Releasing Grace: The Power of Our Words

Devotional

Day 1: You Are Made in the Image and Likeness of God

Every human being is created in the image and likeness of God, not merely as a product of earth but as a unique reflection of the divine, breathed into life by the very Spirit of God. This means your origin is not rooted in sin or failure, but in the righteousness and love of the Father, who has always known you—even before you knew yourself. Your true identity is discovered in union with Him, and you are called to live from this place of belovedness, stewarding the world around you with the authority and creativity He has given you. [17:34]

Genesis 1:26-27 (ESV)
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.

Reflection: In what ways have you forgotten or doubted your identity as someone made in God’s image? How can you intentionally remind yourself today that you are beloved and created for union with Him?

Day 2: The Power of Your Words and the Sound of Your Spirit

The words you speak and the sound you release from your spirit have a profound impact on the world around you, shaping not only your own life but also the atmosphere and even creation itself. Just as Adam was given the authority to assign identity through naming, and Abel’s blood cried out from the ground, your speech carries the power of life or death. What you release—whether judgment or grace—sets things in motion, affecting both your environment and your relationships. [27:40]

Proverbs 18:21 (ESV)
Death and life are in the power of the tongue,
and those who love it will eat its fruits.

Reflection: What is one area of your life where your words have been negative or judgmental? How can you choose today to speak life and blessing instead?

Day 3: The Blood of Jesus Speaks a Better Word

While Abel’s blood cried out for justice and released a generational curse, the blood of Jesus, poured out on the cross, speaks a better word—one of forgiveness, grace, and generational blessing. In your darkest moments, when you least deserve it, Jesus releases grace over you, revealing the heart of the Father who always initiates with love and mercy. This better word breaks the cycle of judgment and empowers you to release grace to others, transforming the world around you. [54:44]

Hebrews 12:22-24 (ESV)
But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

Reflection: Who in your life needs to hear the “better word” of grace from you today? How can you release forgiveness and blessing instead of justified judgment?

Day 4: Creation Waits for the Revealing of the Sons of God

All of creation is longing for you to awaken to your true identity as a son or daughter of God, to live in the freedom and authority Jesus has given you. The earth responds to what you release from your spirit—whether life or death, blessing or curse. As you surrender to the sound of heaven and let the Spirit of God flow through you, you partner with God to bring freedom, healing, and restoration not only to yourself but to the world around you. [40:26]

Romans 8:19-21 (ESV)
For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

Reflection: What is one practical way you can steward your environment—your home, workplace, or relationships—by releasing life and hope today?

Day 5: Let Joy and Peace Lead You as You Release the Sound of Heaven

You are called to go out with joy and be led forth with peace, allowing the presence of Jesus to guide you and the strength of His joy to propel you, even in difficult circumstances. As you fix your eyes on Him and let His word move from within you, the very atmosphere around you shifts—mountains move, and creation itself responds with celebration. Start by stewarding the little things in your life, letting the sound of grace and gratitude flow from your heart and transform your world. [01:01:32]

Isaiah 55:12 (ESV)
“For you shall go out in joy
and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and the hills before you
shall break forth into singing,
and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.”

Reflection: How can you intentionally let joy and peace lead you today, especially in a situation that feels overwhelming or discouraging? What would it look like to release gratitude and grace in that moment?

Sermon Summary

From the very beginning, humanity has been given a profound gift: the ability to shape the world through the sound released from within. Our origin is not rooted in sin, but in the righteousness and love of the Father, who breathed His Spirit into us, making us alive and anchoring us in a face-to-face encounter with God. This union is not about losing our individuality, but about discovering our true selves in the context of oneness with Him. The story of Cain and Abel reveals the power of what we release from our hearts—Abel’s justified judgment, though understandable, set in motion a curse that affected the very ground Cain walked on. Even justified judgment, when released, negatively impacts the atmosphere around us.

Throughout history, God has entrusted humanity with the stewardship of creation. Our words, actions, and the sound of our spirit have the capacity to bring life or death, not only to ourselves but to the world around us. The earth itself is waiting for us to awaken to our identity as sons and daughters, priests and kings, who carry the sound of heaven. Jesus, the Word made flesh, demonstrated this reality by releasing grace instead of judgment, even in the face of betrayal and death. His blood speaks a better word than Abel’s, releasing generational grace that covers our ignorance and darkness.

