By Martin Bragg
Proverbs 18:21 (NIV) 21 The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.
Many things in life can cause us to fear – losing our jobs, deadly diseases, terrorist attacks and so on. When these things confront us, we tend to give in to worry and fear, and start talking about our fears. I have seen my employee release 9,986 people in reducing costs to align with the market that we believe shall not return to pre-pandemic numbers until 2023. Indeed, I have been on voluntary unpaid leave in support of my colleagues whom were on mandated furlough as we all have our part to play in protecting jobs. Even in my unpaid leave I was blessed on a daily basis and found time to complete jobs around the house that have been waiting for my attention for a number of years!
In everything there is blessing if we look to Him and His word that we learn from our personal and community Bible studies. My God has not, is not and shall not cease to bless me and in that I have every confident expectation because my Bible tells me so! We are what we believe and what we believe shall dictate our path in life which is why there are those whom are far from where they wish to be and drift to the point of despair. Why, because if we do not align ourselves with our God we shall always reach a point of human failure for without Him we shall not receive spiritual blessing that is freely given with the intent that it is to be freely received!
In the Bible, Job was no different. He constantly feared that God would punish him and his family because he kept thinking that his sons had sinned against God. He would get up early in the morning to offer burnt sacrifices, saying, “It may be that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” And the Bible tells us that he did this “regularly” (Job 1:5). So Job kept confessing the sins of his sons and fearing that something terrible would happen to him and his family. In fact, his sin-consciousness didn’t just produce fear, the Bible tells us that he “greatly feared” (Job 3:25).
It is important that we understand two things here in the Bible. First, there is an old and a new covenant between us and God and secondly, that it was Job’s sin-consciousness that opened the door to Satan. His preoccupation with sins that his family may have committed gave Satan the opportunity to bring death and destruction into his life. God had a hedge of protection around Job. But when he started being sin-conscious and having a fearful expectation of judgment, the hedge was removed and Satan could attack him (see Job 1:9–12).
Folks, today, if you have sinned, don’t say, “I have failed again. I deserve to be punished by God.” Know that you already have forgiveness of sins because Jesus was punished and condemned in your place (see Ephesians 1:7)! So say, “I am the righteousness of God in Christ. Jesus, You are my holiness and perfection” (see 1 Corinthians 1:30, 2 Corinthians 5:21).
We must be mindful of what we believe and say regularly because “death and life are in the power of the tongue.” So when you hear of a deadly virus taking many lives, don’t say, “I’m next because I have not been a good Christian!” Instead, say, “Jesus, You are my righteousness and protection. Surely You shall deliver me from the snare of the fowler and from the perilous pestilence” (see Psalm 91:3)!
Believing who we are in Him and confessing not only pleases God, but it also shuts the door on Satan so that he cannot make any inroad into your life! We shall receive what we believe and what we believe is key to our life with Him. Elevate our minds to reach new heights just as the Eagle soars high and rests so we too need to capture our thoughts and elevate ourselves to the status He has for each of us and then rest in His peace … AMEN!