These notes are from some teaching on faith by Charles Capps that I have gleaned from YouTube. I’ve also added some of my thoughts.
Scientists tell us that all words are released into the atmosphere and every word that has ever been spoken is still out there somewhere in a place called the 'ether.' - That ought to make you think. Jesus said in Matthew 12 that "we will give an account of every idle word we speak".
“But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgement.” Matthew 12:36
Those words still exist. Words are eternal forces; they continue to exist. They have been spoken and they are out there in the atmosphere. Words are powerful, words release faith. Words can release life or they can release death. Faith or fear.
“life and death are in the power of the tongue. They that love it will eat the fruit there of.” Proverbs 18:21
You can either speak life with your words or you can speak death with your words. Words are like seeds and will produce a harvest. God in the beginning used this method of using words in creation. We all operate under God's word system even today
"As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease." Genesis 8:22
Let me show you how this system worked and is still working today. When God was going to bring Jesus into the earth 750 years before He was born, God prophesied through Isaiah the Prophet that a virgin shall be with child and bear a son and his name shall be called ‘Emmanuel’ God with us. That was spoken 750 years before It came to pass. God's word are seeds and they produce results. God started the process 750 years before the manifestation of Jesus walking on this earth. He started prophesying it. If you study scripture you will see that God speaks everything first before He does it. He had his Prophets to prophecy it. It seems like God can do very little in the earth unless some man requests it, prays it, or prophecies it. It's by the Spirit of God. In other words, God's method is to proclaim things first that He wants to come to pass. God uses man to help bring these things to pass. It's because God gave man dominion of the earth. "He said let them have dominion"
“Then God said, "let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." Genesis 1:26
“God blessed them and said to them; "Be fruitful and increase in number, fill the: earth and subdue it; Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground," v28
He gave man dominion on this planet to subdue the earth. And he was to do it the same way God did, and that is with His words. Man had authority and was the ruler over the earth. But we know that he lost that authority and dominion and handed it over to Satan. Satan then became 'the god of this world.' Satan is still the god of this world system today. He is not our God however but the god of the world's system. Praise God Jesus went to the cross and suffered for us redeeming mankind. He stripped Satan of his authority.
“having cancelled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.” Colossians 2:14-15
“Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;” Hebrews 2:14
When Jesus stood on the mountain in the 28th chapter of Matthew he said..
"All authority is given unto me in heaven and earth you go in my name.’ Matthew 28:18
You and I are to now cast out demons and speak with new tongues, and lay hands on the sick and they will recover.
“And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.” Mark 16:17-18
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.” John 14:12
“and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms; far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.” Ephesians:1-19-23
So dominion was given back to the Church through Christ's victory at the cross. Not only on earth but under the earth and above the earth. God had handed the earth over to man in the beginning and then man gave it to Satan. God couldn't just barge in and take it back as it wasn't His anymore. It’s like you giving a car to someone and then deciding to give it to someone else; you really can't do anything about it now as it doesn’t belong to you anymore. God had to work His way back through mankind. When He made a covenant with Abraham it gave God access back into this planet.
When Adam sold the earth lease out to Satan it left God on the outside looking in. He had to make a covenant with man to legally get back in. God never did change that gift of dominion that he'd given man on the earth, it's just that Satan usurped that authority from Adam. But 'thank God Jesus redeemed mankind and today we have our authority restored. God's word is the final authority and man is the enforcement of Satan's defeat on this planet. Certainly Jesus defeated the Devil on the cross. Some say "how on earth could that be so when you look at the state of the world today"? If the Devil's defeated then we shouldn't have to do anything right? - yes we still do, you still have to enforce his defeat. Mankind is God's agent in this earth to enforce Satan's defeat
There are speed laws in this land. If you didn't have someone to enforce those laws, then the law wouldn't be worth the paper it was written on. God originally gave the authority to man, He never did take it away. It's not because God couldn't do it. God could wipe the Devil out in an instant of time if it was not for His word. But God's word is out there and He can't go back on His word because God's word is established. It’s already settled, its final and until the lease runs out God's done all He can do about the Devil. But He can anoint you and I to destroy the works of the Devil. This is in a nutshell why we have to operate in Gods’ laws, to enforce Satan's defeat and why God uses man to do it.
We have authority on this planet because we were born here. Your birth certificate gives you the right on this planet so that you can vote and change governments. Satan wasn't born here and he doesn't have a legal 'right in the earth. Demons, and evil spirits are all illegal aliens.
