For verily I say unto you, that whosoever shall say unto this mountain, `Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea,' and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he say shall come to pass, he shall have whatsoever he say [Mark 11:23].
Mercy did not need to experience men herself; her conclusion was that they were all fakes, pretenders, wife beaters and liars. She had seen her elder sister being dumped by a man, leaving the young lady with a baby who never knew his father. She had seen the constant turmoil her eldest sister went through because of a husband who beat her every day for no reason. That was enough.So Mercy told me, “I will never marry in this life. The only good men I know are my brother and my father. The rest are no good.” This she kept on saying.
We were young then. As we grew older, our priorities became different. We no longer wanted to read Enid Blyton books. The M&Bs had aroused something in us. We wanted to experience those things. We began to see that afterall, men can be good (maybe after a fight or two). We decided to try relationships. Mercy told me that she was in the relationship to get all she could from the man, such as access to company data for projects, companionship on weekends and let it not be said that she is a lesbian. She insisted that she will never get married.
Few years later, our classmates started getting married one after the other. Despite her beauty, it became more difficult for Mercy to stay in relationships. All led to nowhere, confirming her beliefs about men. When I saw her 2 years ago, it was still the same story.
I had been on my own journey, but there was something I learnt – we create our world with our words. I learnt to stop confessing negative words. I had learnt that I will have whatever I say [Mark 11:23]. I also learnt that we can ask God to forgive us for every idle word we have said, and by starting afresh we can recreate our world. So I told Mercy it was time for her to take back those words she confessed when she was younger, and start making positive confessions. In a few months time, she will be getting married.
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In this 2009, We Will Speak Right.
We have been made in the image of God [Gen 1:27]. We know that God created the world by speaking, by calling things to be. His words began with, “Let there be…” [Genesis 1:3].
I would liken the impact of the words we speak to ripples. When you drop a stone in water, you see the way the ripples (waves) propagate outward affecting everything around it until a point where the energy fades away. That is how the words we speak are. They affect what is happening around us. The more we speak, the more we change (whether positively or negatively) the things around us.
What are the things that cause us not to speak right?
1. Ignorance: - We do not know the effect our words have or the kind of words we should be saying. In addition to the words we say, speaking the word of God also causes a manifestation of power because the word of God is backed up by the power of God [Hebrews 4:12].
2. Slangs and words we pick from our environment: -This guy is ‘bad’ may come out as a slang to mean something positive but it is indeed saying the guy is bad. Words like ‘this task is killing me’ may seem like a figure of speech but it is saying the task should kill you.
3. Circumstances: -when you are faced with a situation that cripples your faith and hope, you find yourself speaking what it is saying to you. So you have to speak back to the situation. Circumstances and situations are facts. The word of God is the truth.
4. Fears: - Job said “the thing I feared most has come upon me”. When you have fears, you begin to meditate on them, and worry about them, and what you have on the inside of you finds its way out through the words you say (even in your prayers). Such fears begin to manifest. You must replace the spirit of fear with faith, and by speaking the word of God.
Beloved, there is nothing you cannot have in this life. In this 2009, you will speak right. It is not too late to ask God to forgive you for negative words you may have confessed out of ignorance. This is a time to speak positively and call what you desire into realization. You may seem like a mad person when you are calling things that be not as though they were, but the truth is you will be acting as a true child of God [Romans 4:17]. Don’t use words like “if” but rather use words like “when” as you talk about your testimony to come. Your story will be different because we have a God who is indeed a story-changer.
Have a blessed weekend ahead.
For other posts in this series please visit the links below:
1. In This 2009, We Will Pray for Others
2. In This 2009, We Will Worship The Lord
3. In This 2009, We Will Know God for Ourselves
4. In This 2009, We Will Guard Our Hearts
5. In This 2009, We Will Sow Seeds
