Your Words Hold a Miracle: The Power of Speaking God's Word

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DEDICATION

I wish my heart could say in words the love and respect I have for the man John Osteen. The love of my life, my pastor, the father of my children, and a gentle person, full of love, mercy, and compassion. Married for forty-four years, four months, and six days was way too short. The fact is, now we are separated, him in a mansion and me in my earthly home, but someday we’ll live in eternity together.

My husband taught me faith, and how to believe God and receive a miracle, which I did in 1981 when diagnosed with metastatic cancer of the liver and given a few weeks to live. That was thirty years ago, and soon I will be seventy-eight. More than a few weeks, don’t you think? I am alive today because of the teachings of great men of God, and one of them was my husband. He always said, “Store up the Word of God in your heart when you don’t need it, and you will have it when you do need it.”

It is so important what words come out of our mouth. I encourage you to read the Word of God, heed what it teaches, be obedient to God’s commandments, and remind God of His Word. As you do this, God’s Word will come alive in your heart, and you will see signs, wonders, and miracles in your life and the lives of others whom you touch.

Thank God, Jesus never changes.

D
ODIE
O
STEEN

F
OREWORD BY
J
OEL
O
STEEN

I
F YOU’VE BEEN A PART OF OR WATCHED
one of our services at Lakewood Church, you know that at the beginning of each service, I have everyone hold up their Bible and repeat after me,

This is my Bible.

I am what it says I am.

I have what it says I have.

I can do what it says I can do.

Today, I will be taught the Word of God.

I boldly confess my mind is alert.

My heart is receptive.

I will never be the same.

I am about to receive the incorruptible, indestructible, ever-living seed of the Word of God.

I will never be the same. Never, never, never!

I will never be the same.

I
N
J
ESUS
’ N
AME
. A
MEN
.

It might surprise you to discover that my father incorporated the use of this marvelous statement of faith into our services long before I began to pastor the church. This confession of the central role of the Word of God in believers’ lives was the driving force in his life, and he never allowed our family or our congregation to forget it. Regarding everything that relates to our lives, my dad would always remind us of what “the Bible says.”

Daddy came to know the power of declaring the Word of God and was so adamant about teaching it because he grew up in an environment where most people, if they were being honest, would say, “I don’t have what the Bible says I can have, and I am not doing what it says I can do. I just remain the same, the same, the same.” Many of them didn’t know what God has stated in His Word, and few believed we are what the Bible says we are.

IF YOU WANT TO CHANGE YOUR WORLD,

start by changing your words to those taken straight from the Word of God.

I’ve discovered the same to be true today, which is why I continue this declaration in our services. The Bible is filled with powerful statements about who we are in Christ and what belongs to us as believers. Some of the statements are so amazing that when we read them, I
think we don’t really hear them in our spirit. The promises are so grand that even when we do see them, it just doesn’t compute. The natural mind is so far removed from the reality of our spirit that the truth doesn’t feel real to us.

As you’ll soon discover in this book, if you want to change your world, start by changing your words to those taken straight from the Word of God. When you’re facing obstacles in your path, you must learn to boldly say, “Greater is He who is in me than he who is in the world” (see 1 John 4:4); “No weapon formed against me is going to prosper” (see Isaiah 54:17); and “God always leads me to triumph” (see 2 Corinthians 2:14).

My dad would tell people that rather than complaining about poverty or lack they should start declaring, “God supplies all of my needs in abundance.” Stop complaining that nothing good ever happens to you and start declaring, “Everything I touch prospers and succeeds.” Quit cursing the darkness and instead use your words to bring light into your situation. Your words have that kind of power.

Friend, I trust that this book will help you discover the miracle in your mouth. No matter where you are or what challenges you face, you can start to enjoy a new life filled with abundance as you are transformed and renewed by God’s Word.

At the end of every chapter, I have added a short personal reflection. I think you’ll see from my commentary that I can’t agree more with my father’s belief that if we dare to believe God and just act on His Word, the possibilities are endless.

J
OEL
O
STEEN

The Bible is filled with powerful statements about who we are in Christ and what belongs to us as believers.

PREFACE

A
T SOME POINT
in your life, you will need a miracle from God. It may be for yourself or for a member of your family. It may be due to a sickness. It might be a mountain of family or financial trouble. It might be as a result of a troubled child. Perhaps it comes from some unseen force that fills you with fear.

John Osteen has good news for you. You can have a miracle from God, for God is a miracle worker. And He has recorded many of His miracles in His Word, the Bible. You need not run around searching for your needed miracle. You can go to the promises of the Word of God and claim them for your own.

In
Y
OUR
W
ORDS
H
OLD
A M
IRACLE
,
Osteen shows you how to put the power of God’s Word into your own life.

INTRODUCTION

O
VER THE YEARS
, I’ve met countless numbers of people who want to change their lives as well as things in their world. Some of them don’t like certain things about themselves or are deeply discouraged about their family life. Others are discontent about their lack of finances and can’t seem to ever make ends meet. Many of them can never seem to find relief from chronic illness and pain.

I want you to know that it is possible to change your life as well as things in your world, but it’s not by your own efforts. You can change your world by changing your words, and specifically by agreeing with and speaking the Word of God. I have written this book to help you know exactly how to declare the Word of God and experience great changes in your life.

It is my hope that you will not just read this book and then tuck it on a shelf somewhere. Rather, keep it available at all times. Take the scriptural confessions and use them so often that they become your very own. It may seem awkward at first, but if you will faithfully continue to speak God’s Word on a daily basis, not only will you be changed, but your circumstances will change.

Life is a battle on many fronts, especially in the spiritual realm. We, as Christians, are constantly engaged in spiritual battles. The Bible teaches us that “we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12).

God, through Jesus Christ, has totally defeated our enemy, Satan. Second Corinthians 2:14 says, “Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.” However, a defeated foe does not mean he is not dangerous or any less bent on defeating us.

God has left to us the responsibility of enforcing the victory that Jesus won on the cross and through His resurrection from the dead, and He has armed us with spiritual weapons. “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:4–5).

The most powerful weapon God has given us is His Word, and it is my purpose to teach you how to use this weapon. Our lives have many conflicts, but as we learn to use His Word in the same manner that Jesus did when He was tempted by the enemy in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1–11), we will drive the enemy from the field of battle!

Here’s the reality: We are this day what we have been continually saying with our mouths in days past. Just think back to what you’ve been saying about yourself recently, and this will be evident. If you want to change, you must first change your thoughts. Then, in turn, you will change what you speak with your mouth.