Mensa Otabil - Let the Weak Say I Am Strong (09/28/2025)
I’ve had people talk to me and ask me about faith, so what if I’m sick? Shouldn’t I acknowledge that I’m sick? If I walk by faith, shouldn’t I also be able to speak the truth and say I’m sick? If I’m broke, shouldn’t I acknowledge that I’m broke? Sometimes it seems to people that walking by faith means you must deny reality. We have to learn to acknowledge facts but live by the truth of God. There is a verse in Joel chapter 3, verse 10, that says, «Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears; let the weak say, 'I am strong.'»
I want you to note the last part: «Let the weak say, 'I am strong.'» Observe how the phrase is structured: let the weak say, «I am strong.» The verse acknowledges that there are people who are weak—that’s a fact. They are weak. However, it instructs those people to speak a different language than the fact. The weak shouldn’t say, «I am weak.» Instead, the weak say, «I am strong.» Thus, there is an acknowledgment of where you are: yes, you are broke, yes, you are sick, yes, you are weak, but when you start speaking, you declare what you want.
So, the weak don’t say, «I’m weak»; the weak say, «I am strong.» When God was confronted with darkness in the book of Genesis, chapter 1, the Bible says the earth was without form and void, with darkness upon the face of the deep. God was about to speak. Of course, if you are surrounded by darkness, the first words out of your mouth might be how dark everything looks. But God didn’t say, «Oh, how dark it looks.» He said, «Let there be light.» Did He acknowledge the darkness? Yes, because the Bible later says He divided the darkness from the light. He knew there was darkness; He acknowledged it, but He spoke the light.
For example, if you are sick, yes, you report to the doctor, but when you are making a declaration, when you are exercising faith, you don’t say, «Oh, how sick I am,» or «How bad this sickness is,» or «This thing’s going to get worse; I don’t think I will recover from this.» No! Although you are with a doctor and you’ve acknowledged you’re sick, your words should be, «I am healed; I am strong; I am able.» So, when you are surrounded by fear, yes, it is fearful. We read data that is frightening and scary; COVID numbers are rising, and people are dying. That is a reality. But when we speak, we speak life; we speak health; we speak safety; we speak protection. Let the weak say, «I am strong.»
That’s how faith works. Faith speaks against contradictory situations and turns those situations around to favor the one who speaks. When we do that, we are using God’s truth to dominate the realities of our lives. We are using God’s truth to dominate our environment, and God has called you to dominate your environment with truth. When we walk by faith, we rule our weaknesses with the strength of God. Let the weak say, «I am strong»; let the poor say, «I am rich»; let those who are discouraged say, «I am encouraged»; let those who are down say, «I am the head and not the tail.» I am Pastor Mensa Otabil. Shalom, peace, and life to you.