Your Words Hold a Miracle: The Power of Speaking God's Word (7 page)

I have a friend by the name of Bob Buess. He used to be so bashful that he wouldn’t even get up on the platform with me. Now he is as bold as a lion and has a real unique ministry. He told me about a woman who wrote him page after page of all the bad things about herself. “I am this… I am that… this is the way I am, and nobody likes me.” After she had finished berating herself, she said, “Can you help me?”

Bob wrote back and said, “After reading your letter, I don’t like you either! How could anybody like you when you speak these things about yourself?” He talked to her about her negativity and explained that because of it, she had talked him into not liking her. Then he told her how to speak what God says.

Your mouth can get you into trouble or it can get you out of trouble. You should speak what God says about you.

Thank God, we are what God says we are.

I am the sum total of what I have been declaring through the years. My children are the best children that ever lived on the face of the earth. They are blessed of God. They are the sum total of what Dodie and I have declared and loved them into being.

Confess the Word of God instead of negative things
. You may ask, “How long do I have to confess it?” All of your life. In every situation, do these things:

A
—Agree with the Word of God. Don’t worry about having faith.

B
—Believe the Word of God. Act like it is so—by your praise, by your plans, and by your participation.

C
—Confess the Word of God with your mouth.

As you act on these principles, you may not be without battles,
but you will never lose the war.
These are simple steps in living a victorious Christian life. Begin today to apply these principles in every area of your life, and as you do, you will experience God’s power and provision at work for you.

Reflections from
            JOEL

W
hen David faced the giant Goliath, he didn’t complain and say, “God, why do I always have huge problems?” He didn’t dwell on the fact that Goliath was three times his size or that Goliath was a skilled warrior and he was just a shepherd boy. Rather than focus on the magnitude of the obstacle before him, David chose to focus on the greatness of God.

David looked Goliath right in the eyes and spoke aloud these words of faith: “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the L
ORD
Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied” (1 Samuel 17:45). He didn’t merely
think
them; he didn’t simply
pray
them, but he
spoke
directly to his mountain (Goliath) and brought him down.

CHAPTER FIVE

Seven Things We Have
in
Christ

O
nce we have received salvation, we must grow in our knowledge of God and His Word because He has given us numerous promises and blessings that He desires for us to experience. Salvation is the greatest gift to mankind, but it is also just the beginning of a life of victory.

The apostle Peter reminds us that we, as believers, should be like newborn babies who crave spiritual milk so that we will grow up and mature in our salvation (1 Peter 2:2).

The Bible says, “Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God” (1 Corinthians 2:12). Paul states four important truths in this passage of Scripture:

1. We have not received the spirit of the world.
   

2. We have received the Spirit that is of God.
   

3. We have received the Holy Spirit that we might know the things God has given us.
   

4. God has freely given us blessings.
   

Yes, thanks be to God because He has given us His Spirit that we might
know
. His Spirit will take us beyond believing into
knowing
.

Unfortunately, as was true of me for the first nineteen years of my Christian life, many believers deny the fullness of the work of the Holy Spirit today. Generally, this is followed by a lack of faith, a lack of spiritual victory, a lack of using the wonderful Name of Jesus, and a lack of receiving the blessings freely given to us of God. It was only when the Lord Jesus baptized me in the Holy Spirit that I truly began to understand what God had freely given to me. Even so, there is a continual unfolding of the Lord Jesus Christ, and I have not arrived!

Approximately four years before his death, the apostle Paul exhibited in his letter to the Philippians a perfect spirit and example for us to follow: “… that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death” (Philippians 3:10).

My prayer is that I might
know
Jesus and the power of His resurrection. I have not yet begun to know Him as I want to know Him.
I want to know Jesus
“in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:3). These treasures, these blessings, are hidden in Him.

My prayer is for you to know Jesus in a greater capacity. I desire for you to know the many blessings that are available to you because you belong to Christ Jesus.

P
ARTAKE OF THE
B
LESSINGS
!

In 2 Kings 7, the Bible tells a remarkable story. While a large Syrian army had camped outside the city gates of Samaria, the people within the city were starving. They were so desperate that they were actually eating their own babies. There was no food, and death was everywhere.

“Now there were four leprous men at the entrance of the gate; and they said to one another, ‘Why are we sitting here until we die?’ And they rose at twilight to go to the
camp of the Syrians; and when they had come to the outskirts of the Syrian camp, to their surprise no one was there. For the L
ORD
had caused the army of the Syrians to hear the noise of chariots and the noise of horses—the noise of a great army; so they said to one another, ‘Look, the king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites and the kings of the Egyptians to attack us!’

