I spoke .... and it came to pass

The tongue! The bible tells us clearly that it is capable of setting the whole body on fire. This is so true and you and I know it. So why then do we constantly allow ourselves get into trouble simply by the power of this tiny but powerful fellow tucked into our mouths by God Himself?

Perhaps I should rewind a bit and give source to my vent. We were invited to a wedding in some remote village in the east. I didn’t want to go, that much I knew for sure. But, I needed to play it out so my husband didn’t see my reluctance and become insistent about my attending. Suffice it to say therefore that I made all the right sounds about being there, even planning the travel arrangements with him, all the while praying fervently to God to make a way of escape for me. My silent prayer was that something would come up that would make it imperative for my husband himself to suggest that it would be better that he goes alone, or better yet none of us would go. It would have been nice if I left it at the prayer level, but noooo...... I had to speak! And... it came to pass! Sigh!!!

My people, you know that saying ‘Be careful what you ask for cos you just might get it’? Not a cliché at all I assure you. On a Thursday in the week prior to the wedding, I was at a conference where I caught up with a friend. She extended an invitation to me for the next Saturday, same day of the wedding. I had them promised her that if I was in town I would attend. She asked if I was going somewhere and I had moaned about this impending wedding which I so didn’t want to attend. I said some things to her which later came to haunt me and which have now informed this blog.

I fell ill on the Monday, had to be rushed out of the office mid-morning and ended up home alone and on bed-rest for the rest of the week. I will save you the gory details of my illness, save to say that I was totally down for that week. Being an action person, I was also bored silly in the middle of all this. But it was clear my body needed to rest so even I didn’t push it too much. Bottom line though was that I didn’t get to travel as planned. Indeed my hubby, bless the precious man, delayed his own trip to the last minute cos he didn’t want to leave me in my condition. Even though I was a lot better by Thursday, he recognised that I couldn’t come out of an exhaustion–induced rest and begin the long torturous travel to that village.

So, I did manage to make my friend’s event on Saturday. She asked how I was able to avoid the wedding cos she really wasn’t expecting me to show. I had then told her that I had been ill all week and her event was basically my first outing from my home in an entire week. She’d hugged me and said she’d had no idea at all, what happened? How was I? Etc. As I reassured her that I was back in business she said something to the effect that we needed to be careful how we cursed ourselves with our own mouths. I looked at her in confusion and then she asked me ‘Dont you remember?’

Remember what I asked? She reminded me that at the conference when I mentioned that I was looking for a way out of going for the wedding, I had said that perhaps I would start ‘feeling a bit under the weather somewhere around Thursday’. We had both laughed and high-fived each other; two women who understood the game was to play off the man so as to achieve one’s personal agenda.

My mouth (the same mouth o, yes) simply dropped open in amazement. My people, I had absolutely forgotten. As she laughed and walked away I thought, OMG! I really did speak a ‘word’ and it came to pass. I was the author of my own illness.

 I had forgotten that I am a vessel of power and that the Lord has said that I should decree a thing and it would come to pass. His Word makes clear that the power of life and death are in the tongue and that I could either choose to speak blessings or curses over my life. I was more focused on ‘one-up’-ing my husband that I totally overlooked whether the intents of my heart at that point were in alignment with the Word of God.

I have since repented over this and trust that God has forgiven me. Beyond this I have asked for the grace to overcome in every such situation that will come my way henceforth, for surely the temptations shall come. I have asked God to help me to hold myself accountable to His Word, even for the smallest things in life.

So as I pray for the Spirit to assist me in bridling my tongue......No, scratch that! I am praying for the Holy Spirit to help me to first take even more charge over the thoughts and meditations of my heart (for it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks). As He helps me to do this, my further prayer is that He will help me bridle my tongue even more, and continually so, so that it will not lead me into the wrong things.

One thing I think we can all take away from this, for surely each of us has had a similar experience at one time or the other; is that we need to examine the circumstances surrounding us at this time and ask the questions ‘How much of all this have I spoken over myself?’ and ‘How many of my challenges are as a result of things others have spoken over me’?

It is by the power of the same tongue that we are able to cancel every negativity in our lives and decree and declare those things that we want to see in our lives. We have the power within us and heaven is waiting to act on those things that we call forth...... for though they be not now, they shall BE indeed by the power of our own tongues, and backed by the immutable Word of God.

Today I commit not to inadvertently confer any illness or challenge upon myself. I choose to stand and face every situation and just trust God to hear my hearts cry and work it out for me Himself in His own way... because He is able!

Today I choose to reaffirm that my tongue is a vessel of honor unto the Lord. And every good word I speak with it, the Lord shall cause it to come to pass. And so shall it be for you also, IJMN, Amen.

Ttyl

By this time tomorrow

Quietly sipping on my cup of herb tea, I reflect on the events of the past few days. I was in Philadelphia at my sister’s wedding after all, and I made it to Dallas to meet with my WAN (Woman Act Now) sisters over here. So your question probably is how did this happen between my last post and now? An awesome testimony which I happily share!

