Words’ of Faith is Not Positive Thoughts
Introduction
Religionists and non-religionists the world over believe that what one allows one’s heart to dwell so much on would eventually become part and parcel of the person’s life and it will sooner than later define the person. What one repeatedly feeds one’s mind on and remembers would form the major part of the person’s life. Thought is defined by Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary as something you think of or remember; all the idea present in a person’s mind.
If one repeatedly feeds one’s mind on positive things like success, how to be successful, how to make it, how to break new grounds, how to make positive impact in one’s neighborhood and generation, how to do exploits in one’s chosen field or the field that one intends to go to among other things one shall actualize this with time if the person’s life is spared.
This repeated thought in the person’s heart will define the person; it will start influencing the ways and manners of the person.
On the other hand, if the person keeps feeding his or her mind on things that are bad and ugly, evil things, sinful things, failures, setbacks among other terrible thoughts, this will also overtake and silence any good thought that may have been in the person’s mind before and would form the bedrock of the person’s actions and reactions with people in the world.
Faith has been defined by Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary as trust in somebody’s ability or knowledge; it is trust that somebody or something will do what has been promised.
Words of faith therefore are the utterances made base on the trust one has on somebody’s ability or knowledge. Words of faith are the utterances made on the trust that somebody will also do what has been promised. The “somebody” being relied on by those who speak words of faith is God and his Jesus. Words of faith do not rest with the speakers alone, but it solely rests on the one who has promised.
How Words of Faith Come
1. They come through believing in God through Jesus Christ: A person who has not believed in the Lordship of Jesus Christ can barely express the word of faith. Believing in Jesus is pivotal to using and uttering word of faith by anyone whomsoever. Have you believe in Jesus Christ? If you are yet to believe in him, this is yet another opportunity for you to reconsider your stance and give your life to Jesus Christ. You must repent you’re your sins and forsake those sins and ask God to wash you clean from your sins by the blood of Jesus his son.
“Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.” (Acts 3:19)
Do you wish to utter words of faith on situations in life? Then you need to give your life to Jesus Christ.
2. Come through hearing the word of God: words of faith come through your listening to the word of God. The words which are being spoken to you by the disciples of God would help you in building your faith, because it is for that purpose that they have been sent.
“So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” (Romans 10:17)
3. Come through faith in Jesus Christ: when you believe on him, Jesus Christ, you will know that what he has promised he will do.
“For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.” (Romans 10:11)
4. Come through reading the scriptures: those who read the scriptures know the mind of God and would be able to speak the word of faith without wavering in their hearts.
“Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.” (John 5:39)
5. Come through seeing God in action: when you see someone in action you will be convinced either to continue to trust in him or not. Elisha having seen God in action when following his mentor, Prophet Elijah, this gives him faith in the Lord when returning and he could use the word of faith coupled with what was on him to cross river Jordan.
“He took up also the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and went back, and stood by the bank of Jordan;
“And he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and smote the waters, and said, Where is the Lord God of Elijah? and when he also had smitten the waters, they parted hither and thither: and Elisha went over.” (2 Kings 2: 13-14)
6. Come through having biblical supports (or backups) to your utterances: Prophet Elijah using biblical supports could offer acceptable sacrifice to the Lord which the prophets of Baal cannot do.
“And Elijah said unto all the people, Come near unto me. And all the people came near unto him. And he repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken down.
“And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, unto whom the word of the Lord came, saying, Israel shall be thy name:
“And with the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord: and he made a trench about the altar, as great as would contain two measures of seed.” (1 Kings 18:30-32)
When you have biblical supports to what you are doing then you will be able utter the words of faith with utmost confidence in him, knowing he cannot deny himself.
7. Come through believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ: this is pivot to using the word of faith today. Believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the fulcrum on which the words of faith stand.
