Today we continue our series “God is faithful!” The Lord led me to 2 Corinthians 4. In this passage, we are looking at what it looks like to believe God is faithful. Because of God’s faithfulness towards us, we can withstand and overcome anything!
For days we have been looking at verse 13. We will go back to it again today.
(2 Corinthians 4:1, 7-13, 16-18 TPT)
1 Now, it’s because of God’s mercy that we have been entrusted with the privilege of this new covenant ministry. And we will not quit or faint with weariness.
7 We are like common clay jars that carry this glorious treasure within, so that this immeasurable power will be seen as God’s, not ours.
8 Though we experience every kind of pressure, we’re not crushed. At times we don’t know what to do, but quitting is not an option.
9 We are persecuted by others, but God has not forsaken us. We may be knocked down, but not out.
10 We continually share in the death of Jesus in our own bodies so that the resurrection life of Jesus will be revealed through our humanity.
11 We consider living to mean that we are constantly being handed over to death for Jesus’ sake so that the life of Jesus will be revealed through our humanity.
12 So, then, death is at work in us but it releases life in you.
13 We have the same Spirit of faith that is described in the Scriptures when it says, “First I believed, then I spoke in faith.” So we also first believe then speak in faith.
16 So no wonder we don’t give up. For even though our outer person gradually wears out, our inner being is renewed every single day.
17 We view our slight, short-lived troubles in the light of eternity. We see our difficulties as the substance that produces for us an eternal, weighty glory far beyond all comparison,
18 because we don’t focus our attention on what is seen but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but the unseen realm is eternal.
Today I will add something from Joel. A lot of us quote Joel 3:10, but you may not understand it. So let’s talk about it.
(Joel 3:10 NKJV)
??Beat your plowshares into swords And your pruning hooks into spears; Let the weak say, ‘I am strong.’ ”
(Joel 3:10 God’s Word)
Hammer your plowblades into swords and your pruning shears into spears. Weaklings should say that they are warriors.
(Joel 3:10 MSG)
??Turn your shovels into swords, turn your hoes into spears. Let the weak one throw out his chest and say, “I’m tough, I’m a fighter.”
So what does this mean for you today? A few things:
1. No one is exempt from spiritual warfare or earthly opposition and your words have a lot to do with how you deal with it.
— Joel 3 speaks of the judgment of the nations who rose up against Judah and Jerusalem. The prophet speaks of the power of God and how it will be unleashed against the enemies of Israel. God told the prophet to tell the nations to wake up their warriors and prepare for battle. He goes on to tell them to even prepare mere farmers to fight. He told the farmers to hammer their plow blades into swords and their pruning shears into spears. God then used the prophet to provide the key for Judah (back then) and us (this morning). God instructed the weaklings to SAY that they are warriors! God did not want them to SAY what they were in the present, but to speak what He was calling them to be, to speak what they believed God they could be, by God’s grace.
— If you read the Old Testament, you will see that while the Israelites were God’s people, it did not keep them from the attacks of the enemy. I would love to tell you that you will never be attacked after you become a Christian, but that would be a lie. The truth is you may be attacked more than you ever have. But the good news is that God will be with you every step of the way. He has given you the grace to embrace victory over every attack and every attacker.
— One of the reasons I share God’s Word every day, and I go to painstaking lengths to do so in a way people can understand, is because we have a real enemy. Satan is not going to sit back and watch as you comfortably become the man/woman you are destined to be. Satan will not be passive as you leave your mark in this world. The more you walk with God, the more you embrace His grace, and the more you impact the world for Jesus, the more of a target you become. But the good news is that the enemy’s POISON cannot stop your PURPOSE!
— One of the ways you fight back against the power of the enemy is by unleashing the power of the tongue! You will be attacked. But when you are, you can retaliate with the Word of God! SPEAK THE WORD ONLY!
