Topic: Do not be Silent
Text: Ecclesiastes 3:7
Speaker: Sis. Odein Erekosima

Date: 12^th March 2023. 1^st Service

Acts 12:1-24 (NKJV)

A time to tear,
And a time to sew;
A time to keep silence,
And a time to speak;

INTRODUCTION

Ecclesiastes 3:7, when it comes to deliverance it is the time to speak, it is not the time to be silent.

THE FOUR DIFFERENT ANGLES OF “DO NOT BE SILENT”

1. Project your voice: Esther 4:14, when it comes to deliverance and when you know you should speak up, project your voice, say it out because just by speaking up you can be one person away from your miracle. We can also see that when God instructed Moses to go and deliver the children of Israel, what did God say? He said, “go and TELL Pharaoh, let my people go!”.

Looking at the case of Blind Bartimaeus in Mark 10:46-52, when he approached Jesus he cried out “Jesus, son of David have mercy on me!” and that was how he received his sight, he got his deliverance by speaking up. When it requires us to speak up, we should speak up.

Romans 10:2, even as you speak up, don’t act impulsively, there is a time to speak up and even when you speak you must do so with wisdom.

Proverbs 19:2, before speaking up you should think and pray about it.

• Prayers: When you project your words, you must back those words up with prayer. Esther 4:15, before Esther spoke to the king, her words were backed up with prayer. Prayer projects our voice further and paves the way. Esther didn’t just speak up, she prayed, and that’s how she could gain victory. When you seek the Lord, He will deliver you from your fears.

Isaiah 62:1,6-7, Amos 6:1, Prayer is one of the ways we win our battles, through prayer our battles are fought and won!

• Positive declarations: Job 2:28 is the reason why we make declarations, the Bible says that wherever the word of a king is there is power, and God has made us king and priest unto Him, our words are powerful, keep speaking, keep declaring, decree your deliverance, don’t stop saying what you want to see because as a believer your word carries power.

Apart from decreeing what we want to see, another thing is to declare the works of the Lord, declare His praises and one way we can declare His works in our lives is through Testimonies (Revelation 12:11). We must declare it and affirm it to ourselves, 1 Samuel 17:37.

• Praise: 2 Chronicles 20:22-23, we fight our battles in the place of prayers through praise. During the fall of Jericho, God instructed them to blow the trumpets and shout and this is why we should not be silent! Deliverance follows instructions. We need courage for deliverance, we need the courage to speak up, and we need God to put the right words in our mouths, just like in the case of Moses, when he was discouraged by the fact that he was not able to speak well, God gave him courage saying “ I will be with you”. We need God to teach us and instruct us on what to do, the battle is not for us to fight but it is of the Lord.

THE RESULTS OF DELIVERANCE:

Rest (Joshua 21:43-45)