“And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” (Acts 8:37)
8. Come through in the efficacy and potency of the blood of Jesus Christ: Some may say that the blood of Jesus has neither efficacy nor potency because they have not experienced terrible things (arrows of the wicked ones) from the demons but those who have received terrible arrows from demons and who after calling on the blood of Jesus have seen God in action in their lives and on the situation know that the blood of Jesus has power to heal, overcome and silence the devil quenching the darts and arrows of the enemies.
“In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins” (Col. 1:14)
How Thoughts Come
The followings show some of the ways which thought come
I. Through hearing: what one hears repeatedly will be continuously recycled in one’s mind, therefore, the author of the book of proverbs says,
“Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.” (Prov. 4:23)
II. Through seeing: eyes are vital organ in the body and on the formation of thought. Some children have become morally bankrupt children in the society because of what they have been seeing their parents or elder ones do. They have by this considered such ways of life to be normal in life. In the Yoruba mythology, it is believed that when a king dies, the chief servant on seeing the king’s death would also kill himself. This happened to the chief servant of the first king in Israel, when he sees that King Saul has died he also killed himself.
“Then said Saul unto his armourbearer, Draw thy sword, and thrust me through therewith; lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through, and abuse me. But his armourbearer would not; for he was sore afraid. Therefore Saul took a sword, and fell upon it.
“And when his armour bearer saw that Saul was dead, he fell likewise upon his sword, and died with him.” (1 Sam. 31: 4-5)
III. Through Experience: experience is defined as the things that have happened to you that influence the way you think and behave. What has happened to people in the world have a way of influencing their thoughts either positively or negatively. A lady who has given her whole heart to a guy for long but who continues to cheat on her which leads to their break-up. This would affect the lady’s thought of becoming involved with other men, for she would be thinking that is how all men are. Her thought has been negatively influenced by what she has passed through.
IV. Through Disappointments: disappoint is failing to satisfy the hope or desire or expectation of someone on something. When someone meets with disappointments severally one’s thought would be formed through that means.
V. Through Reading: there are so many books all over the world which encourages positive thought, taking one’s mind off negative thought to be able to achieve something one desires in life. When one reads continuously these kinds of books it is certain that with time such would become part and parcel of the person’s life and ways of thought and reasoning. When this happens there is every tendency that some people will begin to misconstrue this to mean it is words of faith. Through what was read to king Herod when Jesus was begotten he could form his opinion against the child that was begotten.
“And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born.
“And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet,
“And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel.” (Matt. 2: 4-6)
Daniel through what has been written by Prophet Jeremiah he knew the time for Israel’s yea Judah’s deliverance was nigh and his orientation was changed, his thought changed. (Daniel 9)
VI. Through Parental Influence: it is a well known fact that the first point of contact for children to learn from is their parents or foster parents. Parents have lots of influence in thought formation in the lives of their children. In the Holy Bible we read of how Timothy’s grandmother and his mother influenced him in this way of faith.
“When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that in thee also.” (2 Tim. 1:5)
VII. Through Peer Groups Influence: peer is someone in the same rank as another person. These people do have enormous influence on one another. One critical example in the bible was the incident recorded in the book of second Samuel chapter 13. Jonadab the friend of Amnon, King David’s son, influenced Amnon negatively by teaching him how he would have carnal knowledge of his step sister.
“And it came to pass after this, that Absalom the son of David had a fair sister, whose name was Tamar; and Amnon the son of David loved her.
“And Amnon was so vexed, that he fell sick for his sister Tamar; for she was a virgin; and Amnon thought it hard for him to do anything to her.
“But Amnon had a friend, whose name was Jonadab, the son of Shimeah David's brother: and Jonadab was a very subtil man.
“And he said unto him, Why art thou, being the king's son, lean from day to day? wilt thou not tell me? And Amnon said unto him, I love Tamar, my brother Absalom's sister.
“And Jonadab said unto him, Lay thee down on thy bed, and make thyself sick: and when thy father cometh to see thee, say unto him, I pray thee, let my sister Tamar come, and give me meat, and dress the meat in my sight, that I may see it, and eat it at her hand.
