Since my post on Monday titled, “Mountains, You will now Move,” I’ve been practicing “calling into being that which does not exist.” (Romans 4:17b) Interestingly, later that day, my good friend called me to say that a mutual friend named Julie was going in for a second breast biopsy, and that the doctors were saying she may need a double mastectomy. My friend asked me to pray, and I went into action.
I sat down and wrote 3 pages of affirmations…positive statements that “call things into being” that did not presently exist, but which, I believe, are in line with the will of God. These are things like, “Jack is a great man of God.” “Julie is completely healthy.” “Autumn craves healthy food.” “Jessica has a hunger for the word of God.” “Gwenn has all the money she needs.” I began to read them aloud morning, noon and night. And as more things came into mind, I added to the list, scribbling in the margins.
About 5 days later, I received a forwarded text from Julie. The biopsy was benign, and her words on the text were: THANK YOU GOD! What a thrill to read them. Praise God.
A few days after that, I happened to turn on the TV and saw that the renowned preacher Joel Osteen was on. I rarely watch him on TV, primarily because I’m don’t watch TV much, but as God would have it, Joel was preaching on that very subject. It was as though God was underlining my revelation, as if to say, “You get it, right?”
Joel made some interesting statements. I’d highly recommend you view his sermon from last Sunday, Dec. 2. One of the scriptures he mentioned was Proverbs 18:7-8:
A fool’s mouth is his ruin
And his lips are the snare of his soul
The words of a whisperer are like dainty morsels,
And they go down into the innermost parts of the body.
Without thinking, many of us prophecy defeat over our lives. We say things like, “I’ll never get the promotion;” “It’ll take me forever to get this weight off;” “I’m losing my hair;” “I’m a train wreck,” “I’m sick and tired,” or, as my ex-husband said to me many times toward the end of our marriage, “We don’t get along.”
What the proverb is saying above is that what we say goes “into the innermost parts of the body.” The brain takes its instruction from our thoughts and our mouths, and when we say negative things, we unwittingly bring them to pass. The lips are the snare of the soul.
God wants us to speak positive, affirming, expectant, faith-filled statements over our lives and the lives of others. He wants us to come into agreement with Him about the amazing blessings and benefits He wants to bring into our lives.
Joel shed an amazing light on the Old Testament story about when the Israelites wanted to defeat the city of Jericho (Joshua 6). God told Joshua that He had given the city of Jericho into their hand (it was already given to them, yet they had not even yet come against it–note that this is God “calling into being things which do not exist”). He instructed Joshua to tell all the men of war and the priests to circle the city once a day for six days. But here’s the intriguing part… On the seventh day, Joshua gave them this additional instruction:
“You shall not shout nor let your voice be heard, nor let a word proceed out of your mouth, until the day I tell you, ‘Shout!’ Then you shall shout.” (Joshua 6:10)
The people knew that the seventh day was the last day they would march. And they had been marching around the city, outside of the huge wall that circled the city, for 6 days. Nothing had yet happened–nothing they could see anyway. It would have been easy to grouse, complain, declare that “nothing was happening.” So Joshua told them to button their lips and keep their thoughts to themselves. And when they were allowed to speak, it was to shout! A shout of victory! A shout to the wall to “Come down!”
And so it was that after they circled the wall 7 times on that seventh day, the priests blew the trumpets and the people raised a “great shout” and “the wall fell down flat.” FLAT. Consider this. Many scholars believe that the wall literally dropped into the ground like an elevator. The wall didn’t crumble and fall, leaving piles of rubble. No, it went down FLAT. And the people “went up into the city, every man straight ahead…” No one had to zigzag through the mess. They walked straight ahead, because the great wall that had been there moments before was simply no longer there.
This is what happens when we come into agreement with God, and do not give voice to our negative thoughts. Sure, those negative thoughts may rush through our minds now and then–but as long as we give no voice to them, they have no power over us. The spoken word has power, whether it is the word of God, or our own words.
Let’s begin to prophecy good things for our lives, and the lives of those we love. Let’s not let our lips be the snare of our soul. We have the power to call beautiful things into existence, as long as they are in agreement with God’s will. Do you know someone who is sick? Call them completely healthy. Do you need help with your finances? Say that you have all the money you need. Does a loved one have an attitude problem? Declare that they are respectful and have sweet speech. Is your spouse an unbeliever? Call him a great man of God.
Death and life are in the power of the tongue,
And those who love it will eat its fruit. (Proverbs 18:21)
