Biblical teachings reveal why a believer can speak a verse over a problem and see nothing change, while another speaks the very same verse and watches God move. The words are identical. So where does the power come from?
Jesus answered that question plainly, and most of us have read right past His answer for years.
And there is a man in the Bible whose mouth God closed for the better part of a year. When it was finally opened, what came out of it shows the whole secret.
Once you see it, you will understand why some words fall to the ground while others carry the power of God.
Make Your Words Powerful!
The Hidden Secret of Faith You Must Understand
Chapter 1: The power of words
Two believers can speak the very same verse over the very same problem and one sees nothing change while the other watches God move. The words are identical. So where does the power come from?
Jesus answered that question plainly and most of us have read right past his answer for years. In Matthew 12:34 he said, "For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh."
And there is a man in the Bible whose mouth God closed for the better part of a year. And when it was finally opened, what came out of it shows us the whole secret.
Stay with me because by the end of this teaching, you will understand why some words fall to the ground while others carry the power of God.
And you will know how to make your own words powerful. In our last teaching, we saw that pleasant words carry health all the way to the bones. And I promise to show you the hidden link between what you believe in your heart and the power that flows through what you say. That link is what we are going to open together.
Now you will see why so many sincere believers have spoken all the right words and felt nothing happen. And why the heart, not the mouth, is where the power of your words is stored.
You will see what Mary did with the words God gave her and what an old priest named Zacharias learned in his silence. Then I will give you practical ways to fill your heart, the guard rails that keep this teaching biblical and wise and a special word for those who have walked with God for many years.
This word of God ministry is helping believers see the difference between agreeing with the Bible in their heads and believing it in their hearts. And that difference is the hidden secret behind powerful words.
Chapter 2: The heart as a treasury
Let us begin with the problem because many believers have tried to make their words powerful and come away disappointed.
You've probably heard Proverbs 18:21 quoted many times, "Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof." And you took it to heart.
Maybe you wrote Bible verses on index cards and tape them to the bathroom mirror.
Maybe you read Isaiah 53:5 aloud every morning for a month, and with his stripes, we are healed.
Maybe you declared that your son would come back to the Lord.
You were faithful about it for a while, but nothing seemed to change and slowly a quiet conclusion settled in. Either words do not really have any power or I do not have enough faith for them to work for me.
Some people stopped speaking the word altogether.
Others kept going, but with a nagging sense that something was wrong with them.
Other believers fell into the opposite ditch. They began to treat their words like a magic formula, as if the right phrase repeated often enough and loudly enough could force heaven's hand.
Jesus Christ warned against that very thing in Matthew 6:7. But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions as the heathen do, for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. What he warned against was not repetition itself, but vain repetition. Empty words trusted for their own sake. As though the number of times you say something, is what makes God listen.
Picture a parrot that has been taught to say, "Praise the Lord." Every word it says is true. But no one would call that parrot a person of faith. The words are right, but there is no heart behind them. So what is the real problem?
Look closely at what Jesus Christ said in Mark 11:23. For verily I say unto you, that whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea, and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass. He shall have whatsoever he saith.
We usually notice the speaking in that verse, and it is certainly there. Shall say, he saith, whatsoever he saith. But notice where Jesus Christ located the doubt that has to be absent. Not in the head, not in the feelings, in his heart.
You can have the right words in your mouth and doubt in your heart at the same time. And that is the condition that leaves words powerless.
That condition has a name . Two kinds of faith. Sense- knowledge has given to the church mental ascent which looks so much like faith that many people cannot see the difference .
Mental ascent is seeing it, admiring it, saying it is true, "but not in my case". That is the hidden gap. The mouth says the verse , the head agrees that the verse is true, but somewhere deep inside, the heart quietly adds "but not in my case."
If that describes you, please hear me. This is not a word of condemnation. Nearly every believer has lived in that gap at one time or another.
The point is not that you have failed. The point is that your words have felt empty for a reason.
And the reason is not that God's word lacks power. The reason is that words are fruit. And fruit always grows from a root. Jesus told us exactly where that root is.
Turn with me to Matthew 12.