“So Amnon lay down, and made himself sick: and when the king was come to see him, Amnon said unto the king, I pray thee, let Tamar my sister come, and make me a couple of cakes in my sight, that I may eat at her hand.
“ Then David sent home to Tamar, saying, Go now to thy brother Amnon's house, and dress him meat.
“So Tamar went to her brother Amnon's house; and he was laid down. And she took flour, and kneaded it, and made cakes in his sight, and did bake the cakes.
“And she took a pan, and poured them out before him; but he refused to eat. And Amnon said, Have out all men from me. And they went out every man from him.
“And Amnon said unto Tamar, Bring the meat into the chamber, that I may eat of thine hand. And Tamar took the cakes which she had made, and brought them into the chamber to Amnon her brother.
“And when she had brought them unto him to eat, he took hold of her, and said unto her, Come lie with me, my sister.
“And she answered him, Nay, my brother, do not force me; for no such thing ought to be done in Israel: do not thou this folly.
“And I, whither shall I cause my shame to go? and as for thee, thou shalt be as one of the fools in Israel. Now therefore, I pray thee, speak unto the king; for he will not withhold me from thee.
“Howbeit he would not hearken unto her voice: but, being stronger than she, forced her, and lay with her.
“Then Amnon hated her exceedingly; so that the hatred wherewith he hated her was greater than the love wherewith he had loved her. And Amnon said unto her, Arise, be gone.” (2 Sam. 13: 1-15)
So many people have had their thoughts eroded, corrupted through the friends they keep.
Those it Has Defined Their Lives
Those Who Positive Thoughts Have Defined Their Lives: the numbers of people whose lives have been influenced by positive thoughts are many and that is why some people misconstrue positive thoughts to be the same thing with uttering the words of faith.
Children psychologists have researched into why the actions-reactions of some children are as they are, why their interactions and relationships with people be as it is and they discovered that the words those children listen to when they were kids, what they watch and how their parents and elder siblings react to them are some of the foundation laying stones upon which their actions are formed such that it becomes extremely difficult if not near impossible for many after forming this to change their ways of lives later in life.
Some scientists have used positive thought to attain their goals in life and because some of them bear the name that could be found in the bible some people have thought those people must be Christians but being in oblivion that they were not. As such some people, preachers will be using their words as illustration claiming that they were Christians like us and could be emulated. They however failed to know that those people use positive thoughts to attain their goals in life which could be seen all over the word to be real at the moment because unbelievers too do use positive thoughts to attain their goals in life. God is not a discriminatory God, he has given unto us all some things free which only needs our assessment irrespective of whether the person is a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ or nay.
“That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.” (Matt. 5:45)
Some things God has given freely to all and that is the power of thought. God did not take it off anyone who lives in the earth and that is why he has not enforced anyone to become saved, he wants anyone who will be saved to willingly do that, to do that out of his or her own volition but not as if the person has been forced to do that.
Many discoveries have been made in the world which is through positive thoughts of those people despite being unbelievers in Jesus. In the same vein is “dream”, physiologists and neurologists believe that dream is a part of life, and that sometimes if one has not dreamt one will be drowsy in the morning such that the person would want to go back to bed again.
As God has not denied people of the world right to dream and through which the supernatural does talk and interact with the people of the world so has he not deny all in the world the right to thoughts either positive or negative.
The scientists and some of those who have special discoveries in the world on meeting with some brick-walls on what they wanted to do will start using the power of the positive thought to keep themselves up and going and with time it has been proved times without numbers that such positive thoughts do work for them such that what they have in mind achieving they will achieve it.
There is a saying that “if you can imagine it (reason it or think about it) you can achieve it but this is only true for those who use positive thought it is not applicable in the words of faith.
Those Who Words of Faith Have Defined Their Lives: there are ample of people in the world whom words of faith’s utterance have defined their lives. These kinds of people achieved what no one can imagine through the words of faith they uttered.
