Keep a Watch on Your Words

When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, Do you want to be made well? The sick man answered Him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me.” -John 5:6,7

The Living Bible puts it this way: “When Jesus saw him and knew how long he had been ill, he asked him, ‘Would you like to get well?”

“I can’t,’ the sick man said…”

Just as we can locate this man’s faith by his words, “I can’t,” we can locate our faith by our words. You see, many of us have been taught a great deal about faith and confession (or saying what the Word says) and can “talk a good talk.” But when no one is listening and the pressure is on, we need to pay attention to what comes out of our mouths. We don’t need to be “confession monitors” for other people; we can stay busy just checking up on ourselves!

When many of us first heard the teaching, “You can have what you say,” we were dangerous. We’d say, “Don’t say that!” to people who had no idea what we were talking about. Hopefully we’ve learned better by now. But we still need to locate ourselves with our words. It’s easy to keep a good confession when things are going well. But when pressure comes and no one is listening, we may discover some adjustments we need to make!

When you get into a tight spot while standing in faith for something, you may say words of doubt and unbelief. Don’t let that put you under condemnation. Don’t say, “Oh, dear God, I thought I was in faith, but now I’ve completely blown it by spewing out all kinds of unbelief!” No, all isn’t lost. Just make the adjustment, and feed on the Word for a while. Get full of the Word, for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matt. 12:34)!

CONFESSION:

The words I speak control the circumstances of my life. God's Word in me drives out sickness and disease. I can have what I say, and I say I’m healed!

From: A Devotional for Divine Health Prescription for a Miracle, Mark Brazee, 1999