Chapter 3: The heart-mouth connection
Jesus had just healed a man who could not speak, and the Pharisees had used their voices to call the work of God the work of the devil. In answer to them, Jesus said in Matthew 12:33-35, "Either make the tree good and his fruit good, or else make the tree corrupt and his fruit corrupt. For the tree is known by his fruit. Oh generation of vipers, how can ye being evil speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh? A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things. And an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. "
Words are fruit, Jesus said, and they show what kind of tree they grew on. Then he used a word that unlocks this whole subject, treasure. The Greek word is the one that gives us our English word thesaurus. And it means a storehouse, a treasury, a place where valuable things are deposited and kept.
A good man brings forth good things out of that treasury. So your mouth is not the source of your words. Your mouth is the withdrawal window. The treasury is your heart.
Many of you wrote checks for most of your lives and you know that the bank never cared how lovely your handwriting was. A check is only as good as the account it is drawn on. Write a check on an empty account and it comes back to you no matter how beautifully it was written. Write the very same check on a full account and it clears without a question. The paper is the same. The ink is the same. The words on the line are the same. The difference is what was deposited behind them. And that is the answer to the question we began with.
Two believers can speak the very same verse, but one is drawing on an account that has been filled with God's word, believed, and treasured, while the other is drawing on an account that holds very little so far. The words are identical. The treasure is not.
And here is the good news. Every account can be filled.
Luke records the same teaching. And in Luke 6:45, he ends it this way. For of the abundance of the heart, his mouth speaketh. Notice the word abundance in both gospels. It speaks of fullness, of what fills a vessel to the brim and spills over the top. The mouth speaks what the heart is full of.
Picture the water tower that stands high above so many towns. When you turn on the faucet in your kitchen, the water comes out gushing with force. But the force does not come from the faucet. It comes from the water tank tower where the water stored high above presses down through every pipe in town.
Turning the faucet handle harder does not create water. If the tower runs dry, you can twist that faucet all day long and get nothing but a sputter. And whatever is stored in the tower is what flows out of every tap.
In the same way, what comes out of the (your) mouth depends on what is held in the (your) heart. The Apostle Paul shows us that the heart and the mouth were always meant to work as partners.
Chapter 4: The partner of faith
Romans 10:8-10 says, "But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart. That is the word of ffaith which we preach, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart, that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. "
The word is meant to live in two places at once. In your mouth and in your heart. Neither one was meant to work alone.
A mouth without a believing heart is the parrot. A heart that believes but never speaks is a treasure that is never spent.
Simply put in the two kinds of faith. The senses believe in what they can hear and see and feel. The spirit believes in the word.
Your heart, the inward man, the real you, was made to believe God's word. And when it does, your mouth finally has something real to say.
And apostle Paul showed us the order. 2 Corinthians 4:13 says, "We having the same spirit of faith according as it is written, I believed and therefore have I spoken. We also believe and therefore speak."
And there apostle Paul was quoting the psalmist in Psalm 116:10.
Notice the little word therefore. I believed, therefore, I spoke. Believing came first. And speaking came as the result.
Speaking was never meant to be a substitute for believing or a way to squeeze out a faith we do not have. It is the overflow of the faith we do have.
And notice what apostle Paul called it, the Spirit of faith, a believing heart that speaks. And he said, 'We have the same spirit of faith.' Not a smaller portion for ordinary believers, but the very same Spirit that moved the psalmist and the apostle.
The psalmist gives us another picture of that order in Psalm 45:1. My heart is indicting a good matter. I speak of the things which I have made touching the King. My tongue is the pen of a ready writer. Indicting is an old word for composing and the Hebrew word behind it carries the picture of something bubbling up like water rising in a hot spring. His heart was bubbling over with a good matter and his tongue was simply the pen that wrote it out. Think of a fountain pen writing a letter to a loved one far away. The pen does not compose the letter. It only carries out what the heart has already composed.
When we try to make our words powerful by working on the pen, by finding better phrases or louder declarations or more impressive prayers, we are polishing the pen while the letter goes unwritten. The secret is in the heart that composes.
Keep that picture in mind because before this teaching is over, you will see an old man reach for something to write with at one of the most important moments of his life.
Solomon saw the same truth. Proverbs 16:23 says, "The heart of the wise teaches his mouth and added learning to his lips." The heart teaches the mouth, not the other way around.
And Proverbs 4:23-24 places the two side by side. Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life. Put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far ffrom thee. Out of the heart flow the issues of life. And the very next thing Solomon mentions is the mouth because the mouth is where so much of the heart flows out. Guard the treasury and you have guarded the withdrawal window.