God uses His word through man to establish things. God will not do anything in the earth unless some man requests it, prays it or prophecies it, or makes a demand on the covenant of God. So this is what we are doing when we speak the word of God. We are making a demand on the covenant of God. We are not demanding God, we are making a demand on the covenant that He has already made. Just the same as you would make a demand on your bank account. That's essentially what you do if you have an account at the bank. They give you some cheques and you make a demand note on that bank account. It demands that the bank release the money to you. It's already yours in the bank. God has already given us all we need in our bank account. So when we are talking about taking God's word, and speaking God's word concerning His promises until faith comes and making a demand on the covenant of God. We are not talking about something that doesn't belong to us. We are talking about making a demand on something that God has already given us.
“Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.” 2 Peter 1:2-4
He has already given them to us. They are ours. But we may not have them unless we make a demand on them. We make a demand on God through His word. His word is His will.
When God was ready to bring Jesus into the earth He had it prophesied by His Prophets. It was spoken by man on the planet earth. It was a seed to bring forth the Saviour. It was a seed to bring forth righteousness when there was no righteousness. When God prophesied that a virgin would conceive and bear a child. He was establishing something in the earth. He was planting a seed. He did it with His words. Words were the seed. The words had to be spoken on the planet earth first. Now remember these words are still out there. They stayed out there working for 750 years before they came to pass.
When Isaac was old and was about to die he was deceived by his son Jacob into giving him the first born blessing instead of to Esau. Fathers’ gave a prophecy in those days to their sons. When they spoke them they were establishing some things and they had the right to do that. When Esau came later and wanted the blessing that Jacob had stolen, Isaac said that he couldn't do that, "what I have done I have done." His word was out, he had already released into the atmosphere. that he had proclaimed as a blessing remained and he would not return on that. This was the way it was in those days by speaking things over their children.
Even today people prophecy over their children. It's amazing that we have not understood this enough to know better. You hear people saying things like this over their children. "You're going to be in reformed school before you are 10 years old." “You'll be in prison before you are 20." "You're just no good." "You'll never amount to anything in life." When these things are spoken they are releasing forces into the atmosphere that are alive. Those words may linger with that child till the day they die. Your words will live on after you die. That doesn't mean that every word we said over our child will happen.
If we believed like they did in the Old Testament days, that the things we said to our children were sacred and powerful and were going to cause some manifestation, then I'm convinced we could do the same thing today. We could do it while our children are alive.
There is a living substance in the seed spoken. I know that if l plant that seed it would produce exactly after its kind.
“And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.” Genesis 1:11
Your words are seeds both good or bad. Just as sure as they are spoken the words are affecting something. Now it won't happen just because you said it would. I like to say it this way. It won't work just because you say it, but saying it is involved in the working of it. It’s God's word system. It works that way and you release a live seed when you speak words. The words have potential of destroying, building or causing something good or bad to happen.
Every seed produces after its own kind. Now if you get into strife and someone gets into strife with you and you retaliate. Strife breeds strife. On the other hand, love will produce love. That's the way it works. You reap what you sow. It's God's system, it's God's law of seed time and harvest and it all starts from a seed. The seed we are particularly involved with here is the word of God. Your words and God's words. God's word furnishes the seed. God's word is incorruptible seed.
“For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.” I Peter 1:23
God's word will abide, it lives on. Notice that it lives and abides forever. It may not abide in you, but it’s going to abide somewhere. It's not going to pass away. God's word will never pass away. Heaven and earth will pass away but God's word will not pass away. It’s eternal and that word is given to us. That's why it's so important that we use God's word when we are speaking over something that we desire to come to pass, in prayer or in conversation.
The Question was once asked by a man who was agreeing with someone in prayer. "What particular scripture are you basing this prayer on?” He said, "nothing in particular." The man replied, "well that's what you're going to get, nothing in particular." Because how could you have faith for something when you don't know what it’s based on? God's word is an incorruptible seed. You need a seed for the promise. Now the seed for the promise is in the promise itself. That's the word of God. The promise is the seed and the seed is in the promise. That's the way it works. The seed is in itself, that's the law of Genesis. "Every herb tree whose seed is in itself and will bring forth after its kind." Whose seed is in itself. When God promises something in the word of God that promise itself is the seed that will produce the promised thing when planted. In Hebrews 11:1 it says
"Now faith is the substance of the things hoped for the evidence of things not seen." Hebrews 11:1
Faith is the substance of the thing. Faith 'is' the substance and faith is also 'in' the substance. Now if faith is the substance of the thing desired and what is desired is what God has promised, then faith is the substance and the substance of it is in the thing itself. In the promise itself. Actually it’s the word itself. So it boils back down to the word of God.
