WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? IT DOES MATTER!

Scripture: Psalms 35:27-28

“….Let the Lord be magnified who has pleasure in the prosperity of His servant.  And my tongue shall speak of Your righteousness and of Your praise all the day long.”

Did you know you have a miracle in your mouth?  Our Scripture tells us how we can talk ourselves into blessings, health, and great relationships, etc.  When we talk about how great our God is and His righteousness which is His faithfulness, He causes our way to become prosperous and He is thus magnified.  People will want to know how all these wonderful things are transpiring in your life, and it will give you the opportunity to give glory to God.

Isn’t it interesting that the Scripture says, LET the Lord be magnified?

It is important to realize when you give your voice in thanksgiving and honor of what God has promised in His Word, you are participating with the Lord.  So many have been led to believe God just does whatever He wants but this Scripture teaches He wants our cooperation in our faith, beliefs and conversation.  He wants us to give Him something to work with.

The following story in Judges 6 will showcase this as well:

This is about a man named Gideon and his family.  They were part of God’s covenant to bless His people but they decided to do things their own way and ignore God’s directions.  By doing so, they put themselves into bad situations which caused their family lots of pain and sorrow.  Also, every time they would start getting ahead, people would come and steal from them and disrupt their lives.  It got so bad, they started hiding from their enemies to keep what they had produced from being stolen.  This kept going on until one day they asked God for help and a messenger from God showed up and said to him, “The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor!”  Gideon was totally shocked because he had been defeated so many times that he saw himself and his family helpless, frustrated and his life inconsequential.  The Lord told him things were getting ready to change but Gideon had to be willing to change his conversation and how he saw himself for it to work. 

When he began to agree with God’s message and messenger things turned around for him, his family and even the people living around them.

God had something great on His mind for him.  If you are going through similar situations, family problems, business failures, and financial losses, you can reverse the troubles as well by making a decision you will put your trust and confidence in God’s faithfulness and see yourself as a mighty man or woman of valor.  As you can see from this story, it only took one man, Gideon, getting on board with the truth of who he was destined to be to make big changes in the lives of those around him.

Gideon became so fully persuaded that he built an altar to worship the Lord and called it, “The Lord is Peace.”  This is an exciting principle for all of us today to realize because of the significance of how things changed for Gideon when he acknowledged who God wanted to be in his life.  When he called Him, “the Lord is Peace, he was saying the Lord wants me to be safe in my mind, my body and my estate or business and family life.  He was saying God wants me to experience restitution and restoration and to be prosperous and whole! 

Could you use some of those changes in your life? 

Your conversation and how you see your circumstances has so much to do with how things can change in your life.  I know that has been my experience.  I can’t count the number of times I had to make the choice to talk about what God had promised me as His child instead of what I was experiencing.  And you know what?  What God promised started coming to pass!

Would you take the time today to analyze your conversation and whether it is opening the door for the Lord to bring prosperity and peace into your life?

Do realize your tongue and what you say can be used to bring miracles or messes!

When you begin agreeing with God and believe that He sees you happy, victorious and blessed and, refuse to see yourself limited by your current circumstances, things will begin to turn as they did for Gideon.

Did you know that one of the big mindsets today that can hinder you fulfilling your dreams and living the life God planned for you is unbelief in the goodness of God.  Everyone believes in something or someone.  Check out who or what you are putting your confidence in.

In this time we are living in, there are so many voices and opinions vying for our attention.  More than ever, we need to be hearing what God would have to say.

Do you find yourself saying words like “My family never has had anything or had anything good happen to us; it is too late for me, nothing will ever change; I probably won’t get a promotion this year; or no-one believes in God like that,” etc., etc.? These are all self-inflicting words and beliefs that will block your success and close doors in your life that should be open.

Gideon had the choice to keep making excuses or to change his image and thoughts about himself and agree with God.

The same choice is ours!  Begin applying these truths to your life and circumstances and watch what happens.

Realize that “What you are consistently talking about does matter!”

Why? James 3:5 says “the tongue is a small part of the body but boasts of great things.” 

Now is the time to begin speaking of His righteousness and faithfulness to you and begin receiving the good things He has planned for you through faith in His Word!  Decide you will indeed let the Lord be magnified through your life and circumstances and thank Him daily for all He has done and all He wants to do in your life.

Then, get ready for His great plans for You to begin to unfold in extraordinary ways!

WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO ENTER YOUR PROMISE LAND?

Scripture:  Acts 10:34

“Then Peter began to speak I now know how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right.”

