Speak Out! (And a Giveaway)

*Author's note: I think this is the longest post I've ever written. The giveaway is at the end. Now, don't be a skimmer! There is something in all these words just for you, but you'll have to read to discover it. Have fun!

Hello, my little chickadees. Are you ready to get down to the nitty-gritty of Word power? Let's first understand what happens when we speak God's Word, and then let's stand up and shout it out! But if you haven't read my first post on this subject, go hurry and get caught up!

A.  What's Going On?

1. When we speak God's Word out loud, we increase our own faith.

Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.

Romans 10:17

I don't want to wait around for Sundays to hear the Word! I want to build my faith every single day. And the only way I'm going to hear it at home (other than listening to the Bible on CD) is to speak it out myself!

2. When we speak God's Word, we overcome the enemy. That's what I'm talkin' about! We're on a mission of overcoming, right?

Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: "Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ. For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony...

Revelation 12:10-11 

The accuser is Satan. The "they" is us! We open our mouths and declare the Word of God over ourselves, and our accuser is overcome! I love that. We are not overcome. No. We overcome him.

3. When we speak God's Word, we put angels to work. I am no angel expert, but I do know this:

Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?

Hebrews 1:14

And I also know that angels are not always free and clear to help us at any given moment. Sometimes they have to battle the enemy before they do their assignments for us! (See Daniel 10:12-13.) What can we do to release the angels to do their jobs?

Bless the Lord you his angels, mighty in strength, who perform His word, obeying the voice of His word!

Psalm 103:20, NAS version

Great! What the angels actually do is perform the Word of God. They obey the VOICE of His Word. I love knowing that when I speak the Word, the angels are listening and making sure that Word is performed. That makes me feel like I'm actually getting some stuff done around here. This is good news for moms who feel like their work is constantly being undone and messed up!

4. When we speak God's Word in faith, we are agreeing with Him, which releases His promises to us.

For no matter how many promises God has made, they are "Yes" in Christ. And so through him the "Amen" is spoken by us to the glory of God.

I Corinthians 1:20

Okay, this is good stuff. We've got a partnership going on with God here. It's a team effort. If I just sit around twiddling my thumbs, I really can't expect the promises of God to be fulfilled in my life. My faith must be alive and active. I look at one of the many promises in the Bible and I know that God's part is "yes." He will keep the promise. My part is "amen" or "I agree with this!" Notice the amen is "spoken." This out loud business is important! Remember, angels are listening. (And so are demons.)

5. When we pray by speaking God's Word, we can know that our prayer is effective. It isn't hitting a brick wall and sliding down to the ground all limp and dead.

As the rain and snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is the word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

Isaiah 55:10-11

6. When we receive the Word that we are speaking, we are filled with superhuman power!

And we also [especially] thank God continually for this, that when you received the message of God [which you heard] from us, you welcomed it not as the word of [mere] men, but as it truly is, the Word of God, which is effectually at work in you who believe [exercising its superhuman power in those who adhere to and trust in and rely on it].

1 Thess. 2:13 (AMP version)

Fun! I'll take that. I need that.

B.  Everyday How-Tos

I feel the need to emphasize that confessing the Word is not magical, mindless chanting. It is not a secret formula for getting everything in life to go your way. I desire in my own life for it to be intentional, not ritual. I do not ever want this to become an empty, religious practice. I consider it a discipline, but one that is a living, breathing exchange between me and my Father. I pray it is that for you, too.

The most basic way to start speaking out is to allow your Bible reading time to become a verbal dialogue. I am verbal when I eat. "These are really good potatoes!" "This spam sandwich really hits the spot. I need the recipe for that." I know that when I read my Bible, I am feeding my spirit, so why not be verbal about that, too? "Oh, this is a good verse, Lord! What does it mean for me? How do I live this out?"

As I read, I am learning to recognize that the "jump-outs" are the Holy Spirit initiating a dialogue with me. When a verse jumps out at me, it's kind of like getting an instant message when you're online. Someone knows you are online and wants to chat with you. You can either respond or ignore it. So when I get a jump-out, I sense the Holy Spirit is saying, "Look at this. What do you think of it?" Or, "Pay attention. You need this right now." Or, "I wrote this just for you at this moment." I've learned that when I respond, this dialogue will continue. There's nothing better than having an instant message chat with the Lord!

Now, for me, this kind of interactive Bible-reading naturally progresses into a prayerful confession of the Word. If the Lord and I have been talking about a specific verse or passage, then I want to add my "Amen", tell Him I agree, and make it my own. For example, if we have been talking about Hebrews 10:23--

Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful -- 

Then my verbal response is something like, "Yes, Lord! I will hold unswervingly to this hope I profess, for You are faithful! You keep your promises!"

I like to take this practice a step further and have times not only of interactive Bible reading, but of specific and intentional confession.

So, I have my Speak Out Notebook. I want to join with Paul, who spoke what he believed. I believe, therefore I speak!

My notebook is filled with what I believe. I typed out bunches of my favorite verses, and added in "me" and "I" to make it personal.

I like that I have something different to confess each day.

And I love that by doing this, I'm also memorizing these verses without even realizing it.

Of course, there are published resources for just this kind of Bible confessing. This one right here has been my friend for many a year.

It was given to me when I graduated from high school. Thanks, Gayle! This is one of the best gifts I've ever received.

This baby has been used! I know the personal confession pages by heart.

The majority of the book consists of written prayers, based on Scripture, for specific needs or areas of concern. These are helpful if I am unsure of how to pray about something, or unsure of what the Bible has to say about a subject. This one was a favorite during all my pregnancies.

Always a good one!

I think this is my favorite prayer in the whole book. It goes through the many names of God, and is just all about blessing Him for who He is. I've prayed this one so many times, and I tear up every single time. What a great way to get my eyes off myself and on Him!

Here's another one that was a great gift. Thanks, Jill!

This one is also topical in nature, but each Scripture confession or prayer is written out individually on cards.

This works well if I am running short on time, but still need to grab a bite of Word.

It comes with a handy card holder, so I can actually see my chosen verse all day. This is helpful for meditating one by one on the many jewels to be found in the Bible.

I think this would be a nice one for someone who works in an office. You could sit this little baby right on your desk and whisper your prayer throughout your work day.

This is one I really enjoyed while I had it. It has Scripture confessions for just about every topic you could think of. Sadly, it somehow fell out of my van on a trip. Hopefully it made it into the hands of someone who needed it. I miss you, little purple book!

This one is hard-core, people. It covers all manner of topics, including ones not mentioned in the others. This one is great for people who need to break free of things like pornography, alcoholism, the effects of sexual abuse, a history of occult practices, and a host of many others.

But my favorite part is the section on physical healing.

The wording of the prayers is just the kind of dialogue I like to have with Jesus.

C.  The Giveaway

So, we've come to the giveaway! Congratulations for making it down here. There was much to weed through. I still feel like I'm not finished sharing on this subject, but for now, I really want to give you one of these resources that have helped me so much. Leave me a comment and tell me what you would choose if you won. We've got the little gray prayer book, the Beth Moore card set, the purple Joyce Meyer book, and the John Eckhardt book. Just to clarify, I'm not giving away my own copies. These are all available on Amazon. I think I'm going to choose more than one winner. I just haven't decided how many yet. So, get to it! Leave a comment. And in the meantime, let's all speak out!