Joyce Meyer - Six Things To Say On Purpose (08/19/2019)
This message focuses on mouth control by emphasizing six positive uses of our words: blessing everything possible, being thankful and saying so, encouraging and building up others, speaking truth, declaring God's Word, and not talking too much. Concentrating on these overcomes negative speech, brings quicker answers to prayer, keeps us filled with the Spirit, increases joy, closes doors to Satan, and releases blessing and healing—culminating in a powerful benediction from Numbers 6 over the hearers.
Focusing on Positive Mouth Uses
We've been talking about mouth control, and... I'm going to lay a little foundation here against some new things that I don't think I've shared before. And then I spent a couple of sessions going through six things that we should not do with our mouth. And we talked about judgment, criticism, complaining, being negative, boasting, you know, a lot of different things like that that I felt were really important. Now, today we want to go through six things that you should do with your mouth. Because to be honest, I would rather you concentrate on what you should do than what you should not do. I really think a lot of times we defeat ourselves because we keep our mind on the wrong stuff we're doing, and we're struggling trying not to do it rather than concentrating on doing it.
For example, if I concentrate on being a blessing to other people, encouraging other people, giving to other people, then that automatically shuts selfishness out of my life. So rather than getting up every day and trying really hard not to be selfish, I've learned to just concentrate on the good because we overcome evil with good. And not only that, I think it's just better for us all the way around if we're concentrating on the positive things we should do rather than the wrong things we should not do. I think it's almost self-defeating to just go around all the time thinking, I better not do that, I better not do this, I can't do that. But I've got to be careful about that, I've got to be careful about that. It's just so much more uplifting to just concentrate on what you should be doing.
Mouth control is very beneficial to you. Everything that I've tried to teach you this weekend is something that will help you in your life, help you have a better life, and help you have more power in your everyday life if you will do it. We all want to know what the benefit is, and so here's some of the benefits. If you're using your mouth for what you should be using it for rather than what you should not be using it for, you are going to have much quicker and more amazing answers to prayer. Isaiah 58 is the scripture I use to back that up, verse 9.
Benefits: Filled with the Spirit and Joy
You are going to be filled with the Spirit. Just because you have one visitation from God or one time in your life where you pray to be filled with the Spirit and you feel like God really touches you, that doesn't mean that lasts you forever. As individuals, we're kind of leaky, so, you know, we can leak stuff out pretty fast, and we need to be, according to Ephesians 5, we need to be ever filled with the Spirit. And in Ephesians 5, verse 18, it says, be ever filled with the Spirit, speaking to yourself with psalms and hymns, making melody in your heart, singing spiritual psalms. Another translation says, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns, so, you know, I just say, well, let's just do both.
So, it's kind of interesting to me that after saying, be ever filled with the Spirit, the one thing He talks about is how we talk. I find that interesting. So, if you want to be ever filled with the Spirit, be sure you're talking to yourself right, be sure you're talking to other people right. And by the way, although I didn't take an extensive amount of time to teach on this, which is unusual for me, because I think this is such an important area, I don't want to fail to mention that the way you talk to yourself about yourself, the words that come out of your mouth about yourself is some of the most important words that you need to pay attention to.
You need to be saying about yourself what God is saying about you. And all across the world, people who have not learned to discipline their mouth just say some of the most awful things about themselves. I can't do anything right. Nothing good ever works out for me. Every time I get a little bit of money, something happens, and I lose it. Nobody loves me. Everybody rejects me. You have to stop saying things like that because you cannot rise above your own confession.
Self-Talk and Confession Power
Listen, the Bible says in Hebrews, now I want you to get this, Jesus is the high priest of our confession. Wow. That means He can only do what we're saying. The word confession means to say the same thing as. We need to be saying the same thing that God says, which is learning the word and speaking the word, not speaking out of our feelings, not speaking what other people have said, not speaking out of our own carnal mind, not speaking according to our circumstances. But we need to learn to speak the word of God because Jesus said, my words are life and they are spirit.
