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WHO’S THE PROPHET OF YOUR LIFE? PT 1

By Pastor J.D. Link

Abundant Grace Fellowship Church, Blanco, TX

Who is the prophet of your life? You are. Whose words determine your destiny? Yours do. You are the prophet of your own life. Let me make it clear that I’m speaking to Christians before I go any further. If you’re an unbeliever, all the positive thinking and positive confessing you do won’t matter after your first trillion years in the Lake of Fire. As a blood bought child of God, though, who is created in God’s image and after His likeness, your words have tremendous power. Proverb 18:21 says death and life are in the power of your tongue.

We must realize the words that we speak are like seeds being sown in the ground. They are going to reproduce after their own kind. That’s a law of the Kingdom of God; you can’t escape it (Gen 1:11-12). If you sow corn, you are not going to reap beans. If you plant cotton, you will not harvest wheat. If your always speaking defeat, don’t expect to reap victory. If you’re saying your always sick, don’t expect to ever be healthy. If you’re always saying you’re broke, don’t ever expect to have enough. Whatever you sow (plant), that is the harvest you’re going to reap. Proverbs 18:20 says “A man's belly shall be satisfied with the fruit of his mouth; and with the increase of his lips shall he be filled.” In other words, what you speak, your going to be filled with. You will reap the words that you speak.

Now some might be thinking this is common sense, so why don’t I talk about something we don’t already know: but do you know it? The way most Christians talk makes me think we don’t know it. I mean think about it: the average conversation, Christian or not, is negative. It’s typically about it being too hot, or having no rain, or our latest pain or illness, or our electric bill, or not having enough money, or gas being too high, etc., etc. Am I right? Don’t look at me in that tone of voice; you know it’s true.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying the things I mentioned aren’t true. I’m also not saying that we should deny they exist. What I am saying is that we need to be meditating on things that are good, pure, lovely, virtuous, praise worthy, honest, just, & true (Phip 4:8). Then when are hearts are filled with these things, out of the abundance of our hearts our mouths will speak (Mt 12:34-37). If we open our mouths to speak, it should be God’s Word coming out (1Pt 4:11), and it should minister grace and build up the hearers (Eph 4:29). If, as a Christian, your not speaking the things I just mentioned, you may want to start sowing different seed. The harvest you are reaping today is directly proportional to the seed you sowed in the past. If you want a different crop in the future, start sowing different seed today.

You are the prophet of your own life. You determine your direction through the words you speak. Even if your mother and father spoke against you and forsook you, the Lord will not forsake you (Ps 27:10). You’re not a victim, you are blessed by God (Gal 3:13-14, Eph 1:3)! What God has blessed cannot be cursed, unless you, by your own words, speak against the blessing of God (Num 22:12, Pro 6:2).

In James 3:4 it says “Behold also the ships, which though they be so great, and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm (rudder), whithersoever the governor (helmsman) listeth (wills). In the context of James 3:2-12, he is talking of the tongue, or our words. He compares our tongue to a rudder on a ship. A ship can be huge, like a freighter, but yet a little rudder determines which direction that ship is going. When a ship is in motion, the helmsman just has to turn the rudder a few degrees and the course of that ship changes. The Apostle James is saying that your tongue is the rudder of your life. It determines which direction your going to go in.

WHO’S THE PROPHET OF YOUR LIFE? PT 2

By Pastor J.D. Link

Abundant Grace Fellowship Church, Blanco, TX

Last week we looked at the subject of the power of our words as Christians. We saw in The Bible that the words we speak are like seeds that are planted, and they will bring forth a harvest in our lives. We discovered from Proverb 18:20 that we will be filled with fruit of our mouth, which is our words. We also looked at the fact that our conversation should be different from that of the world’s, which is typically negative in nature. Life and blessing should come from our lips, instead of death and cursing. We finished last week talking about our tongue being the rudder of our lives. What the rudder does will determine the course of a ship, just like our tongues will determine the course of our lives (Jam 3:4). If you control the rudder, you control the ship; so he who controls the tongue, controls the body (Jam 3:2).

We are the prophets of our own lives. In Webster’s 1828 dictionary, it defines a prophet as “One that foretells future events”. As we have seen, the words we sow now will determine the crop we reap in the future, so in a sense, you’re the prophet of your life. If you always talk death, defeat, lack, sickness, & failure, you are saying what your going to have in the future. Don’t be discouraged, though. It works both ways. If the words you speak from your heart are full of faith, victory, abundance, health, joy, peace, & love (or in other words, The Word of God), then you are sowing for a good crop in the future. Be not deceived; God is not mocked: whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap (Gal 6:7).

Let’s look at the Old Testament story of the twelve spies to see this principle in action.

In Numbers 13, Moses chose someone from each of the twelve tribes of Israel to spy out Canaan and to bring back a report on what kind of land it was, what kind of people, what kind of dwellings, etc. Forty days later they came back and ten of the spies said it was great land, but the people were huge. In verse 31, they said “we be not able to go against the people”. In verse 30, Caleb (and Joshua; see Num 14:6-9) said “let us go up at once, and posses it; for we are well able to overcome it”. Caleb didn’t just say “we can do it, I guess”; Caleb said “we are well able!”. Caleb had faith in God’s Word and he spoke that faith. Because of the words Caleb and Joshua sowed, they reaped a harvest and got exactly what they said (Num 14:24, 30). They became the ones that got to go in and posses the promised land.

In Numbers 14, God is fed up with the Israelites unbelief and decides to wipe them out, but through Moses’ intercession, God decides that those who didn’t believe and murmured against him would not get to go into the promised land and would die in the wilderness. In verse 28 The Lord says “as ye have spoken in my ears {sowing}, so will I do to you {reaping}.” Notice the ten spies who said they couldn’t go into the land, and the people who complained with them, got exactly what they said. Oh, they tried to take the land by their own strength, but they got their lunches ate, just like Moses said they would (Num 14:40-45). No, they sealed their fate by the words they spoke. Do you see how important your words are?

Now please understand that words alone are not the only factor in determining your future, but they are an important one, as the Scriptures have shown. The extent of your faith in God and your works (corresponding actions), as well as God’s ultimate plan, are certainly factors as well [note: I know there has been much debate on where the line is between man‘s free will and God‘s sovereignty in our lives, and I do not claim to have total revelation on the subject; but I believe it‘s Scriptural to say that both are involved in determining our future, and I‘ll leave it at that]. Of course for the purpose of this study we have focused primarily on the words we speak; the other subjects can be addressed another time.

I pray this has helped you understand the importance of the words you speak, and that you will apply these things to your everyday life. Until next time, rejoice in the Lord (Phi 4:4)!