“Girl, I brought you into this world, and I will take you out!” I can’t confirm nor deny that this was said directly to me in my rebellious youth.  Since you are reading this, we can safely conclude that an attitude adjustment took place somewhere along the way.

Surely others out here have heard this phrase, said it, or perhaps had it spoken to them.  It’s a harsh thing to say to someone, and yet God said something like this to the Israelites after he set them free from captivity in Egypt. And guess what happened to the people God said this to?  Hint, God doesn’t bluff.

The people died!  All of them. Well, almost all of them.  He spared every child under twenty years of age and two men by the names of Joshua and Caleb.  It turns out they believed God and spoke by faith, so they were spared.

This all sounds fantastical and shocking, but every word of it is true.  All of God’s haters died from wasting diseases or were killed. They never had a chance to adjust their attitudes.  To be fair, they had a history of complaining against God.  Read about it for yourself:

Numbers 14:27-30

“How long will this wicked community grumble against me? I have heard the complaints of these grumbling Israelites.  So, tell them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Lord, I will do to you the very thing I heard you say:  In this wilderness, your bodies will fall—every one of you twenty years old or more who was counted in the census and who has grumbled against me. Not one of you will enter the land I swore with uplifted hand to make your home, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun

These verses shook me to my core, and here’s why.  These verses demonstrate how powerful and Holy God is.  The passage above also highlights the fact that God is listening to us.  In my head, I want to believe he is only listening when I pray directly to him.  The above verses clearly state that God was listening to the people complain about him and he is also listening to us.

If you’re anything like me, you’re now scrolling through your mental Rolodex trying to remember if you’ve said any sinful things against God recently.  The problem is what we call sin and what God calls sin are two different things.  The Israelites mentioned in scripture were genuinely afraid to go to battle with a people bigger in size who also had greater weapons than them.

Instead of praying for courage and seeking the God who had just dramatically brought them out of Egypt by parting the sea, they just started complaining against God.  You know how we can be when we face an impossible situation.  We say things like, “That’ll never work.”  Or “I’m not ready”.  On multiple occasions, I have said, “I’m too old to…” or “That’s not my calling.”  In my head, these statements sounded wise and humble.  My confessions were rooted in fear and unbelief.

Just because I didn’t mention God in either of those statements doesn’t mean I wasn’t grumbling and complaining any less than they did.  Here is a version of what I was saying to God.  “I’m too old for God to use me.”, and “That is not my calling because it feels too big, too scary, and requires too much work for even God to do.”

Although those are no longer my confessions (God did a deeper work to deliver me from thinking like that.) I still slip up from time to time and run to God in repentance.

If you hang out in our household for longer than five minutes you will hear one of us remind the other not to say certain things.  Why?

Because words matter!

Proverbs 18:21 drives this truth home.

The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.

What is the fruit of your tongue?  Maybe a better question is, are you happy with the life your words have created?

For most of my life, I never made the connection that what I say directly affects my life.  Of course, it goes deeper than that.  It’s more of a chain reaction.  What I believe starts with what I am listening to.  What I’m listening to determines what I believe.  And I ultimately speak what I believe.

For a long time, I was a Christian who said some pretty good things that sounded smart.  I knew enough scripture to sound wise, but my life was messy.  I was a perfect reflection of my confessions.

Back then, my weight was out of control.  I also gossiped and had a very unforgiving and fearful heart!

All direct reflections of my tongue.

If you are a returning reader, then you most likely know me for my teaching on obesity deliverance in my book ©God’s Perfect Size.   I’m going to let you in on a secret, my weight loss started in my mind long before it ever reached my body.  I found every scripture I could on how God sets captives free.  I wrote those scriptures out on notecards and taped them all over my apartment. (I was single back then.)  I said them repeatedly for a solid year.  I knew if I was ever going to be free, I needed the Savior, Jesus.  I had already proven I couldn’t do it or sustain it!

If you will allow me to mentor you for just a moment, I want to share how you can find your freedom, healing, provision, or whatever it is you need.

What you say matters.  Stating what your current situation is will only get you more of the same.  And if that statement is devoid of God’s ability to deliver you, it is a faithless, worthless, and offensive uttering!

So, Kim what should I be saying?  I’m so glad you asked!

Pray.  Ask God directly for the words you need to pray.  Jump, don’t walk, jump into scripture and read until you find what you are looking for.  P.S. Google can help narrow things down.

Write down what you need to confess and ask God to help you understand his word.  You will also need to pray for commitment.  The Devil is going to throw every distraction he can to keep you from saying the Word of God.  Netflix will suddenly have all your favorites available.  Your friends are going to invite you to the hypest club where you will meet your ultimate temptation in the skinniest of skinny jeans holding a bourbon-glazed full rack of smoky perfection.  Or you will fall asleep every time you open your Bible.

The level the energy the enemy exerts to keep you from saying the things of God should be your biggest red flag.

Satan needs your wrong confessions to keep you trapped and him empowered.  If he can’t have his first preference, he will settle for keeping you mute and ineffective.

No matter how many times you mess up or get distracted let your default be to try again.  Repent! Ask forgiveness! Try again!  Rinse. Repeat.

Your life depends on you saying what the Father tells you to say.  Say it until you start to believe it.  Say it until your life looks like the promises of God!

What you say matters.  It’s time to close this blog, open your Bible and start speaking.

Godspeed,

Kim Jagwe