How many of you have a behavior that's a wrong behavior that you really want to see change? All right, then stop calling things that are as if they're always going to be that way. Stop saying, oh, I have a problem with this. This is my hang up. I'm in such bondage to this. Boy, this is a problem for me. I got a problem with this. I'm really hung up with this. What you need to do is start calling those things that be not as though they are as long as you find it in the word of God.
You know, if you have an eating disorder, don't go around 50 times a day saying, I've got an eating disorder. If you're addicted to sugar, don't go around saying, man, if I eat one cookie, I got to eat 12. You know, I'm out of control when it comes to sugar. No, stop talking. How many of you understand where I'm at? Stop talking like that. And what you say when you're by yourself and your self-talk, the talk that you talk to yourself, which is more than any other kind of talk that you do. I don't even know how to tell you how important that is. So if you want to be filled with the Spirit, you've got to speak to yourself the right way.
You've got to learn how to meditate on the word. That's one of the benefits of mouth control is being filled with the Spirit. Your joy, my goodness, your joy will increase when you begin to use your mouth for what you should use it for. Some of you are depressing yourself with your own conversation. You don't need any help from the devil. You don't need anybody else to come along and discourage you. You are an expert at depressing yourself.
Life and Death in the Tongue
Proverbs 18, the power of life and death is in the tongue. It also says right before that, and also in those Scriptures, verse 20, 21, that we eat our own words. With the words of our mouth, we must be satisfied, rather for good or evil. So I'm going to say it again. You can depress yourself. You can discourage yourself. Or you can encourage yourself. You can cheer yourself up. Aren't you happy to know that you've got some control over how you feel? You don't have to just get up and say, well, I feel depressed. I guess I'll be depressed all day.
You know, you wake up in the morning sometimes, and maybe you don't feel just quite right. Everything's still trying to get going in the right direction. And man, we get started. Oh man, I feel so bad. Boy, I just feel so bad. No, I feel depressed. I feel discouraged. Well, you know, what would happen if you got up and said, the joy of the Lord is my strength. And I'm not going to spend the day depressed. I'm going to think on things that will benefit me. I'm going to talk about, come on, fight for your life. Don't give the devil one more day of your life. Do warfare with the words of your mouth.
What I say to you may be important, but what you say to you is a lot more important than what anybody else says to you. What are you saying to you? Some of you are getting a revelation. Well, it's no wonder I'm in a bad mood, you think. How many of you get what I'm talking about here? It closes the door to Satan when you use mouth control and you make sure that you're speaking things that God can use. It slams the door in the devil's face, especially when it comes to, like, refusing to complain, murmur, grumble, find fault.
I believe you can be healed physically through speaking right things. The Bible says that there's healing power in the words of our mouth. Once again, Isaiah 58 talks about that. So there's a lot of benefits to saying the right thing.
Spiritual Maturity Through Speech
Now, let's take a little spiritual maturity test. How many of you would like to do that for just a minute? Doesn't matter if you'd like to or not, we're going to. First Corinthians chapter 3, verse 1. All you have to do is listen to a person and you can tell how spiritual they are. Spirituality is not determined by how much of your Bible is underlined or how much Christian jewelry you have or how many bumper stickers are on your car or how many times a week you go to church. That does not tell us one thing about the spiritual level of another person.
I think to really get to know people, you have to see them in all kinds of situations. Watch people in trials. Watch people when they don't get what they want. First Corinthians 3, verse 1. The great apostle Paul talking to the Corinthian church. The ones who'd been filled with the Holy Ghost and operated in the spiritual gifts. However, brethren, I was not able to talk to you as to spiritual men, but as to non-spiritual men of the flesh in whom the carnal nature predominates. I had to talk to you like mere infants in the new life in Christ, unable to talk yet.
Now, I found that very interesting. You're not going to see that anywhere but in the Amplified Bible, but he goes on to say, I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not strong enough to be ready for it. And even yet, now you're not strong enough to be ready for it. Because you're still unspiritual. You have the nature of the flesh. And he's getting ready to tell you how he knows they're unspiritual. It's because of listening to the way they talk.
