The Power of Words: Using Scriptures to Change Your Life pt. 4

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For the previous post click here,  The Power of Words : Using Scriptures to Change Your Life

It’s possible to diligently speak faith confessions every day and then negate your words by speaking negative, destructive words the rest of the day. For example, in the morning you may read your list of scriptures on prosperity- “God supplies all my need according to His riches in Christ Jesus,” or “Wealth and riches are in my house” or “I am blessed coming in, I am blessed going out,” and the rest of the day speak negatively about your finances. The electric bill comes in and you say, “We’ll never be able to pay this” or the company where you work starts laying off people and you start talking about how you’re afraid that you’ll get laid off next.

Speaking scriptural-based words will bring Jesus to our aid. Hebrews 3:1 says that Jesus is the High Priest of our confession. What does a high priest do? A high priest “is one who is authorized to administer, to execute, to implement and to carry into effect … He’s been sent to put into effect, to execute, to carry out the words that you say” if they are based on scripture. (Kenneth Copeland, Faith to Faith—Daily Devotional, June 6)

If you speak negative words about yourself, your family, your job etc. Jesus has nothing to work with. He’s not going to put words into effect that support your defeat. His business is to help you succeed in life, not fail.

Speaking God’s Word will loose the angels to work for you. Hebrews 1:14 says the angels of God have been sent to minister for heirs of salvation, while Psalm 103:20 tells us that the angels obey the voice of God’s word.

The angels can’t hear and obey God’s Word until someone speaks it out of their mouth: that’s their cue to start working and bring it to pass.

When you maintain an attitude of faith and speak words in line with God’s Word, angels will work for you, either in the background or they may appear to you in human form. Hebrews 13:2 says, “Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. Usually we are unaware that we are interacting with angels instead of humans. I’ve heard many accounts of people being helped by angels but did not realize they were being helped by a supernatural being until afterwards.

Speaking scriptures over and over will build your faith. Romans 10: 17 says, “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.” The more you hear yourself say it, the more you’ll believe it.

I remember one night when my son was sick and had a fever. I was tired and wanted to go to bed but I was worried about him and knew I would not be able to sleep. I decided to speak scriptures over him before I went to sleep. One of the scriptures I spoke was Proverbs 4:22, “God’s Word is life and health to all Michael’s flesh.” I kept saying it over and over, as I paced around in my bedroom. I imagined the Word going into my son, killing all the bad germs and healing his body. The more I said it, the more I believed it. After about a half hour of doing this I had confidence that God’s Word was taking care of the situation. I climbed into bed and fell sound asleep.

Here’s another example. Raymond T. Richey, a healing evangelist born in 1893, had contracted tuberculosis while working in the ministry. He was confined to bed. By September of 1919, he had given up on life and he was upset with God for not healing him. God spoke to him and reminded him that the church was believing for his full recovery and also reminded him of the miracles He had done in Ritchey’s family in the past. Richey was repentant and started saying, “Dear Lord, forgive, I do remember and I do believe.”

He openened the Bible and read Psalm 103:3, “Who forgiveth all thine iniquities, Who healeth all thy diseases.” Richey slowly got out of bed and whispered in a weak voice, “I praise You, Lord, I praise You, Lord, I praise You, Lord. I know You are healing me.” Each time he praised God, his voice got stronger until he was shouting. His strength increased rapidly and he knew he was healed.

He was staying with some friends at the time and went to find them. When Richey found them, he shouted, “The Lord has healed me. The Lord has healed me. The Lord has healed me … ” After that, he went back into the ministry totally healed, not only of tuberculosis but a heart condition he had been diagnosed with.  To read the next post, click here: The Power of Words, pt. 5

The Using Scriptures to Change Your Life Series has now been turned into a free e-book, download by clicking on the following link: Using Confessions to Change Your Life

 

The Power of Words: Using Scriptures to Change Your Life pt. 3

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This is part 3, of the series The Power of Words: Using Scriptures to Change Your Life.

Take note that it’s also important to use wisdom and listen to what God is saying to you concerning your situation. Proverbs 4:6 lets us know that wisdom is the principle thing. Ephesians 5:17 says, don’t be unwise (foolish) but understand what the will of the Lord is.