Now watch these truths at work in two people who received a word from God in the very same season.
Chapter 5: Mary and Zacharias
The first is Mary. When the angel Gabriel told her that she would bear the son of God and then answered her honest question about how it could be, she said in Luke 1:38, "Behold the hand maid of the Lord. Be it unto me according to thy word." Then she hurried into the hill country to visit her cousin Elizabeth. And Elizabeth said of her in Luke 1:45, "And blessed is she that believed, for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord." Then Mary opened her mouth in song.
Luke 1:46-47 says, "And Mary said, my soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour."
Bible scholars have long noticed that Mary's song is woven through with the language of the Old Testament with echoes of Hannah's prayer in 1st Samuel 2 and of many of the Psalms. When her mouth opened, scripture poured out because scripture was what her heart had been storing. And Luke shows us the habit of her heart.
Luke 21:19 says, "But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart." She kept them. She pondered them. She treasured them. And what she treasured, she spoke.
The second person is an old priest named Zacharias. Luke 1:6-7 says of him and his wife, "And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord, blameless. And they had no child because that Elizabeth was barren. and they both were now well stricken in years. These two were faithful people who had walked with God for a lifetime. Then one day while Zacharias was serving in the temple, the archangel Gabriel appeared to him and
15:4815 minutes, 48 secondssaid in Luke 1:13, "Fear not, Zachcharias, for thy prayer is heard, and thy wife Elizabeth shall bear thee a
15:5715 minutes, 57 secondsson, and thou shalt call his name John." And Zachcharias answered in Luke 1:18,
16:0516 minutes, 5 seconds"Whereby shall I know this? For I am an old man and my wife well stricken in years."
16:1316 minutes, 13 secondsWhereby shall I know this? In other words, show me something I can see.
16:1916 minutes, 19 secondsKenyon described that kind of faith exactly in the two kinds of faith. Sense knowledge. Faith says, "When I see it,
16:2816 minutes, 28 secondswhen I feel it, I will know I have it." Zachcharias looked at his own age and at his wife's age, and he wanted proof
16:3716 minutes, 37 secondsbefore he would believe. Gabriel's answer is sobering. Luke 1:20 says, "And
16:4416 minutes, 44 secondsbehold, thou shalt be dumb and not able to speak until the day that these things shall be performed, because thou
16:5216 minutes, 52 secondsbelievest not my words, which shall be fulfilled in their season." But notice what Gabriel did not say. He did not say
17:0117 minutes, 1 secondthe promise was cancelled. He said his words would be fulfilled in their season. The doubt of Zachcharias did not undo the faithfulness of God.
17:1117 minutes, 11 seconds2 Timothy 2:13 says, "If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful, he cannot deny
17:1817 minutes, 18 secondshimself." That is good news for every one of us who has ever spoken words of doubt. God's promise to Zachariah stood
17:2717 minutes, 27 secondsfirm. What changed was that his mouth was closed. From that day in the temple until his son was 8 days old, the better
17:3517 minutes, 35 secondspart of a year, Zacharias could not say a single word. Think about those months.
17:4217 minutes, 42 secondsZacharias could not argue and he could not repeat his question. All he could do was watch and listen and think. He
17:5117 minutes, 51 secondswatched Elizabeth hide herself for 5 months. He watched the promise grow week by week under his own roof. Then Mary
18:0018 minutesarrived. Luke 1:40 says she entered into the house of Zachcharias and saluted Elizabeth. She stayed about 3 months
18:0918 minutes, 9 secondscarrying a promise even greater than his own. And it was in his house that her song of praise was first spoken. Day
18:1618 minutes, 16 secondsafter day, whether he wanted to or not, Zachcharias had to sit with what God had said. David described a silent season of
18:2418 minutes, 24 secondshis own in Psalm 39 2:3. I was dumb with silence. I held my peace even from good.
18:3218 minutes, 32 secondsAnd my sorrow was stirred. My heart was hot within me. While I was musing, the fire burned. Then spake I with my
18:4018 minutes, 40 secondstongue. And what he spoke was a prayer to God. While he mused, the fire burned.
18:4718 minutes, 47 secondsAnd when his heart was full, his tongue spoke. Scripture does not tell us everything that happened inside Zachcharias during his silent months.