He said, you are children in your walk with God. You have not yet learned how to talk right. You're unable to talk right. And then he says, here's how I know you're unspiritual. Because you live under the control of ordinary impulses. In other words, they were acting and speaking out of their fleshly emotions, out of their own mind. For as long as there is envy and jealousy and wranglings and factions which is strife among you, are you not unspiritual and of the flesh, behaving yourselves after a human standard and like mere unchanged men?
Words Reveal the Heart
Listen to yourself and you can locate yourself. Stop saying, oh, I didn't mean it. I was only joking. I was only kidding. Start being accountable for your words and realize if they came out of your mouth, they had to be in your heart long enough to form some kind of something in there that brought you to the point where you began to speak that out of your mouth. You can hear bitterness coming out of your mouth. You can hear jealousy coming out of your mouth. When you hear that other people have been blessed, are you able to sincerely be really happy for them?
Pay attention to how you feel and what you say when you hear about other people's blessings. What comes out of your mouth reveals the real person that you are. You can hear faith or fear come out of your mouth. You can hear humility or pride. Love or selfishness. Greed or thanksgiving. Jealousy. You can really get to know yourself and you can get to know other people.
One of the things that you want to do before you get into close fellowship with somebody is listen to what they are saying. Don't hang out with negative people. Now, I'm not saying never have anything to do with them because your testimony and witness of stability may help them. But you need to be careful who you let into your inner circle and who you have close fellowship with, who you really open up your heart to. Don't hang out with selfish, greedy people. Don't hang out with compromisers who have one foot so-called in the world and one in the kingdom.
I don't really think that's possible, but we know that that describes a compromising Christian, a carnal Christian. You know, not every Christian is a spiritual Christian. A lot of Christians are carnal Christians. Out of the heart, the mouth speaks. Every time you open your mouth, your thoughts parade up and down the words that you speak. Pretty scary, huh?
Six Positive Uses: Blessing Everything
All right, six things that you should do with your mouth. And if you stay busy doing these things, then you won't be doing the things that you shouldn't be doing. Number one, and I don't know if you know that you have the power to do this or not, but boy, this can really shake things up in your life and add a dimension of power that maybe you've never had. You need to stay busy blessing everything that you can possibly bless. You have the power to bless and the power to curse by the words of your mouth.
Numbers chapter six. Since I've been studying this and getting even a greater revelation, one of the first things I say when I get up now is, God, I bless this day in Jesus' name. I bless my husband. I bless my children. I bless my grandchildren. I bless my son-in-laws and daughter-in-laws. I bless myself in Jesus' name. I'm going to live under the blessings. I'm blessed when I go in. I'm blessed when I go out. Hey, you're going to be saying something. It might as well be something that's going to add to your life. Why keep saying stuff that's subtracting from your life? Stop opening doors for the devil to steal everything that Jesus died to give you. Zip your lip.
I want everybody to see this. And the Lord said to Moses, Say to Aaron and his sons, This is the way you shall bless the Israelites. Say to them. The Lord bless you and watch, guard, and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you, enlighten you, be gracious, kind, merciful to you, and give you favor. The Lord lift up his approving countenance upon you and give you peace. And they shall put my name upon the Israelites, and I will bless them, says the Lord.
Receiving and Declaring Blessings
The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord watch over you, give you favor, make his face shine upon you. What an awesome thing to have spoken over your life. And yet I didn't understand the power of words. I didn't even begin to understand what he was doing, and I doubt that he did either. It was probably just something that they learned in pastoring school that you should close every service with. And obviously, the words have to have faith behind them.
And that's why it's important for me to explain to you that I'm going to pray this blessing over you, and I want you to make your mind up now that when I do, you're going to receive it by faith. And you're going to believe it's going to be a turning point in your life. Because I believe that we have the power to take authority over all curses that have been released because of wrong things that have been spoken to you and about you. The Bible says in James 3.10, My brethren, my brethren, out of the same mouth come forth blessing and cursing. These things ought not to be so. We've got to get rid of the mixture.
