Your voice can shift circumstances, situations and people’s lives. God created the entire earth by using His voice, speaking into the atmosphere. With the Holy Spirit living in us, our voices also have the ability to impact the earth. Let’s learn together how to activate this power and triumph over the enemy.
Prior to the 2020 pandemic, my husband and I loved cruises. Cruising was our favorite way to relax and refresh. When we traveled, sometimes friends would go with us. On one particular trip, a dear friend, Jennifer, joined us and experienced a life-changing moment.
The ship held an audition for a presentation called The Voice of the Ocean. Jennifer was one of the few people chosen for the show. On the night of the performance, the theater was packed—overflowing with people. When Jennifer stepped onto the stage, her face lit up. She began to sing, “I can see clearly now the rain is gone.” As she continued singing, the audience exploded with cheers and applause. Jennifer boldly released each line with confidence and joy: “I can see all obstacles in my way/ Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind/ It’s gonna be a bright, bright, sunshiny day.”
Jennifer experienced something she had never experienced before: The Holy Spirit empowered her voice to do what He called her to do. Her voice carried a sound that broke discouragement, fears and hopelessness off hundreds of people in a matter of minutes—and your voice has the power to do the same thing.
The voices of our culture often intimidate God’s people. We are currently witnessing a cancel culture that attempts to silence those who do not agree with current mainstream ideas and viewpoints. We see this as Christians attempt to speak out against anti-biblical local and federal restrictions and laws that are quickly stripping away the freedoms we love and hold dear. This antichrist agenda, one that removes our freedom, wants to make us feel hopeless, powerless and afraid to use our voices. But God!
When we see godly men and women speaking out against this imposing antichrist agenda, we also see great warfare erupting. The voices of today’s culture rise in opposition and attempt to silence these men and women from speaking on social platforms and other mass communication systems. You may be asking yourself, “How can I make my voice be heard?” I’m glad you asked.
Victory Amid Fear
Although I received Jesus as my Savior at the age of 12, I was still powerless. My life was filled with many fears, causing significant timidity and insecurity. Some fears are healthy, like the fear of fire. But other fears can act as a powerful force to hinder God’s people.
One of those is called “the fear of man.” That fear kept me from using my voice until I was an adult. I remember one morning, the Holy Spirit revealed to me I was more concerned about what people thought than what God thought. I had to repent and break the power of that lifelong fear of man, neither an instant nor easy process. Each time that fear would attack me, I had to force myself to speak when I wanted to be silent. I had to choose to obey the Lord and use my voice. I had to be willing to make a mistake or to say things in a wrong way.
Too many times people are fearful of being wrong, accused and persecuted. Rather than speaking, the person will remain silent. When I was fearful of speaking, I asked the Holy Spirit to strengthen me. Then, the more I used my voice, the easier it became to speak. Around the time I turned 30 years of age, I was filled with the Holy Spirit, and my insecurity and timidity began to fade. God released a new boldness in my life.
Today, I stand before hundreds and often thousands of people to speak. The thought of fear or timidity never crosses my mind. Even though that fear of man took about two years to completely overcome, I can now speak with confidence, drawing on the power of the Holy Spirit living in me.
Some people use their voice in the wrong way because they are influenced by unhealthy emotions mired in pain from past wounds and defeats. Those deep, unhealthy emotions hinder them from releasing their voice in a godly way. As Christians, we are called to love and not hate people. Remember, people are not our enemies; evil spirits are our enemies. We hate wrong actions and evil spirits. The voice of the ekklesia, God’s called-out ones, should address the wrong actions and dark spirits that stand against the kingdom of God while simultaneously releasing God’s voice of love for the people.
King David was an imperfect person. Even so, God chose to use him to be a powerful voice on earth. The Bible records David’s youthful encounter with Goliath, a giant who intimidated and caused great fear in King Saul’s army (1 Sam. 17:11, 24). David did not allow fear or intimidation to overcome him. With the Holy Spirit covering him, David released his voice to break the power of Goliath’s voice.
As David stood and faced Goliath, he said, “You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a shield, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of Hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have reviled. This day will the Lord deliver you into my hand. And I will strike you down and cut off your head. … For the battle belongs to the Lord, and He will give you into our hands” (1 Sam.17:45-47). When David released his voice, the Lord released strength and power for David to defeat the enemy, Goliath.
God places His people in various territories so they are able to regulate culture and be an influence in those territories. They can use their voices to legislate God’s will for that territory.
Authority Over Evil
Understanding a person’s sphere of authority in a territory is important when releasing the voice of the ekklesia. In 2 Corinthians 10:13, the apostle Paul cautioned believers to operate in their delegated sphere, or proper limit. Knowing how to maintain their voice within those limits keeps people aligned with God’s call and purpose for their lives and avoids unnecessary battles and warfare.
Nehemiah used his voice to pray to the Lord, speak to the king and gain favor and resources for Jerusalem. He then used his voice to build relationships in Jerusalem and enlist others in the task of rebuilding a city (Neh. 2).
After Nehemiah and the workers began to build, Israel’s enemies Sanballat and Tobiah came to intimidate and try to stop the work. They asked Nehemiah, “What is this thing that you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?” (Neh. 2:19b). Nehemiah refused to spend time conversing with the enemy. He continued in his God-given assignment in the territory, placing his faith in God rather than the enemy’s intimidation.
Cities and regions today are filled with evil strongholds: murder, crime, trafficking, witchcraft and many others. God has released His authority to the ekklesia to be His voice on earth to overcome these strongholds.