We are called to surrender the sound of our spirit, allowing the frequency of heaven—joy, peace, and grace—to flow through us. This is not about striving for more of God, but growing in awareness of what we already possess in Christ. The finished work of the cross has reconciled all things, yet creation still groans, longing for us to live as if it is truly finished. Our unity is not found in agreement, but in laying down our lives for one another, just as Jesus did. When we release the sound of grace, we partner with God to bring freedom, healing, and restoration to the earth and to those around us. The world is waiting for us to realize who we are and to steward the gift we’ve been given.

Key Takeaways

1. Our Origin Is Righteousness, Not Sin Before the fall, humanity’s origin was in the righteousness and love of God. We were created in His image, filled with His Spirit, and anchored in a face-to-face encounter with our Father. The narrative of original sin is secondary to the deeper truth of original righteousness—our truest identity is found in the heart of the Father, not in our failures. [23:43]
2. The Sound We Release Shapes Our World What we speak and release from our hearts—whether words of judgment or grace—has a tangible effect on the environment around us. Even justified judgment, as seen in Abel’s story, can set in motion curses that linger, while the intentional release of grace brings life and freedom. We are stewards of the atmosphere, called to release the sound of heaven rather than the noise of our own rightness. [29:14]
3. Union with God Is the Foundation of Identity and Authority In Christ, there is no distance or separation between us and God. Our individuality is not lost, but fulfilled in union with Him. This awareness empowers us to walk in authority, releasing life, healing, and restoration—not just for ourselves, but for creation itself, which is waiting for the sons and daughters of God to be revealed. [10:52]
4. Grace Triumphs Over Judgment Jesus, the innocent one, responded to humanity’s violence and ignorance not with justified judgment, but with generational grace. His blood speaks a better word than Abel’s, covering our darkness and ignorance with forgiveness and love. We are called to follow His example, laying down our right to be right, and releasing grace even when it is undeserved. [54:44]
5. Joy and Peace Are the Pathways to Transformation The way we move mountains and shift atmospheres is not through striving or anger, but by letting joy propel us and peace lead us. Joy is our strength even in suffering, and peace is the presence of Jesus guiding our steps. As we fix our eyes on Him and release the sound of heaven, creation itself responds, and freedom runs into us and those around us. [61:32]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[00:10] - The Power of Justified Judgment
[01:32] - Personal Journey and Wonder with God
[03:54] - New Age, Spiritual Hunger, and the Revelation of Jesus
[06:02] - Old Covenant vs. New Covenant: Hearing God’s Voice
[08:44] - The Cry for More and Growing in Awareness
[10:52] - Union with God: No Distance, No Separation
[12:21] - Humanity’s Lost Identity and God’s Response
[15:28] - Reading Scripture in Context: Better News Than We Think
[17:01] - Created in God’s Image: The Environment of Our Origin
[19:22] - Humanity’s Shared Memory: Face-to-Face with God
[20:35] - Dominion and the Power of Naming
[23:43] - The Story of Cain and Abel: The Voice of Blood
[29:14] - The Consequences of Judgment and the Call to Grace
[34:01] - Jesus, the Word Made Flesh, and the Power of Speech
[39:39] - Creation Awaits the Revealing of the Sons of God
[45:05] - 2020: Judgment, Creation, and the Sound We Release
[49:55] - Surrendering to the Frequency of Heaven
[54:44] - Jesus’ Blood Speaks a Better Word
[57:08] - Worship, Freedom, and the Sound of Grace
[61:32] - Joy, Peace, and Shifting the Atmosphere
[64:13] - Prayer, Healing, and Responding to God’s Goodness

Bible Study Guide

Observation Questions

In Genesis 4, what does God say to Cain about sin and his responsibility before Cain kills Abel?
According to Hebrews 12:24, what is the difference between the blood of Abel and the blood of Jesus?
In Romans 8, what is creation waiting for, and why is it described as “groaning”?
The sermon says, “Even justified judgment will have a negative effect on the atmosphere around you.” What example from the story of Cain and Abel supports this? ([29:14])

