the Living Word. Jesus rebuked the disciples who wanted to call down fire from heaven on those who rejected them, saying they did not realize what spirit they were of. There is much being spoken in the Body of Christ that has not its origin in the Spirit of Christ, but in another spirit. Any desire to see judgment on another person in the Body originates in the accuser of the brethren. He has already been judged and desires to see man under the same fate. Jesus did not come into the world to condemn the world but to save it. That is His heart and His intention and all that is spoken by the Spirit works towards that intention. So much of what the Church thinks is discernment is actually rooted in the critical spirit of the accuser. He just cloaks it in such holy sounding phrases and tosses in a few scriptures to make us think we are hearing the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit comes to reveal Christ and lead us into all truth. He will draw our attention to the emergence of Christ in an individual. This is not to say that we must never confront issues, but the Word gives God’s boundaries for doing so – speak the truth in love to the person themselves privately, with gentleness, knowing you are also capable of falling.

The human body has a built-in mechanism to keep the body healthy and whole. It is called the immune system. Whenever a germ invades the body, the immune system is mobilized and the white blood cells rally to the point of invasion and destroy the harmful visitor. I believe that God has installed a mechanism in the Body of Christ which is designed to keep the Body healthy and whole. He has done this by placing the power of life and death in the tongue. His intention is for the Body to walk in love, speaking life and nurturing and shielding one another from the invasive attacks of the enemy’s arrows. However the Body of Christ today is not looking too healthy. The spiritual immune system does not seem to be functioning properly. Could this be why Paul mentions that the reason many are weak and sick and some sleep – because we are not discerning the Body and judging ourselves and our actions towards it? Just a thought…

In a natural human body, one gets certain diseases called auto-immune diseases. These are a result of the immune system of the body malfunctioning and instead of attacking invading germ cells, it turns and attacks the body tissue, mainly in the joint areas., causing degeneration and much pain and difficulty in moving. The Body of Christ’s immune system is malfunctioning and our tongues have turned from attacking the enemy and are unleashing death on one another. The Body of Christ is in pain and its joints are degenerating. God’s design intention in the Body is for every joint to supply. Instead, the bonds between the bones are corroded and crumbling and the Body is incapacitated.

Eph 4:15 But that you, speaking the truth in love, may in all things grow up to Him who is the Head, even Christ; from whom the whole body, fitted together and compacted by that which every joint supplies, according to the effectual working in the measure of each part, producing the growth of the body to the edifying of itself in love.

So how do we deal with the words of the accuser? He is often pointing out areas that need attention in our brother or sister. The first thing to do is to be slow to speak. Don’t give expression to what is in your thoughts until you have taken it to the prayer closet and received counsel from the Advocate for the Defense. Saints of God, it is time to use our tongues to turn the ship as James describes. We must repent of being witnesses for the Prosecution and change allegiance once and for all. Let the Haman who speaks for his own promotion and the destruction of the brethren be cast down.

Let also his ten sons (which is a type of judgments spoken from the loins of Haman) be killed and hanged on a gallows. Let only the judgment released by Calvary be the one declared by our lips!

We have such a strong desire to see and experience the Kingdom of God and one of the keys to its release in our lives is found in Revelation 12. Yes, this is a description of the original battle between God and satan but it is also a key of the Kingdom. If we will operate in the same principles, we will see the same results.

Rev 12:7 And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceives the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

Just as satan and his angels were cast out of Heaven, so too must their thoughts and accusations be cast down in the heaven of our minds. This is where the battlefield now is. Paul instructs us to pull down vain imaginations and every thought that exalts itself against the knowledge of God.

Rev 12:10 And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.

When we cast down the accuser of the brethren, the kingdom of God manifests within us and amongst us and His power is available to us. How do we overcome the accuser of the brethren? We use our mouths to declare the power of the Blood that was shed for that person and to speak mercy and life and peace on their behalf. We die to self and our need for recognition, restitution or revenge and use the word of our testimony to speak for the Defense Attorney, Who lives to make intercession for us. We use the power resident in our tongues to operate as the immune system in the Body of Christ.

Following these verses, there is a description of the woman fleeing into the wilderness and being kept safe there. Then it says:

Rev 12:15 And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.

Satan releases a flood of water, which represents words of death, against the woman, who represents the Church. He wants to destroy the Church using our own mouths. However the earth opens up and swallows the flood. Here is a graphic description of us earthen vessels just absorbing the accusations against the Church in our own hearts and not allowing the waters to flow further. Just as Christ carried the sins of the world in His body, releasing forgiveness and mercy instead of judgment, so too, we can cause those accusatory words to fall to the ground and go no further. By refusing to be a spokesman for the Prosecution, we silence the voice of the accuser and he is cast down. Love covers a multitude of sins and the Kingdom of God comes in power. We are part of the river in Ezekiel which brings life wherever it flows.

Beloved, the Holy Spirit is busy exposing hidden areas from which the enemy has been waging war on the saints. Next time a word or thought comes to us concerning a member of the Body ( which includes yourself), let us take the time to ask who the source of it is. If the speaking of this thought will knit the Body together in love and build it up, then you can be sure it originates in Christ. If, however, it points out a person’s weakness or flesh and will bring division, this is the time to cast the accuser down and point out that this person has been paid for by the Blood and Christ is coming forth in them. Let the sound of the Blood come forth from our mouths and cover the Body of Christ.

Eph 4:29 Let no foul or polluting language, nor evil word, nor unwholesome or worthless talk ever come out of your mouth; but only such speech as is good and beneficial for the spiritual progress of others, as is fitting to the need and the occasion, that it may be a blessing and give grace to those who hear it.

As we rightly discern the voice of our Shepherd and follow Him, rejecting the voice of the stranger, the gardens of our hearts will become full of very type of pleasant and precious fruit and we will be well-equipped to speak forth from the abundance of our hearts, ruling in righteousness and justice in every situation.

I believe that the Holy Spirit is wanting the Body of Christ to grow up to maturity, to  ‘a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ’ as spoken of in Ephesians 4. The word ‘perfect’ means ‘of full age, manhood’.

Jam 3:2 …. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.

So it is time to stop offending in word and become a mature ‘perfect man’ so that the whole Body operates under the bridle or lordship of mind of Christ. Let the joints be knit together in love, every part supplying according to the instruction of the Head.

Selah

Christine Beadworth

Copyright © 2012. All Rights Reserved.