Truthfully, I had absolutely and completely given up on this trip and surrendered totally to the will of God. I had sent my sister an email to say I couldn’t make it. I had cried my eyes out and then, recognising that I couldn’t stay in that place of pain any longer, I (somewhat unwillingly I confess) dried my tears and had then allowed God’s peace to wash over me. In that ultimate state of surrender and acceptance I went to bed. But God.......

Oh yes! The greatest testimonies in the world always add up to just this.....  ‘But God’

My God, the Lord omnipotent; the One who knows the end from the beginning; the One for whom nothing is impossible; the One who speaks and it is done; the One who commands and it stands fast. Yes people, as I went to bed defeated but at peace, God had stepped in. Yours truly just didn’t know it yet. 

I awoke to the annoying blinking red light on my phone. A missed call......’who could be calling at such an ungodly hour of the morning I think?’. Oh wow! Its my agent. I am somewhat hesitant to call back. I had made my peace and wasn’t willing to push in my own power anymore (truthfully I had also cried for both the disappointment present and future so I didn’t want to go through that again). Anyhow, at what I now know for sure to be the prodding of the Spirit, I did call back. Near breathless, she said she got a last minute opening for my husband to be at the embassy the next day (in Abuja no less) and an appointment for me a few days later (on the same day as my sister’s wedding). As I began to heave a heartfelt sigh at the hopelessness of her ‘great news’, she announced that the embassy in Abuja would attend to a husband and wife on the same day in so far as their appointments were within the same month.

Hmmm! Well my hubby and I decided that we take ‘this one last chance’ and see what would come out of it. Did I have my doubts, oh yes I did. But I figured that since it didn’t look like I could go anyhow I might as well just get the visa renewed and end the drama. In retrospect I marvel at the attitude I had chosen to adopt and I thank God that He is faithful even when we are faithless. Midway through the afternoon, God spoke to me and said I should confirm my ticket for Friday night. Again, I must confess in truth that this was one of those moments when I had to decide if I was speaking what I wanted to hear into my mind, or if I was really hearing the voice of God. But the voice was consistent, it was persistent, and it was so strong it was almost audible. Thankfully, I chose to yield and to obey.

Next day, hubby and I were in Abuja. We shared a prayer of faith and just gave the situation to God to take control and work His perfect will. From the moment I woke up and all the way up into the embassy, I rattled on in tongues for I knew that victory could only come from an intervention by the Lord of Hosts Himself. OMG, the protocol officer at the entrance  looked at our papers, underlined my date, and then simply and passed both of us in...... Unbelievable! I could barely breathe. God had definitely sent favour ahead of us. The embassy staff were friendly, rather jovial really. They didn’t look at any of the multitude of documents that we (okay I confess, I)  had come prepared to inundate them with. The visa was granted within 5minutes. A sister who had been standing in faith with us had said to me ‘ask and you will be given your visa ahead of time’. Recognising that the Hand of the Lord was upon us, I asked and the embassy agreed to give us the visas the next day Thursday. The rest as they say is history. I don’t think the magnitude of it all dawned on me until, confirmed ticket in hand, I found myself on board a flight to Atlanta on Friday.

What have I learnt from all this?

First is that God truly watches over His Word to perform it. He is truly the same yesterday, today and forever more. In times past He performed a ‘by this time tomorrow’ miracle, and He is still doing that even today.  I was reminded that in God’s economy it’s never too late. No, God is always on time.....His time, and nothing is impossible for Him to do.

Secondly, the Lord will never allow us to succeed at anything whereby we may inadvertently ascribe the glory to ourselves. That is why it is so important that we move in His strength and in His will for us, acknowledging Him in all our ways. When I had truly laid it all down, then He stepped in and proved that He is God in every situation. When I finally humbled myself before Him, He exalted Himself in my situation.

Third, the Word of the Lord is that many times we do not get what we want because while we ask, we ask amiss. Our motives must be pure before God. We can’t bribe Him and we can’t use emotional blackmail to get him to cotton to our often selfish and self-serving perspectives. He is all seeing and all knowing, a fact which we sometimes forget. Just as I was able to declare ‘Not my will but Yours Oh Lord’, when we make our requests before the Lord we need to ask Him to guide our thinking and emotions so that we do not desire amiss and ask things of Him that are not in line with His will for us.

Lastly, this experience has again confirmed His Word that He cause ‘all things’ to ‘work together’ for our good. He will cause a stirring wherever He needs to in order to bring His will to pass. He will cause strangers to serve you with a smile, He will cause protocols to be set aside for you. He said that His plans for us are of good and not of evil, to bring us to an expected end. So so true! He brought me full circle to a good place and to an end that I had been struggling in my power to attain.

Yes, I am so glad that I made the wedding but more than this, I am so glad for how I was able to attend. I am grateful to God that He used this experience to remind me of things that I had inadvertently taken for granted, and that He made a message out of it all for me....all to His glory.

My sister and friend, What is that thing that is looking impossible in your life? What is that thing that you have been breaking your head over and trying to make work in your own strength? Relax, be at peace, hand it over to God and let Him show you that He is still very much in control.

I pray a ‘by this time tomorrow’ experience into your situation, in Jesus mighty name.

Shalom