18:5618 minutes, 56 secondsBut it does tell us what came out of him when his mouth was opened. And we will come to that moment shortly. First, let
Chapter 6: Practical ways to deposit
19:0419 minutes, 4 secondsus get practical. So, how do you fill the treasury of your heart? Begin by understanding the difference between a
19:1119 minutes, 11 secondsdeposit and a withdrawal. Romans 10:17 says, "So then faith cometh by hearing
19:1919 minutes, 19 secondsand hearing by the word of God." When you read God's word, when you hear it preached, when you read it aloud in your
19:2819 minutes, 28 secondsown voice so that your own ears can hear it, you are making a deposit. When you speak God's word over a situation
19:3619 minutes, 36 secondsbecause you believe it, you are making a withdrawal. Both can involve your mouth, but they are not the same thing. And
19:4419 minutes, 44 secondsmuch of the frustration believers feel comes from confusing the two. If you have been making withdrawals without
19:5119 minutes, 51 secondsmaking deposits, the answer is not to stop speaking. The answer is to start depositing.
19:5919 minutes, 59 secondsColossians 3:16 says, "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one
20:0820 minutes, 8 secondsanother in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. dwell in you
20:1620 minutes, 16 secondsrichly. Not visit now and then, but settle in and make itself at home in
20:2320 minutes, 23 secondsabundance. That is the abundance out of which the mouth speaks. Here's a simple way to begin. Choose one promise that
20:3220 minutes, 32 secondsspeaks to what you are facing, not 20 promises. One, if you are anxious, it
20:3920 minutes, 39 secondsmight be Philippians 4:7. And the peace of God which passes all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through
20:4920 minutes, 49 secondsChrist Jesus. If you are lonely, it might be the promise of Hebrews 13:5.
20:5620 minutes, 56 secondsI will never leave thee nor forsake thee. Read it slowly in the morning
21:0221 minutes, 2 secondsaloud if you can. Read the verses around it so that you understand it in its setting. Then carry it with you through
21:1121 minutes, 11 secondsthe day the way Mary carried the word she had been given, turning it over in your heart while you wash the dishes or
21:2021 minutes, 20 secondssit in the waiting room. Psalm 119:11 says, "Thy word have I hid in mine heart
21:2721 minutes, 27 secondsthat I might not sin against thee, that hiding is the deposit, and do not be in
21:3321 minutes, 33 secondsa hurry. A deposit is not wasted just because you cannot see it yet. The account is growing. Then as the promise
21:4221 minutes, 42 secondssettles into your heart, begin to speak it simply and calmly the way you would state any fact you are sure of. You do
21:5121 minutes, 51 secondsnot have to shout. You do not have to say it a hundred times to convince yourself. When a promise has become settled in you, you can speak it the way you would tell someone your own name.
22:0322 minutes, 3 secondsThere is no strain in it because there is no argument behind it. That is when words carry weight. Not when they are
22:1022 minutes, 10 secondsloud, but when they are full. And when words of doubt slip out, as they sometimes will, do not panic and do not condemn yourself. Bring them to God.
22:2422 minutes, 24 secondsDavid prayed in Psalm 141:3, "Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth. Keep the
22:3222 minutes, 32 secondsdoor of my lips. Ask the Lord to set a watch over your mouth. And when you hear yourself say, "Nothing ever works out
22:4122 minutes, 41 secondsfor me." Stop and say, "Lord, that is not what you have said. You have said
22:4822 minutes, 48 secondsyou will never leave me nor forsake me." You are not pretending because faith never asks you to deny the facts. If the
22:5722 minutes, 57 secondsdoctor says you need a procedure, you can say I need this procedure and I am going to have it and the Lord will carry
23:0523 minutes, 5 secondsme through it. That is honest and it is faith. Faith does not deny what is. It speaks what God has said about what is.
23:1523 minutes, 15 secondsLet me make it concrete. Picture a widow in her early 80s who is worried about her grandson for years. Whenever his
23:2323 minutes, 23 secondsname came up, the same words came out of her mouth. That boy is going to break my heart. It was what her heart was full
23:3223 minutes, 32 secondsof. Then she began making deposits. She chose one promise. Isaiah 54:13.