2. When it’s time to fight, you must use what you have at your disposal.
— In Joel 3, God knew the warriors had swords and spears, but the attack was coming to all the people of Judah. So God gave a Word to the farmers who did not have swords or spears. God instructed them to use their plow blades and shears. They were what they had at their disposal for the impending attack. So it is with us. If you read Ephesians 6 and you go through the pieces of the armor of God, you will realize that our ONLY offensive weapon against the devil is the Word of God, which is referred to as the Sword of the Spirit. When you speak the Word of God over your life and over your family, OUT LOUD, from a believing heart, you are fighting a spiritual battle with a spiritual sword! When you do, your words, spoken on the earth, will activate a spiritual response from heaven!
— You can only speak what you know. God told the farmers to use plow blades and shears because that’s what they had, and that’s what they knew. When the pressure is on, you will fall back to what you know! Listen, you can’t SPEAK THE WORD if you don’t know the Word! When the pressure is on, you don’t have time to run to some church. You don’t have time to find your Bible. All you have time to do is search your heart and USE WHAT IT IS IN THERE!
— The more you read your Bible and study messages like this one, the better prepared you are for the attack! If you fill your heart with God’s Word when the pressure is on, and the attack is imminent, you will be able to SPEAK THE WORD ONLY because you will already have it down in your heart!
— The Word of God is your only offensive weapon in a spiritual fight. You have to get God’s Word down in your heart and believe it. Once you do, you will SPEAK what you believe, and you will have what you say!
3. God can use your mouth to transform your life.
— God instructed the weaklings across the nation of Judah to open up their mouths and SAY that they were WARRIORS! Why? Because the power of death and life are in the tongue (Prov 18:21). Your words have the power to transform. Words can turn weaklings into warriors and cowards into champions.
— If it was true in Joel 3, in the Old Testament, it is even truer now. We have the Holy Spirit. God, Himself is living down on the inside of us. God will speak to your “TO BE” stage from your “RIGHT NOW” stage, and when He does, He is looking for you to agree with Him in your heart and with your mouth!
— God is looking for you to OPEN YOUR MOUTH and SAY what He is revealing, and He needs you to SAY IT from a believing heart.
— If God told WEAKLINGS to SAY they are WARRIORs, so their words can help them come in agreement with His will, then my question for you is: WHAT ARE YOU SAYING? What is coming out of your mouth? Are you speaking the PROBLEM or the PROMISE? Are you speaking what you see with your natural eyes or what God is revealing in your heart?
— When you SPEAK THE UNSEEN, from a believing heart, it is only a matter of time before the UNSEEN manifests itself in a way that everyone will be able to SEE in this world!
— When you speak the language of faith from a believing heart, it will transform your life because your lips unleash the power of God OVER YOU to become what God is revealing TO YOU!
— God told farmers to speak to themselves. God told them what to say, and He knew that if they said it and believed it, the power He placed in their words would transform weaklings into warriors. Sometimes you have to speak to yourself! You have to convince yourself to believe what God believes about you!
*** This is how we withstand and overcome anything!
That’s enough for today.
Declaration of Faith:
Father, this is a season of LEVELING UP for me. I LEVEL UP by speaking the language of faith daily. You placed the power of death and life in my tongue. You now want me to align with Your will. You want me to come in agreement with Your best. You want me to believe what You believe about me. I declare that I do! I open my mouth, and I SAY what You are SAYING over me! I am the head and not the tail. I am above only and never beneath. I am the lender and not the borrower. I am the winner and not the loser. I am the VICTOR and never the VICTIM! I overcome every attack and every attacker. I use the only OFFENSIVE weapon I have at my disposal, the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. I go on OFFENSE when I speak Your Word! Your Word has transforming power. Your Word can change weaklings into Warriors. I enter into this day as a Warrior. I SPEAK THE WORD ONLY, I will have what I say, and I say, GREATER IS COMING FOR ME! I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name, Amen!
This is Today’s Word! Apply it and Prosper.