Don't curse the day that God has given you by saying something negative about it. Bless the day. Get up in the morning and say, I bless this day in Jesus' name. This day is going to be a blessing. I'm blessed when I go in. I'm blessed when I go out. I'd like us to look at Deuteronomy chapter 28. Many of the things in this chapter, you need to have read them enough that they're committed to memory. And I would like to challenge you every day of your life to speak these things over your life.
Remember, you have more authority in your life than anybody else does. Do you know that? I don't care what anybody says to you negatively, you can overturn what they say by speaking positively because you have more power over your life than anybody else does. When I was growing up, my father said so many negative things to me. And I was living under the curse of that until I learned how to speak the Word of God faithfully myself out of my own mouth. And when I did that, that overturned the negative confession that other people were trying to make. Can anybody say amen?
Thankfulness and Saying So
Deuteronomy 28. If you will listen diligently to the voice of the Lord your God, being watchful to do all of His commandments, which I command you this day, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth, and all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you if you heed the voice of the Lord your God. Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the field. Blessed shall you be in the fruit of your body. Your beast shall be blessed. I declare that my dog is blessed. My children are the fruit of my body. I declare that they are blessed. My children are blessed. I'm blessed in my grocery basket. And I don't cook, but if I was, it would be blessed.
Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out. Come on, can I get your mouth into the service of God? When I go out my door today, I'm blessed. I'm blessed at the grocery store. I'm blessed at the market. I'm blessed at work. I'm blessed on the highway. Come on, make the devil mad. Start taking some authority over your life. Nobody has more authority over your life than you do. Stop destroying your life with your own words and then come into some preacher expecting them to fix it. It's one thing if you don't know any better, but after the day you cannot claim ignorance.
The Lord shall cause your enemies who rise up against you to be defeated before you. They'll come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways. You don't have to be afraid of the devil. The Lord shall command the blessing upon you in your storehouse. So I say my bank account is blessed. My savings account is blessed. Any investments I have is blessed. The land I live on is blessed. Everything that I undertake is blessed. And then if you go on down here a little bit. Verse 11, the Lord shall make you have a surplus of prosperity through the fruit of your body. I work hard and God blesses my work.
He says some of the same things now. I love this. You ready? Verse 13, and the Lord shall make you the head and not the tail. You'll be above and not beneath. I've been saying these things for years and I think that's part of the reason why I'm where I'm at today. I don't think we realize how much we are hindered from living the future that God has preordained for us because we keep disagreeing with his plan. I bless this day. I'm blessed when I go in. I'm blessed when I go out. My children are blessed. My husband is blessed. My body is blessed. My dog is blessed. My house is blessed. My land is blessed. My job is blessed. Get a revelation, devil. I am blessed.
Okay, second thing, that we really need to be busy with concerning our mouth. And you know, this is not any brand new news, but it's still something that we don't do nearly enough. The Bible says in Psalm 100, verse 4, that we should be thankful and say so. Say so. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, say so, say so. We need to be thankful and say so, say so. So many people say, well, you know, I've got a thankful heart. Well, open your mouth. Tell people that you're thankful for what they do for you. Tell God how thankful you are.
Have a thank session every morning. Take even three to five minutes and just thank God for everything you can think of. Everything from hot water to food to eat to a roof over your head. Thank God for every blessing that you can think of. God has given us a mouth to glorify Him. And complaining does not glorify God. Do you have any idea how much happier people would be if they would keep their heart and mind and mouth full of gratitude?
Thanksgiving in All Circumstances
1 Thessalonians 5, 18. Thank God in everything, no matter what the circumstances might be. Be thankful and what? Give thanks. Or be thankful and say so. For this is the will of God for you who are in Christ Jesus, the revealer and the mediator of that will. Verse 19, do not quench, suppress, or subdue the Holy Spirit. Now, to quench the Holy Spirit means to keep Him from working. If I stop giving thanks and I start murmuring and complaining while I'm waiting for my breakthrough, which is when we normally murmur and complain.
