“That’s some good ole’ keep your mouth shut!” Kenneth Copeland
When I first heard this, I started laughing hysterically almost wrecking my car. Kenneth Copeland is one of my favorite Christian ministers to hear. He’s hilarious, brutally honest, old-school, and faith-filled. I view his preaching style as a grandfather speaking to his grandchildren. To say the least, I thoroughly enjoy his personality and scriptural deliverance. On this particular day, he was speaking on maintaining your faith in God’s promises. His direct encouragement was watching your talk; being sure that you were not speaking the opposite of The Blessing. To be truthful, I can’t remember the exact scripture that he referenced before speaking the aforementioned quote. However, that quote stuck with me.
I have always been drawn to faith-filled churches. As a matter of fact, the name of the church were I rededicated my life to Jesus Christ is Faith Clinic Christian Center Church. God was obviously aware that my faith needed some healing and guidance. This church was the foundation to my Christian walk. There was a scripture that was included in almost every sermon, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue…” (Proverbs 18:21). It made such an impact on me, that I have had it attached to my email signature for years. The church trained members to be careful of what we said; no words opposite of God’s will were taken lightly. Even after being a member for one full year, I thought it was weird and to be honest, cult-like. However, as I have matured in the Lord, I have come to realized the power of our and others speech and my prejudice views.
Did you know that when you pray the will of God (that is, scripture based prayers), that you are to believe that your prayer will be answered, according to His word (Mark 11:24)? For instance, God has promised us, that if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead; you will be saved (Romans 10:9). Some have no problem accepting Romans 10:9 but have more difficulty in accepting other promises God has given us.
I can remember when I first started giving; I had the hardest time accepting Luke 6:38. First of all, I wasn’t giving with the intentions to receive, but to hear that I would receive the way I was giving didn’t quite mentally register. I would confess in church this promised blessing of God before giving my tithes and offering. Later, I would find myself doubtingly joking with friends that I didn’t care if I received or not; I simply gave because it felt good. Thank God, that he is faithful and ‘sticks’ to His words. As I did receive, based on what he commanded. My point is that my faith didn’t align with God’s word. I would confess His words, but later deny His power to fulfill. According to 2 Timothy 3:5, due to my lack of faith, I was a person that Christians were to avoid. Wow! That’s how serious God is about taking His word to heart.
He does not want Christians having communion with Christians, who deny, that He can do what He says He can do. According to thefreedictionary.com, one of the definitions for deny is ‘refusing to believe.’ In this case, this definition definitely applies. Abraham believed God had the power to do what he said he would do (Romans 4:20-25). Through Abraham, we are heirs of The Promise by accepting Jesus Christ. We are to do and confess what God said. Being that we are consistently watched by unbelievers for authenticity, your behavior and definitely words need to be aligned with God’s.
One of the most unselfish wills that God gave is for all men to be saved (1 Timothy 2:1-4). As I have clearly stated in past blogs, I was a tremendous sinner. However, I’m saved through Jesus Christ. If you would have met me 15 years ago, you may not have believed that I would have accepted God’s plan for salvation. If you would have been praying for me to accept Christ as Savior, you may have doubts based on my behavior. Also, if you held relationships with people, who believed that I would never ‘get it together’, your faith confession for my salvation would have become even harder to believe. Eventually, the war of God’s words versus what you saw and worldly words would have taken full battle. More than likely, you would have begun speaking the opposite of God’s word. I have seen this happen many times in my life and the life of others. It typically starts subtle, but eventually adversely affects your prayer of what you believe God for. James 5:16 states the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. Abraham was credited as righteous because he believed in God (Genesis 15:6). In order for you to be consider righteous, you must whole heartedly believe in God, as well, or your prayers are not effective.
Begin watching your tongue, the slightest negative word has the power to ruin your entire day, week, year, and possibly life. Also, this may hinder your prayer from being answered because of your double-mindedness. If you are clearly praying God’s will, mix your faith with patience and allow God to demonstrate His faithfulness. In the meantime, until your faith is aligned with God’s; it's best to simply keep your mouth shut! As the saying goes, “if you do not have anything good to say, don’t say anything at all’.
Keep it righteous!
If you desire to accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, please click on the link below.
http://www.cbn.com/stepstopeace/index.aspx
