Your Words Hold a Miracle: The Power of Speaking God's Word (6 page)

Read through Hebrews 11. We’re told there that Abraham heard from God, and by faith he acted like God told him the truth. Moses acted like God told him the truth. Abel, Enoch, Noah, Sarah, Isaac, Joseph, and Jacob heard God’s Word, and they acted like it was so
through faith.

There are practical ways that you can act like the Word of God is true. I have three sweet “P”s to help you act like the Word is so.

“P” Number One: PRAISE

By praise, you can act like God’s Word is true. You act by praising.

If God said, “You shall live and not die,” and you walk around like a “corpse” twenty-four hours a day for six months, you are showing by your actions that you do not believe God.

Let’s suppose that Jesus literally appeared to you in person, looked you right in the eyes, and said, “I want you to see Me with your eyes. Now listen to these words: By My stripes you are healed.” You would run up and down wherever you were and tell everybody what you saw and heard. “I am healed! Thank God, I am healed. The Word of God says that I am healed.”

Let me tell you something: The Word of God that is written in the Bible is just as powerful and true as if Jesus stood before you and spoke you the Word. When you read the Bible, find the scripture that relates to the area of your need—whether it is financial, emotional, mental, physical, or a marital problem—and agree with what the Word says about it. Then begin to praise God and act like it is so. Say, “Oh, thank You, Father. I agree with that scripture.”

It may seem as though every power of darkness is assailing your mind, telling you that it is not so. “Your husband is never going to come into the family of God. Your son and daughter are never going to believe in Jesus. Your family problem is never going to work out.”

Those are the enemy’s lies. Just stand there in the midst of it and say, “I praise You, Father, and I agree with Your Word. I praise You that Your Word is true.” When you do this, you are showing that you are acting on the Word and believing it…
by your praise!

The Lord desires that we praise Him.

Second Chronicles 20 records the account of an overwhelmingly large army of Moabites, Ammonites, and others coming against Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah. It looked as though Judah was doomed. All of Judah cried out to God. We read in verses 13–15: “Now all Judah, with their little ones, their wives, and their children, stood before the L
ORD
. Then the Spirit of the L
ORD
came upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, in the midst of the assembly. And he said, ‘Listen, all you of Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and you, King Jehoshaphat! Thus says the L
ORD
to you: “Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God’s.”’ ”

We don’t have to fight the enemy; he is already defeated.
The greatest and only battle that we must fight is the fight of faith.
God adds in verse 17: “ ‘You will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the L
ORD
, who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem!’ Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, for the L
ORD
is with you.”

We read in verse 18 that all the inhabitants fell before the Lord and worshiped Him.
The first thing we are going to have to do is praise God.
Verse 22 tells us what God did when they were willing to sing and praise Him. “Now when they began to sing and to praise, the L
ORD
set ambushes against the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; and they were defeated.”

When we begin to praise God because He said that the battle is His and His promises are ours, God begins to work.
There in the spiritual world, God smites the enemy and brings victory.

If you diligently read and study the Word of God,

GET IT INTO YOUR SPIRIT AND PUT IT INTO PRACTICE, IT WILL WORK
.

In the natural, Jehoshaphat had no chance. His army was outnumbered in every way. And yet God said, “It’s all right; I am going to bring you through. The battle is Mine.” I believe that when their choir came out and they offered God their praise, God said to Gabriel, “Look at that! They know that they don’t have a chance, but they actually believe Me. Look at them praising Me. We can’t let them down. They are acting like I told them the truth. Gabriel, go and strike their enemies.”

When we begin to praise God because He said that the battle is His and His promises are ours, God begins to work.

God set them free because they had learned how to praise Him.

You may say, “I don’t have much to praise God for. My pocketbook and bank account are empty.” That is when you should say, “Oh, I praise God. You have promised to supply all of my needs (Philippians 4:19). Everything I put my hand to prospers and succeeds! Thank God!”

Paul and Silas had been beaten with rods and thrown into prison, but they responded in faith (Acts 16:25) and brought salvation to the keeper of the prison and his household.

Abraham grew strong in faith as he gave glory to God. He praised the Lord. We can read about it in Romans 4:3: “For what does the Scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.’ ” He had the God-kind of faith: “(as it is written, ‘I have made you a father of many nations’) in the presence of Him whom he believed—God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did” (vv. 17–20).

You can do that in every situation: Praise God!

“P” Number Two: PLAN

You can show that you believe the Word of God and that you are acting on that Word by the plans you make.

Some people who have diseases in their bodies say they believe that by the stripes of Jesus they are healed, yet they make plans to die. Others make plans as though they will never be able to go anywhere or do anything outside their homes. If you listen to the lies of the enemy, he will have you making plans to fail.

Have you ever said, “There is no use in planning to take a vacation. We are just barely getting along. We never have had much. We can’t make plans for a vacation!” Go ahead. Make those plans for a vacation. God is not broke.

Perhaps you’re saying, “You must be crazy! I don’t even have enough money to pay my utilities, and here you’re suggesting I plan a vacation?”

Rather, say this: “Yes, I am acting on my faith.” I make my plans to live as though God told me the truth. God cannot lie.

You may say, “Pastor Osteen, how can I make plans? What is it that you suggest that I do?”

First: Decide what it is that you want to do. What are you believing God for? What is it you want to see changed in your life?