Come on, the longer you have to wait, the greater the temptation to murmur. Remember, what I've learned to do is while I'm waiting, every time that comes to my mind, even if the enemy tries to put a thought, well, you know, you've been praying about this for 10 years. Here's what God's been teaching me to do. Open my mouth and say, God, I thank you that you're working. I thank you that you're working. I may not see it, I may not feel it, but you are working, and all of a sudden, I'm going to see the result of what you are doing behind the scenes.
How many of you know that God is working right now today in your life, in the earth? When we see some great thing happen, that doesn't mean that that was the moment God decided to do it. He's been working on it, bringing circumstances together, changing hearts, changing minds, changing authorities, changing nations, and then all of a sudden, we see this great thing happen, and we say, oh, man, look what God did. Well, God's doing something right now, and this is when we need to thank God. God, thank you that you're in control in the earth. Thank you that the wicked will not prevail. Thank you, God, that you will be exalted in the nations. Thank you, God, that you will be exalted in all the earth.
Even though I've spent a lot of time telling you what not to do with your mouth, I would really prefer that you concentrate on the things that I'm going to say today about what you should be doing with your mouth, because if you're busy doing the right thing, there won't be any room for the wrong thing. You all understand that? And not only that, I think it's just better for us all the way around if we're concentrating on the positive things we should do rather than the wrong things we should not do. I think it's almost self-defeating to just go around all the time thinking, I better not do that, I better not do this, I can't do that, but I've got to be careful about that, I've got to be careful about that. It's just so much more uplifting to just concentrate on what you should be doing.
Encouraging and Building Up Others
All right. Six things that you should do with your mouth. And if you stay busy doing these things, then you won't be doing the things that you shouldn't be doing. Number one, and I don't know if you know that you have the power to do this or not, but boy, this can really shake things up in your life and add a dimension of power that maybe you've never had. You need to stay busy blessing everything that you can possibly bless. You have the power to bless and the power to curse. By the words of your mouth.
Numbers chapter 6, verse 22. You know, in a lot of the more modern day churches, pastors don't have a tendency to do this at the end of the service, but the church that I was in for a long time, they always gave the benediction. That was the last thing they did at the close of the service. And I didn't have enough sense back then to appreciate it or really exercise my faith to receive it. But it's actually something that God told Aaron, the priest, to speak over the people.
Before you leave here today, at the close of this service, I'm speaking this over you. And I'm going to pray for you to be blessed. Because I am convinced that I have the power to do that by virtue of the office that I stand in through the gifting of God. And the Lord said to Moses, say to Aaron and his sons, this is the way you shall bless the Israelites. Say to them. The Lord bless you and watch, guard, and keep you. The Lord make His face to shine upon you, enlighten you, be gracious, kind, merciful to you, and give you favor. The Lord lift up His approving countenance upon you, and give you peace, and they shall put my name upon the Israelites, and I will bless them, says the Lord.
The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord watch over you, give you favor, make His face shine upon you. What an awesome thing to have spoken over your life. And yet, I didn't understand the power of words. I didn't even begin to understand what He was doing, and I doubt that He did either. It was probably just something that they learned in pastoring school that you should close every service with. And obviously, the words have to have faith behind them.
And that's why it's important for me to explain to you that I'm going to pray this blessing over you, and I want you to make your mind up now that when I do, you're going to receive it by faith. And you're going to believe it's going to be a turning point in your life. Because I believe that we have the power to take authority over all curses that have been released because of wrong things that have been spoken to you and about you.
Okay. Second thing, that we really need to be busy with concerning our mouth, and you know, this is not any brand new news, but it's still something that we don't do nearly enough. The Bible says in Psalm 100, verse 4, that we should be thankful and say so. I love this. Psalm 119, verse 6, David said, At midnight, I will get up and give thanks. That's pretty radical. Set your clock. Midnight. Thank you, God. Just imagine that. At midnight, he said, I will get up. He had to have a plan. I don't know if he had an alarm clock, but he had a plan to get up at midnight and give thanks to God.