No one could have thought that the axe that fell into the river would float again but through the word of faith uttered by Prophet Elisha this happened.
“And the sons of the prophets said unto Elisha, Behold now, the place where we dwell with thee is too strait for us.
‘Let us go, we pray thee, unto Jordan, and take thence every man a beam, and let us make us a place there, where we may dwell. And he answered, Go ye.
“And one said, Be content, I pray thee, and go with thy servants. And he answered, I will go.
“So he went with them. And when they came to Jordan, they cut down wood.
“But as one was felling a beam, the axe head fell into the water: and he cried, and said, Alas, master! for it was borrowed.
“But as one was felling a beam, the axe head fell into the water: and he cried, and said, Alas, master! for it was borrowed.
“Therefore said he, Take it up to thee. And he put out his hand, and took it.” (2 Kings 6: 1-7)
Hardly could it come to the mind of anyone in the world that someone who has stopped menstruating could still give birth to a child again, but this happened to Sarah the wife of father Abraham. It was when the woman was 89 years old that she took in and when she was ninety years old she gave birth to a bouncing baby boy.
“Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?” (Gen. 17:17)
“And Abraham was an hundred years old, when his son Isaac was born unto him.” (Gen. 21:5)
This was written to show that positive thought could not achieve this except the word of faith that has been spoken to their lives by the visitor they received earlier.
“And he said, I will certainly return unto thee according to the time of life; and, lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son. And Sarah heard it in the tent door, which was behind him.
“Now Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken in age; and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women.
“Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?
“And the Lord said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a child, which am old?
“Is any thing too hard for the Lord? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.” (Gen. 18: 10-14)
This word in the above verse eleven that, “and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women.” Shows that she has stopped menstruation and that was part of the reason why she laughed that could this be possible? It is the eggs that are released by the ova from the fallopian tubes that would be fertilized by the sperm that entered the uterus of the woman but when the eggs have ceased to be released what would the sperm fertilize? Think about it for a second, when a tap stops running how would you collect water from the tap? How would the people of the house drink from the tap that has ceased to flow? How would someone who has entered the bathroom turn on the tap to take his shower? This would not be possible. Such was the case with matriarch Sarah, her tap has stopped to flow but yet the words of faith says she should not look to the tap that has ceased to flow but to rather look unto him who hath promised and who shall make do of what has been promised. She and her hubby shifted their hearts off the physical, off the status of the woman and they continued to utter the words of faith on their situation and the situation changed and she gave birth to a male child through whom the generations of people were and are blessed.
No positive thought would have stopped sun and moon from movement but the words of faith stopped them until the people of God could perform their enterprise on the enemies of God.
“Then spake Joshua to the Lord in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon.
“And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day.” (Josh. 10: 12-13)
What Thoughts Deal with: Thought has to do with people’s minds, the capacity to which the mind can go as well as achieve things. Therefore, it is said what can be thought about could be achieved, but this is not so with words of faith.
What Words of Faith Deals With: Words of faith on the other hand does not rest with the person, words of faith is relying on the obtained promises of the one who promised. The words of faith are being said repeatedly or otherwise based on the person’s reliance on the knowledge she or he has with the one who promised that the person will surely do that which he has spoken to the person about. The person being relied upon here is God.
Words of faith again do not come from man’s repeated thoughts alone, they come through reliance on Jesus Christ, he is the one who brought salvation into the world and faith in his name. A word of faith’s fulcrum is Jesus Christ. If this fulcrum is removed as it is absent in the positive thoughts it will become ordinary words, just some other words that can be spoken by anyone.
Who Uses What?
Believers in the Lord Jesus Christ use words of faith while those who do not believe in Jesus Christ use positive thought. They may call it power of the positive thinking which has no direct association with the words of faith in Jesus, as it could be used by anyone even those who do not believe in anything in the world.
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