Speak What You Believe, Not What You Feel
Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (NKJV)
Negative emotions are real. We feel what we feel. We can feel anxious or depressed. We can feel hopeless or confused. Living the victorious Christian life is not about denying our feelings. It is about taking captive what is not of Christ and making it obedient to Him. Because while our feelings can be fleeting, God never changes. His Word stands true through all times and all situations. Ultimately, what we believe as Christians must be bigger than what we feel. God must be bigger in our lives than our emotions. Because while our feelings may betray us, God never will.
The power of life and death reside in the tongue. We give power to what we speak. The world teaches the importance of "letting it out" but the reality is that we do not let it out at all we merely reinforce it. We seek out friends or professional counselors to further the reinforcement. We seek out teachers or even clergy to further the reinforcement. God understands your feelings but He is asking that you look past that and ask yourself what do you believe? When you wake up in the morning and your feelings do not match your beliefs, which do you speak? To which, do you give power to?
The Prophet Jeremiah was called by God, just as we are. Jeremiah must have felt unsure, skeptical, and probably frightened at the prospect of having to speak on God's behalf. He told God he was too young for the task. Here was the response from the Lord:
The L ord replied, "Don't say, 'I'm too young,' for you must go wherever I send you and say whatever I tell you. Jeremiah 1: 7 (NLT)
God corrects Jeremiah for speaking his feelings over his faith. Our words matter. They determine how we approach the work God has called us to. Words of defeat will lead to defeat. How does God counteract this?
And don't be afraid of the people, for I will be with you and will protect you. I, the L ord , have spoken!" Then the L ord reached out and touched my mouth and said, "Look, I have put my words in your mouth! Jeremiah 1: 8-9 (NLT)
Forget what your emotions say to you! The Lord has spoken! His words have been put into our mouths. Yet we do not speak that. We speak death instead of life. We can go around the same mountain of our feelings forever. We can circle the mountain time and again. Maybe it started as a small hill in our lives. Something we just couldn't see past. The more we spoke to the feelings attached to that hill the larger it became in our lives. Soon it is a small mountain, than a larger one. Soon it seems insurmountable. We just keep going around and around, waiting for God to remove it. Here is what Jesus said:
I tell you the truth, you can say to this mountain, 'May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,' and it will happen. But you must really believe it will happen and have no doubt in your heart. - Mark 11:23 (NLT)
Jesus did not say HE would throw your mountain into the sea. He said YOU must speak to the mountain. Your faith is what moves the mountains because you believe in His power. He did not say to speak about the mountain. Assess how big it is and how it makes you feel. Take what you know and what you believe and SAY to the mountain be thou removed!
As Christians we are in covenant with God Himself! I attended a sermon this past week where the speaker reminded us that we are in fact under contract with God. We have a contractual relationship with Him that is binding. David understood this contract when he addressed the problem Israel was facing with Goliath.
David asked the men standing near him, "What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel? Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?" 1Samuel 17: 26
What David is saying here is that he understands that he is under contract with God! His covenant affords him protection and deliverance. His reference to Goliath as an uncircumcised Philistine is a reminder that Goliath had no such contract (circumcision was the outward sign of the contract between God and Israel).
The mighty men of Israel were all cowering in fear. They allowed their feelings to be bigger than what they knew and believed. Goliath had become bigger than God to them. What David believed however was bigger than the giant standing in his way who he knew had no contract with God. The giants we face in our lives must also appear to be too big. We lend them power by what we speak into them. Even King Saul spoke death into the notion that David could face Goliath:
Saul replied, "You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a boy, and he has been a fighting man from his youth." 1Samuel 17: 33