23:4123 minutes, 41 secondsAnd all thy children shall be taught of the Lord, and great shall be the peace of thy children. She read it every morning with her coffee slowly and
23:4923 minutes, 49 secondsaloud. thought about it while she folded laundry and thanked God for it before she fell asleep. Weeks later, her
23:5623 minutes, 56 secondsdaughter mentioned the grandson, and before the widow had time to think, something new came out of her mouth. The
24:0324 minutes, 3 secondsLord is teaching that boy, and I am trusting him. She had not planned to say it. It was simply what her heart was
24:1124 minutes, 11 secondsfull of now. Her grandson has not come back to the Lord yet, but she prays for him with faith instead of fear. And when
24:1924 minutes, 19 secondshe visits, he hears a grandmother who blesses him instead of sighing over him.
Chapter 7: Biblical guardrails
24:2524 minutes, 25 secondsNow, let me set some guardrails in place because a teaching about the power of words can easily be twisted. The first
24:3224 minutes, 32 secondsguardrail is that the power is God's, not ours. Notice that the teaching about speaking to the mountain begins in Mark
24:4024 minutes, 40 seconds11:22 with four words from Jesus. Have faith in God. Not faith in your words and not faith in your faith, but faith in God.
24:5224 minutes, 52 secondsWe are not little creators who can speak anything we like into existence. Hebrews 11:3 says, "Through faith, we understand
25:0025 minutesthat the worlds were framed by the word of God. And only God creates that way." Our words carry power when they agree
25:0825 minutes, 8 secondswith his word because his word carries his power. And 2 Corinthians 4:7 says,
25:1625 minutes, 16 seconds"But we have this treasure in earthn vessels that the excellency of the power
25:2225 minutes, 22 secondsmay be of God and not of us." The treasure is held in clay jars so that everyone will know the power belongs to
25:3025 minutes, 30 secondsGod. The second guardrail is that faith is not a formula for getting whatever we want. James 4:15 teaches us to say, "If
25:4025 minutes, 40 secondsthe Lord will, we shall live and do this or that." There are things God has already settled in his word that he
25:4825 minutes, 48 secondsforgives you in Christ, that he will never leave you, that you are his child, that his grace is sufficient for you.
25:5625 minutes, 56 secondsYou never need to put the word if in front of those. But the details of tomorrow, our plans and our hopes, we
26:0326 minutes, 3 secondshold in an open hand. And we let God be God. And this teaching is not a way to talk yourself into riches. The good
26:1226 minutes, 12 secondstreasure Jesus spoke of is his word in your heart. Powerful words are not a way to bend God to our will. They are the
26:2226 minutes, 22 secondsoverflow of a heart that has bowed to his. The third guard rail is that this teaching must never become a weapon
26:2926 minutes, 29 secondsagainst yourself or anyone else. Not every illness, loss, or hardship comes from something someone said. Never tell
26:3926 minutes, 39 secondsa grieving widow that her husband died because of her words. And never tell yourself that your diagnosis is
26:4626 minutes, 46 secondspunishment for a careless sentence you spoke years ago. That is not the gospel.
26:5326 minutes, 53 secondsRomans 8:1 says, "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus." And Zachcharias reminds
27:0227 minutes, 2 secondsus that even words of doubt cannot cancel the faithfulness of God. And speaking the word never means refusing
27:1127 minutes, 11 secondsmedical care. The very gospel that tells us about Zachcharias and Mary was written by Luke whom Paul calls a
27:1927 minutes, 19 secondsphysician. Take your medicine, keep your appointments, follow your doctor's counsel, and fill your heart with God's
27:2627 minutes, 26 secondsword while you do. Faith and medicine are not enemies. There is a special word here for those in the later years of
Chapter 8: A word for later years
27:3327 minutes, 33 secondslife. You may have far more treasure in your heart than you realize. You have been making deposits for decades. Every
27:4127 minutes, 41 secondsverse you memorized in Sunday school, every hymn you sang until you knew it by heart, every sermon that stirred you,
27:4927 minutes, 49 secondsevery promise you clung to in a hard season, all of it went into the treasury, and none of it was wasted.
27:5827 minutes, 58 secondsThose who care for older adults often notice that the old hymns stay with a person long after many other things have
28:0528 minutes, 5 secondsfaded. What the heart has treasured for a lifetime runs deep. So do not believe the lie that because your memory is not
28:1328 minutes, 13 secondswhat it once was, your heart must be empty. Some of the richest treasuries in the kingdom of God belong to people who
28:2228 minutes, 22 secondscannot remember where they left their reading glasses. And remember that Zachcharias and Elizabeth were both
28:2928 minutes, 29 secondswellstricken in years when God's word came to them. Their age was the very reason Zachcharias doubted and it was
28:3828 minutes, 38 secondsthe very season God chose for his promise. Your words also carry a weight now that younger voices do not.
