“Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.” (Proverbs 18:21 NKJV)
When dealing with a stronghold in our mind, or an addiction, or a bondage, it is important not to continue to speak defeat. We must realize how much our words have power. Like Proverbs 18:21 says, we must be satisfied to reap according to what we speak—we will eat our words, whether for good or for evil. Let us therefore choose to speak faith and life regardless of how we feel presently. Let us speak faith and trust that our feelings will eventually catch-up.
Once we made our mind up that with God’s help, we want to be free, we must begin to speak life over ourselves, over our situation, over our life and over our future. Faith is in our mouth, “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart.” (See Romans 10:8-10 NKJV). Making Scriptural declarations out loud is a powerful tool. Just a few months ago, I experienced a setback. One of the powerful tools the Lord used to help me back on my feet was faith-filled declarations. Standing on the promises of God’s Word, I began to speak out loud and with conviction the things that aligned with God’s Word which I wanted to see manifested in my life; in my relationship with God, in my future, about who I have chosen to be as in Him; about who I am in Christ. Before I stated Scriptural truths and made biblical confessions out loud, I wrestled to see my thoughts and feelings align with my decision to live a life of freedom in the area I was battling with. I struggled to align my thoughts and feelings with what I wanted and believed which were supported by God’s Word. Once I started to confess out loud Scriptural promises and applied them personally to me, and as I sought to speak of those things that were not manifested yet in my thoughts and feelings as though they were, it brought a quick turnaround and peace returned astonishingly fast.
“God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did.” (Romans 4:17b NKJV)
While I spoke out loud what I wanted to see manifested in my life, I purposely aligned and re-aligned my emotions and thoughts with the truth of God’s Word associated with the declarations that I made. I ensured to set aside some time daily to make confessions on purpose. True, it requires a little time and effort on our part, but I can testify that it is truly empowering and fruitful.
What we believe in our heart becomes our reality. So we want to guard our heart with all diligence, “Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.” (Proverbs 4:23 NKJV) We can choose what we believe by His grace. We can decide on the life we want that aligns with His will for us by His grace. Isn’t this glorious news! The devil has no right to force us to a lifestyle if we don’t want it. If we desire to be loyal to God and live a life of surrender, let us persevere in speaking as one who is submitted to God in love. Let us speak what we want to see happen in our lives from the perspective that it is already happening; it is already ours, already manifested in our lives based on the promises of God’s Word. Let us have “faith sessions”, building our faith up in these areas by the things we say. This will help bring healing to our belief system, our will, our mind and our emotions, and it will help protect our heart from lies. Let us also ask the Lord to reveal any lies we believe and to ask Him to show us the Scriptural truths we need to replace those lies. Let us ask Him to remove any and every hindrances or distorted views of Him or of ourselves. As we are patient and cooperate with Him on the journey, little by little, our mind will be renewed. Let us prophesy God’s Word over our circumstances.
I encourage you to make faith-filled declarations about yourself, about your life and your future, standing on the promises you find in God’s Word concerning such declarations. It may feel weird at first, but keep doing it, you will get used to it. Do this regularly, a few times a week or more and I believe you will begin to see changes over your situation.
If you have an addiction, begin to speak out loud standing on God’s promises to you that “he whom the Son sets free is free indeed” (see John 8:36). You have self-control (see Galatians 5:23). You are led by the Spirit of God, therefore you do not fulfill the lust of the flesh (see Galatians 5:16).
Say, for example:
· I enjoy such peace and freedom in the Holy Spirit!
· I quit doing “mention the addiction” a long time ago. It’s like I can barely remember that person anymore.
· It’s amazing how I have no desire for “mention the addiction” anymore.
· I hate this thing “the addiction”, actually. I have grown to hate it and to love freedom more than it “the addiction”.
· I am now helping others coming out of this struggle I once had.
· Etc…
· We can ask the Lord to lead us as to what kind of faith-filled declarations will help us.
Speak these things while you are indulging in the addiction. Speak these things while on your way to doing the addictive behavior. Speak these things after you did it. Speak these things in between. Speak faith-filled declarations that align with the life you know God wants for you and that you accordingly want to experience, “and let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.” (Galatians 6:9 NKJV)