Speak Life ... and shut the hell up!
BEV MURRILL
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River Publishing & Media Ltd Barham Court Teston Maidstone Kent ME18 5BZ United Kingdom info@river-publishing.co.uk Copyright © Bev Murill 2012 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior written consent of the publisher. Short extracts may be used for review purposes. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the English Standard Version (ESV). The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. AMP -Amplified Bible. Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. ISBN 978-1-908393-18-0 Printed in the United Kingdom
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Contents Dedication
5
Foreword
7
Preface 11 Chapter 1 - Changing The Atmosphere
17
Chapter 2 - Getting Perspective
35
Chapter 3 - The Command To Speak Life
47
Chapter 4 - So What Is Faith?
55
Chapter 5 - How Not To Speak Death
71
Chapter 6 - The Devil Knows Your Language
83
Chapter 7 - An Unconquerable Church
101
Chapter 8 - How To Speak Life
109
Chapter 9 - You’re In Charge Of Your Mouth
121
Chapter 10 - The Word @ Work
129
Chapter 11 - Don’t Take No For An Answer
141
Chapter 12 - The Who And The How
167
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Foreword The story of humanity is the story of language. Community is built on communication, and the choices we make about how we speak express something of the very heart of who we are. And yet we think so little about the words we use. Are there languages open to us that are more constructive, more useful, more conducive to life than others? Do the words that fill our minds and form our speech have the power to change the world around us? Rick and Bev Murrill believe that they do. Both Australians, they came to the UK in 1996 to take on the leadership of a baptist church in Essex. That first church is now the thriving “Christian Growth Centre”, Chelmsford, and a host of other churches have been planted or renewed. The Murrills have founded “Christian Growth International” to oversee this network, which now includes churches in the USA and a remarkable project amongst AIDS orphans in Uganda. More than this, Rick and Bev have mentored a generation of younger leaders who are themselves now achieving great things in church leadership, social action and entrepreneurial projects. There is a time-honoured biblical tradition that true leadership shows itself by its fruits, and Rick and Bev’s stature is seen in the many, many people who will speak of them with unwavering honour and gratitude.
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Key to their journey is a concept they have called “speaking life”: a way of harnessing and disciplining language as a servant of the purposes of God. This is the spiritual practise at the heart of Rick and Bev’s ministry, and it is this approach that has most influenced the churches they have shaped and the leaders they have mentored. In Speak Life... and Shut the Hell Up, Bev distills the lessons learned over these many years to capture the essence of the “speaking life” concept. Drawing lessons from sources as diverse as David before Goliath, Ezekiel in his valley of dry bones and Chicken Licken spreading panic through the farmyard, Bev urges us to learn and practise the “language of life”. This is God’s language; language that casts out both fear and denial and moves, rather, towards faith. This makes for an important and challenging book. We all use language. Words are at the heart of who we are. Which of us cannot benefit from reflecting on how we use words? I have been personally challenged through this material and have had cause to re-visit ingrained ways of thinking, of speaking and of praying. I have tested the concept of “speaking life” and have seen changes flowing from it. If you will take this book on trust, and let it speak to who you are, I believe it has the potential to change you. What better recommendation could there be for a book on the spiritual life? A word of warning is perhaps appropriate here. Language is the subject of this book but, ironically, the language of the book itself may send a false signal to some. The practises of “positive thinking” and “faith confession” are often presented in words not unlike those offered here. But don’t be deceived by this. “Speaking life isn’t merely positive speaking,” Bev writes, “nor is it a ‘name it and claim it’ brand of fake faith which often masks a tendency to live in denial. Speaking life relates to the deepest parts of who we are and how our hearts communicate – with the world, with each other, and
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Foreword
9
with God.� This is an important distinction and reflects the depth of study and prayer that have gone into the crafting of this material. Reading this book will challenge the way you think and the way you pray; the language you use to describe your circumstances and the ways you communicate with others. May it bear abundant fruit in many of us, teaching us to speak as God would have us speak, and empowering us to surf the waves of life God surely longs to bring to our churches and communities. Gerard Kelly Bethanie, France January 2012
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Preface “Truth has no special time of its own; its hour is now … always.” ~Albert Schweitzer Yes, I know. It’s a pretty outrageous name for a Christian book. But if you manage to get past the name and read the rest of it, you will find that, far from swearing, this is a book that means what it says on the cover! Hell has a language all of its own and its voice into society articulates all the negativity, evil and brokenness of the world we live in. When Christians understand the concept of speaking the life of Christ into their own spheres, however, they will discover that they have the power to shut hell, with all its influence, down also. The day a person becomes a Christian they are not only infused with the life of Christ, but are also entrusted with a deposit of the Kingdom of Heaven to take with them wherever they go. It’s our privilege and responsibility to plant and nurture the Kingdom where we work, play, live and engage with the rest of the world, just like Jesus did. He was not afraid to be seen in the places where (what others deemed to be) the riff raff of society hung out. His purpose there was to bring in the Kingdom. That same divine nature takes His place in us with the same intention.