I wonder what would happen to a businessman trying to run a business, or a businesswoman trying to run a business and make a profit if they'd set their clock for about every three hours to go off and just kneel down in their office and give God, give, give God thanks. We need to remember who's really in charge. Paul said, I do not cease to give thanks for you. He was talking about his partners in ministry. Let me tell you something. Dave and I thank God for our partners on a regular basis. And I might add, when I have my little blessing session every morning, I not only bless our children, but I bless all of our partners and all the people that work with us in spreading the gospel. So, I say you are blessed.
In Colossians 1, Paul said, we continually give thanks for you. The third thing that you should do with your mouth is encourage, edify, and build up. Dear Lord, there's enough discouragement going around. We do not need to tear people down and discourage them. But people will be discouraged if we don't encourage them. Don't commit the sin of omission. well, I didn't say anything. Well, sometimes that's the problem. You didn't say anything. It's not just what we say that's wrong. It's what we don't say that's right.
People need to hear how you feel about them. Let's spend some time thinking about what life is like for somebody else. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. I thank Dave pretty often for all the time that he has spent sitting in that chair. You know, maybe people don't think about that. But what kind of a sacrifice, what kind of an anointing does it take to just sit there and listen to me go on and on and on. Month after month and year after year and on and on and on. Come on, you need to appreciate Dave.
And you know what? I think I really believe that the fact that he is so behind me is one of the reasons why our ministry is as strong as it is. And as powerful as it is. Dave is a real man of God. He has given me the liberty to be all that God wants me to be. And he has said, I am your covering. He feels like it's his job to keep me safe. And people say sometimes, well, you know, does Dave travel with you? I can only remember two times in all the years that I've been doing this that he hasn't been with me. Every single place that I've been, he's there.
You know, come on, you can do so much for your marriage relationship. Keep it good. Don't just wonder why it's not good. Keep it good. Come on, start opening your mouth and saying some things that can bring healing. I don't care how bad of a condition your marriage is in. I believe that you can turn it around with your mouth if you really want to.
And you know what? Some of you are thinking, yeah, well, I'm the one that needs to be encouraged. Come on, don't make me come down there and get you. If you think you're the spiritual giant in your home, then you're the one that needs to start doing what's right first. He who is the strongest does what's right first and the longest. Be not weary in well-doing for in due season you shall reap if you faint not. Keep it up and keep it up and keep it up and keep it up and keep it up until you wear the devil out.
So many great scriptures. Proverbs 15, 4. A gentle tongue with its healing power is a tree of life. But willful contrariness in it breaks down the spirit. I'll tell you what you can do. You know, I was not what I would call a natural encourager. I probably had more the gift of discouragement. But I made a commitment to God years ago to start encouraging people on purpose. It's amazing what you can do on purpose. Stop waiting to feel like it and just make your mind up. I will. I will bless the Lord. I will muzzle my mouth. I will speak excellent things. I will speak the truth.
You have a will and your free will is the strongest part of you. God has given you the right to make your own choices. David said, I will get up at midnight and give thanks to the Lord. So I made a decision. I will be an encouraging person. Now there are people who have the gift of encouragement. That's actually a spiritual gift. And it doesn't take long to spot them. I mean, it just oozes out of them. I mean, you can just be around somebody like that for three minutes and you just feel like the greatest thing on earth, you know?
Well, I don't think I have that gift, but I have purposed to encourage people. And this is what I said to God. I'm committing to you. If you put it in my heart, I will open my mouth and say it. Don't tell me that God doesn't put nice things in your heart that you could say about people, but a lot of times we worry about, well, I'm going to sound silly or what are they going to say? I'm going to get it. And the devil does that same thing to everybody.
Ask God every day, who can I encourage today? Think about the people that you already know that you're going to be around and ask God to put something in your heart that you can say to them that will build them up. You don't look as interested as I want you to be. How many of you believe that you can heal a relationship, change a relationship with words? And you do not know one person that you cannot find something good to say about them if you'll look for it. There's not one person. And if you'll begin to concentrate on the good, people will begin to come up to your expectations.