What an awesome God we serve!  I like to call Him the “Equal Opportunity God.”  He is no respecter of persons but does respect those who honor and revere Him.  He is the One who respects faith.  Do you know why?  It gives Him the opportunity to act on the faith you release with your prayers and actions.  True faith is the ability to trust the only True God and Jesus Christ, and to have confidence in the promises that He has given us to live by.

There is a powerful story in Numbers 13 where God told Moses to send 12 leaders to spy out the promise land, He had prepared for them.  I believe God was excited about His children finally being able to enter their promise land but something very interesting happened.

All the twelve leaders saw a land flowing with milk and honey but there were giants in the land.  Ten of the leaders came back to the people reporting: “The land was flowing with milk and honey, and it was also flowing with giants.  We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.”

Because of their fear based on what they saw with their natural eyes and their negative thinking, they assumed that they looked like grasshoppers.

The other two leaders reported: “The land we passed through is exceedingly good and, if the Lord is pleased with us, He will lead us and give us the land, only do not be afraid of the people.”

But the whole assembly listened to the negative report, and completely overlooked the fact that the promise land was flowing with all they had ever desired. The only two that entered the promise land were Joshua and Caleb because they stood in faith and trust that God would be with them.

The others missed getting what God had planned for them because they saw themselves in their own abilities and because they lacked trust in God’s promise to them and His ability working through them to enter into abundant living.  The negative report believed caused them to forfeit blessings that God had in store for them. It is interesting that the ones bringing back the negative report were leaders.

What does this mean for us today?  Hebrews 4:2 says “For we have heard the Good News just as they did.  They heard the message, but it did no good because when they heard it, they did not accept it with faith!

Think about the essence of the story and how it may relate to your life.  Do you have a tendency to listen to negative reports?  Do you frequently join in with friends, family or co-workers who often talk about how bad things are? Are there situations where you see yourself as a grasshopper rather than someone created in the image and likeness of God?

Genesis 1:27 says: “So God created mankind in His own image, in His own likeness, He created them male and female.”

God did not create humanity to be fearful, frail or insignificant.    He created us to be Co-laborers with Him according to                  1 Cor. 3:9!

Jeremiah 29:11 NIV is a life enhancing verse everyone should memorize and receive it with faith that if God said it, and we have faith in His Word, not someone else’ word, it will come to pass!

“For I know the PLANS I have for you, declares the Lord, PLANS to prosper you and not to harm you, PLANS to give you hope and a future.”

And, I love the same verse in the King James Version which says:  “For I know the THOUGHTS that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.”

God has you on His mind!

Does your future feel overwhelming because of what you see going on around you?  If there are negative reports going on around you remember Joshua and Caleb’s actions and refuse to join in.  Often it is people who see themselves independent of God who accept what others are saying about situations. It is important to be mindful that because of these 10 men coming back with a bad report the whole nation, except for two, were made powerless.  Joshua and Caleb got to experience all the major blessings! 

A case in point that I wrote about in my small FOCUS FAITH book:

 I remember when I was working for an international company that sold equipment for making fabrics.  During coffee breaks and at lunch time, many of the staff members would sit together and gripe and complain about the company and employer and all kinds of negative things were said about their jobs.  I had learned the principle of being mindful of what I agreed with people about as well as being appreciative I had a job, so I didn’t enter into the conversations when there was so much discontent.  I was often made fun of by some of the staff.  But when the day came for salary reviews each one filed past my desk in frustration after having been told there was a freeze on wages.  I was later called in by the VP of Finance and was told I would be getting an increase and, it was a substantial one.  I am fully persuaded that if I had joined in with the negative crowd as the Israelites had done, I would not have gotten the increase.  I probably would have forfeited it!

Isaiah 57:19 “I create the fruit of the lips…...!”

We can expect good things from God just like He planned good things for the Israelites but let us be mindful to believe and receive the words and promises of a loving faithful God and not doubt and unbelief from others!

For us, as believers in Christ through accepting Jesus as our Savior and Lord, we have been transferred out of bondage to live in liberty and freedom through faith in His word.

Colossians 1:13 NLT “For He has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of His dear Son.”

Rise up in faith knowing that God plus you equal a majority!  Allow God to show Himself strong on your behalf by believing His promises are for you and those you pray for.

After all, Jesus did say, “WITH GOD, nothing shall be impossible to those who believe.” Mark 9:23 NKJV

Today, I encourage you to set your heart and determine you will not let what others think, say, or feel hinder you from entering the promise land God has for you!