Interpretation Questions

The sermon claims our origin is “righteousness in the heart of the Father,” not sin. How does this perspective change the way we see ourselves and others? ([23:43])
What does it mean that “the sound we release shapes our world”? How do our words and attitudes impact our environment, according to both the sermon and the story of Cain and Abel? ([20:35])
Hebrews 12:24 says Jesus’ blood “speaks a better word than Abel’s.” What is the “better word,” and how does it contrast with Abel’s blood? ([54:44])
The sermon says, “Our unity is not found in agreement, but in laying down our lives for one another, just as Jesus did.” What does this look like in real life, especially when we disagree with others? ([50:53])

Application Questions

The sermon challenges us to “release the sound of grace” instead of judgment, even when we feel justified. Can you think of a recent situation where you felt justified in judging someone? What would it look like to release grace instead? ([29:14])
The story of Cain and Abel shows that what we release from our hearts can affect the “ground” we walk on. Are there any areas in your life where you sense a negative atmosphere because of words or attitudes you’ve released? What could you do differently this week? ([27:40])
The sermon says, “Joy is our strength even in suffering, and peace is the presence of Jesus guiding our steps.” Is there a current challenge where you need to let joy and peace lead you? What practical step could you take to shift your focus? ([01:01:32])
The idea of “growing in awareness of what we already possess in Christ” was emphasized. What is one truth about your identity in Christ that you struggle to believe? How can you remind yourself of this truth daily? ([08:44])
The sermon mentions that “creation is waiting for us to awaken to our identity as sons and daughters.” What does it mean for you to live as a “son” or “daughter” of God in your workplace, family, or community? ([49:55])
The speaker said, “Our unity is not found in agreement, but in laying down our lives for one another.” Is there someone in your life you disagree with, but need to show sacrificial love to? What is one way you could do that this week? ([50:53])
The sermon ended with a prayer for God to “flush all that judgment out of us.” Is there a specific person or group you need to forgive or release from judgment? What would it look like to start that process today? ([01:07:51])

Sermon Clips

The very first church service ever in the Bible results in half of the congregation murdering the other half of the congregation over offering. So the church is off to a great start. Even justified judgment will have a negative effect on the atmosphere around you. Creation is waiting for you and I to get a clue as to our sunship and that we're priests and kings unto God. And that the sound you release from within you is going to impact the world around you. [00:00:00]

Here's the thing with with God. We always come to God with questions and we want him to answer our questions. This is not the way it works for me. He doesn't answer my questions as much as he questions my answers and then he leaves me with more questions. So I always my relationship with God has always deepened with an increase of wonder and uh to the point where I become very comfortable with the phrase I don't know. I just don't. All I know is he's good. [00:02:18]

We live in a new covenant world. How many of you know that? There's an old covenant world that takes up the majority of your Bible where people were looking at God through a lens of we don't want to hear your voice, but we're just going to kind of think that's we know you with it's like it's like standing at the wedding altar, you know, with your with your bride and saying I do now. Never speak to me again. That was the children of Israel with God. [00:06:02]

And you know the Lord keeps responding with you understand you can't have more of me because you already have all of me. Okay. So, where where's this cry for more? You don't you don't you're never going to get any more of Jesus than you have right now. What you are going to grow in is more of an awareness of what you already have access to, right? And so, it's it's like it's like uh you know, being an infant hand being handed the keys to a car. [00:08:40]

That means God knew you before you even knew you could be known. I don't know what that means. That just brings me to a question. Well, then what did you know? Because if what you know birthed who I am, then the only way that I can know me is to know what you know. And if I ignore what you know and I try to make myself is he that has made us and not we ourselves, then I find myself just guessing about my identity for my entire life, which is no way for anybody to live. [00:09:33]

Jesus says in John 14:20, he says, "In that day, you will know I am in the Father and you are in me and I am in you." That revelation reveals this desire of God for for us to come into an awareness that there is no distance and separation between us and him. We are meant from his vantage point to live in a place of complete and total union with him. Not where you disappear in the equation, but the true you is actually discovered in that place of union. [00:10:45]

