This post is based on a message from Pastor Todd Cosenza, given at Hope Church on Sunday, March 3, 2024. Click the link at the bottom of the page to watch the entire message.

The language of the people of God should be very different from the language of the world. This is vitally important for us as believers. Our language tells those around us about who we are and what kind of culture we live in. For example, if someone exclusively speaks French, it may tell us a lot about who they are, where they’re from and what kind of culture they live in. Our words should be a clear indication of who we are in God and the supernatural culture we live in every day.

If we don’t learn to speak the language of the righteous, then spiritual life can be very difficult. For example, if you were dropped into a completely different nation and culture where you didn’t speak the language, it would be a struggle to do very basic things you needed to live, until you learned to speak the native language. Once you start understanding and speaking that language, everything opens up to you. This is how it is with spiritual life as well. As believers, what comes out of our mouth should be totally different from the unbelieving world around us. We serve a Risen King so the language we speak matters.  

“But our citizenship is in heaven.”  (Philippians 3:20a NIV)

The sad truth is that many in the church today are struggling. Instead of enjoying the favor, joy, and blessing of God in their lives, they experience constant struggle, setbacks, and no real answers to prayer. That may be because there is a disconnect between how they speak and how heaven speaks. Their words do not move heaven or earth.

We are people of heaven and we must speak the language of the righteous. Let’s look at Psalm 96, which gives us 3 keys to speaking the language of the righteous.

Sing a new song to the Lord. 

“Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth.”  (Psalms 96:1 NIV)

The Lord sings over us all the time, because singing is a part of the language of His kingdom. Therefore, the righteous should be singing a new song as well. Singing a new song doesn’t require us to wait for a popular Christian artist or the worship team to create something new. In the Bible, God’s people would sing a new song every time God moved in their lives or answered prayer in a supernatural way.

Here are some examples:

• Miriam, Moses’ sister, sang a new song after watching the Egyptian army being drowned in the sea (Exodus 15)
• Hannah sang a new song after God opened her womb and gave her a child, Samuel the prophet (1 Samuel 2:1-10)
• David sang new songs after God gave him victories over his enemies (2 Samuel 22)
• Mary sang a new song after the angel told her that the Holy Spirit would birth the Messiah through her (Luke 1:46-55)

Even Isaiah the prophet prophesied to the children of Israel in captivity that they would return to Jerusalem with singing (Isaiah 51:11)! Singing new songs would be a permanent part of their language!

What has the Lord done for you? What is He currently doing in your life? Sing it back to Him! It doesn’t matter how it sounds to you. Your new song doesn’t have to be professionally engineered or even recorded. Sing a new song to the Lord! Singing is an expression of gratitude, joy, and love. Whatever God does for you — sing it back to Him in worship! Singing is an important part of the language of the righteous and draws in the ears of heaven!

Proclaim the Lord’s salvation — His deliverance, His help, His prosperity, His victory — day after day! 

“Sing to the Lord, praise His name; proclaim His salvation day after day.”  (Psalms 96:2 NIV)

This verse tells us that David proclaimed the Lord’s salvation in his life, not just once in a while, but day after day! Salvation as understood in the time of David wasn’t the Gospel message that we understand today. Salvation in Hebrew is the word Yeshua (which is the Hebrew version of Jesus’ name). Yeshua means deliverance, help, prosperity, and victory. 

David would proclaim daily that God was his deliverance, that God was his help, that God was his prosperity, and that God was his victory. David used the language of the righteous to proclaim daily who God is. When we proclaim in faith who God is, then this positions us to receive what God does.

• When we proclaim that God is our deliverance, then God delivers us.
• When we proclaim that God is our help, then God helps us.
• When we proclaim that God is our prosperity, then God prospers us.
• When we claim that God is our victory, then God gives His victory to us.

This is how we fight our battles, how we go to war against the dark forces that seek to keep us discouraged. We have to get our language right.

Jesus said in Matthew 12:37, “By your words you will be acquitted [justified], and by your words you will be condemned.” That means our words have power to shape and shift our lives for the good or the bad. The choice is up to us. There are no more excuses. You can’t say, “I’m just human.” No, you’re a child of God, which means you should speak like a child of God — your language is important!

Declare the greatness of God. 

“Declare His glory among the nations, His marvelous deeds among all peoples.”  (Psalms 96:3 NIV)

After singing and proclaiming, David says we are to declare. The language of the righteous includes declaring who God is to all people. True evangelism isn’t trying to merely convince people that heaven is better than hell. People need to see how great God is. Declare to others the glory of God and His marvelous deeds. Why has the church gotten silent? We are not to be a cowering, silent people who keep God to ourselves. In the next three verses, David says:

“For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; He is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the nations are idols, but the Lord made the heavens. Splendor and majesty are before Him; strength and glory are in His sanctuary.”  (Psalms 96:4-6 NIV)

David compared the greatness of our God to the nothingness of every other earthly god/idol. David didn’t try to scare people into knowing God; he declared the greatness of God in order to draw people to Him. Think about it this way — If a new restaurant has no reputation or an average reputation, people won’t show. But if people go around declaring how great the meal was, and how the service, the atmosphere, and the vibe are better than all the other restaurants around, a reputation develops and it draws people in to experience that restaurant for themselves. The same is true for God. The language of heaven is declaration! Declare out loud how great and awesome and loving God is. We should declare, “Your idols are small and have done nothing for you. My God is the God who created heaven and earth, and He is a God of victory and blessing and encouragement and strength and joy and He loves you!”

If we want the blessings of heaven, we have to speak the language of heaven. 

If you speak the language of darkness — complaining, speaking words of bitterness or strife or sorrow — you will attract the devil and his demons, because that is their language. 

If you speak the language of heaven — gratitude, with singing, proclamation, and declaration — you will attract the attention of heaven and the power of heaven. The language of the righteous brings us to a place of great victory.

The world will give you plenty to complain about, and complaining is the opposite of the language of the righteous. We have to remember what Kingdom we belong to. As believers, we belong to the kingdom of God which is the kingdom of the righteous. Let’s choose to speak the language of the righteous and not the language of the unsaved world. 

For more on this subject, see:

• Ephesians 5:19 — “ . . . speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord.”
• Colossians 3:16 — “Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.”