The Scriptures reveal to us that we become recipients of God’s salvation plan for mankind when with our hearts, we believe in the finished work of Christ on the cross of Calvary, and confess with our mouths, Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour (Rom 10). Clearly, our hearts and mouths play a vital role in our walk of faith.
In our previous posts, we looked extensively at what the Scriptures refer to as our heart, and how important the maintenance of our spiritual heart is, for the sustenance of our faith in God. In this post and the subsequent one, we will look at the mouth, as an organ of our faith.
Our future is carved by the words we speak. We read from the book of Genesis that even though the Spirit of God hovered over the surface of the earth, there was darkness all over, until God commanded the light into being:
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Then God said,”Let there be light”; and there was light. Gen 1:1-4 NKJV
Similarly, one may be born again, filled with the Holy Spirit, with the evidence of speaking in tongues and even manifest the fruit of the Spirit, but without employing the use of our mouths, by speaking out in faith what we desire to see manifested in our lives, we may not see the realization of that which we hope for, in the physical realm.
No doubt, the mouth is an important organ of our faith! If this organ must be exercised in the realization of our salvation through Christ Jesus, then its importance in our entire walk of faith cannot be underestimated. As the Scriptures say:
Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit. Prov 18:21 NKJV
The Apostle Paul also puts it this way:
The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); Rom 10:8 ESV
So our faith in God should not only be in our hearts, but must be expressed with the words that proceed from our mouths. We must speak out in faith, what we trust God for in our hearts. For as we confess into being, what we are yet to see in the natural world, our future will be carved out to conform to our utterances. Our declarations of faith will thus be like a light dispelling whatever dark situation we may be confronted with. I like the way this biblical truth is expressed in the book of Job:
You will also declare a thing, And it will be established for you; So light will shine on your ways. Job 22:28 NKJV
There is also a story in the Bible that depicts the veracity of this Scripture. In Numbers chapters 13 and 14, we read that Moses sent 12 men, leaders from each of the twelve tribes of Israel to spy out the land of Canaan, the land that God had promised to give to His people Israel. The mandate given to these spies were as follows: to see what the land was like: whether the people who dwelt in it were strong or weak, few or many; whether the land was good or bad; whether the cities they inhabited were like camps or strongholds; whether the land was rich or poor; and whether there were forests there or not; and to bring some of the fruit of the land.
All the twelve spies returned from the trip, brought fruit from the land and reported that the land flows with milk and honey, the cities were fortified and the people who dwelt there were strong and mighty.
However, Joshua and Caleb gave voice to the faith they had in God, by publicly declaring that in spite of the apparent advantage the inhabitants of Canaan seemed to have over them in respect of their physical strength, they were certain that, with God on their side, they would surely overcome those inhabitants. The other ten spies however instilled fear in the Israelites by the report they gave, for they said to the people of Israel:
We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we…. The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature..…. and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.” Num 13:31-33 NKJV
By these words, almost all the people lost their faith in God and cried out to Moses, complaining that they would have been better off dying in Egypt than the current predicament they found themselves in, with Moses as their leader. God considered those utterances as an expression of their lack of faith in Him and made a profound statement:
‘just as you have spoken in My hearing, so I will do to you…. Num 14:28 NKJV
Consequently, the ten spies, along with all those who stood with them perished in the wilderness, whereas Joshua, Caleb and all those who also stood with these two men in faith, were able to make it into the Promised Land!
God’s word never falls to the ground. He will do for you and me, just what He hears us declare with our mouths. If we claim to have faith in Him, let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, with the assurance that He is faithful; and will do according to what He has promised us in His Word. (Heb 10:23).
To be continued in the next blog.
God bless you!
