Jentezen Franklin - Change Your Words, Change Your Life
I want you to look with me in Isaiah 57:18. "I've seen his ways, and will heal him; I will also lead him, and restore comforts to him and to his mourners". Isaiah 57:19. "'I," God speaking: "create the fruit of your lips: Peace, peace to him who is far off and to him who is near,' says the Lord, 'I will heal him.'" God said, "I create," the word create means to form, fashion, and mold, like a potter. I listened to what you say, I create, form, and fashion, the fruit of your lips. How do you get God to work in your life? How do you activate God's miracle power?
God said, "I have linked My creative, miraculous power inseparably to the words that you speak into your life". I create whatever you keep speaking. I create, I form, I fashion, I mold what you constantly, consistently, pray for, confess, and praise for. Whatever you dare to utter, the word fruit means utterance. I create the utterance of your lips. What you speak, when you speak it, and if you keep holding to that confession, there's a verse in the Bible, it says, "Hold fast to your confession". Hold fast to it. Man has the power to speak, to talk, to confess. Man is God's only creation that He made that can talk. Just like God. He spoke the world into existence. There's no other creation, the animals can't talk.
You say, "A parrot can". It can repeat words, it cannot believe in its heart and speak with its mouth. I'm not just talking about saying whatever you want, but when you find something in the scripture, and you believe it in your heart, and then you begin to speak it, no matter what you see, I believe this book and what it says, greater, "Let God be true and every man a liar," the Bible said. And man is the only creation that God made that has the power to talk, to speak.
God took speech away from the serpent in the Book of Genesis. When Satan came in, and he borrowed the body of a serpent, back then, apparently, serpents could walk, and they could talk. I'm not teaching something weird, please, look at your Bible. The serpent said to Eve. It could talk. And when God cursed it, He de-feeted it, He took the legs off, and it crawled on its belly, and then He took the power to speak away from that devil. If a demon's gonna talk, he's gonna talk through somebody now. They have no legal right to say anything, except in your mind through suggestions, and you don't have to listen to it. And God took speech away from that serpent, but He has not taken speech away from man.
You are now a composite of everything you've been saying. Change your words, and you'll begin to change your life. If you wanna become something different, change what you are confessing. Change what you are saying. God said, "I gave you two ears, and I gave you two eyes, but I only gave you one mouth". He wants you to listen twice as much as you talk, and He wants you to watch and see more than you talk. Aren't you thankful God didn't give your husband or wife two mouths, like He gave 'em two ears and two eyes? Aren't you glad God didn't give you two mouths? Haven't you had enough trouble out of the one mouth that God gave you?
Words change the atmosphere of your life. Hebrews 13:5, this is what changed my life, when I saw in Isaiah 57:19: "I create," God said, "I create the fruit of your lips," and then Hebrews 13:5 says this: "Therefore, by Him," watch this word: "let us continually," it's not that you just talk positive one day 'cause you heard a sermon. It's not 'cause you talk right, but continually, let us: "offer the sacrifice of praise to God, which is the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name".
That verse changed my life, before I ever started pastoring Free Chapel, I learned the secret. Just as a young evangelist, I learned that the fruit of my lips that God forms and fashions and creates in my future are the words that I praise Him with, that the fruit of my lips, the praise is the fruit of my lips, and if I will continually pray, which is talk, speak, to God and turn to God and praise Him for what He's doing, that that's what He creates and forms and fashions.
God, I praise You that my steps are ordered. That's right out of the Bible. I praise You that You're leading me and guiding me, and the steps of a righteous man are ordered of the Lord. God, I praise You that I know that my God shall supply all my needs, according to His riches and glory, and You're setting up resources for me the rest of the year. You're gonna have surprises down the road. I thank You that I'm favored. I thank You that I'm blessed. I praise You, God, that I know that He that has begun a good work in me and in my family, we may be going through a rough time, but He will perfect that which concerns me. And so, Father, I pray...
now, see, what am I doing? That's how you pray. You don't just sit back and let life hit you and hit you and hit you, and you sit there with lockjaw. He said, "I create, I form, I fashion the fruit of your lips". And then, He told you in the New Testament, in Hebrews, that the fruit of your lips is the continual praise you offer God. It's life or death, what you speak. What you confess. Continually. It's life or death. Proverbs 18 said that your words, that death and life are in the power of the tongue, and you will eat its fruit. There it is again. This is something you've got to get ahold of. Mark 11, says Jesus said, "Speak to the mountain," Jesus said, "Talk to the mountain," Jesus said, "For surely, I say unto you that whosoever shall say unto this mountain, 'Be thou removed and cast into the sea'", what did He say? "Say to the mountain". Talk to the mountain.
