If you speak these words, then this will happen and if you pray this prayer you will receive that. Christianity has become more about speaking the right words and receiving from God than living the right life and giving to God. Sermons and books about formulas and written prayers to receive from God are in high demand, and preachers and authors know this very well. But is Christianity about speaking the right words or living the right life?
The depraved nature in the flesh can’t please God
Through the fall, the seed of man became corrupt, whereby people are born with a corrupt nature. This depraved nature is evil and sinful and refuses to yield to the Law of God
Fallen man is rebellious, prideful, selfish, and self-willed, and can’t please God from this nature but only himself. Therefore every person needs to be born again from the Seed of God.
Only when people are born again from the holy Seed, they are able to please God (a.o. Romans 8:6-8).
If the Seed is good and holy, the nature of man shall be good and holy and man shall produce the right fruit in life and please God through his life.
That is the will of God!
God wants His children, who are justified by the blood of His Son Jesus Christ and have received His Holy Spirit, to live a holy and righteous life and that can only be done from a faithful heart and a holy and righteous nature; God’s nature.
A faithful heart and righteous nature vs An evil heart and sinful nature
God knows, that a faithful heart and a holy and righteous nature produce a holy life and righteous words and works. Words and works that don’t revolve around the will of the flesh but the will of the Spirit aka God’s will.
The words you speak are important, but as long as the heart is evil and people live in lawlessness, God shall not have pleasure in the words that are spoken and God shall not empower them.
Please note, God shall not empower them, but the god of this world, who is the father of sinners, does.
Many people forget that the devil still has power on earth. However, the power of Jesus Christ in heaven and on earth is greater than his power.
People can choose for a redemptive life in Christ or a sinful life in the world
People have a choice to be delivered from the power of the devil and by faith become born again in Christ (repentance, baptism, receiving of the Holy Spirit), and become a son of God (this applies to both male and female) or to stay a son of the devil by living in disobedience to God and lawlessness.
Sons of God and sons of the devil can speak the same religious words and pray the same thing, however, there is one difference between the two and that is their walk and the fruit in their lives.
A good tree brings forth good fruit and a corrupt tree brings forth evil fruit.
A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit (Matthew 7:16-20).
The love of God is shed abroad in the heart of the new creation by the Holy Spirit
If you have become a new creation, then the love of God is shed abroad in your heart by the Holy Spirit Which is given to you. From this love you shall love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and your neighbor as yourself. (a.o. Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:29-31; Romans 5:5),
You shall long to get to know Jesus and the Father and communicate through the Spirit with the Father and spend time with the Word.
Therefore, you’ll pray and read and study the Bible, so that you will get to know God and His will
The Holy Spirit Whom you have received in Christ from the Father, shall teach you.
In the power of the Holy Spirit, you shall put off the old man that is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness and renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created him, and live after the Spirit in obedience to the Father and His Word (Ephesians 4:17-31; Colossians 3).
You can speak all the words that you have been taught, and praise and worship the Lord with songs, but if you don’t walk after the Spirit and live holy and righteous and don’t keep His commandments, but keep walking after the flesh in lawlessness and live in sin, then the words you speak shall not reach God and shall not please Him and shall not avail much.
The law of attraction vs the law of the Spirit of life
The world teaches you to use the right words to get attention and pull on people’s emotions and influence them, or to accomplish or receive something.
The world says, if you only use the right words and keep speaking these words and visualize them, you can accomplish and get everything you want. Basically, by speaking and visualizing you can manifest everything.
But God is not a God of manipulation and God won’t be manipulated with words.
God’s Word doesn’t focus on speaking the right words and praying the right prayers, but a circumcised heart and living the right life. A life that is fully devoted unto God.
God wants submission and obedience to His word instead of hearing the repetition of words from people, who say they are His children but don’t do what He says, and live a lascivious life in darkness just like the ungodly (the children of the devil).
The Holy Spirit in you testifies that you are a child of God
The words you speak shall not convince you that you are a child of God. But the Holy Spirit in you testifies that you are a child of God (Romans 8:14-17).
The words you speak shall not as much manifest the Kingdom of God, but the Holy Spirit in you.
