The Power of Corporate Declaration

19 Mar The Power of Corporate Declaration

If you’ve been coming to the Vine for any length of time, one of the things you will have heard Pastor Alex say from the front is how important it is to watch our words. That’s why we’ll hear him challenge us sometimes with “that’s not a good confession”. Here at the Vine, we understand there is power in the words we speak, to the extent they determine the direction of our lives¹. It should be no surprise to us that Jesus teaches on this subject as well². The bottom line is this – the Bible teaches that the words we speak carry the power to influence our circumstances in either a good or a bad way – which is the reason we are keen to encourage people to speak the Word of God over their lives. But do we realise that something even greater can happen when there is a corporate declaration of God’s Word over a particular situation?

‘Draught’ horses are very large and are used to pull heavy loads as well as to move heavy objects. I was reading³ how a single draught horse can pull loads up to 8,000 pounds in weight – which is remarkably strong. You would think therefore that two horses pulling a weight together would be able to pull 16,000 pounds in weight (2 x 8,000). But they don’t – they can pull up to three times as much – 24,000 pounds in weight! It doesn’t make sense does it – but it’s true, that two horses can pull three times the weight they could pull on their own. But it gets even more interesting, because what they’ve found is that if the two horses have been trained together and have worked together before – they are not limited to pulling only three times their individual capability (24,000 pounds) – they can actually pull FOUR times as much – (36,000 pounds)! There is an exponential increase when they work together that cannot be explained, but nonetheless is a fact.

God has created this ‘exponential law’ for our benefit as Christians. In Leviticus 26:7-8 we read this:

“But you will chase your enemies and they will fall before you by the sword; five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand.”

Can you see the exponential increase here again? We would think that if five can chase a hundred, then a hundred would chase 2,000 (I’ll let you do the maths). But that’s not what we read – what we see is that a hundred can chase FIVE times what we would think is mathematically possible!

During this time of national crisis, we can do something as a church – something that has the potential to make a real difference. We can come together as a church family and agree to declare God’s Word as a family – corporately. Yes, we will be doing it in our own homes etc., but because this is a spiritual principle, being separated by geography is not a barrier. (Jesus demonstrated that geography is not a hindrance when He healed the Centurion’s slave⁴). The important things to consider are that our declaration is based on God’s Word; that it comes out of a heart of faith (i.e. we’re not doing it mechanically); and that we are in agreement with each other that God’s Word makes a difference. I believe the more of God’s universal church that do this in faith – the quicker we will see this current situation resolved.

We would suggest that our church family at the Vine makes a daily declaration along the following lines:

• Read Psalm 91 out loud, and if you feel comfortable enough, personalise it (substitute ‘he’ with terms like ‘us’ / ‘we’ / ‘I’ – etc.)
• Speak out that you are declaring this over yourself, over all of your family, over your church family, over Bridgend, and over the whole of the United Kingdom.
• Take the Sword of the Spirit (the Word of God)⁵ and command this plague to stop in the Name of Jesus, and to retreat immediately. (If you are not familiar with doing this – look and then meditate on scriptures where Jesus tells His followers to speak to the mountain – as well as the scriptures where He gives His followers authority to push back the darkness)⁶.

Jesus’ promise 2,000 years ago to those who followed Him was that the gates of hell could not prevail against His advancing Kingdom⁷. This is a time where we need to take Jesus at His Word and start pushing the kingdom of darkness back in our nation during this time of crisis.

Gwynedd Jones

1. Proverbs 18:20-21; James 3:3-5
2. Mark 11:22-23; Matthew 12:35-37; 17:20 (KJV) as examples
3. Jim Stovall – https://timmaurer.com/2012/01/16/horse-sense/
4. Matthew 8:5-13
5. Ephesians 6:17
6. Matthew 10:1; 17:20 (KJV); 21:20-22; Mark 11:23; Luke 10:19
7. Matthew 16:18