But the righteousness based on faith speaks thus, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ (that is, to bring Christ down), or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).” But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart”—that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved; for with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.” Romans 10:6–11.
There is another passage very similar to this in the book of Deuteronomy. For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not too hard for thee, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, and make us to hear it, that we may do it? Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, and make us to hear it, that we may do it? But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it. Deuteronomy 30:11–14.
These passages are outlining something that very few of us have been able to get hold of. Jesus said: If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatsoever ye will, and it shall be done unto you. John 15:7. That seems simple. You may have many Scriptures in your heart, and you may be trying to live in the Lord. Then why is it that you are ineffective in seeing those things which you are asking for come into being? It is probably because you do not understand this verse. Jesus is talking about a vine and branches situation, a flow of life, a reciprocal indwelling that is organic in nature. The branch and the vine are intertwined. To sever the branch is to destroy it, because it is drawing its life from another source. Life is not inherent within the branch; it is coming from the vine. The vine is feeding life into the branch, and the fruit that comes forth is fantastic.
The Lord is telling you to learn to live in Him and draw His life until His words are living in you. Do not get the idea that it is some passive abiding in the Word; it is a vital life of the Word within you. And when that Word is vital and alive within you, then you can ask what you will and it shall be done, because the Word of God is liberated within you, having free course. It comes forth as a living force within you, and in your utterance you cannot help but open up the fantastic realm of the impossible. Therefore, by faith everything becomes possible, because the Word of God within you looses it and creates it.
This Scripture implies that you do not ask for what you want on a human level. Jesus did not say, “Now you live in Me and My words live in you. You go along and make some prayers, learn how to pray through, and it will finally happen.” Your asking is actually a proclaiming by the Word itself that is abiding in you. You believe it, and you speak it into being. You may find it difficult to adjust to that or understand it, but you should understand it because salvation starts that way. You believe in your heart and confess with your mouth, and it results in salvation.
You may decide to go and get a Word from the Lord, but even that could be from a wrong motivation. What about all those words that you have already received? You do not need another Word. The Word of God does not grow old, even though you may be tired of it and think that you need a new one. If the Word that you received were living within you, it would begin to work, and you would not constantly be looking for a new Word. The Scriptures say you have a Word. It is abiding in you. It is not way up in heaven to be brought down; nor do you need to go to the abyss to bring Christ up. He is living within you. His Word is living within you. It is not afar off; it is right there in your mouth. Say it. It is in your heart—speak it forth. Believe it! This is the way miracles occur.
You must understand that events are not going to happen as a result of trends or a conspiracy of circumstances. Do not think that different factors in the earth will bring things to pass. The events happening in the earth will require a direct intervention by God. God has created the instrument by which He is going to intervene and change the course of the age, and that instrument is you! You are going to stand and prophesy. The enemy will come in like a flood, but you will stand and prophesy against him. Do you understand the significance of this? This is the end-time ministry.
Several years ago a handful of believers in one of the first New Testament churches to come forth began to prophesy about Babylon. Babylon had never looked healthier in her life. Nevertheless, in the years since those prophecies were uttered, the whole denominational structure has visibly started to crack. Now it is crumbling, and no one can stop it. The denominational leaders try to shore it up and make Babylon’s walls stronger, but she is coming down. Very few people know what happened, that a little handful became God’s instrument to speak His Word.
It is not the number of people that is important; God has never allowed the numbers of people to be the factor upon which His will depends. He always works through a remnant, like Gideon’s army. God whittled it down again and again. God has said: “I will take one of a thousand and bring them into the things I have prepared for them.” One of a thousand—imagine that! One can chase a thousand and two will put ten thousand to flight (Deuteronomy 32:30). A remnant will do it by standing and prophesying against the works of darkness and the works of apostasy. A remnant will prophesy against all that Babylon does.
The Word of the Lord is nigh thee. It is in your heart. It is in your mouth. Believe it! Speak it into being! Sometimes it looks like a silly little exercise when you stand and prophesy against Babylon or proclaim the release of finances. It may seem as if you are just standing there talking to yourself, but you are not. You are turning things into action, and they become realities.
Do not be concerned about feeling silly; you would probably feel more silly doing what the denominations do in many so-called worship services—things that do not make sense at all, either scripturally or any other way. Men are institutionalizing the whole Christian walk, until today they do not have real churches of the Lord Jesus Christ; they have institutions. They are not the family of God; they are highly organized institutions. They do not have the prophets in the land today; they have professional men who are trained to be activity supervisors or pulpit managers.
If you walk with God, you will want to prophesy to those churches. You will want to bring down the institutionalization of God’s Church. Forget about diplomacy! Prophesy the Word of the Lord to them, and God will take care of them. You do not have to fight any battles; just speak the Word of the Lord. It may sound mean and vicious, but remember the prophecy about Babylon in Hosea 13:16b: For she hath rebelled against her God: they shall fall by the sword; their infants shall be dashed in pieces, and their women with child shall be ripped up. They sang that prophecy in Bible times. God’s people today need to become a little more vicious. Very shortly there will be a lot of blood flowing in the earth, and Christians had better become conditioned to the prophecies which say that the slain of the Lord will be many (Isaiah 66:16).
God has a lot of people in denominational churches. What do you want to do—bless them and strengthen them so that they can keep the corpse alive? If you do, then when God judges it, they will be caught inside. When the house collapses, they will be crushed in it as Samson was with the Philistines (Judges 16).
There is a better way. Stand and prophesy until the walls come down and the people come out. God’s people are captive in Babylon. Rescue them! Get them out. Loose them!
It is one thing to bring down Babylon by prophesying the Word of the Lord, but what are you going to do about the Word of the Lord over your own life? It is not enough to have all those prophecies tucked away in a drawer. You should read and reread those prophecies. Prophesy them again to yourself. Prophesy them into being. It is not the person who prophesied to you that counts so much, but rather, what you are doing by letting that Word have free course in you. Get that Word from the Lord. Get that prophecy and speak it over and over and over again.
A day of release is coming, and it is going to come by people who dare to give utterance to the Word of God that is nigh them. It is in their hearts and in their mouths, and they are going to speak it. Jesus promised, “If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatsoever ye will and it shall be done unto you” (John 15:7). This is the way it happens.