Your mountain knows your voice. Talk to the mountain. Whosoever shall say to this mountain, "Be thou removed, cast into the sea," shall not doubt in his heart but believe that the things which he saith shall come to pass, he shall have whatsoever things he saith. What are you saying about that teenager? What are you saying about that marriage? What are you saying about the economy and your business, and we're probably gonna lose everything. What are you saying? Speak to the mountains, and say the word of God to the mountains, and believe it in your heart, because you serve a God of miracles. I'm tired of singing songs we don't believe. We serve a miracle, mountain-moving God, and you either believe it or you don't. He can move the mountain of cancer. He can move the mountain of COVID. He can move the mountain of financial disaster. He can move the mountain of addiction, but you've gotta open your mouth and begin to give God words, because He's a word God, and He works with words.
Joel said, "Let the weak say, 'I am strong.'" Say it right now. Let the weak say, "I am strong". Say it again, now, you know what? You just threw seeds out there. I'm going through hell. I am strong. I'm not quitting, I'm not falling, I'm not failing. I'm not going back to alcoholism. I'm not going back, I am strong. Now, when you start saying that, God forms a new you in the future. My marriage is strong. My children are strong. My faith is strong. My home is strong. I don't care what I'm feeling, what I'm sensing, what my emotions are screaming. I believe this report, whose report will you believe? Hallelujah. I'm preaching to myself now. I feel the anointing right now, I do. I'm tired of just, you know, taking whatever hell wants to send. Let's send it back. Return to sender.
Glory to God, everybody, get some fruit of your lips, and praise God for victory. O, victory in Jesus, my Savior forever. He sought me and He bought me with His redeeming blood. He knew me, and I loved Him, and all my love is due Him. He plunged me to Calvary, beneath the cleansing flood. I love Him, I got victory in Jesus. When you understand the power of your words, the power of fasting negative, faithless words, it can change your life. Three quick examples in the New Testament of people who got miracles, because of what they said. The woman with the issue of blood. She was sick, she had used all of her money going to doctors, and they could not help her. And then, she said within herself, she had to say something. If I can but touch the hem of His garment, I will be made whole. But the miracle didn't start until she started saying it, and when she said it, God said, "I was waiting on that. I'll form it, I'll fashion it, I'll stop Jesus," and hundreds of people are touching Him, but only one of them said, "If I can but touch the hem of His garment, I'll be made whole".
David and Goliath, Old Testament. And a lot of times, we read right over the story, and we don't see the amazing lesson there is there about Goliath. Your Bible said that for 40 days and 40 nights, first thing in the morning, Goliath put on his armor, walked out onto the battlefield, and talked trash, humiliated the Hebrew God, humiliated the Hebrew people, and talked trash. The first thing they heard in their tents, as the sun came up, was the voice of negative words, curses, and defilement of their God, coming out of Goliath. And then, the Bible said, as the sun was setting, he had put his armor on, Goliath, and walked right back out, you know, the devil's pretty smart. He said, "I'm gonna get the first thought in them's gonna be negative, and the last thought, before they go to bed, so I can make 'em toss and turn all night long. It's gonna be the words that I have, the negative words from my Goliath".
And little David shows up, thing about David is he was a worshiper. And in Ephesians 5, the Bible said, speaking to yourselves in hymns and psalms and spiritual songs, singing, making melody in your heart, and to the Lord, and so, when you're a praiser, you better not mess with a praiser. And the guy just shows up, and he hears this giant out there, talking trash, morning, night, morning night, and he can't take it anymore, and he asks a pretty important question, he said, "Who is this uncircumcised Philistine"? See, we think, that is funny to us, but understand, circumcision was the mark of the covenant. God told Abraham, "Circumcise all the male children on the eighth day of their life, signifying that I have a covenant with them, that I fight their battles, that I'm their Provider, that I am their Source".
What David was saying, you know, it's a biblical way to curse people out, is what I tell, if you really get ticked off at somebody, say, "You uncircumcised Philistine, you". But the power of David is what he was really saying was, when I was only eight days old, and I received the mark of the covenant, I want you to know that I had more power than that Goliath that's standing out there, talking trash, 'cause all of heaven's angels stand behind the covenant of blood, and the mark of the covenant. And then, he starts saying, "And the same God that helped me kill the bear and the lion," notice his confession, he said, "He will deliver you into my hand". And he ran out, and he defeated the Goliath. But not without the power of confession. What are you confessing?
