Your Words Hold a Miracle: The Power of Speaking God's Word (3 page)

You cannot think negative thoughts and expect to live a positive life.

His friends thought he was foolish. They even felt he was not telling the truth because things did not look any different. They could not see any evidence of change. But this Christian
knew
that he had God’s eternal, miracle-working power in his mouth. He
knew
that God’s Word is quick and powerful (Hebrews 4:12)! He
knew
that God’s Word, spoken out of his mouth, would create the changes he so desperately needed in his life. So he believed in his heart and continually declared the Word of God with his mouth.

What God had spoken to Joshua, “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success” (Joshua 1:8), became a living reality to this Christian!

The apostle Paul explained to us in his letter to the Romans that the Word of God “ ‘is near you, in your mouth and in your heart’ (that is, the word of faith which we preach)” (Romans 10:8).

T
HINGS
G
REATLY
C
HANGED
!

Change did not happen overnight, but this Christian held fast to his declarations of truth from God’s Word. Discouragement and difficulties rose up against him to try to get those words out of his mouth, but the Christian persevered. He knew that God could not lie, and he was determined to partake of all of the blessings of God.

Days and weeks and months went by. Things were the same at first, but they slowly began to change. God’s Word began to germinate and to produce fruit.

One day this certain Christian realized that he had:

• Confidence instead of doubt!
  

• Success instead of failure!
  

• Health instead of sickness!
  

• Strength instead of weakness!
  

• Faith instead of fear!
  

• Courage instead of defeat!
  

• Joy and happiness instead of despair!
  

This Christian became a stalwart, courageous soldier of the Lord Jesus Christ. The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus had made him free from the law of sin and death (Romans 8:2).

This Christian had taken the truths of the Word of God, believed them in his heart, spoken them with his mouth, and created his deepest heart’s desire.

A
PERSON CREATES AND BRINGS TO PASS

what he continually says.

Reflections from
            JOEL

A
powerful step toward living at your full potential is to discover the power of your thoughts and words. As was true of my father’s “certain Christian,” many people live far below their full potential because their thinking patterns are defective. You cannot think negative thoughts and expect to live a positive life. You can’t think thoughts of failure and expect to succeed.

You’ve got to quit dwelling on the negative. Don’t magnify your problems. Magnify your God. The bigger we make God, the smaller our problems become. Quit dwelling on what’s wrong in your life, and start dwelling on what’s right in your life. Learn to focus on your possibilities, on what you can do, on your potential. Then go out each day expecting good things.

Friend, if you are going to live your best life now, you must learn how to control your thought life.

CHAPTER TWO

The Power
of the
Name
of
Jesus

T
his is a great day to be alive, despite most of the news headlines!

The apostle Paul said that in the closing days before Jesus comes again, “in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power” (2 Timothy 3:1–5).

It will be recorded in history that ours has been one of the most turbulent, violent, and shocking generations that has ever lived upon the face of this earth. I believe this is so because the powers of darkness have unleashed its forces upon humanity in an unprecedented manner.

Every level of society feels the power of this evil assault. Alcoholism, drugs, divorces, violence, staggering debt, and overcrowded prisons demonstrate the hopelessness of mankind. Pornography, profanity, and the bold defiance of every good and noble thing we hold dear have arisen like giants to challenge us. Across our land there are men and women who are determined to use every means possible to destroy our heritage—our trust in God—through which our nation was founded.

There has been a monumental loss of faith in government, the monetary system, educational institutions, and the basic social structures that have bound us together. We see our young people driven to every form of excess, with no moral code to hold their lives together. Not finding help in traditional religion and being unable to cope with the sense of hopelessness in the world around them, many have given up and are willing to experiment with anything that comes along!

Where is our God? Where is the God of America? Where is the God of the nations of the world? Where is the mighty Savior of our grandparents? Where is Jesus?

When I went to seminary, I was educated in a church tradition that taught me “The days of miracles are past” and “Divine healing is not for today.” Comfortably settled behind stained-glass windows, my Christianity assured us that the powers of darkness were not real, but only a figment of our imagination. In truth, these were lies that held us back from experiencing all that God has provided for us in Christ Jesus!

Today, we who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ boldly declare that the day of miracles is not past! Divine healing for the spirit, mind, and body is available to all! We discern the times in which we live, and we know that the powers of darkness are very real. We are not ignorant.

Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has Jesus forsaken us? No, a thousand times NO! The mighty Miracle Worker, the compassionate Jesus, the Redeemer of all mankind, has manifested Himself with a mighty outpouring of His Holy Spirit even in our days.

While the turbulence of the world roars around us, Jesus walks in our midst. His great power and His great love cannot be hidden. Out of the midst of that murky, profane river of lost humanity, there began to be heard a Name; first on the lips of one, then two, then two hundred, and then thousands upon thousands…
the Name of Jesus.
They beheld Him and experienced His love and transforming power, and they were changed forever!

This is why I say this is a great day to be alive! There is mighty power in the Name of Jesus!

I
N THE
M
IGHTY
N
AME OF
J
ESUS
,

God has given us power to defeat the enemy and stand tall.

J
ESUS
, J
ESUS
, J
ESUS
!

What a sound! Through the blood of Jesus shed on Calvary, the power of darkness, sin, and oppression is broken. Captives are set free by the Name of Jesus.

This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it.

Today, many of those same young people who were without hope are taking their stand with Jesus. Many people who were broken by divorce, addictions, and abuse in the past have been healed in spirit, mind, and body. They are at the forefront with the message of hope and freedom. Churches of every denomination and all of society have acknowledged Jesus’ reality and presence. Jesus is baptizing people in His Holy Spirit and awakening them to the spiritual power He has made available to us.

But God will not do the work for us. He has given us great provisions and weapons: the Holy Spirit, the Name of Jesus, the blood of Jesus, and the Word of God. God intends for us to take our places as His sons and daughters. He wants us to develop ourselves
spiritually. In the mighty Name of Jesus, God has given us power to defeat the enemy and stand tall.

The outpouring of the Holy Spirit has produced spiritual warriors on the earth. Jesus said, “And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover” (Mark 16:17–18).

These believers have taken off their religious masks. They choose to be real! They worship God with their hands lifted high in surrender to Him. They have experienced the grace and ecstasy of the supernatural, based upon the Bible and its redemptive truths. They care about humanity and want to make a difference in people’s lives!

And they are coming together, flowing as a mighty river, just as Jesus said they would, and through them God is bringing healing to the nations. Thank God, He has placed within us a river of living water. “On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, ‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water’ ” (John 7:37–38).

We, as individuals, are not perfect. We make mistakes, but we are being changed. Christ is being formed in us. (See Galatians 4:19.) We are moving swiftly toward the end of time. Soon we will step out of time into eternity.

God has set in the church apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers to bring His people into their rightful place of authority (see Ephesians 4:11–16). He is teaching us how to defeat the enemy. God’s servants have been faithfully teaching and training believers throughout the last several years. Because of their faithfulness to the task and the eagerness to learn on the part of God’s people, there is being heard the sound of the Name of Jesus!

The sounds of discord, anguish, heartache, confusion, evil, and all sorts of violence, which have dominated the scene and come continually into our ears, are giving way to a new sound, the sound of the Name of Jesus!

We know that we will rise no higher nor sink lower

THAN OUR CONFESSION OF
J
ESUS
.

W
E
A
RE
N
OT
W
ITHOUT
F
AITH

Regarding faith, from the Word of God we know that:

• “Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6).
  

• “God has dealt to each one a measure of faith” (Romans 12:3).
  

• Jesus is “the author and finisher of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2).
  

• “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17).
  

• “His name, through faith in His name, has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all” (Acts 3:16).
  

When we take the time to hear the Word of God, that Word will produce in us a steady growth of faith. We will have faith in that Name, and soon we will begin to see as the believers in the New Testament saw. We will see perfect soundness in our bodies.

We always speak out of the abundance of our hearts. Jesus said that a man will bring forth good things out of the good treasure in his heart (see Matthew 12:34–35). We are learning to hear God’s Word and to hide it in our hearts. We speak God’s Word out of our hearts instead of speaking what we see and feel. This Word of God that is hidden in our hearts and spoken out of our mouths will move mountains in our lives!

We no longer are struggling, but we are taking our place in the Body of Christ as mature men and women of God. We stand confidently, boldly, and unflinchingly in the face of the powers of darkness. We not only refuse to give in to the attacks of Satan on our spirits, minds, and bodies, but we take the offensive and reach out and rescue those around us who have been overcome by the enemy. We do this in the Name of Jesus!

We can be heard everywhere speaking and declaring the promises of God. This is the sound of His Name.