Jesus secured authority for believers with His victory at the cross. When man fell in the garden, God held the keys for ruling in authority on earth. He held those keys until Jesus accomplished His mission. When Jesus conquered death and hell and rose victorious, God then transferred the kingdom keys to Him. The devil never had the keys! Jesus then gave His kingdom keys of authority to believers, as promised in Matthew 16:19.
When the ekklesia uses its voice to release God’s will on earth, those words have the power to accomplish the Lord’s desire and the authority to demolish every evil power resisting God’s will. This authority in the voice of the ekklesia is the same authority released when God formed the earth. God created the world out of nothing. He used His voice to bring the earth into the natural substance that we can see.
I have pictures of my grandchildren on a wall in our media room. Before I could display those pictures, I first purchased frames. Then I took the pictures of my grandchildren and framed them. I enjoy seeing my beautiful grandchildren on the walls, but they would not be there without the frames.
That is comparable to what God did in creation. He first framed the world with words. The world was void and full of darkness. He then filled that framed world with beautiful trees, lakes, the sun, moon and people. Your assignment on earth is to use your voice to create the frame for God’s will to be expressed on earth.
Although God has empowered each believer with the strength of the Holy Spirit, greater power and momentum are available when the corporate ekklesia lift their voices together. The day of Pentecost released a sound from heaven that released this corporate ekklesia on earth. As the Spirit of God fell in the house, the Spirit changed the voices of the people. No longer would they fear men and women (John 6:19). God changed their hearts, and they returned to His original assignment for them as recorded in Genesis: to manage the earth. He would use their voices to change the hearts and lives of people. Their voices would now rule over corruption, evil spirits, antichrist agendas and every wrong power attempting to stop God’s kingdom.
Faith for Miracles
The corporate sound of the voice of the ekklesia is creating a move of God on earth. Prayer groups, congregations and many other groups are using their voices like trumpets. The blowing of a trumpet is a prophetic picture of the voice of the ekklesia being released. In Joshua 6:20, the trumpet was blown and the people released their corporate voice in a shout before taking Jericho.
The Lord is using His ekklesia as a corporate trumpet sound. It is decreeing that the season of slavery is over: slavery to negative mindsets, slavery to wrong connections and slavery to anything controlling and forbidding God’s purpose for His people! Join your voice to the voice of the corporate ekklesia. Let your voices be released like a trumpet and declare a new season of Jubilee has arrived for each of you, your families, regions and territories!
Hebrews 11:3 says faith creates things that are seen from things not seen. Jesus often said to people that their faith had made them whole (Luke 8:48, 17:19; Mark 10:52). Jesus spoke the word, and the person received the words from His mouth in faith. Words from the mouth of the ekklesia have the power to create out of the unseen world and make visible in the seen world. We often call those creative occurrences miracles.
Jesus admonished His followers to use their voices to release the supernatural. Mark 11:23 says, “Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and thrown into the sea’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, he will have whatever he says.” The words of the ekklesia, spoken in faith, can release God’s hand to perform supernatural signs, wonders and miracles. We must not keep silent!
I love reading books about history and historical people. One of the people I enjoy reading about is Thomas Jefferson, who served as the third president of the United States from 1801–1809. Jefferson used his voice to impact the future of the United States, especially by writing the Declaration of Independence in 1776. In the Declaration, Jefferson made a profound statement that “all men are created equal.” Many people involved with human rights say those words are the most powerful and consequential in American history. Jefferson used his voice in a document to declare the equality of every person who would ever live!
Jefferson also drafted the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom. This law broke Virginia away from the Church of England and guaranteed freedom of religion for all religions. Once again, Jefferson’s voice was used to prohibit any law that would prevent freedom of religion.
Moses was a Hebrew who was raised under a Pharaoh system in Egypt. The governmental system had Pharaoh positioned as the highest authority, and under Pharaoh was God. People could worship God—but only in isolation. They were free to worship Him in their homes, in certain buildings, but not in public. That is why Moses demanded Pharaoh to let God’s people go so they could worship freely (Exod. 5:1).
Today, many nations put the same restrictions on worship of God. The Pharaoh system determines what is right and what is wrong. But when God is the highest authority, biblical ethics determine what is right and what is wrong. We must be steadfast with conviction not to have our voices captured by a Pharaoh system. We must use our voices to demand freedom to worship under any circumstance, just as Moses did.
We are living in a time for heaven to invade earth. Your voice as God’s ekklesia can change earth. It is a time for the ekklesia to use the authority Jesus received through His crucifixion and Resurrection. He has offered keys to lock up wickedness on earth. The voice of the ekklesia must lock up violence, sickness, broken relationships and many other evils.
Heaven’s treasures must be unlocked. Healings, miracles, prosperity, salvations and many other treasures are waiting for the voice of the ekklesia to bring those blessings to earth. Open your mouth and release your voice! Watch as God uses your voice to cause the earth to look more like heaven.
You are God’s ekklesia, and this is your time to arise in power and authority. Let your voice be used to change the earth so it looks more like heaven. You were born for this time!
READ MORE: Learn more about what God’s people are saying at voice.charismamag.com.
Barbara Wentroble is founder and president of International Breakthrough Ministries (IbM), a strategic apostolic network of visionary leaders. She is the author of 14 books, including Releasing the Voice of the Ekklesia, Your Voice Can Change Earth and her newest release, You Are Anointed with Fire: Igniting Supernatural Power. Barbara and her husband, Dale, reside in Lantana, Texas. They have three children and eight grandchildren. Contact Barbara at barbarawentroble.com.
