God began to give me a prophetic word of caution and encouragement when I was in prayer. The Lord said that while we are in a time of being quarantined and there are many health care precautions to consider, which were put in place to minimize the spread of the coronavirus and any disease.
We must also keep in mind, spiritually speaking, that the enemy wants to undermine the prophetic word that was released in the new decade and new year. There were prophetic words that God spoke through other credible prophets and me that this is the year of the voice of the prophets, year of the mouth, era of the voice, year of the speaking what you are seeing and year of prophetic vision.
However, the year didn’t start out so well and looks nothing like what the prophets have spoken. There are those who have boldly criticized the prophets and prophetic voices, asking: “Why didn’t the prophets see this coronavirus or pandemic coming? Why are the prophets silent now? Why didn’t the prophets warn us of this national and global crisis? Did they miss on this prophetic word for the new year, season and decade?”
My answer to this is that the true prophetic voices were warning the body of Christ many years in advance; however, was the body of Christ ready for such prophetic word of warning and caution? Did the body of Christ have ears to hear what the Spirit of the Lord was saying through the mouth of His prophets? It’s not that God is not speaking, but are we corporately listening to everything God is saying in detail? Or are we only picking out our favorite colored jellybean out of the rest, while overlooking and leaving only the black jellybeans in the jar?
The Bible says it like this in 1 Corinthians 13:9 (NLT): “Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture!” God will reveal to the prophets and prophetic voice pieces of the puzzle or clues of the mysteries. We only know in part and prophesy what the Lord reveals.
Furthermore, the Bible also goes on to say in Amos 3:7-8 (MEV): “Surely the Lord God does nothing without revealing His purpose to His servants the prophets. The lion has roared; who will not fear? The Lord God has spoken; who can but prophesy?” The coronavirus wasn’t in God’s plan to teach the church a lesson or some widespread plague but created by an invisible enemy to muzzle, mute and mask the mouth of the prophetic in the body of Christ. The enemy wants to silence and censor the voice of the Lord in the church.
The Lord spoke to me and said that spiritually the invisible agenda of the invisible adversary—the devil—is to shut the mouth of the prophets and prophetic believers from speaking clearly and declaring the Lord’s decree in this season. God spoke to me that this year was the year of the Lord’s decree, and in the mouths of two or three witnesses, let every word be established. Having our mouths covered in the natural is imperative in this time of the pandemic and the staggering, crippling and horrendous results that this coronavirus has caused.
However, keep in mind that God will not have us ignorant of the enemy’s devices, strategies and plans (2 Cor. 2:11). The enemy’s plan is to mute, muzzle and mask your ability to speak out of your mouth. Your mouth is a weapon against the enemy. I come to declare that this is still the year of the mouth, year of the voice of the prophetic, year of the voice, year of the Lord’s decree and year of vocalization. Yet while there is gross darkness that has hit the earth, and we are in times that look uncertain, it is equally the greatest opportunity and moment that the voice of the Lord, through the body of believers and His prophets, must speak light in darkness.
God says not to be silent, censored, muted and masked but to speak up and speak out of your mouth. I recall going into a Walmart store one morning, and they prohibited me from entering. “Why? I asked the store worker, and he stated that a new state order said that to enter, I must have a mask covering my mouth. I instantly looked to see if there was anything in writing or disclosed anywhere in sight posted on the doors of the store before I obeyed the order, because at the time, I didn’t have a face mask, and I had just been at that location hours before without one. There was in fact something posted about it within eyesight, but I was a little upset because I drove all the way there and had to drive back to get a mask. I truly understand the importance of wearing one, and truth be told, I do feel a sense of safety when I wear one myself, seeing others with masks and going into public places and seeing everyone wearing masks.
However, the safety, health precautions and sanitation preventatives should have already been our first priorities, especially when handling food and other important things, in my opinion. My point is that I came back to the same store with a mask, and the same worker asked me a question with his mask on, but I couldn’t understand anything he was saying. His voice sound muffled and distorted. I had to ask him to repeat himself several times while getting 6 feet closer to finally understand what he was saying. He complimented me on my mask.
The enemy doesn’t want you to speak clearly and boldly out of your mouth. He wants your words spoken out of your mouth to sound muffled, confusing and distorted. Don’t allow the enemy to muzzle, mute and mask your mouth to speak in this season. I am reminded of the Scripture that says in 1 Corinthians 9:8-10:
“Do I say these things as a man? Or does the law not say the same thing also? For it is written in the Law of Moses, ‘You shall not muzzle the mouth of the ox while it treads out the grain.’ Is God concerned about oxen? Or does He say it completely for our sake? For our sake, no doubt, this is written so that he who plows should plow in hope, and that he who threshes in hope should partake of his hope.”
When oxen are muzzled, how can they eat? How can they feed themselves? An ox is a hard-working animal. If the oxen are muzzled, they are unable to eat the corn that keeps them working. The enemy wants to muzzle your mouth so you can starve spiritually speaking on what God intends to feed you when the harvest comes. Revival is coming, and the harvest fields of souls are about to bud. Revival and reformation are in the mouth of the church. God says, “Don’t allow the mask to muzzle and mute your ability to decree a thing in your life, to see it established according to Job 22:28.”
God spoke a prophetic word to me in prayer and said to tell His people “Do not allow the mask that you are wearing in the natural to muzzle, mute and minimize your mouth and the power of your voice through the Holy Spirit from speaking in this season. Don’t allow the mask to mute your sound, your voice, your volume to decree the secrets of God. Don’t allow the mask to mute and censor you. Don’t allow the mask to muzzle you! Don’t allow the mask you are wearing to cover up or hide what I want desire to speak through you and out of your mouth here and now! The mask is not a mouthpiece,” says the Lord, “but your mouth is one that I have created! Life and death are in the power of your tongue. Remove the blockage, remove the mask from your mouth so you will be a voice that needs to be heard.”
Your mask will not protect you solely from the coronavirus, but your mouth can, prophetically! Your mouth will be used to speak light in darkness and destroy the works of the enemy created through this invisible enemy—coronavirus. Your mouth and your voice matter! Don’t cover your mouth but uncover the plans of the enemy with your mouth. {eoa}
Dr. Hakeem Collins is an empowerment specialist, respected prophetic voice, apostolic leader, governmental minister, life coach, and sought-after conference speaker. He is known for his keen accurate prophetic gifting and supernatural ministry. He is the author of the bestselling books Heaven Declares and Command Your Healing. He’s been featured on many television shows: Sid Roth’s It’s Supernatural! The Word Network, and Cornerstone TV to name a few. He is host of the Prophetic Breakthrough podcast on Charisma Podcast Network (charismapodcastnetwork.com/show/propheticbreakthrough). Follow him on: facebook.com/drhakeemcollins/and hakeemcollinsministries.com.
