Taking the I Out of Me

Have you every caught yourself saying, "My arthritis is acting up" or "I'll never have money"? Have you ever made the mistake of saying "I will help you?" That doesn't have anything to do with this message but I thought maybe you could smile a little bit. Often we find ourselves using these, what grammar specialists call "possessive nouns", whenever we talk about things we are going through or things that aren't going right in our lives. In Proverbs, God's Word tells us that "death and life are in the power of the tongue, and they who indulge in it will eat of the fruit of it." The word "indulge" simply means to eat it all up. We sometimes indulge ourselves in a big bowl of moose track double fudge ice cream. What happens if you eat too much of that ice cream? My wife and I, when we first got married, decided to eat the "rest" of the ice cream out of a carton. What seemed to be a little bit of ice cream turned out to be a lot more of it and our words are the same way. We often begin with a little bit but before you know it, it turns out to be more than we bargain for. We end up talking about it all the time. I can remember when my ear was causing me so much trouble. I would say, "My ear is always causing me problems." I would wonder why everyone else was getting healed and here I was not being able to hear, always having infections, and always trying to hide the problem. One day, God spoke into that ear, "when I am ready to heal you, I will heal you. Until then, start speaking my word." I didn't know what that meant but I had the elders of my church pray over me and I started studying the healing scriptures. I noticed that not one of them said to complain about the problem. It's seems so simple right? Then why aren't we practicing it more often? God's word says that it is by the stripes of Jesus Christ that we are healed and made whole. So I began speaking that Word over my ear. I went to the doctor shortly after that and had an MRI done to see what we needed to do about it. The results came back as a shock to the doctor but not to my wife and I. I had regained my hearing, which was amazing enough but had regained it so much it surpassed the ear that had no problems and to top that off, the hearing bone was missing. Medically, this is completely impossible. But with God, all things are possible. Now, there is balance in this message. Am I saying that because I went proclaiming that I am healed that I was. Yes. Come again? The Word says that you are healed, God doesn't specify how He is going to heal you. He can heal you through doctors, through medicine, through the healing hands of Jesus Christ, and so much more. The same goes for our finances. Instead of saying, "I am always broke." begin saying, "I know this is only temporary because God's word says that if I 'give it will be given back to you, pressed down, shaken together, running over will it flow.' I am a giver and a receiver." Financial difficulties take over the lives of so many Christians today. We often find ourselves in the doom and gloom of high priced lives. We want an instant miracle when we bought that car instantly. We suddenly want a miracle when all that time running up credit card debt becomes overwhelming. We live in an instant society. We have fast food, drive thru funerals, high speed internet, etc. So when all that material stuff accumulates and we have no money to pay for it, we automatically blame the devil. Honey, it wasn't the devil that told you to buy those $300 shoes with the matching leather jacket and purse. So instead of saying that you are never going to get out of debt, God's Word says, "I am not a slave to the lender and I will become debt free. God will equip me to over come this obstacle in life and I will be an over comer." In Matthew, Jesus tells us that we have the authority to "heal the sick and drive out demons." If you have been given the authority over something, then you can do it without feeling condemned and overshadowed with guilt and grief. It's time for Christians to take authority over the situation. You don't walk into your place of business as the CEO asking people what should you be doing. You already know because you have the authority to do it. With that said, what are you going to choose? Are you going to take authority over the situations that you are in or are you going to overcome them? Are you going to be a victor or a victim? Prepare your tongue to speak life.