THE POWER OF DECLARATIONS

At the end of prayer is declaration. Speaking in tongues only doesn’t make prayer complete. Tongues build up your faith to empower the words that your mouth speaks (Jude 1:20). Then we see how God demonstrated that in Genesis; He spoke after the hovering of the Spirit. We miss the point of speaking in tongues when we think our time with God was worth it after we feel energized from speaking in tongues. It’s like that feeling after weightlifting in the gym. The muscles contract and we suddenly feel like we can conquer an entire city but after training we just go to bed. Most tongue-speaking Christians are like that. They spend hours in tongue-speaking building their faith yet the weapon of their welfare which is in their declaration isn’t put to use. Yes, it is true that the mind and a strong mindset are some of the tools needed to advance in life but just like the word ‘mindset’, it only gives you a ‘setting’ which could be the location or the blueprint but the establishment of the setting that is in the mind is by our declaration!

They spend hours in tongue-speaking building their faith yet the weapon of their welfare which is in their declaration isn’t put to use.

You shall decree a thing and it will be established for you so light will shine on your ways – Job 22:28. Light only shines on your path after your declaration! The psalmist showed us vividly how to light up our ways in Psalm 119:130; he wrote: the entrance of your word gives light! Speech was what sent the word through the entrance! The entrance of God’s Word! How much of God’s word are you speaking? We declare not because we know not! I’ve seen this evil go on, especially in prayer meetings. Whenever the leader of the meeting says we should prophesy or speak good things into our lives then we mitigate our voices or people begin to speak in tongues. No, no, no! it may look spiritual but we missed a big opportunity to establish things for ourselves.

Even motivational speakers encourage their audience and teach them about the power of positive words and speaking to yourself in the mirror about how great you’ll become and they see results because in the mouth is that sword-like shaped organ called the tongue which possesses power over life and death – Proverbs 18:21. Now, in verse 20 of the same chapter, Solomon wrote that “a man’s stomach shall be satisfied from the fruit (periy) of his mouth (peh); from the produce of his lips he shall be filled”. I want us to take a closer look at this. Our bodies are nourished by what we put inside and we grow accordingly. So a lack of food will cause stunted growth or malnourishment. Then you look at the B part of the same verse 20. He said “and with the produce (tebulah) of his lips (saphah sepheth) shall he be filled”. I put the Hebrew words beside the English translations to show you the distinction and the choice of words of Solomon. The first part of verse 20 talked about the infilling of the stomach as an organ and the second part talked about the infilling of the spirit. The Hebrew word for lips which is “saphah sepheth” literally means speech or language so what Solomon meant was that by the increase of his speech, his spirit shall be filled! Your spirit is fed when you speak! In the carnal state, the body is nourished when food goes in but spiritually, your spirit is nourished when words go out! If you keep your mouth shut, you’ll suffer from spiritual kwashiorkor!

... they see results because in the mouth is that sword-like shaped organ called the tongue which possesses power over life and death – Proverbs 18:21.

So motivational speakers as I was saying earlier on, encourage their audience to look into the mirror and speak positive words but our God isn’t a motivational speaker. He is a life giver! Jesus affirming this truth when He said to the multitude at Capernaum that the “words that I speak to you, they are spirit and they are life!”– John 6:63. So when you realize there’s an aspect of your life losing life, you speak life back into it. When your phone is on a low battery, you don’t cry. You simply connect it to a power source and its revived. God’s word is the power source and our mouth is the charger. You gotta keep charging not crying! So if it’s your health that needs charging, you declare that I am healed by His stripes! (Isaiah 53:5), if you’re lacking strength you declare that I am strong! (Joel 3:10), if it’s your finances that need charging, you declare that I’m rich! (2 Cor.8:9), if you realize that child bearing needs charging, you declare that I’m fruitful (Genesis 1:28, Psalm 127:3-5). You noticed how all the declarations are backed by scriptures. You just don’t declare your own empty words like ‘eii God look at me o, hmmm or oh God don’t you see I’m suffering?’ and expect to see results because even the Holy Spirit doesn’t speak His own words. He speaks what He hears from the Father (John 16:13) and in the same vein, we speak God’s word and not ours. My good friends who are lawyers will understand this the most. No one appears in court speaking what they like and feel. You speak the law as your defense against the accusations leveled against you and we know of he who accuses us day and night.

You just don’t declare your own empty words like ‘eii God look at me o, hmmm or oh God don’t you see I’m suffering?’ and expect to see results because even the Holy Spirit doesn’t speak His own words.

When he accuses us, he tricks us into speaking ourselves into defeat, like Jesus, we respond it is written! But is it just declaring the word that will cause our bad situation to change? Apostle Joshua Selman said something that I’d like to quote. He said “they say one encounter with the word of God is all you need. That’s a true statement but it's incomplete. Many people have encountered the word for many years. It is the truth that is accurately taught, that you receive with understanding and you engage appropriately that produces results for you and not the truth available. Access to the truth doesn’t transform, no. It must be accurately taught, then accurately understood, then received by faith, the principles contained therein applied diligently then you can count on God’s integrity to perform”!

In Ephesians 3:20, the Apostle Paul speaks about how God does exceedingly abundantly above what we ask or think but we miss the most important part in that verse which is ‘according to the power that works in us!’ What power is backing your declarations? – where the word of the King is, there is power! (Ecclesiastes 8:4). His power is His word! Invest yourself in His word, understand it, receive it in faith, apply the principles in it then speak it and see light shine on your path. God bless you!