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That divine incarnation within us enables and equips us to be His agents of change in the spheres of influence we inhabit, whether we are among the rich or poor, the socially acceptable or not. We were created not just with the capacity and propensity for a relationship with God, but to be bearers of His Kingdom wherever we go. As with Tolkein’s unlikely hero, Frodo the Ring Bearer, this is a weighty responsibility and despite our willingness to do it, we are deeply aware of our lack in the area of the power, confidence, energy or wisdom to do what we’ve been called to do. Fear and anxiety, arrogance and selfishness, shame and condemnation all dog our steps as we haltingly make the journey, our faith at times overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of the giants and wild beasts we encounter as we go … and that’s just on the inside of us, without even starting on what we meet up with outside our own hearts. Since the dominion of the earth was given over to Satan in Eden, the world has suffered from an obsession with death. It’s not just in the wars and attacks that abound, it’s in the way we speak and the way we treat each other day to day. Racism, sex trafficking, gender prejudice, paedophilia, riots, legalism, pollution, even many of our sports and computer games, are all facets of the death which pervades our planet. Each of these things are framed and established as legitimate philosophies by the words used to express them. Those ugly beliefs begin in our hearts, which inform our thoughts, which direct our words. Our words influence those around us and develop into actions, and those combined actions form the atmospheres that dictate the behaviour and belief systems of the societies we live in. Jesus came to give us abundant life, but even Christians tend to adapt to their societies’ viewpoints, embracing all manner of
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Preface
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ungodly values and eroding that abundance until the decay and detritus of our potential to transform our world is often all that is left visible. There are all sorts of reasons why Kingdom bearers don’t make the choice to engage the Kingdom of God in our daily life, bringing it with us into our spheres of influence. The primary reason, however, is because we have been enculturised into a society that finds such a concept bizarre and incomprehensible and we have little confidence in our capacity to do it. We lose sight of the fact that we cannot do it in our own strength; the power of the Holy Spirit is there to enable us, just as His command is for us to do it. Literally, if we will do what only we can do, which involves ordering our words in accordance with His words, we release Him to do what only He can do. Even people who have the life of God infused into every cell can often still be trapped in and by their culture. Our language is more inclined to emulate that of the society around us, rather than adopting the language of the One who spoke the world into being. We also speak our world into being, but it’s not the one we want … and it’s not the plan of God. We tend more towards speaking the language of death as our conversation repeatedly highlights our anxieties, our hopelessness, our depression and rejection, denying, by our neglect and unbelief, the true power of His Word; the power of God to change our situation and the world around us. Truth is not relative, it’s specific and focused in every situation, but the revelation of truth is selective and it is we who select it. When God’s people learn His language of life that encapsulates and
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establishes the potential He sees in us, an outbreak of Heaven is the result. Change is birthed. Peace ensues. Atmospheres are altered. Families are healed and economies revived. Changing the way we speak is not an easy thing. It entails intentionality, effort and understanding. Learning the language of God is no different to learning any other language, but the reward for doing so is mind blowing. You have no idea how much your own words have been condemning your future and that of the people you love, and you have no idea, until you make a beginning, just how much you can change your future by changing the way you speak of it and yourself. Every Christian is called to use their life to usher in the Kingdom of God. Learning God’s language is vital for everyone who takes that commission seriously. “In Him was Life, and the Life was the Light of men. And the Light shines on in the darkness, for the darkness has never overpowered it.” (John 1:4-5 Amp)
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“It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are Spirit and Life!” (John 6:63 ESV) “For me, words are a form of action, capable of influencing change.” ~Ingrid Bengi
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