28:4628 minutes, 46 secondsDeuteronomy 6:6-7 says, "And these words which I command thee this day shall be
28:5228 minutes, 52 secondsin thine heart, and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shall talk of them when thou sitest in
28:5928 minutes, 59 secondsthine house, and when thou walst by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou riseest up." Notice the order once
29:0829 minutes, 8 secondsmore. First in thine heart, then in your talk, at home along the way, at bedtime, and in the morning. Your children and
29:1729 minutes, 17 secondsgrandchildren are listening to the overflow of your heart, even when you think they are not. Psalm 145:4 says,
29:2529 minutes, 25 seconds"One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts." When your heart is full of God's
29:3429 minutes, 34 secondsfaithfulness, the next generation hears it and your words become deposits in their hearts. And if your body is weak,
29:4229 minutes, 42 secondsremember that the psalmist who wrote in Psalm 116:10, I believed, therefore have I spoken,
29:5029 minutes, 50 secondswent on in the very same verse to say, I was greatly afflicted. And he spoke his faith while he was greatly afflicted,
29:5829 minutes, 58 secondsnot after the affliction was over. You do not have to wait until you feel strong to speak what you believe. Paul
30:0530 minutes, 5 secondswrote about the spirit of faith in the same chapter where he said in 2 Corinthians 4:16,
30:1230 minutes, 12 seconds"For which cause we faint not, but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. Your
30:2230 minutes, 22 secondsoutward man may be wearing out, but the treasury of your heart is not growing old. And if your voice has grown weak,
30:3030 minutes, 30 secondsremember Hannah. 1st Samuel 1:13 says, "Now Hannah, she spake in her heart.
30:3730 minutes, 37 secondsOnly her lips moved, but her voice was not heard. And the Lord answered her prayer and gave her a son. The power of your words was never in their volume.
Chapter 9: The secret revealed
30:4930 minutes, 49 secondsAnd now come back with me to that house in the hill country of Judea because this is where the hidden secret comes
30:5630 minutes, 56 secondsinto full view. Elizabeth's time came and she gave birth to a son. On the eighth day, relatives and neighbors
31:0531 minutes, 5 secondsgathered for his circumcision, and they assumed the boy would be named after his father. Luke 1:59 says, "And they called
31:1431 minutes, 14 secondshim Zachcharias after the name of his father. But Elizabeth said in Luke 160,
31:2031 minutes, 20 seconds"Not so, but he shall be called John." The relatives objected that no one in the family had that name. And so they
31:2831 minutes, 28 secondsturned to the old priest who had not spoken a word in all those months. Luke 1:62-64
31:3631 minutes, 36 secondssays, "And they made signs to his father how he would have him called. And he asked for a writing table and wrote,
31:4431 minutes, 44 secondssaying, His name is John." And they marveled all. And his mouth was opened immediately, and his tongue loosed, and he spake and praised God. Do you see it?
31:5831 minutes, 58 secondsBefore his tongue was loosed, the old man reached for a writing tablet, and what he wrote agreed exactly with what
32:0632 minutes, 6 secondsGod had told him months before. His name is John. He agreed with God in writing before he could agree with God out loud.
32:1532 minutes, 15 secondsHis heart had come into agreement with the word and the pen of a ready writer wrote it down. And the moment he had
32:2432 minutes, 24 secondswritten that agreement, Luke says his mouth was opened immediately.
32:2932 minutes, 29 secondsAnd what came out first? Not a complaint, not another whereby shall I know this, not a word about his age, praise.
32:4032 minutes, 40 secondsThen Luke 1:67-68 says, "And his father Zachcharias was filled with the Holy Ghost and
32:4832 minutes, 48 secondsprophesied, saying, blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he hath visited and redeemed his people." And he went on to
32:5832 minutes, 58 secondsspeak one of the great prophecies of the New Testament. In the temple, Zachchariah spoke the language of his
33:0433 minutes, 4 secondsown limitations. I am an old man. At his son's naming, he spoke the language of God's promise. His name is John. And
33:1433 minutes, 14 secondsLuke 1:66 tells us that all they that heard them laid them up in their hearts,
33:2133 minutes, 21 secondsso that what happened and what was said that day became treasure in the hearts of a whole community. Same man, same mouth, same age, a different treasure.