Speaking Truth and Buying It
The next thing that we need to purpose to do with our mouth, something we should make sure we do is tell the truth. We've got a lot of Christian liars. Ephesians 4, 15. Speak the truth in love. Rather, let our lives lovingly express truth in all things, speaking truly, dealing truly, living truly. Enfolded in love, let us grow up in every way and in all things into Him who is the Head, even Christ the Messiah, the Anointed One.
The Bible says the truth will make you free. The Bible is a book of truth. God is a God of truth. He only speaks the truth. It's impossible for God to lie. Satan, on the other hand, is the father of liars. The Holy Spirit is the spirit of truth. And His ministry is to lead and guide us into all truth. Proverbs 6 says there's six things that God hates and the seventh one is an abomination unto Him. Three of those seven are mouth issues and two of the first six are lying.
The Bible says buy the truth and sell it not. And I thought about that. How do you buy the truth? And I'll tell you, honestly, I believe that many times we have to buy the truth with pain. Sometimes loss of friends. People don't always want you to tell them the truth even if they ask you. Sometimes we lose reputation. Sometimes we're misunderstood. I honestly believe if you're going to be committed to truth that sometimes you're going to have to sacrifice for it.
Now I'll tell you something that I haven't, I've maybe told this one or two other times. But it fits in here so I'll tell it. You know, we all have a past life that includes things that we're not all that excited about other people knowing. And I tell you just about everything. But you may have never heard me say that probably over 40 years ago it's probably 45, 46 years ago because Dave and I have been married 42 years. I was married to a young man that was a petty thief. He ended up actually going to prison for stealing and he ran around with other women and all those kind of fun things that break your heart.
And I was working at a company and he was wanting to leave town. We didn't have any money. He wanted to go off to California or something and make his fortune. I was in the accounting department at this company and he talked me into stealing some money from them. so we would have enough money to get to California. Well, we went to California and eventually we came back to St. Louis where I found out that the police were looking for whoever it was that stole the money from this company.
Well, because I was an employee that left the day the money was stolen. go figure. That wasn't too wise, was it? They brought me in for questioning and I'm telling you what, I could have went to prison so easy it amazes me the grace of God and how he understood my situation and understood my background and why I was so desperate for love and attention, so desperate in fact that I would do something that I thought was wrong.
Well, years later Dave and I were married back in the 70's when I was filled with the Holy Spirit God began to bring that situation back to my mind. Not something I wanted to be reminded of but he kept bringing it back to me. And God started showing me that I needed to contact that company that I wasn't even sure was in existence anymore but found out that it was and I needed to go and see the head of that company and I needed to tell them that I was the one that had stolen the money and I needed to return it.
Well, that was a pretty scary deal for me because I mean, I was just starting to teach my little home Bible studies and I felt like I had a call of God on my life and I'm married now and got three kids by then and you know, I'm thinking what if I go to jail? I mean, I didn't know how they were going to respond but I tell you the Spirit of God was moving so strong in me I knew that I knew that I knew that I had to do that.
Now, I'm not trying to tell you what to do if you've got something like that in your past please be led by the Spirit but I will say this if you've done something wrong that God has told you to go make it right and you haven't done it all you're doing is hurting yourself. I will be bold and tell you that had I not done that I don't believe I'd be standing here today because God cannot promote liars. I had to be a woman of truth and I had to be willing to buy the truth with a willingness to sacrifice or even get in trouble Bible says swear to
And so I want to pay it back. I said, I'm a Christian now. I've committed my life to Christ. God's wanting to use me in ministry, and I know that I need to straighten this out before I can go forward. So I just wanted to share that with you today, because I think a lot of times we look at people that have success, and we think, oh, I wish. I wish I had that. I wish I had that company. I wish I had that ministry. We don't get it wishing. Come on now. I said, we don't get it wishing.
