Decreed

On February 23, 2016   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Job 22: 28

You will also decree a thing and it will be established for you; and light will shine on your ways.

In a previous devotional we unveiled that there are spiritual laws influencing us and the world around us just as there are physical laws. The first of these spiritual laws is the law of sowing and reaping. It says, “As you sow, so shall you reap.” Upon this law all the others depend.

Today’s verse is on Spiritual Law number two – you will have what you say. People chaff against this and even though most of us, in our hearts, know it is true we still resist its truth. I am not sure why we do this unless it is just that we do not want to be responsible for our results or do not want to be responsible for our words. None the less, the reality of our lives five years from now is being constructed by the words we speak today. 

This verse from the book of Job is an application verse of Spiritual Law Two. Once we know the second law, we can use it in order to establish that which we need and want. You can proactively speak and proclaim and it will be established for you. Must I say that you must believe this passage in order for it to work for you? Any time you spout any sort of unbelief, or try to get God’s laws to work for you mechanically rather than spiritually, you will fail. Speaking unbelief undermines everything faith attempts to accomplish. Mechanically spitting out some formula for Biblical success is anything but Biblical. We are called believers and everything we do is to be according to faith and belief. If, however, you believe what you say, then it shall be done for you.

So, here is the real crux of today’s selected verse. Every day we should arise and begin declaring. Recently, I wrote to you about proclaiming Jesus as Lord every single day. We have the promises of God. There is a whole book of them which I endeavor to ship to your inbox one by one. We can take those promises and speak them over our lives every day. We should declare by the grace of God and name of Jesus that we are the beloved and the redeemed of God. You are today an heir to the Kingdom of God and all that it encompasses. I proclaim in Jesus’ name that you are forgiven, sanctified, holy, precious, and glorified. Now, you start proclaiming these things over your life. Decree that your children are saved and serving God. You don’t have to declare it in their faces. You can articulate all your decrees in the shower. Whatever you decree in the name of Jesus, believing, will be established for you.

One last note, if you declare that you are getting old and your body is falling apart, get ready to spend your time in the doctor’s office. If you say you are crazy or losing your mind, you are right. Let this revelation penetrate to the very core of your being – WHATEVER YOU SAY, YOU WILL HAVE. Now start making glorious decrees!

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Effectual Speech

On November 16, 2015   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

James 1: 26         (NIV)

If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless.

The New Living Translation of this verse is even more direct. It reads, “If you claim to be religious but don’t control your tongue, you are fooling yourself, and your religion is worthless.”

That is straight forward but it sounds a bit harsh. James is trying to get across to us just how important the words of our mouth are. You cannot have an effectual religion and an unsaved mouth. That is just how it is. In this chapter James is writing about being an effectual doer of the word. He then says you cannot accomplish this if you cannot tame your tongue. 

There are many scriptures in the Bible about the words we speak. It seems to me that in this passage, James effectively refers to the body of verses about the tongue saying to us that you have heard all of these verses but still you let your mouth wander off in any direction it chooses. He tells us that we will never attain to effectual faith if we don’t once and for all get a bridle on our tongues. He wants to wake us up to the power of the tongue.

We must first grasp the importance of this and then learn how we are to use words in our everyday lives. If we do not, James says our religion is worthless. I do not want my faith to be of no use and I am sure you do not either. Let us examine the words we speak. Let us begin to guard the words of our mouth jealously. Let us draw together with a determined purpose; to focus our attention on the words of our mouths and help each other to have victory in this most important area.

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Death Snare

On November 6, 2015   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Proverb 6: 2

. . . snared with the words of your mouth, have been caught with the words of your mouth.

The words of our mouths; by them we shall live victoriously or be snared. If you knew for a fact that whatever you say is what you are going to get, would you change some of the things you are saying? Would you speak differently about your children, your health? What about your job? We need to get a revelation about the words we speak. God used words to create the whole universe (Hebrews 11:3). And He sustains the world by the “word of his power” (Hebrews 1: 3). Words are powerful. They are going to determine where we are five years from now. So the question is, “What are we saying?”  

I heard a story about a man who confessed over and over again that he was going to die young? Guess what? He did. Athletes use positive affirmations in their work. They know that they are determining outcomes with their words. All sorts of Positive Mental Attitude speakers and authors have taught how powerful words are in people’s lives. It seems most of us, though, have not wholly grasped the enormous authority that our words have. If we had, we would guard very carefully the things we say. We would not claim disease as “my” heart disease or “my” diabetes. Don’t own it. Don’t claim it. Give it back to the devil since he seems to like those things so much.  

The Bible says that life and death are in the power of the tongue (Proverb 18: 21). Take some time to notice what words you speak. Then maybe even take some time to write out the things you would like to see manifested in your life. Speak those good results and teach others to do the same. We will have in the future what we speak now. Let us all speak good of ourselves and our futures.

