Today we continue our new series entitled, “Faith and Patience Volume IV — The Wonder Twins”. As I continue to lay the foundation for this series, I am providing somewhat of a faith refresher. I will do the same for patience. We need both faith and patience in order to lay hold of the promises of God. I shared 8 things about faith and we have covered 7 of the 8 thus far. Here they are:
1) We are only pleasing to God when we operate in faith (Hebrews 11:6)
2) We are saved by grace, through faith (Ephesians 2:8,9)
3) We are called to live by faith (Romans 1:17, Galatians 3:11, Hebrews 10:38, Habakkuk 2:4, and Galatians 2:20)
4) We are commanded to walk by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7)
5) We are urged to fight the good fight of faith (1 Timothy 6:12)
6) We are supposed to pray the prayer of faith (James 5:15)
7) We must speak the language of faith (Matthew 8:8)
8) We ultimately overcome the world by faith (1 John 5:4)
Yesterday I deal with #7. We will go back to it today.
We will look at two passages for today’s message.
(Jeremiah 1:4-7 NIV)
4 The word of the Lord came to me, saying,
5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”
6 “Alas, Sovereign Lord,” I said, “I do not know how to speak; I am too young.”
7 But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am too young.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you.
(John 4:35 KJV)
Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.
So what does this mean for you today? A few things.
1. Faith has a language.
a) If you understand how faith is a human’s ability to hear from God, to discern His voice, to believe what He said, and to then perform whatever human actions are required to bring it to pass, you can see why your words are so important. Your faith is a response to God’s grace. By faith, you get to align your words and deeds with what God promised. Therefore, your words matter.
b) The Bible has so much to say about the importance of your words because, with your words, you either agree with God or satan. Your words are either aligning with the Kingdom of God or the kingdom of darkness. When you align your lips what God, His Word, His Kingdom, and His purposes, you are speaking the language of faith.
2. It’s easy to identify the language of faith and the language of doubt/fear.
a) If you are a person who lives by faith, who meditates and medicates on God’s Word every day, and who seeks to be led by God’s Holy Spirit in all things, you will easily spot faith and fear when you hear them.
b) The goal is to renew your mind to think and speak like God. When you do, and your mind is literally renewed from the “stinking thinking” you learned from this world, it is easy for you to hear words that do not line up with heaven. Many believers don’t realize it, but they are stifling their faith with words of fear, doubt, and unbelief all the time. You cannot pray in faith in the morning and then speak words of fear, doubt, and unbelief all day, but then think that your prayers will be effective. Words of prayer must be followed up and reinforced with words of faith.
c) No matter how long it takes, never speak against what God said. Never allow a negative word to come out of your mouth concerning God’s promise!
3. Faith agrees with and declares, in time, what God already decreed, from eternity.
a) In John 4 Jesus said, “Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.” The disciples were looking at the same fields Jesus was, with their natural eyes. But Jesus was seeing something else in the Spirit. Jesus then instructed the disciples NOT TO SAY what they saw with their physical eyes. But rather to say what they could see in the Spirit. In the natural, the harvest was 4 months way. In the Spirit, it was harvest time now. Faith is always NOW! Hope says that it will happen someday. Faith believes and receives in NOW, even if it won’t actually manifest for years. This is how we live by faith, and this is how we operate in divine patience. We declare what God has decreed, even at the risk of looking foolish, and we keep believing until we see (in our hands) what God revealed (in our hearts).
b) In Mark 11 Jesus looked at a fig tree and saw two realities. His physical body was seeing a tree that was strong and full of leaves. The Holy Spirit inside of Him was showing Him a tree that was dead and dried up from the roots. Jesus then had a decision to make. When there is a conflict between what your body is showing you and what the Holy Spirit is saying to you, you have to decide, in your soul, which one you are going to go with. In His soul, Jesus had to decide between body and spirit. He had to choose which one He was going to believe and act upon. Obviously, Jesus always chose Spirit over body. He chose supernatural over natural 100% of the time. This should be our goal. So Jesus looked at the tree and He said, OUT LOUD, what He believed. He did not SAY what He saw with his natural eyes. He said what He saw in the Spirit. 24 hours later, the tree was dead. Why? Because God revealed something and Jesus was a human who had the faith to declare, in the earth, what God had decreed, from heaven!
c) Later in Mark 11, Jesus said that if we say what God is leading us to say, and we do so from a believing heart, without any doubt at all, we will have what we say! Do you believe that? If you do, you will be careful what you say. And you will be careful to only say what God is saying over your situation.
4. Never speak against what God planned for your life.
a) God revealed to Jeremiah that he was called to be a prophet. Jeremiah spoke against it. God was quick to tell Jeremiah NOT to speak against what He said. God said, “Do not say, ‘I am too young.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you.” We must learn to never speak against what God promised and to accept the fact that our life is about God and His plans, and not about us and our selfish desires.
b) Moses spoke against what God told him to do. God sent him to speak to Pharoah and Moses said he could not speak. So God gave him a surrogate speaker. I am convinced that Moses had the grace to do what God told him to do. But since he spoke against God’s promise, he missed out on God’s best.
c) God gave Zechariah a promise. It was actually something he claimed to be believing God for. He wanted a baby. He and his wife had tried for years. But when God told him that the baby was coming, Zechariah spoke against God’s promise. As a result, God SHUT HIS MOUTH. Zechariah was not able to speak a word until the baby was born. That is how important our words are!
5. While you are waiting on God, keep saying what He said.
In this series, I am teaching on faith and patience. You need both. There will be a space between the promise and the performance. In that space, you must keep believing. Your job is to believe it is already done and to then hold on, in faith, until you see it manifested in the earth. When people ask you about it, never speak against it. Never speak fear, doubt, or unbelief. Just say, “I know it’s already done, and it is only a matter of time. I know what God said and I believe what He said!” This is how you exercise faith and patience in order to see the manifestation of God’s promises in your life!
That’s enough for today.
Declaration of Faith:
Father, I speak the language of faith daily. I declare what You have already decreed over my life. I resist and reject fear, doubt, and unbelief. I never allow a negative word to proceed from out of my lips. No matter how long it takes, I will never speak against the promise. Every Word You have spoken over my life shall come to pass in the fulness of time. For now, I will say what You have said until I SEE what You have SAID! I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
This is Today’s Word. Apply it and prosper!
