During one of the most stressful times in my life, I decided to fight against the pressure with words—God’s Words. I sat down and wrote on a piece of paper all the Scriptures I could find about how God gives us his strength and joy and peace even in the midst of trials. Promises like:
The joy of the Lord is my strength.
God will keep me in perfect peace as I keep my mind fixed on him.
I am strong in the Lord and his mighty power.
God has a great future for me.
I didn’t feel like saying those things. In the state I was in, I was struggling to believe them. But I believed words have power, my words—and that God was watching over his Word to perform his promises. I took God at his promise too (in Jeremiah 1:12) that what didn’t seem like it was making a difference before my eyes could change everything in the spiritual realm. I knew from enough examples in my life, and the lives of people in the Bible, that you can’t live by what you feel. You have to live by what you know to be true. What is true is that you can be an overcomer instead of being overcome.
As I meditated upon those words I’d printed out and read and recited them to myself, over time I began to feel relief, comfort, renewal. The stress eased. My anxious thoughts melted, a little at a time. My worries of “what if” turned to “because God.” For example, instead of thinking, what if I never get better? I began to think, I am already better because God is strong when I am weak.
The disciple Luke wrote, “The Word of God grew mightily and prevailed” (Acts 19:20). I saw that in my own life. I found to be true what 2 Corinthians 10:4 says: That we can fight negative thoughts and events with even a word.
You can do the same. Maybe you start with just these promises listed.
Excerpt from You Are Made For More!