Then, act like it is so—by making plans to live a good, healthy, glorious, Spirit-filled, abundant, active life. If you make your plans that way, God will make your plans come true. For instance, if you are having trouble in your business, go ahead and make your plans to increase its size.

I am always making plans for our church. I once looked outside of our little church that seated 234 people, and I said, “Look out there.” Everybody turned and looked at the wall. I said, “There is a Chinese store sitting over there, but I see a church seating 1,000 people. I am making plans.”

Every service we would turn and look and make our confession for a larger church. Visitors who came in would look at us and say, “You’re crazy! You all look at the wall and say, ‘We see a church over there!’ ”

We made our plans as though God meant it when He said, “Enlarge the place of your tent, and let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings” (Isaiah 54:2). And God helped our plans. At first we did not have enough money to buy a saltshaker. We couldn’t even start to take the tin off the side of the building and put brick on it. But we made our plans as though we were one of the wealthiest churches. We acted as though our Father said the truth when He said, “My God shall supply all of your needs.” Thank God, when we made our plans, we finally raised $7,000, which seemed like seven million dollars at the time. That was enough to pour the foundation.

One day a friend of mine came by and said, “Why don’t you build that building out there?”

I said, “We have only enough money to pour the foundation.”

He said, “Why don’t you go ahead and pour that foundation? Every journey begins with one step.” He was right.

If you are in your car at night and want to go home, you turn on the headlights and are only able to see about fifty yards. If you say, “Well, I’m not going to move until I can see all the way home,” you won’t get far. No! You have to take each step by faith. You have to drive in the fifty yards of light that you have. When you do that, you will see fifty yards more, and fifty yards more, and fifty yards more.

Thank God, we took our $7,000 and poured the foundation for a larger church. When we spent that, we had more, and more, and more. God helped us, and we have continued to grow and grow. We enlarged our auditorium three times before building a new 8,200-seat auditorium in 1988. Then in 1991, we dedicated a two-story, 37,000-square-foot Children’s Center. And we kept building.

In one month in 1980, we gave $103,000 to missions. The following year, we gave nearly two million dollars. In the decade after 1981, we more than doubled our missionary endeavors all over the world.

You may say, “Well, when are you going to stop?”

Never. Because with God there is no limit. So plan accordingly.

“P” Number Three: PARTICIPATE

As you praise God and make your plans, you must also participate.
Participation is how you show that you believe the Word of God. You agree with the Word of God. You believe the Word of God. And you act like it is so by praising, by your plans, and by your participation. You must participate in what you ordinarily cannot do.

If it is financial, participate in the giving. If you only have a dime, give something! Give, even if it is a penny.

There was a time when Dodie and I did not have enough money to pay our debts. One time, before we had children, we only had enough money to buy one sandwich. We bought it, divided the sandwich, and ate it. Then we learned to start giving. Thank God, He has prospered us.

Start this way. If it is a physical need, and you cannot do much physically, start doing a little bit. If you say, “I can’t run the one-hundred-yard dash,” run a “hundred-inch dash.” Begin as fast as you can. Start with a foot, two feet, then a yard, two yards, then three. Start doing a little bit of what you cannot do.

“C”—C
ONFESS THE
W
ORD
W
ITH
Y
OUR
M
OUTH

Under the ABCs of Faith, you must
Agree
with the Word, then
Believe
the Word and act like it is so through your Praise, Plans, and Participation. We now come to
Confess
.

The power of life and death is in
your
tongue. You must declare the Word of God.

This is the basic principle that we speak out loud: “I confess that I believe what God says.”

In the Introduction, I wrote how John the Baptist found and confessed the Old Testament prophecy concerning his life and ministry. He made it absolutely clear that he was “the voice of one crying in the wilderness: Make straight the way of the L
ORD
,” as Isaiah had said (John 1:23).

In the previous verses, we read where the priests and Levites asked John the Baptist, “Who are you? Are you Elijah? Are you the Prophet?” He said, “No.” And he gave them the entire record of how Jesus was Lord, and how he was unworthy to untie His shoelaces (see John 1:26–27).

But I want to call your attention to a question that they asked him. I believe this is one of the most important questions in the Bible, for John that day and for every believer today.
“What do you say about yourself?”
(v. 22).

If someone asked you, “Who are you? What do you say about yourself?” what would be your answer? Would you say, “Well, thank you for asking, but I’m just another guy
who lives down the road. I don’t have an education, and I come from a dysfunctional family. No one in my family has been a success, and neither will I. God said He wants to bless me, but I guess I am the exception.”

“What do you say about yourself?” “Well, I am just barely making it. They say that God will supply all of my needs in Christ Jesus, but I can’t even pay my debts. I don’t get how it works, but I can’t afford to give when they take up an offering.”

Have you ever heard people talk that way? Do you talk that way?

“What do you say about yourself?”

I don’t know how John the Baptist felt when he was asked that question. I suspect that he wasn’t in the best of moods, because on that same day he called the Pharisees and Sadducees “a brood of vipers” (Matthew 3:7). Let’s suppose that he was all out of sorts; that he didn’t have much money to buy locusts and wild honey. Then when they came to him and said, “What do you say about yourself?” he could have given them quite an answer!

But John confined what came out of his mouth to what the Bible said about him. He said, “I am the voice that Isaiah the prophet spoke about.” He could well have said, “I am not going to tell you anything about myself except what God says about me.”

That is precisely what we need to do. We should say about ourselves what God says. “I am successful.” “I am strong.” “I am blessed.”

Thank God, we are what God says we are.