Why You Cannot Afford to Listen to the Words of Others

I love this line in the song “Speak to Me” by Kari Jobe: “I hang on to every word You say.” The Word of God, both the logos word and the rhema word, is powerful. His words are kind, full of mercy and truth. In my experience, He is always lifting me into my identity in Him. He never points out where I could have done better, but always reverts my eyes to my position in Him and Jesus’ finished work.

Even though I love to sing that line with great agreement, there have been moments in my life where I have hung on to the words of others. We cannot afford to hang on to the words of others, especially when they come into disagreement with the Word of God. This is where breakthrough in our lives begins—with our agreement of words. Our minds can be influenced by the wrong words either spoken over us or by us. We will live out, speak out and, therefore, experience what we believe in our hearts to be true. The Bible declares that out of the mouth the heart speaks, so you can always tell where a person is by what they speak, especially over themselves in times of crisis.

“A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. What you say flows from what is in your heart” (Luke 6:45, NLT).

Remember, true repentance comes in our thinking, and ultimately, our words will be influenced by a heart transformed by grace. Our first repentance is always toward God and what we believe of Him. The Bible says we have been reconciled to God, and our repentance begins with a cleansing of our conscience from thinking evil of Him based on our misdeeds.

“Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior” (Col. 1:21, NIV).

Our sins, misdeeds and failings made God an enemy in our minds, but the cross of Jesus settled our conscience because justice has been exacted on our behalf in the body of another. God has demonstrated His goodness toward us in forgiving our sin and bringing us into new life with Him before we even had the chance to repent.

One of the biggest lies I see Christians coming into agreement with over themselves is that they are still sinners. Beloved, the Bible now calls you saints based upon the work of Jesus. Each of us is a new creation in Christ, our old man has passed away, and we now live in the person of Jesus.

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:17-21, NKJV).

What love God has demonstrated toward us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. That means before you were born, before you could even change your mind toward the character of God, He gave you His best, His beloved Son, to be the propitiation for your sin. How can we believe that if God would not withhold His only Son before you even had the chance to repent that He would withhold anything from you now? Your ability to receive good from God is reflected in your belief regarding your righteous standing before Him.

“For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation” (Rom. 5:6-11).

Repentance is not for the benefit of God but for our benefit. What we believe is what we will receive. If you believe God is generous and kind toward you, you will have no problem receiving from Him all you need. However, if you believe God is stingy, resources are limited, and He is always displeased with you, it will be difficult to ask, let alone receive from Him. He is a generous God, forgiving and merciful toward you. If you believe you are still a sinner, it will be difficult to expect God’s best in your life, and it negates the work of Christ. However, if you come into agreement with the Word of God that you are now a saint based upon the work of Jesus, it will be much easier to receive the abundance of good God intends toward you.

“He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” (Rom. 8:32, NIV).

If He did not spare His own Son, how could He withhold anything from you now? It makes no sense to believe that God so lavishly gave us Jesus but will now withhold the healing you desperately need in your body today when, in fact, He has already given you healing in the body of Jesus. He received fully the payment necessary to restore shalom to your entire being.

We must agree with God and not let the words of anyone else persuade you away from the Word of God.

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Heb. 13:8, NKJV).

The same Jesus who sits in the heavenlies today and exists in the lives of believers is the same person who walked the earth doing good and healing all. He is always willing to reach out and extend a hand of compassion. If you are fighting a condition in your body today, I would encourage you to eat of the Word of God only, not the words of others, especially when they contradict the truth.

Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God'” (Matt. 4:4, NIV).

If you want to defeat the enemy in the wilderness of your mind, you must fight using the same weapons our Savior used. Victory and breakthrough begin with our alignment in words. Boldly declare with me today: “I hang on to every word You say!”

Listen to the full episode of Revealing Jesus on the Charisma Podcast Network here. {eoa}