So the picture here is look at a humanity without identity without form fluid in its identity. In other words, it's picturing humanity when we've lost who we are. We've lost our ever loving minds. We don't know who we are. So we're trying to figure it out. We're trying to be fluid in our identity. Try to find ourselves. The earth is without form and then void. Void is empty. The earth is without identity and empty. Humanity is fluid without identity and empty. [00:11:58]

Say it like this. When you try not to be a son and a daughter, he never stops being a father. And that's good, right? So what does he do? He engages it and hovers over the this the spirit of God hovers over the water. God now speaks and as he speaks, he releases something into this darkness. He counters it in the opposite. So he releases light into the darkness. He's not afraid of the darkness. People get this weird idea that oh my goodness, God God is so holy. He can't look on sin. [00:13:25]

The way that God creates is he speaks to create an environment. And then he speaks to create all of the environments we know of, the entire cosmos, the universe, but especially here on earth to create the seas and to create land. And he speaks environments into existence. Then he returns to that environment and speaks again to the substance of the environment he's just made to produce life. And why is this important? Because the environment that he speaks to tells the life he's about to create where it's supposed to live. [00:15:41]

So when the Apostle Paul said, "Hey, Romans, your own poets got it right. In him we live and move and have our being." He wasn't joking. Colossians 2:9 and 10 says, "In Christ, the fullness of God dwelt in that body, and in him, you have been made complete." That's why I say you're not going to get more of Jesus than you have now. You're just going to spend an eternity growing in an awareness of who you are and what you have access to in Christ. Right? [00:17:09]

And that was Adam's responsibility to steward. This is what it means to have dominion. In other words, what you say goes in this world and this earth is actually bound to obey you. It's not a legend. It's not mythology. It's absolute reality. And uh the question I had though was when Adam and Eve fell, did they lose that ability? And the answer is no. And this is why this might be one of the most important messages you ever hear because 2,000 years after the cross, we still haven't figured this one out. [00:20:40]

But understand, the earth did not cheer on what Abel said, but responded negatively to it. In a sense, what Abel did is released what we could call maybe a generational curse over his brother that followed him all the days of his life. And he did it with justified judgment. And the thing I feel like the Lord is teaching me in this is that Bill, when you release judgment, it never goes well. It might make you feel good, but even justified judgment will have a negative effect on the atmosphere around you. [00:28:58]

This whole concept of a human being made in the image of God that can speak something from the very depth of your spirit or your blood and have an effect on the world around you. This actually is borne out throughout the entire Bible. As a matter of fact, you get guys like Moses. Moses is out in the middle of the desert. You guys remember this? He's out in the middle of the desert and uh uh the people are thirsty and he is the only customer service representative for God and he does not want the job anymore. [00:29:51]

And first off, no distance, no separation between us and God that empowers us to understand the power of our speech, the power of when we lay hands on people. It's not just your hand. It's not just your hand going on somebody else's body. You're in concert with the creator and sustainer of all things to release life into the earth of somebody else. And so with that mindset, it's not hard to believe that something as simple as a bone could just be mended or an organ that's diseased could be made new or cancerous cells could stop waring against each other and come to place of peace instead of disease. [00:36:21]

Creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope, listen, that creation itself would be set free from its slavery to corruption. We're still in Romans 8. From its slavery to corruption. Now, what's corruption? Does that mean the finished work didn't have an effect on us? Listen, the finished work had an effect on the entirety of the cosmos. We just don't know it yet. The reason I preach the gospel is not because the work isn't done. [00:40:26]

And what did he say? Father, forgive them. Because they're sorrowful or repentant? No. He releases grace over us in that moment of our worst dark darkness. Our most delusional darkness, the most delusional darkness we've ever been under as humanity. In that moment, this is what God in the flesh releases over us. and that he's releases grace over our ignorance. And he's still doing it today. Father, forgive them. They don't even know what they're doing. [00:54:57]

And this is where this revelation will take you to a revelation of the circumstance I'm in right now. The situation I'm in right now. I'm one with a three in one. I've been invited into the dance of this amazing trinity of father, spirit, and son. I have been adopted into a family. And this family is not dysfunctional. My father, my father fully revealed in the son who is the word made flesh has by his spirit come to take up residence in me. And so now the word is incarnate again, being made flesh once again. [00:58:58]

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