Chapter 10: Living by faith
33:3533 minutes, 35 secondsHere then is the hidden secret of faith that makes words powerful. The power of your words was never mainly in your
33:4433 minutes, 44 secondsmouth. It was always in your heart. Your mouth only draws out what your heart has treasured. And here is the most
33:5333 minutes, 53 secondswonderful part. If you belong to Jesus, God has already given you the heart this
33:5933 minutes, 59 secondsrequires. Ezekiel 36:26 says, "A new heart also will I give you, and a new
34:0734 minutes, 7 secondsspirit will I put within you, and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of
34:1634 minutes, 16 secondsflesh." Through Christ, that promise has reached you. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says,
34:2334 minutes, 23 seconds"Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new.
34:3534 minutes, 35 secondsYou are not trying to make an old stony heart believe. You have a new heart. A heart God himself made. A heart that can
34:4334 minutes, 43 secondsreceive his word and treasure it. And Paul says, you have the same spirit of faith he had. The spirit that believes
34:5234 minutes, 52 secondsand therefore speaks. You do not have to manufacture powerful words. You let God's word fill the new heart he has
35:0035 minutesgiven you. And then you let your mouth speak out of the abundance. And if you have walked through a season when your words were mostly doubt or when you
35:0835 minutes, 8 secondscould hardly bring yourself to speak at all, take heart from Zacharias.
35:1335 minutes, 13 secondsGod did not cancel his promise. He used the silence. And when the day came, the old priest's mouth opened with praise.
35:2335 minutes, 23 secondsGod can do the same for you. He is filling your heart even now as you hear his word and you may soon be surprised
35:3135 minutes, 31 secondsby what comes out of your mouth. So let us gather up what we have seen. Two believers can speak the very same words
35:3835 minutes, 38 secondswith very different results because words are fruit and they grow out of the treasure of the heart. Jesus located the
35:4835 minutes, 48 secondsdoubt that must be absent in the heart not merely in the head. and Kenya named the gap mental ascent. Paul showed that
35:5735 minutes, 57 secondsthe heart believes and the mouth confesses and that the spirit of faith believes and therefore speaks. Mary
36:0636 minutes, 6 secondstreasured God's words and her mouth overflowed with scripture. Zachcharias was silenced in his doubt, wrote his
36:1436 minutes, 14 secondsagreement with God, and when his mouth was opened, he praised God. So fill your treasury. Make deposits by hearing, reading aloud, and pondering God's word.
36:2836 minutes, 28 secondsSpeak it simply when it has become your own. Set a watch over your mouth without
36:3436 minutes, 34 secondscondemning yourself. And keep every guard rail in place. The power is God's.
36:4236 minutes, 42 secondsFaith is not a formula. No one is to be blamed. And your doctor is a gift from God. Then make Psalm 19:14 your prayer.
36:5536 minutes, 55 secondsLet the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in
37:0137 minutes, 1 secondthy sight. Oh Lord, my strength and my redeemer. Picture an old man in a
37:0937 minutes, 9 secondscrowded room, a small writing tablet in his hands. His relatives and neighbors
37:1537 minutes, 15 secondsare leaning in, waiting. He writes four words. His name is John. And before they
37:2337 minutes, 23 secondshave finished reading them, his voice returns. And the first sound out of his mouth in the better part of a year is praise.
37:3237 minutes, 32 secondsThat is what happens when the heart is full. That is what God desires for you.
37:3937 minutes, 39 secondsIf this truth has opened something in your heart, then declare it. In the comment section below, type these words.
37:4737 minutes, 47 secondsI have the spirit of faith. I believe and therefore I speak. That is not a
37:5437 minutes, 54 secondsmagic formula. It is agreement with 2 Corinthians 4:13 and with the finished work of Christ who has given you a new
38:0338 minutes, 3 secondsheart. Leave it in the comments now. And if you have been thinking that your thoughts drift far too easily for any of
38:1038 minutes, 10 secondsthis to work for you, take heart because in the very next teaching, I will show you why a restless mind does not shut you out and how God can fill your heart even when your thoughts will not sit still.
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