Things aren’t always what they seem. For example, you may have constant headaches because of a poor diet or not drinking enough water. You may not need to be healed, you may simply need to make some changes in your diet. The Holy Spirit wants to reveal these things to you.

One lady’s marriage was in a desperate straits. She and her husband argued constantly. She allowed depression to set in and spent a lot of time crying. She felt that the root of the problem was that the husband was weak spiritually, as he had confided in her that “it was too hard to be spiritual.”

She kept praying that God would change her husband, but when she sought the wisdom of God, He showed her that she needed to respect her husband and change her negative attitude towards him. This alone, was enough to cause the husband to start attending church with her and begin reading his Bible.

Some people pray for more money but don’t use any wisdom with the fiances they do have. If God gave them more money, they’d use it to buy a bigger, better car or television set and get into more debt rather than paying off the debts they already have.

Finding and acting on the wisdom of God can save you time, money and grief. Putting in the effort to discover God’s will can keep you from making high-priced mistakes- mistakes that can cost you your health, your family, and your money. I personally could have saved myself a lot of stress, time and many thousands of dollars had I just taken the time to do this.

Hearing and acting on the wisdom of God not only saves money and resources, but can also generate riches and wealth. In his book, How You Can Be Led By The Spirit of God, Kenneth Hagin talks about how in the early 1900’s, a business man went from making $5,500 a year to having over $30 million worth of assets by learning how to hear from God and tap into His wisdom by training and developing his spirit.

So before starting that business, or attending college to get your degree, or getting married to someone etc., take several hours, days or even several weeks if need be, to spend time alone with God and His Word and find out His thoughts concerning the matter.

As you are in this time of finding out God’s perfect will, keep speaking faith-filled words. Instead of saying, “I don’t know what to do,” say things like, “I have the mind of Christ so I always make the the right decisions. In all my ways I acknowledge God and He directs my paths. I always hear and obey the voice of God.”

People may try to put pressure on you to make your decision quickly. You won’t be able to hear clearly from God if you’re under tension. If possible, get away from anyone or anything that’s putting pressure on you and get alone with God.

One of the ways to access the wisdom of God about a situation or problem is by praying in the spirit. There are several reasons why this is true.

First of all, speaking in tongues is a way to pray out God’s perfect will and keep selfishness and wrong motives out of our prayers.

Romans 8:26-27
26 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought : but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

27 And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

When we pray in tongues, we can be confident that we prayed the right way because it’s the Holy Spirit praying through us.

Another reason to speak in tongues is that it edifies your own spirit man, causing it to be stronger and more sensitive to God.1 Corinthians 14:4 says, “He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth himself; but he that prophesieth edifieth the church.”

In his mini booklet, Why, Tongues, Kenneth Hagin writes, “Greek language scholars tell us that we have a word in our modern vernacular which is closer to the meaning of the original than the word ‘edified.’ That word is ‘charge’—as used in connection with charging a battery. Therefore we could paraphrase this verse, ‘He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifies, charges, builds himself up like a battery.'”

We can make decisions based on our flesh- our feelings, thoughts, past experiences or we can make decisions based on what the Holy Spirit is saying to us. Speaking in tongues helps us hear Him more clearly and often we’ll get insights concerning the situation and a sense of what we need to do.

After you know God’s will and have found scriptures concerning your situation, you need to claim the promises for yourself and activate them in your life.One of the most effective ways to activate the promises of God is by speaking them out of your mouth in faith. Scriptures (God’s Words) are already filled with God’s power and will do whatever they have been sent to do:

Isaiah 55:10-11 For as the rain comes down and the snow from the sky, and doesn’t return there, but waters the earth, and makes it bring forth and bud, and gives seed to the sower and bread to the eater; so shall my word be that goes forth out of my mouth: it shall not return to me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing I sent it to do. (WEB)

In order to be successful, you need to be consistent in what you say and not be double minded. James 1:6-8 says: “But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering (without doubting). For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.”

The Using Scriptures to Change Your Life Series has now been turned into a free e-book, download by clicking on the following link: Using Confessions to Change Your Life

 

The Power of Words: Using Scriptures to Change Your Life pt. 2

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This is part two of Using Scriptures to Change your Life.