And when He was demanded of the Pharisees, when the Kingdom of God should come, He answered them and said, The Kingdom of God comes not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! Or, lo there! For, behold, the Kingdom of God is within you (Luke 17:20-21)
Ofcourse it’s important that you speak the word of God, since the Word is the Sword of the Spirit, and that you testify of Jesus Christ and preach God’s Kingdom. However, the words you speak must not be used as some magic formula to convince yourself or to please and fulfill the lusts and desires of your flesh.
Your faith must be in God and not in speaking the right words or praying the right prayers. (Read also: A technical faith).
A righteous and holy life in obedience to God and keeping His commandments, that’s what pleases God.
The walk of a righteous child of God
If you have the Holy Spirit and Christ is in you, you shall live a holy life. This means, a life in Christ, the Son, that is devoted unto God.
- You shall love God and believe His word. Therefore, you shall not get involved with pagan religions and philosophies and its doctrine and practices. (i.e. yoga, meditation, mindfulness, Reiki, Acupuncture, martial arts, etc.)
- You shall fear the Lord your God and believe, obey, and do His words instead of contradicting, twisting, and misusing His words for the lusts and desires of the flesh and the approval of sin
- You shall love your neighbor, and therefore you shall not lie and bear false witness
- You shall love your neighbor, and therefore you shall not steal other people’s work, money and possessions
- You shall love your spouse. Therefore, you shall not cheat on your spouse whether physical or by sight (watching porn, movies with sexual content, etc.)
- You shall love your spouse and therefore respect your spouse
- You shall love God and your spouse. Therefore, you shall not divorce but stay faithful to your own spouse till death do you part
- You shall love God and fear Him. Therefore, you shall not do things that are an abomination to God and grieve God
These are just some of the many things you do and don’t do, when you are separated from the world and translated into the Kingdom of the Son and are no longer a child of the devil and are no longer led by his word (lies that carries death) and the spirit of the world, but are a child of God that is led by His Word (the truth that contains life) and His Holy Spirit.
If you love and fear the Lord your God you shall do His will
If you fear the Lord God and love God with all your heart, then you shall do His will. You shall obey His Word and Spirit and keep His commandments. Through the abiding of the Holy Spirit, God’s Law is written on your heart and you shall do God’s will. (a.o. Jeremiah 31:33; Hebrews 8:10; 10:16; 1 John 3:24).
He that keeps His commandments dwells in Him and He in him
John wrote, that he that keeps His commandments dwells in Him and He in him. Hereby we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit which He has given us (1 John 3:24).
The people that do righteousness are righteous, even as He is righteous. The people that don’t do righteousness neither love their brother but commit sin are of the devil. For the devil sinned from the beginning (1 John 3:7-9).
John wrote, My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth. (1 John 3:18)
Not our words but our lives testify whether we are children of God and believe His Word.
The signs and wonders that followed Jesus
The signs and wonders followed Jesus, not because Jesus spoke the right words but because He was an obedient Son and walked righteous.
Jesus knew Who He was, Whom He belonged to and in Whose authority and power He walked. Through His walk and life He acknowledged the greatness and might of His Father.
Through His righteous and holy walk in obedience to the Father, the Father heard His words and prayers and answered His words and prayers. (a.o. Romans 5:12-29; Philippians 2:5-11; Hebrews 5:7-9).
Who in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto Him that was able to save Him from death, and was heard in that He feared; Though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered; And being made perfect, He became the Author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him
Hebrews 5:7-9
The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much
God’s Word doesn’t say that the right words of someone’s prayer avails much, but that the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous person avails much.
You are made righteous by the blood of Jesus, and from that justification, you‘ll live a righteous life without condemnation. (a.o. 1 Corinthians 5:21; 6:11; Romans 3:24-26; 5:9; 8:1-4; Ephesians 1:7; 5:8-15; Colossians 1:14; 1 Thessalonians 2:12; James 5:16; 1 John 1:6-7; 2 John 1:6).
It is written, Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. And whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him, because we keep His commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in His sight (1 John 3:21-22).
Therefore be holy, because God is holy.
Don’t focus on speaking the right words, but focus on Jesus Christ, the living Word and the Author and finisher of our faith, and doing His will.
If you submit to Jesus, Who is the Head of the Church, and His words abide in you, and as a result, you obey His words and keep His commandments and speak and pray according to His will, then you shall ask what you will and it shall be done unto you.
If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you shall ask what you will, and it shall be done unto you
John 15:7
‘Be the salt of the earth’
