I do declare

By Ken Crause

Psalm 91: 1-4 He that dwells in the secret place of the most High will abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.

Surely he will deliver you from the trap of the bird catcher, and from the noisome pestilence.

He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will trust: his truth will be your shield.

There is something powerful that happens inside us when we declare or affirm things through the words we speak – whether audible or otherwise. Studies have shown that we often experience what we believe – good or bad. In plain language we might simply say, “You get what you really expect.” However what is most interesting is that we tend to believe the things we say in our minds to ourselves more than anything spoken audibly.

Mat 12: 34-37 …… out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.

A good man out of the good treasure of the heart brings forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things.

But I say to you, that every idle word that men speak, they will give account thereof in the day of judgment.

For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.

There is a connection therefore between the heart and the mouth. Sooner or later what is really in your heart will come out through your mouth. But whether or not you verbalize your beliefs out loud, you do “speak them” to yourself. You may say things like “Nobody cares about me”. You may think you are speaking the truth but because you tend believe what you tell yourself, you subconsciously avoid people, withdraw from people and are ignorant to people. Hence they avoid you and don’t speak well of you which only convinces you more that you are right in what you believe. In reality you have created this situation purely because that is what you believed deep down to begin with, having convinced yourself of that by what you have been saying to yourself.

Stop for a minute and think about the things you say to yourself and see if these have been or are what you experience – even though perhaps you don’t really want to. For example;

I am stupid

I am fat

I am ugly

Nobody cares about me

Bad things always happen to me

I’ll probably never get better

God probably won’t heal …..

And so on…..

God’s Word is the truth but how often do we need to declare it as the truth until we really believe it – until it moves from our head to our heart? This is what is meant by Romans 12:1 – be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

Eph 5: 18-20 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;

Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;

Giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;

Notice the term “speaking to yourselves”. Yes it is okay to speak to yourself – we all do anyway whether we are conscious of it or not at times. But this is a deliberate speaking to ourselves. So what or how do we speak to ourselves and why? Many have not recognized that one of the ways to be “filled with the Spirit”, is by singing to ourselves – especially when it’s the last thing in the world we feel like doing. Singing is hardly something we should reserve for church but it should be part of our every day experience. You cannot sing for long and remain miserable or depressed. Satan himself cannot stand it when we sing praises to our Lord and sing declarations of who he is and who we are in him. Do you want to be filled with God’s Spirit at all times? Then this is how you can be.

Dear fellow believer, what have you been saying to yourself lately? Please take some time to ponder this carefully because much of the bad experiences you are going through right now may be the result of what you have been saying to yourself. Take some time today to write out instead, some of God’s promises that you can declare and affirm to yourself – until you really believe it from the heart and see how God will transform not only you but also your experiences. Below are a few verses to get you started. I suggest you personalize these verses where possible – suggested in italic red brackets below.

1. Mat 19:26 But Jesus looked at them (me), and said to them (me), with men this is impossible; but with God ALL THINGS are possible. Jesus said to him (me), if you can believe, all things are possible to him (you) that believes.

2. Phil 4:13 I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.

3. Rom 8:35 Who can separate us(me) from the love of Christ? Can tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword do that? As it is written, “for your sake we are (I am) killed all the day long; we are (I am) accounted as sheep for the slaughter”. No, in all these things we are (I am) more than conquerors through him that loved us (me). For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, will be able to separate us (me) from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our (my) Lord.

4. Isa 54:17 No weapon that is formed against you (me) will prosper; and every tongue that rises against you (me) in judgment you (I ) will condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their (my) righteousness is of me, says the LORD.

May the Lord transform you from this day forward – one step at a time as you deliberately “speak” God’s promises to yourself as a most needed reminder. God’s words are to our souls as food is to our bodies. If it is neglected or you feed on “junk food” it will eventually destroy your health and bring about death. Choose God’s words daily and live.