ICS Daily Devotions
Choose Your Words Carefully
Proverbs 29:20: Do you see a man hasty in his words? There is more hope for a fool than for him.
Words are powerful. Words can build up or they can hurt. When we listen to ourselves, we find that there are certain things that we say again and again. For example, “I always get sick during this time of the year.” “I am never going to make it at this test”, or “I do not have what it takes to get through this project at work.”
When we confess negatively, we start believing in the things that we confess. It starts to be the guidelines for our life and we stop expecting anything but negative results or defeats in certain areas. If we do not want to be snared by our words, we need to eliminate some things from our vocabulary. A person that says he or she always gets sick during a certain time of the year or during certain season will eat the fruit of those words.
We need to stop saying “I am not good at anything”, “I always get sick” or “I do not know how I am going to pay my bills,” etc. Instead, we should get God’s word in our mouth and start declaring what He says about the situation or about us, and do not contradict Him.
We ought to choose our words carefully. The economy in the world will be affected from time to time in the nations we live in or come from. The things in this world are unstable. During those times we might find that our world is shaken and we come to a place of doubt that we wouldn’t make it through any more than the next person. The problem is that our speech comes in line with that as well.
When we put our trust in God and not the things we see and feel but stand on His promises, we can expect a good outcome. Of course, running a business is more then just positive faith statements. We need wisdom, innovations and good business sense. However, the worst thing we can do is to make things worse with our words the moment we get a setback.
Words have power and they bear fruit in our lives. Your daily confession affects you and others around you. We can choose to ensnare ourselves with negative words or to receive the good things from God by changing our speech. How can we acknowledge the good things of God?
One way to trap ourselves in God’s goodness instead of failure and depression is by acknowledging the good things we have in Christ Jesus.
Philemon 1:4-6 I thank my God, making mention of you always in my prayers, hearing of your love and faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus and toward all the saints, that the sharing of your faith may become effective by the acknowledgment of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus.
It lifts us up when someone acknowledges us. Even though we might not be seeking man’s approval, we will still find it pleasant when people encourage us or acknowledge our hard work. Hence, we need to start to agree with God on the things that He says and acknowledge it in our lives.
The sharing of the believers will become effective in the acknowledgment of every good thing, which they have in Christ Jesus. Through the believers acknowledging and receiving, making it their own what they have in Christ Jesus, leads them to become more effective witnesses for Jesus Christ. We need to acknowledge every good thing, which we have in Christ Jesus.
We can confess the following: “I am the righteousness of God – in Christ. I am more than a conqueror. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. I am an ambassador for Christ. I am accepted. I am forgiven. I am a new person. I am filled with peace. I am victorious.” Instead of being snared by negative words, trap yourself in the goodness of God by speaking God’s word!
Sermon Series: Get a grip on your lip
