Kenya and I sounded utterly ridiculous yesterday, stumbling over our words as the Hobbs children listened and laughed.
Trying to rapidly and repeatedly say, “Willy's real rear wheel,” didn’t go well. We couldn’t believe how hard that was!
Go ahead.
Try it.
Repeat “Willy's real rear wheel,” over and over again, as fast as you can, and see what happens.
Not so easy, right?
I also attempted to quickly read, “Six sick hicks nick six slick bricks with picks and sticks,” and couldn’t even get through all the words before stumbling badly. My tongue could not keep up.
Everyone giggled, including me.
Our 12-year-old son Kedar provided plenty amusement and family entertainment with his impromptu presentation of a tongue-twister challenge last evening. Both Kenya and I tried our hardest to do it successfully. Yet, despite our best efforts, we failed miserably.
It was pretty hilarious to hear our mouths fail to communicate what our minds could clearly comprehend. Reading the words was the easy part, but saying them, felt impossible.
There is one Mother Goose rhyme I can say fairly quickly with no stumbles. It’s this one:
Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers;
A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked;
If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,
Where's the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?
I can only say it because it fascinated me so much as a child, that I practiced, repeated and verbalized it multiple times.
I must have done hundreds of repetitions of the “Peter Piper” riddle before nailing it. Now it isn’t so tough for me. But the ones our eldest son presented yesterday had us talking gibberish.
Tongue twisters are entertaining, but when it comes to our relationship with God’s word, we can’t afford to let our tongue get all twisted up.
You see, the enemy would love for us to read words on the pages of Scripture, but get tripped up by life’s challenges, and end up stumbling in what we say.
Instead of uttering promises and praises, he wants your tongue to get twisted so you’ll start saying the opposite of what God says. Satan hopes you’ll get negative and begin complaining, talking about how bad things are, instead of how good God is. He wants you to discuss all the odds stacked against you, instead of rejoicing over the fact that God is for you.
But when you understand how costly it is to allow your tongue to get twisted, you won’t so easily fall into that trap.
Proverbs 18:21 tells us, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue” and you, as a faith-filled believer, must always be mindful that you have the choice to speak life or death. You can either utter words of faith or fear. You can communicate from a place of anxiety about your circumstances, or from a place of confidence in God, who has power over them.
You’ve come too far, been through too much, come back from too many setbacks to curse your life with what you say. Don’t give the devil that satisfaction.
When things look bleak, don’t help the enemy defeat you by defeating yourself with your words. No, hit back with the word of God. His word, is your sword, your weapon!
Your destiny is too important to talk out of emotion, frustration, discouragement and fear. Declare faith-filled words. Don’t taint or defile your destiny with fear-filled curses. In Matthew 15:11, Jesus said, “What goes into someone's mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them."
What's coming out of your mouth?
In this critical season, as you are on the precipice of breakthrough, let no defiling words escape your lips. Walk by faith, talk faith, live by faith. Instead of saying things like, this situation will never change, nothing works out for me, I will be stuck in this rut forever, speak faith! Rather than talking negatively, say, change is coming, God is working in my favor, and I’m coming out of this trial.
Friend, the Lord is about to do some awesome things in your life. The enemy can’t stop God’s plan, but He most certainly will try to get you to sabotage your own breakthrough. That’s why you have to pray the prayer that David prayed in Psalm 141:3. He said, “Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips!”
In this verse, that word “watch” is a Hebrew word, “Shomrah” (pronounced shom-raw'). It is only found one time in scripture—right here in this passage— and it means “guard.”
“Shomrah” comes from the Hebrew word “Shamar” (pronounced shaw-mar’) which means to have charge of, watch, protect.
David asked God to have charge of, guard, watch over and protect what comes out of his mouth. He didn’t want to be defiled by his own words. Neither do you.
As you speak words of faith, you set an atmosphere conducive to a move of God. Faith creates an environment for breakthrough, healing, deliverance and blessings.
"Speak what GOD said & not what YOU see. Your words should reflect His words & not your worries. #FaithTalk"
In Matthew 13:58, when Jesus was in his hometown, the Bible says, “And he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith.” They didn’t have the right attitude, so they couldn’t receive.
Keep an attitude of faith, so God can perform miracles in your life. He has amazing things in store for you. Your future is so bright. Remember what we talked about yesterday? What He has in the works for you goes above and beyond your expectations.
If, by chance, your faith-fuel is low, I’m stirring the perfect method to get it back to where it needs to be, right into your cup of inspiration. Romans 10:17 KJV says, “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”
As you drink down the contents of your cup, remember, whatever you’re putting on the inside, is what will come out of you. If you’re feasting on the word and allowing it to transform you, and fuel your faith, what you say will be consistent with what God says.
Make sure you hide the word of God in your heart as David said in Psalm 119:11, because, whatever the heart is full of, that’s what the mouth speaks according to Luke 6:45.
Speak faith and not fear. Speak victory and not defeat. Speak blessings and not curses. Speak promises and not problems. Speak what He said, not what you see.
And remember this: Faith-filled expectations and declarations create the right environment for miraculous manifestations.
Now let’s pray.
God, I ask that You will guard my tongue. Help me speak words of faith and trust You wholeheartedly to fulfill every promise You’ve made. In times when feelings of discouragement, fear and defeat try to overtake me, help me to use the weapon of Your word to fight doubt and embrace faith. I believe You Lord and I’m anticipating my breakthrough! In Jesus’ name, Amen.
As always, thanks for reading and until next time... may today's cup of inspiration uplift, encourage, and empower you!
If you need prayer, don't hesitate to request it. I would be honored to stand in faith with you. I know that prayer works. CLICK HERE to learn how to submit your prayer request.