The last example is the Syrophoenician woman, meaning she was Gentile, she was not Hebrew. She was not Jewish, she had no right to the blessing. And Jesus even said to her, when she said, "Please, Master. My daughter is demon-possessed". If you think that Satan is not targeting our young people with demonic spirits, demonic activity, demonic oppression, depression, suicidal thoughts, addictions, alcoholism, drug addiction, eating disorders, all these things are targeting young sons and young daughters. Sexual immorality, any and every way Satan can destroy self-esteem and hate yourself, and this woman said, "I cannot get my daughter free, she is grievously vexed with an unclean spirit," and Jesus said, "It's not right for Me to give the children's bread to dogs". She said, everybody say, "She said". "But even the dogs get the crumbs, Master". And Jesus made a phenomenal statement, He said, "Great is this woman's faith," watch, and He said, "Because of this saying, go your way, woman".
That daughter that's just about driven you to your wit's end, that's made you think, oh, God, will she ever get free? Will she ever get straight? Will she ever get sober? Will she ever get deliverance? Will she ever get on the path of life? Will it ever happen? Because of what you've said, woman, go your way. The demon has gone out of your daughter. I've broken demonic oppression, possession, and attack over your house.
Oh, I wanna tell you, you can walk in that bedroom, and you can open your mouth, and you can plead the blood of Jesus, and devils have to go. I feel like somebody needs to agree with me on that, we're not a bunch of victims. I refuse to preach until somebody really praises Him. I will not go another step further. Ooh. Ooh. Somebody ought to march around your house seven times, and say, "Devil, you are leaving the premises". Somebody ought to go home and just, I don't care what your neighbor thinks, I don't care what anybody thinks. Open your mouth and say, "This house is a house of blessing". This house is a house that has the blood on the doorposts. This house is an anointed house, and God's presence will live in that house. Hallelujah.
Take another praise break, I just don't feel like we should shut up right now. I just don't feel like... at every campus. You need to lift up a roar of praise right now. Not for me, for Him. It's the fruit of your lips that He forms. If you don't praise Him for nothing, He forms nothing. No change will come in your life if you just sit there. None. Well, why does God bless them and not me? What is coming out of your mouth? Hallelujah. There are three voices that talk to you. The voice from the pit, says words like disease, you're dying, give up, probably cancer, is cancer, is fatal. Trouble. Just thunders, hell just thunders all the time. And then, there's the voice of God, which is His word. Healing. Health. He's speaking peace. He's speaking joy. He's speaking forgiveness. There's a big one. He's speaking acceptance, just like I am. He loves me. He's speaking salvation. He's speaking success. And then, there's the third voice, who is that? You. Your voice.
Malachi 2:17, God said: "I am weary with your words". He said, "I'm weary with your words". I wonder if the long epidemic is God weary of our words. My steps are ordered of the Lord. I think about, in 2 Kings 4, that widowed woman, when her son died, the Bible said she was going to get to the prophet to tell him to come pray for her son, and Gehazi, the servant, came, and he asked her three questions. He said, "Is it well with you"? Notice her statement of faith. She said, "It is well". Everybody say that, "It is well". Then, the prophet said to her, "Is it well with your husband"? She said, "It is well". He said, "Is it well with your son"? And that's where all of us would've broke down. He died. But watch this powerful statement. "It is well". It is well. That's what you say when you're going through loss, when you go through tragedy, when you lose somebody to COVID, when tears are streaming. You look up with a spirit of be grateful, and say, "It is well".
Nothing can separate us from the love of God. It is well. Whatever comes, I'm not worried about the Antichrist, I'm not worried about 666, I'm not worried about Washington, I'm not worried about nothing. It is well. When the trumpet sounds... You ever seen a magnet? You know, you can put it over some things, and if it doesn't have the nature of that magnet, some things will lay there, but if it's got the same thing as the big magnet has in it... One of these days, the same Spirit that raised Christ, I don't know where in the world this is coming from, but one day, the same Spirit, if you've got His Spirit in you, there's gonna be a blast of a trumpet, and all of a sudden, you know who's going up? You know who's gonna feel it? You know who's gonna say, "Uh-oh, I'm going up". It's gonna be those who have Christ in us, the hope of glory. Is He in you? Then it is well. It is well. It is well.