Reprint: April 12, 2024 2:49pm

By Regner Capener

Hiya, Folks!

We are in the midst of change -- lots of change! In the days ahead -- and even now as I write -- we are moving River Worship Center and our entire ministry from Sunnyside to Prosser, Washington -- a distance of some 18 miles.

Prosser has always been our target location, but we honestly didn't expect to make the move quite this soon. Recent developments with our sister ministry, Iglesia de Cristo Miel (the Spanish-language ministry operating under the leadership of Cesar Lopez), have prompted this move. Both of us using the same space at different times for different types of ministry necessitates the use of equipment, instruments, and office equipment that take up a considerable amount of room, and that -- in turn -- restricts the amount of space for seating people who come to worship.

For the past several weeks, Cesar has had standing room only on Saturdays and Sundays, and has had to open the vestibule doors so folks could stand out in the vestibule in order to hear and participate. Although we had expected to purchase this building ourselves, Cesar has requested the option of purchasing it and enlarging the place to meet the growing need for space.

At the same time, an opportunity has presented itself for us to make the move to Prosser now and relocate to new quarters on the Yakima River. Interestingly enough, the majority of the families in our fellowship already live in Prosser. The timing is ordered of the Lord, and the details of this move have been being worked out smoothly and easily. That said, we expect to complete the relocation of River Worship Center and Capener Ministries before or by the first of March.

We will keep you apprised as things progress. As the time approaches for the move of our office and equipment, we will likely not publish a Coffee Break for a week or two during mid-February.

OK. Time to get on with the day. Told you I'd let you know what I thought of this Marques Estate Harvest coffee that our daughter, Shelley, brought us. I would classify it as a medium roast coffee. That said, it works just fine when blended in a 1:2 ratio with either very dark roasted Columbian or French Roast. As a standalone coffee, however, it's a bit too tangy for my tastebuds.

Let me begin today with something that maybe you've never thought of. Words are spirit containers. It matters not who is speaking, the words that come forth from a person's mouth contain spirit. The Hebrew Midrash translates the text of Genesis 2:7b/c as, "and {God] breathed into his being the breath of life, and man became a living, speaking spirit."

Jesus made the following statement: "It is the spirit that quickens (zoopoieo: energizes, makes alive); the [natural, carnal] flesh profits nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." (John 6:63)

Then Paul adds, "We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak." (II Corinthians 4:13)

Are you seeing the connection? Words come from spirit. Words are spirit containers. They carry spirit with them. As spirit containers, words have power. They bring with them the authority to energize life or initiate a sentence of death.

If the motivating spirit is faith, then the spirit of faith is what comes forth in the words. If the motivating spirit is love, the words that come forth carry that spirit of love. When the motivating spirit is operating in and through the Holy Spirit with His power and authority, that is the sound that goes forth; and it is a sound of life, health, wholeness, healing, deliverance and provision for every need. The words that are spoken articulate the specific ministry the Holy Spirit is bringing.

By the same token, if the motivating spirit is fear, unbelief, doubt, anger, hate, etc., the words that come out of a person's mouth will contain those spirits. The words -- driven by evil spirits working in agreement with the individual human spirit -- will articulate what the evil spirits are attempting to enact.

There is a truth here that many folks seem to miss. Words -- no matter what spirit motivates them -- have no power on their own: until the sound of those words goes forth they remain thoughts, concepts or ideas. It is the sound of those words which articulates the purpose and intent of the spirit behind them. Hence, words are containers of spirit.

Evil spirits have no power of their own to function or enact anything in any realm except they operate through, and with the agreement of, men or women. Evil spirits have no creative power or authority of any kind. The only way they can enact their agenda is through human agency. All evil spirits, whether they be low-level "foot soldiers," or demonic rulers of darkness (kosmokrator: world rulers of darkness -- Ephesians 6:12), operate through and by human flesh working in agreement with them.

They operate in a spiritual dimension, to be sure, but they still require human flesh in order to accomplish their agenda. Satan has no ability on his own other than that which God created for him in which to function. We'll come back to this momentarily.

I don't want to get too far astray in today's discussion, but let me take you to an event in Daniel that illustrates this picture.

"Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days: but, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia."

"Then said he, Knowest thou wherefore I come unto thee? and now will I return to fight with the prince of Persia: and when I am gone forth, lo, the prince of Grecia shall come."

Notice that the angel's description of his opposition is the "prince of the kingdom of Persia" -- NOT the king of Persia. Nowhere in the Word is Satan -- or any other demonic force -- EVER described as a king. Rather, you have a demonic force of wickedness working in, through and with the agreement of a prince. A prince is not just some flunky. He has authority, and he exercises it to the fullest

In this instance this prince (the demonic power working through him) saw the angel of the Lord going forth on a mission. His ability to withstand the messenger of God was sufficient enough as a delaying tactic that Daniel wasn't getting what he was praying for. The angel reports to Daniel that Michael the Archangel came to defeat this demonic prince, and during the conflict that ensued the messenger remained "with the kings of Persia."

The phrase, "kings of Persia," is NOT a reference to earthly kings but rather individuals who had intercessory power and authority and functioned in their place of Godly authority providing a place of safety for the messenger of God during the spiritual conflict. Let's not forget that history tells us that Daniel had established a "school of prophets" who clearly understood what it meant to wait on God, wait on His Word, engage in prayer and intercession, and rehearse among themselves every prophetic utterance concerning the coming of the Messiah. I've no doubt that the real "kings of Persia" came from this group.

Revelation 1:6 bears out this concept with the statement, "And [He] hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen."