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Word Shield

On October 27, 2015   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

1 Peter 1: 5

…who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

It is important for us to remind ourselves that God has provided for our protection. It is his power that saves us but that power is at work through our faith. His power is activated and operated through our faith. When we speak words of faith, we activate his power in our lives. We say out of our mouths that God is our fortress and our protector; he is our shield and our refuge. When we do speak these strong words of faith, the power of God comes on the scene to fulfill its role. God said that his word never returns to him void without having accomplished that for which it was sent (Isaiah 55:11). So when we boldly profess his word regarding protection, that word must bring about God’s protective forces. His angels are standing by to do the works of the Lord and they hearken to His word. Appropriate all of God’s blessings for yourself by boldly declaring all that God has promised you.

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Speaker of the House

On March 11, 2015   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Matthew 10: 19 – 20

Do not be anxious about how or what you will speak; for it shall be given you in that hour what you are to speak, for it is not you who speak, but it is the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.

Wow, just wow! Our Father will speak through us. I really, really need that. Honestly, though, this scripture has been highlighted in my Bible for a long time. As a practicing attorney I relied on it often, not only in the court room but in mediation and in negotiations. I always drew strength from this promise from Jesus and it certainly does not hurt that these are some of the red letter words even though the entire Bible is Jesus speaking. Now that I am a full time minister I feel even more awed by the potential of the words that come out of my mouth. I need, more than ever, to have Father God speaking through me rather than me speaking out of my knowledge.

Whatever you do you can hold this same promise over your words. If you are a parent, you probably need this word even more than I because that is such a big job. Every word we say can be a release of the Holy Spirit within us if we will give the Father that much leeway in our lives. And don’t you love that you do not need to be anxious over what you will say? How many times have you been in a situation where you were nervous about what you would say? Think about interviews alone. 

One of the things I used to do was rehearse what I thought I would say in a given situation. I would play the scenario over and over in my head. I am learning now to just say a prayer about it and then let it go. I cannot tell you the number of times that Dad has spoken through His Spirit within me to give people the right words at the right time. Sometimes, many times, it doesn’t even feel like God is doing what Jesus promised but at the end people will tell me that it was what they needed to hear. He is so good and so faithful. It has happened enough now that I can usually relax and expect Him to say the words that need saying. 

No matter who you are or what you do in a day, I know there are times when you too need God’s help in speaking to a situation. No matter how small the matter may seem to us, God is ready to help us with the right words. Jesus promised it so I have chosen to believe it and act on it. Therein lies the secret and it works. Give Him your mouth and He will do good things with it.

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Fruit that Satisfies

On September 5, 2014   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Proverb 18: 20

With the fruit of a man’s mouth his stomach will be satisfied; He will be satisfied with the product of his lips.

A friend of mine says that I should write a Word of the Day about the power of the tongue at least every month. Well, I should, perhaps, be reminded even more frequently than that. I am amazed at how little we guard our mouths. Even the secular world recognizes this spiritual law. Read self-help books or listen to PMA teachings and you will hear these teachers over and over again educating people that their mouths determine their futures. If secular instructors recognize this spiritual law, how is it that we Christians continue to spew doubt and negative confessions out of our mouths day and night? We really should know better.

I think part of the answer is that we really do not pay attention to what we say. Listen to yourself for a day. Then take every single thing you say literally. For one day do not give yourself poetic license. Presume that when you are “tickled to death” you are going to die. What if you were literally “blown away” (one of my personal favorites)? Now those are some examples of the innocuous things we say but what of the more significant ones? Do you constantly say that you are having senior moments? Guess what, if you keep saying that you are going to have more. Do you ever make negative statements about yourself or your future?

I know some people argue that words are not really that important, that they will not carry out the purpose of their meaning. People say, “Well, I didn’t mean it literally or I didn’t mean it like that.” Well, how did you mean it? If a word has a specific meaning then why does it not mean what it is supposed to mean?

Now here is the point. Why even use those negative or fruitless expressions? Will you die if you stop saying that you were tickled to death? Is there no other way to express that you thought something was funny?

That is the negative side of the coin. The positive side is that you can improve your present and your future by changing your language. Your business is inspired by positive affirmations, not negative. That is why God tells us that our stomachs will be satisfied by the fruit of our mouths. He is trying to teach us that we can fill our stomachs and even our pocketbooks with the fruit of our lips. And here is the thing, this is a free service. It costs you absolutely nothing to speak well of yourself, your business, your family and even your church and pastor. You can even talk yourself into happiness. Watch what you say. Police your language and then thoughtfully speak. Make a determined choice about the things you let come out of your mouth. Listen to what you are about to say before you open your mouth and let it fall out. I promise you that you can change your life.

One last thing, if you have already passed this class, then begin to watch what you think about yourself, family, etc. Begin to police your thoughts. You can fend off depression, worry and a whole lot of other negative experiences if you will watch what you say to yourself internally.

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