“Therefore they arose and fled at twilight, and left the camp intact—their tents, their horses, and their donkeys—and they fled for their lives. And when these lepers came to the outskirts of the camp, they went into one tent and ate and drank, and carried from it silver and gold and clothing, and went and hid them; then they came back and entered another tent, and carried some from there also, and went and hid it. Then they said to one another, ‘We are not doing right. This day is a day of good news, and we remain silent. If we wait until morning light, some punishment will come upon us. Now therefore, come, let us go and tell the king’s household.’ Then the people went out and plundered the tents of the Syrians. So a seah of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel, according to the word of the L
ORD
” (2 Kings 7:3, 5–9, 16).

Notice the
first
thing these lepers did? They
said
to one another, “Why are we sitting here until we die?”

The
second
thing they did was move. They
rose up
. When they acted, God did something for them.

Third,
the lepers
moved
toward the enemy. God caused the great host of the Syrian army to hear a noise of chariots, then to flee in terror, leaving all their supplies.

In the city of Samaria, people were starving. They had no hope. Beyond the city walls, food was available, but they did not have
knowledge
of it. The lepers, however, were eating because they said something, rose up, and moved toward the enemy!

Now I want to say what God’s Word says. Why are you sitting here until you die? Rise up! Go toward those encamped against you, and the enemy will flee from you in terror! Some of us have left the camp and gone after the enemy. We have been to the household of the King, and we can tell you,
the famine is over!

Yes, there is a universal call on humanity through Jesus Christ! “Ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price” (Isaiah 55:1).

Thank God, He is pouring out His Spirit upon all flesh. Living water is available to all without measure. You may be facing a death sentence from some dreadful disease. You may be facing a great disappointment. Rise up in your spirit. Use God’s Word as a weapon. God’s Spirit will enforce His Word, and it will be
according to the Word of the Lord.

Do you know what I see? I see God’s people remaining behind religious walls, walls of tradition, and walls of ignorance to the Word of God. They do not know what God has already freely given to them.

I come to tell you, “The famine is over. Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.” Jesus paid the price—and it was not cheap. The price He paid includes anything that we will ever need as long as we are on the earth. The price He paid includes eternal life with Him.

Whether you are already a member of the household of the King or have never heard the message of salvation, God wants you to partake of the blessings that He has freely given you. Perhaps you have sat in the city and never enjoyed your blessings. You may be starving to death, but the blessings are yours! If you have received Jesus Christ, you are of the household of the King!

Let’s look at seven things that are ours in Christ.

1. W
E
A
RE
S
AVED IN
C
HRIST

The first thing we have in Christ is salvation.
I want you to boldly say,
“I am saved.”

You may say, “I already know I am saved.” Well, it is good to know it again. Many people know they are saved today, but tomorrow when they stumble and sin, they think,
Well, I wouldn’t dare say I am saved now
.

There is an assurance and a stability that every child of God can have. You can say without a doubt, “I know I am saved. My sins have been forgiven, and I have peace with God.”

Don’t doubt God’s love and promises to you. Don’t insult God by speaking words contrary to the truth. Some believers say, “I am just an old sinner.” That’s not what God’s Word says about you! God has forgiven you, accepted you, and saved you by His great mercy and grace. “But what does it say? ‘The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart’ (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says, ‘Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame’ ” (Romans 10:8–11).

Now you say: “I confess with my mouth that Jesus is my Lord. I believe in my heart that God raised Him from the dead. Therefore,
I am saved!
”

Use God’s Word as a weapon. God’s Spirit will enforce His Word, and it will be according to the Word of the Lord.

Did God promise that? Yes. God
said it!
You are not speaking something that you made up. You are not saying something based on your own feelings. You are declaring what God Himself has said. When you believe in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead and confess that He is your Lord, you have a Bible right to say,
I am saved!

Have you received Jesus as your Lord? “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name” (John 1:12). If you confess that you have received Him, this passage of Scripture is speaking about
you
. God gave you the power (the authority and right) to become sons of God. You are a child of God.

If anyone ever questions your right to say that you are a child of God, remember that according to Romans 10:9–10, you can boldly declare: “I confess with my mouth
that Jesus is my Lord. I believe in my heart that God raised Him from the dead. Therefore, I am saved.” And according to John 1:12, “Because I have received Jesus, I am a child of God.” Therefore, you can boldly say that God has given you the authority and the right to be known as a son or a daughter of God.

God wants us to know that we are saved. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved” (John 3:16–17). He wants us to know that we are His children. “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life” (John 5:24).

Perhaps you are waiting to die to see if you pass the test. I want to tell you, “You have already passed out of death into life! You have confessed with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believed in your heart that God raised Him from the dead. God has given you power to become His child. You have eternal life!”