Now I want to say that again. Faith is the substance of things. Now the 'things' are the things God has promised us. It’s the substance of those things. So faith is the substance of it, so it’s the life germ that will cause it to work. It puts life into that seed. That seed will lie dormant. The promise of God in the word of God is lying dormant like a seed lying on the floor, it's not producing anything because it doesn't have any moisture or soil. When you take that seed and plant it you've added some faith to it.
You see faith is action. Faith is an action word. Faith causes the life of that seed to come forth. It causes that seed to germinate. The speaking of it, the speaking of the promise releases the life force of the seed which is the word of God or the promise. And it gets inside you not only that it releases it in the promise; It’s just like the seed lying on the floor that is not planted. Its alive alright because the life force is in it. It has the potential of producing after its kind. An exact duplication of its kind. So if you're talking about a promise of financial prosperity then the seed is in itself. The life force to produce that prosperity is in that seed itself which is the promise of God. The word is the seed.
In Mark 4 we see Jesus talking about the sower. The sower sows the word. He was using the word as a seed. We can use the seed to get people saved, filled with the Holy Ghost or even to get our grocery bills paid. It's going to all work the same way because the seed produces after its own kind.
Mark 7:9 speak of making the word of God of none affect through your traditions.
“And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition. For Moses said, Honour thy father and thy mother, and, Whoso curseth father or mother, let him die the death: But ye say, If a man shall say to his father or mother, it is Corban, that is to say, a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; he shall be flee. And ye suffer him no more to do ought for his father or his mother Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition.” Mark 7:9
You can through your traditions render the word of God of non-affect. It's not a matter of the word of God not being able to produce, because the word is alive it’s a living substance. It’s a matter of what you do with the seed. Seeds must be planted. Not only that, there must be faith to activate that thing. As a seed laying on the floor, unless somebody has faith to pick it up and plant it, it will never produce anything even though the seed is alive.
We are talking about the life and power of words, particularly God’s word. You can render God’s word of non-affect by tradition. Saying things like. “Well this is the way we believe it." "I just don't believe in confessing the word." "I believe if it’s God's will for me to be healed then I'll be healed." "It's God's will for me to suffer."
It won't work for you if you don't believe it and God can't do a thing about it. Because of this you may die before your time. You will still go to heaven but it may be tomorrow morning if you failed to plant the seed.
There is enough seed in the bible to cover every spectrum of your life, but it won't work unless you plant it. It’s like seed in a sack.
If you don't like the harvest you've got, find yourself more seed. You are going to find out that most of what you have been planting in life is weeds, sickness, poverty, and failure like; "I'll never have anything." "I'll never get this debt paid." When you say things like this you are releasing life forces. Life forces toward that problem. You are feeding that problem with the worth of your mouth. Because every time you speak it you are going to believe it even more. The more you believe it the more you speak it. For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
“Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit. O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.” Matthew 12:33-35
In Matthew 12:33-35 He is talking about producing fruit and something growing. If you don't put any good things in your heart, it’s impossible to speak good things.
Paul says that the word in your mouth gets into your heart. A good- man speaks out of the good treasure of his heart. 'He' brings forth (the man), it's not God that brings forth good things. How? Out of his mouth. Wrong seeds are traditional ideas. Like that tradition. "God gave me a thorn in the flesh. He wouldn't heal Paul so I guess he won't heal me." By your traditions you render the word of God useless. It wasn't sickness that Paul was talking about anyway and he did get rid of it. Traditional ideas will cause you to live in poverty all your life. We have been taught wrong and have been filled with wrong ideas which come out of our mouth.
God wants you to be prosperous. Jesus came to give you life, it’s the Devil who comes to make you poor. On the mount of temptation Jesus said "it is written." "You will live by every word of God." The word has life in it. Every word of God has life in it. Jesus activated the seed. He said "it is written." He told the Devil what was written down. Jesus had so much faith in His ministry. He said that He only spoke what he heard his Father say. If you only said what the Father said you'd be highly developed in your faith as well. Because faith comes by hearing the word of God.
If you live by God's word, then it stands to reason that you will die if you live by the words of the Devil. There is 'a life' a 'death' in the words of the Devil when you speak them you are planting seed that will cause death to God's word or render it ineffective. Remember that you are sent here to enforce Satan's defeat.
Those who are not highly developed in believing that the words they speak toward a situation will change it are always speaking negative words towards it instead. They are always saying what the Devil said about the situation. They are highly developed in that area and really believe it’s going to come to pass but when it comes to speaking the positive things then they think you are just silly.