I’ve fumbled for the right word numerous times. Perfect words I’ve intended to speak have grown thick on my tongue and fallen out in a heavy jumble of nonsense. I’ve lost my train of thought and halted a rhythmically flowing conversation with my awkward silence. Ink has leaked puny, frail phrases when I’ve wanted so much to be poignant. Trapped in my heart, my feelings have been poorly communicated…or not communicated at all…just because I couldn’t retrieve the words I’ve wanted so much to voice. Then, there were the times when I’ve said too much. I’ve offered advice no one wanted to hear. I’ve climbed on my soap box to share opinions as if they were great treasures for the world. I’ve come uncorked with an unstifled gush of sentences when my brain was yelling for me to shut up and listen. I’ve said all the wrong things at all the wrong times. But where my words have been sorely lacking, God’s Word has never been deficient, nor will it ever be. His Word is exactly on time and fits the situation precisely. What God speaks flows from His thoughts, which are incomprehensibly beyond anything we could imagine. His words communicate wisdom for every issue of life and speak eternal riches into existence. Always profound, they proclaim the heart of God. They don’t over speak. They don’t clump together unproductively. Their utterance is spot-on, declaring truth that is both liberating and exhilarating. His Word is always fitly spoken, a precise utterance for every need and situation. So why do we get so caught up in our own words and leave God’s Word to languish, unfruitful on our lips?
1. We are undisciplined in His Word. If we fail to spend time in God’s Word, we have no Word reservoir. We haven’t tasted its sweetness. We haven’t experienced its love, its comfort, its direction, or its help. Without the exposure to the Word, we don’t even think about applying it to our situations or consider choosing it for our conversations and meditations. The more familiar we are with the Word, the more quickly we will turn to it for answers and use it to govern our lives. When we saturate our minds with the Word, we receive the necessary food for the day and “leftovers” are stored in readiness for times of need. Like other repeated thoughts, the more we think on the Word and the more we listen to what God is saying, the more likely it is that the Word will fill our thoughts and thereby, influence our actions.
2. We are comfortable with our words. Born with a sin nature, we are in opposition to God, and therefore to His Word. Like Israel who served lifeless idols at the expense of severing their connection with the Almighty or like addicts who forfeit a God-experience in order to embrace self-destructive choices, choosing our words over God’s isn’t reasonable. But the draw of the flesh makes sense to the flesh. Flesh loves carnal dependencies. When it comes to speech, we prefer our negative assessments, our reasoning, our thought processes, our opinions. They’re easy to access. We assume transitioning to God’s Word is difficult. And it can be. It requires pausing and rethinking, something our rush-ahead-and-don’t-pay-attention nature doesn’t readily give in to.
3. We can also overcomplicate using God’s Word. I have. The result is laying aside God’s Word and reverting back to hashing problems out with friends or complaining about a matter. While we can never have too much of God’s Word, we can misuse it. We can pray for the wrong things, and we can use the Word in a manner that works against its power and potential in our lives. I’ve overwhelmed myself by trying to memorize many scriptures at once when brain fog made reading the Word almost impossible. To have simply absorbed one passage or to have listened to an audio of Scripture would have been more beneficial to me. I’ve wanted to prevent every bad thing from coming my way, so I’ve scrambled to apply Scripture to every possible negative situation that I might encounter. But Word walls are not built overnight. They are constructed one stone at a time, a consistent application of what God has said. Knowing how powerful God’s Word is in spiritual warfare, I’ve attempted to pray the Word over everything present, past, and future, and subsequently, turned my weapon into a weight. I am learning that the Word is an effective sword to parlay the present adversarial attack. The enemy lunges at me, and I feel pain, experience a hardship, or think fearfully. I swing the sword of the Word, one that is sharpened for warfare against the suffering, the trouble, or the emotional overwhelm. Then, when the forces of darkness are regrouping, I do, too, covering many issues with prayer. Offense is always the best course of action, but it is not accomplished through an abundance of many actions at once. Offense requires strategy, and a strategic word is what God has given to us for protection, defense, and victory.
God’s Word is my weapon. It’s my friend. It is my Source. It is a portion of God Himself, given to me. Why would I let my words have final say when I can tune into His Voice instead?
Tip/Tidbit: Instead of talking about a problem you are facing today, speak God’s promises over it instead.
1. We are undisciplined in His Word. If we fail to spend time in God’s Word, we have no Word reservoir. We haven’t tasted its sweetness. We haven’t experienced its love, its comfort, its direction, or its help. Without the exposure to the Word, we don’t even think about applying it to our situations or consider choosing it for our conversations and meditations. The more familiar we are with the Word, the more quickly we will turn to it for answers and use it to govern our lives. When we saturate our minds with the Word, we receive the necessary food for the day and “leftovers” are stored in readiness for times of need. Like other repeated thoughts, the more we think on the Word and the more we listen to what God is saying, the more likely it is that the Word will fill our thoughts and thereby, influence our actions.
2. We are comfortable with our words. Born with a sin nature, we are in opposition to God, and therefore to His Word. Like Israel who served lifeless idols at the expense of severing their connection with the Almighty or like addicts who forfeit a God-experience in order to embrace self-destructive choices, choosing our words over God’s isn’t reasonable. But the draw of the flesh makes sense to the flesh. Flesh loves carnal dependencies. When it comes to speech, we prefer our negative assessments, our reasoning, our thought processes, our opinions. They’re easy to access. We assume transitioning to God’s Word is difficult. And it can be. It requires pausing and rethinking, something our rush-ahead-and-don’t-pay-attention nature doesn’t readily give in to.
3. We can also overcomplicate using God’s Word. I have. The result is laying aside God’s Word and reverting back to hashing problems out with friends or complaining about a matter. While we can never have too much of God’s Word, we can misuse it. We can pray for the wrong things, and we can use the Word in a manner that works against its power and potential in our lives. I’ve overwhelmed myself by trying to memorize many scriptures at once when brain fog made reading the Word almost impossible. To have simply absorbed one passage or to have listened to an audio of Scripture would have been more beneficial to me. I’ve wanted to prevent every bad thing from coming my way, so I’ve scrambled to apply Scripture to every possible negative situation that I might encounter. But Word walls are not built overnight. They are constructed one stone at a time, a consistent application of what God has said. Knowing how powerful God’s Word is in spiritual warfare, I’ve attempted to pray the Word over everything present, past, and future, and subsequently, turned my weapon into a weight. I am learning that the Word is an effective sword to parlay the present adversarial attack. The enemy lunges at me, and I feel pain, experience a hardship, or think fearfully. I swing the sword of the Word, one that is sharpened for warfare against the suffering, the trouble, or the emotional overwhelm. Then, when the forces of darkness are regrouping, I do, too, covering many issues with prayer. Offense is always the best course of action, but it is not accomplished through an abundance of many actions at once. Offense requires strategy, and a strategic word is what God has given to us for protection, defense, and victory.
God’s Word is my weapon. It’s my friend. It is my Source. It is a portion of God Himself, given to me. Why would I let my words have final say when I can tune into His Voice instead?
Tip/Tidbit: Instead of talking about a problem you are facing today, speak God’s promises over it instead.
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