If we want to we tap into the promises of God, we need to “activate” the scriptures before they can start working for us. This takes diligence and effort, mainly because, we have our own mind, body, other people and circumstances to contend with. We also have a ruthless enemy, the devil, who will persistently try to keep us from finding out what belongs to us and from attaining it. We won’t experience God’s best in our lives without fighting the “good fight of faith.” (1 Timothy 6:12)

The process for activating or obtaining the promises found in God’s Word goes something like this:

First, you have to know about the promises and believe that they belong to you. You must dare to believe that you can have them. Hearing or reading other peoples’ testimonies about how their faith has brought results will help strengthen your faith. One way is to study and meditate on Bible accounts of people who experienced great victories.

There are many examples of faith in action, recorded in the Bible- a teenager killing a giant with a slingshot, a man commanding the sun and moon to “stand still” resulting in almost 24 hours of extra daylight, a man being bit by a poisonous snake and experiencing no ill effects from it, etc. Romans 2:11 lets us know that God is not a respecter of persons. Whatever the need or problem in your life is, God wants to help you overcome it.

Before you can have faith to receive the promises, you need to be free from condemnation and believe that you are worthy- not because you’re perfect but because of who you are in Christ Jesus. Romans 8:1 says that if you’re in Christ Jesus, you are free from condemnation.

If you have a sense of unworthiness or don’t believe you deserve to have something, it’ll be difficult for you to have faith for it. Some people have been ingrained with a religious sense of unworthiness, others feel condemned because of the sin in their lives.

1 John 3:21 lets us know that we can only have confidence toward God if our hearts don’t condemn us. In verse 22 it goes on to say, “And whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him, because we keep His commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.”

If your heart is condemning you because of sin in your life, get rid of it by receiving forgiveness and asking God to help you make the needed changes. If you still have feelings of guilt, realize that feelings aren’t facts. Just because you still “feel” guilty does not mean you are guilty. Get rid of these feelings by declaring, “God is faithful and just to forgive me of my sins, and to cleanse me from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)

In order to discover what belongs to you, you will have to spend some time reading and searching in the Word of God. To find scriptures concerning a particular need or subject, you can use a Bible concordance (such as Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance) and look for Bible verses on the topic you need. You can also use Bible Promise books or find scriptures for specific needs on the Internet by searching for phrases like “scriptures for insomnia” or “scriptures for worry.”

Go here for part three.

The Using Scriptures to Change Your Life Series has now been turned into a free e-book, download by clicking on the following link: Using Confessions to Change Your Life

 

The Power of Words: Using Scriptures to Change Your Life

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Meditating in the Word of God and speaking faith-filled words can dramatically change your life.  One of the most inspiring stories, I’ve ever read is Heal Me, O Lord, found in Guideposts Magazine, published in April, 1998. The author, Marilyn Ludolf, wrote about overcoming her 16 year battle with a painful, itchy, facial rash and terrible headaches that had doctors and specialists baffled.

She was watching television one Sunday and heard the testimony of Cheryl Prewitt (Miss America 1980) who had been supernaturally healed by God. Mrs Ludolf had a revelation- God still healed people today!

After hearing Cheryl’s testimony, Mrs. Ludolf was inspired to compile a list of healing, health and faith scriptures- 36 in all.

Every day, wherever she went, she took this list with her. She meditated on the scriptures, saying them over and over. She envisioned herself as being well. In her own words, “I began to visualize my complexion as pink and clear as a newborn baby’s and my sinus passages free and well. I imprinted it on my mind day and night.”

After doing this consistently for about 2 ½ months, her faith had grown immensely. During that time period, she gradually received total healing from the skin condition as well as from the headaches.

Ms. Ludolf had been a Christian for many years and often prayed and asked God to help her but in her own words, her faith had gotten “flabby.”  By reading and meditating on  scriptures, she got her faith built up until she believed enough to receive her healing.

In another instance, Dodie Osteen, wife of pastor John Osteen was diagnosed with metastatic liver cancer when she was 48 years old. Doctors informed her that, even with treatment, she would be dead in a few weeks. Instead of giving in to the fear and darkness that tried to overtake her, she turned to God and His Word for answers.

