Sis, don’t speak against what you are praying for. There is power in the words that you speak.
I know that some might say, oh no this is Word of Faith Theology! Before I even go into what I mean when I say, don't speak against what you are praying for, I want to clarify something.
Your theology shouldn’t be based ONLY on the words that you speak. But the words that you speak should be based ONLY on your theology.
If your whole theology is based on what comes out of your mouth, you are sadly misinterpreting what it means to speak life. If you are an individual who is speaking positive words about what you desire, but you haven’t bent a knee to ask God what He desires, then you are out of order. If you believe that speaking life is just a way to get what you want from God, that’s not it. If you are speaking words into your life, but you haven’t picked up the Word of God, then you got it all wrong. If you think that speaking words are all it takes to change a situation, then you don’t understand what speaking life means.
Sidenote: Yes, I know about false teachers who push Prosperity and Word of Faith Theology. Here's what I'll say about that. Remember that a false teacher will take ONE thing from God's Word, isolate that ONE thing, and twist it around so that it benefits them. They take ONE truth and disconnect it from EVERYTHING else in God's Word in order to manipulate their followers. Think about Satan and Eve in the garden, he made her question God by presenting God's Word, twisted into a lie. If only she had kept her focus on God's Word alone. For this reason, you MUST study God's Word for yourself. Become familiar with ALL of what God has written. Speaking life is in the Word of God, but it is not God's Word in its entirety. Be careful of those who pick ONE thing and preach that ONE thing all the time, and turn that ONE thing into gospel without sharing the fullness of scripture.
On the opposite side of this is basing the words that you speak on your theology. If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, then your theology should be grounded in the following:
God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit are one person.
You and all of humanity are sinful.
God is holy.
God’s Word ALONE is the absolute truth and has full authority.
God's Word says that you can have a relationship with God through faith ALONE in the shed blood of Jesus Christ ALONE and the power of His resurrection.
That same power that raised Christ from the dead now lives in you as the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit guides you in accordance with the Word of God.
The Enemy, Satan, is doing everything in his power to keep you from living a life of faith in Jesus Christ.
When what you speak is based on what you believe, then what you should be speaking is God's Word!
In order to do this, you must study God’s Word, line up your prayers with God’s Word, stand on His promises, seek discernment, pray in faith AND speak what you are believing God for.
Here is one of my prayers...
"Lord, I believe that you have chosen my son before the foundation of the world to be adopted into your family through the shed blood of Jesus Christ. I believe that my son is your son and that he put his faith in you as a little child. Lord, I believe that in the same way that the prodigal son returned to his father in the parable you spoke, my son will also return to YOU! He is a man of God! I believe in faith that YOUR will of his return will happen in YOUR good timing. Lord, put people into his life that will point him back to you. In Jesus Name, Amen!"
Now, I have prayed in my heart and spoke these very things out of my mouth, I have even written them down.
So, what sense would it make for me to turn around and speak ill will against my son? What sense would it make to curse him? What sense does it make for me to complain about my son? In fact, recently, I decided that instead of speaking from the experiences that I have had in the past with my son, I've decided to speak what I know God says about him. He is a child of God. He is a man of God who is finding his way home. He is loved. He is a believer.
Here's something else, if I have a bad memory or thought about my son that comes from a past experience, I make certain to squash it immediately AND I make sure that it in no way comes out of my mouth. I won't do it! I keep silent!
The enemy is always ready to break up families, to remind you of what happened in the past, but if I am believing what God has promised, then I am not going to speak against it!
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So you may be asking, "Yvonne, how do you know what to speak and what not to speak?" Here is my answer: The Word of God and the Holy Spirit!
John 17:17 says,
"Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth."
Hebrews 4:12 says,
"For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart."
John 16:13 says,
"When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come."
John 8:31-32
"Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, 'If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.'"
John 6:63 says,
"It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life."
So there you have it. Speaking through the Spirit of God in accordance with the Word of God!
I have really been looking closely at Dr. Tony Evans's ministry lately. Here is a blog post about speaking life from Dr. Evans's ministry, The Urban Alternative. I also found this sermon, "Power of Life & Death in the Tongue". I think he does an excellent job of making the connection between God's Word, the Holy Spirit, and what we say out of our mouths. Take a listen! ( I know he looks like he is about to attack somebody in this freeze-frame, but it really is a great video LOL)