God only knows all the things that have gone on between me and Him in the last 32 years, and the things that have been so hard for me, that had I not done them, I would not be here today. Many are called, few are chosen. There's a lot of people that have a great call on their life, but they will not do what God tells them to do, even with their mouth. I'm hoping and praying that people here today will be so serious about what I've been saying about the words of your mouth. And I hope that there's nobody who has a stubborn spirit, and you just think, well, I don't believe that I'm going to say what I want to say. Well, you know what? You'll still be going around the same mountains the next time I come here. Remember? Because you cannot rise above your own confession. Jesus is the high priest of our confession. We need to say what He says if we want to have what He wants us to have.
Now, I knew it would get quiet during that time about truth. What does that mean? Don't cheat on your income tax. Don't steal office supplies. You don't need the company's paperclips and rubber bands and notepads and ballpoint pens. And don't make some silly excuse, well, bless God, they don't pay me enough anyway. Come on, we don't need to be Christian liars and Christian thieves. The Bible says in John 4 that God is seeking worshipers who will worship Him in spirit and in truth. Will you be committed to the truth? Buy the truth and sell it not. Hang on to it no matter what it costs you.
Declaring God's Word Faithfully
Number five, speak the Word of God. And we've talked about that a lot today, and there's a lot of things I could teach you on this, but I'm actually just about out of time, but Jeremiah 23, 28 says, Let him who has my Word speak my Word faithfully, because it is like a hammer that will break the hardest rocks into pieces. I love that. Just keep hitting your problems with the hammer of God's Word. I said just keep hitting your problems with the hammer of God's Word.
You know how it is sometimes you can hit something and hit it and hit it and hit it and hit it, and all of a sudden it cracks open. We've got to keep it up and keep it up and keep it up and keep it up until we have victory. In Ezekiel, God said to the prophet who was looking at a valley of dead, dry bones, Son of man, can these bones live? You may feel like all your life is a bunch of dead, dry bones right now. Can it be resurrected? Can God do anything in your life? What's it going to take?
The prophet said, Oh God, you're the only one that knows. And God spoke back to him and he said, Prophesy to these bones and say, Oh you dry bones, hear the Word of the Lord. Come on, you better start prophesying there's some stuff in your house. You have power in your mouth. Nobody has more power over your life than you do. Take some authority. Begin to speak the Word of God. Begin to speak it faithfully. It'll break the most, the hardest things in pieces.
Number six. Don't talk too much. Be quiet. Proverbs 10, 19. We're only going to look at a couple of scriptures. Proverbs 10, verse 19. Just before you go running off at the mouth for three or four hours, just ask yourself how much of it you really need to say. You might be surprised if you get quiet, you might hear from God. In a multitude of words, transgression is not lacking, but he who restrains his lips is prudent and that means a good manager.
Proverbs 17, 27 and 28. Proverbs chapter 17, 27 and 28. He who has knowledge spares his words. And a man of understanding has a cool spirit. Even a fool when he holds his peace is considered wise. But he, when he closes his lips, he is esteemed a man of understanding. I said yesterday, we have seven openings in our head. Two eyes, two ears, two nostrils, one mouth. Be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to get angry.
Final Benediction and Blessing
Now stand up and let me bless your life. Father, in the name of Jesus, I thank you that you've given us the power to bless one another. And I take authority over all the curses that have been launched against anybody in this building or anybody who hears this teaching. I break the power of those curses. I break the power of those negative words. And I say that after today, they have no more power. Because in your name, I bless these people. I say that they're blessed when they go in and blessed when they go out. Everything they lay their hand to is blessed. They're blessed. Their homes are blessed. Their children are blessed. Their husbands and wives are blessed. Their land is blessed.
And I'm going to speak over them what you told Aaron to speak over the people. And I believe it's going to be a life-changing time for them. The Lord bless you, watch over you, and keep you. The Lord make His face to shine upon you, and be gracious, kind, and merciful to you. May the Lord give you favor everywhere that you go. The Lord lift up His countenance upon you. The smile of His face. And may He give you peace. In Jesus' name, you are blessed. Amen.