Understand? Satan is no king. He is nothing more than a prince -- and a thieving prince at that! He is nothing but a disembodied master spirit who still must have a body (or bodies) through which he can exercise his agenda. He exercises his deception, his trickery and his theft through people.

Why? The answer is found in Psalm 115:16, "The heaven, even the heavens, are the LORD’S: but the earth hath he given to the children of men." Yup. That's it! Satan does not own the earth. The apostle Paul refers to him as the "prince of the power of the air" -- not even the "prince of this earth!"

I noted earlier that Satan has no power on his own other than that for which he was created. He was created Lucifer, an archangel whose specific function and duty was to minister before the Throne with the sound of praise and worship, and to envelop the Throne of God with that worship. It is worth noting that after his rebellion and eviction from his place in Heaven, he corrupted that sound of praise and worship and used his only creative ability to generate a sound of opposition ("wrestling," if you will) to God. We see and hear that opposition 24 hours a day in the entertainment media of today.

I've really gotten astray from today's discussion, but what I'm getting at is the fact that evil spirits do not have a voice of their own. They must utilize people in order to have access to the creative or destructive power of the human tongue.

We've quoted this before, but once again, "Death and life are in the power of the tongue; and they who indulge in it shall eat the fruit of it [for death or life." (Proverbs 18:21 Amplified Version)

It may seem like I'm beating this topic to pieces but I'm trying to make it abundantly clear that all creative (or destructive) sounds come from the human tongue (or, in the case of music, from the hands that play instruments). Human agency is, therefore, an integral part to all creative or destructive sound, and by spiritual involvement, likewise integral to the implementation of spiritual power and force.

In the same way that evil spirits (or Satan) require human beings operating in agreement -- knowingly or unwittingly -- in order to accomplish their agenda against God (and mankind), so also has God -- by His own choice and Will -- elected to use man (operating in knowing agreement with Him) to accomplish the establishing of His Kingdom and His purposes for men and women.

All sound, therefore, which emanates from the human voice conveys a spiritual force. There is no such thing as a word spoken which does not convey some spirit. For that reason, Jesus made a point of dealing with this principle. The KJV (Mark 4:24-25) records it like this:

"And he said unto them, Take heed what ye hear: with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you: and unto you that hear shall more be given. For he that hath, to him shall be given: and he that hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he hath."

Allow me to translate it from the Greek and amplify it a bit more:

"And He said to them, Be careful of what you are hearing or what you listen to. The measure of esteem, thought, meditation or consideration you give to that which you hear will be the measure of virtue and/or revelation [of good or evil] that comes back to you -- and even more will be given to you who hear. For to him who has [the substance of faith or virtue] will more be given; and from him who has nothing of substance, even what he has will be forcibly taken away."

A bit windy, I know, but you get the picture. Not only is it important to guard that which comes forth from our mouth, what we hear is of equally critical consequence. There is spiritual significance and weight to the sound.

I had thought to finish up this series today, but it is important to give you some real-life examples of the spiritual power and force that comes through sound -- and particularly, words as spirit-containers. We'll do one more Coffee Break dealing with the Proofs of Spiritual Force in Sound.

Finally, in the light of Jesus' instruction, let me ask you a few questions. What do you spend your day listening to? Do you watch a lot of television? Do you listen to pop music on the radio a lot? Are you a talk-radio addict? Are you addicted to heavy rock or rap? Do you walk around all day plugged into an iPod or some other mp3 player listening to the stuff that passes for "popular music?"

Please don't misunderstand me. I'm not condemning ALL popular music. I'm not opposed to talk-radio on its merits. I enjoy reruns of Star Trek or Stargate, and 24. What I DON'T do is make any of it a steady diet. It does not fill my day.

I enjoy Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity from time to time, but I won't listen to them continually. I won't sit in front of the television set hour after hour after hour every day and consume everything that passes for entertainment. I rarely listen to the radio anymore and doubt that I've actually listened to a total of one or perhaps two hours of radio programming in the past two years.

Della and I limit the music we listen to. Other than the rare and occasional moment to listen to some Big Band music of the 1940's, and once in a very great while a bit of Beethoven, Mozart, Chopin or Handel, if you check the CD carousel in our sound system you'll find nothing but praise and worship -- or perhaps a teaching series by Keith Moore, Neville Johnson, Kenneth Copeland or some other faith-filled teacher.

We have a huge music library built up over many years, and I have live and original recordings that date back nearly 70 years. Della and I have learned throughout the years that it is important -- and becoming increasingly so -- that we guard our ears (and our eyes, as well). As we come to the end of this age and see the imminent return of Jesus Christ upon us, we want to ensure that there are no contaminants in our spirits -- no impediments to the flow of the Holy Spirit.

For that reason, I encourage you to guard what you hear and listen to. Begin using the discernment of the Holy Spirit given to you. Pay attention to the spirit behind what you hear. What are you meditating on? What are you thinking about? What thoughts or feelings or emotions are you experiencing as a result of what you hear? Do the things you listen to promote the satisfying of your human desires, feelings and imaginations, or do they draw you into the fulfilling and life-giving presence of the Lord?

See what I mean?

We will continue this again in a week or so.

What I hear I think about. What I think about is generated in my heart. What is generated in my heart I speak. What I speak comes to pass. Out of the abundance of my heart, my mouth speaks. Death and life are in the power of my tongue.

The Blessing of the Lord: it makes rich and He adds no painful toil and sorrow! (Proverbs 10:22)

Be blessed!

Regner

Regner A. Capener
CAPENER MINISTRIES

RIVER WORSHIP CENTER
Sunnyside, Washington 98944

Email Contact: Admin@RiverWorshipCenter.org

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