One of the most important things she did, was to make a list of 40 healing scriptures and read through them 3 times every day. It took a long time for the symptoms of cancer to leave. At times Dodie was so weak, tired and sick that she was tempted to give up the fight and go be with Jesus, but she chose to persevere.

Dodie put photos of herself by her bed of when she was young and healthy.  One picture was of her in her wedding dress, the other was of her riding a horse while on vacation. It was a way to visualize what she was believing for.

She fought negative thoughts (and there were lots of them) by speaking the Word of God out of her mouth. Every time she had the thought that she was going to die or another new symptom showed up in her body, she chose to speak scriptures concerning her deliverance, “By the stripes of Jesus, I am healed, With long life does God satisfy me and show me my salvation” etc.

She did not talk about the cancer or complain about how terrible she felt to other people. When asked how she was doing, she kept it positive, “I am blessed, thank-you” or “By the stripes of Jesus I am healed.”

After persevering in the faith, day after day, month after month Dodie was totally healed. Two years after receiving her death sentence of cancer, tests showed that she was totally free from cancer.

In the book, Scripture Keys for Kingdom Living, June Davis records numerous testimonies of people who received deliverance and help for their problems by speaking scriptures that pertained to their situation. One lady had severed nerves as a result of surgery and could no longer control her bowels.   The doctor told her there was nothing they could do to alleviate this problem. After being prayed for and anointed with oil by Ms. Davis, the lady was given scriptures to speak out, 4 times a day, three times for each verse. Four days later, she reported “that there were no more signs of her condition.”

As a child of God, you have access to thousands of promises listed in the Word of God for your benefit. There are promises of healing and divine health, promises for provision, prosperity, protection and the list goes on and on.

However, you will not automatically experience these promises just because you want them or because you are born again, or because you are a good Christian.

Most Christians live and die, and never experience anything other than a small sliver of what’ s available to them. Usually it’s because of wrong teaching by people they respect, people such as their parents, or a relative they believe is spiritual or even their pastor.

Wrong teaching can have dire and even deadly consequences, if we choose to believe it rather than what God’s Word actually says. For example, if you are diagnosed with a terminal disease and the spiritual leaders you respect are telling you it’s God’s will for you to “bear” this disease, how can you have faith to overcome it?

Many wrongly believe that if God wants them to have something, He’ll just give it to them with no effort on their part. “We’ll trust God to give us what we need,” they say. By the same token, they believe that if anything bad happens to them, it’s God’s will.  John 10:10 lets us know that it’s the devil who comes to kill, steal and destroy but Jesus came to give us an abundant life. Click here for part two in this series, Using Scriptures to Change Your Life.

The Using Scriptures to Change Your Life Series has now been turned into a free e-book, download by clicking on the following link: Using Confessions to Change Your Life

 

Healing Scriptures for Knee Pain: Free Printable

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Are you dealing with knee pain from knee injuries, bursitis, arthritis etc.? In addition to getting the medical help you need, build up your faith and believe God to heal your injury.

Proverbs 4:7 tells us that wisdom is the principle thing which is why I made reference to it in this confession.

This jpg can be downloaded and printed on white cardstock, then carefully cut around the edges. It’s size is about 4 x 6 inches at 200 dpi.

Knees, Pain Confession Preview

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With the stripes of Jesus, every ligament, every tendon and the cartilage in my knees is healed.

God’s Words are life and health to my whole body. Because Jesus bore my pain, my knees are free from pain.

All things (including the joints, ligaments, and tendons in my knees) work together for my good. I walk and move freely without pain or discomfort.

I am not wise in my own eyes; I fear the Lord and it is health to my body (my marrow, my nerves,
my tendons, my muscles) and strength and health to my bones.

Because I have self-discipline and the wisdom of God, I know and do the things that are necessary to keep my knees healthy and free from pain.

Based on: Isaiah 53:5, Proverbs 4:22, Isaiah 53:4, Mark 11:23 Romans 8:28, Proverbs 3:7-8, 2 Timothy 1:7, James 1:5