Vocalize Your Faith
“For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7). One of the most important questions we can ask ourselves is: What are you continually thinking about? The Bible shows us that what occupies our hearts and minds matters. Our thoughts influence the way we see ourselves, the way we respond to circumstances, the way we speak, and ultimately the way we live. This raises an important question: Do we choose our thoughts, or are our thoughts largely influenced by the things we continually bring before ourselves and meditate upon?
If you are constantly focusing on failure, you will begin to think about failure. If you are continually focusing on loss, you will begin to see life through the lens of loss. If you repeatedly look at your weaknesses, your weaknesses can become the loudest voice in your mind. There are people whose mindset has become part of the reason they continue to experience the same patterns in their lives. They have become so accustomed to looking at what is wrong that they struggle to see what God is doing. Instead of seeing possibilities, they see limitations. Instead of seeing the future God has called them to, they see the evidence of their past.
The question, therefore, is not only, “What are you thinking?” but also, “What have you subjected your spirit to?” What are you watching? What are you listening to? What conversations are you continually having? What stories are you repeatedly telling yourself? What images have you allowed to become normal in your mind? Many people have subjected their spirits to fear without realizing it. They constantly consume material that produces fear, anxiety, suspicion, hopelessness, and negativity. Some of the movies, films, conversations, and experiences we repeatedly expose ourselves to can influence the way we perceive life. This is why Scripture instructs us to be intentional about what we allow to occupy our minds: “Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things” (Philippians 4:8).
You cannot continually feed your spirit fear and expect faith to become your dominant language. You cannot constantly meditate on failure and expect yourself to naturally speak victory. What you continually expose yourself to will influence the vocabulary of your inner man. This is why you need to become intentional about what you place before your eyes, what you listen to, and what you allow to occupy your imagination.
One of the greatest challenges facing many people is that they have learned how to vocalize their fears. They speak about everything that could go wrong. They constantly announce what they cannot do. They repeatedly talk about what they have lost. They describe the failure before they have even attempted the assignment. They keep asking, “What if it does not work?” “What if I fail?” “What if I lose everything?” Eventually, the fear becomes louder than the faith.
The Bible records Job saying, “For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me” (Job 3:25). Job was describing the reality he was experiencing, but his words also reveal the place fear had occupied in his inner world. There is a difference between acknowledging a difficult situation and allowing that situation to become your identity. You may be experiencing a difficult season, but the difficult season is not necessarily your destiny. You may have failed, but failure does not mean you are a failure. You may have experienced loss, but loss does not mean your life will always be defined by loss. You must learn to separate what you are experiencing from who God has called you to become.
If fear can become a language, then faith must also become a language. Romans 10:17 says, “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Notice the connection between faith and hearing. What you hear matters. You need to teach your spirit a new vocabulary. The Scriptures reveal the character, promises, ways, and voice of God to us. As you immerse yourself in Scripture, you begin to discover what God says about you, what He says about your future, and what He says about the life of a believer.
You begin to discover that you are not merely the product of your circumstances. You begin to declare, “I am the head, and not the tail” (Deuteronomy 28:13). You begin to understand what it means to be blessed in your going out and your coming in. You begin to recognize that your identity is not determined by your past but by what God has spoken. This is what happens when Scripture begins to reshape your vocabulary. The Word of God begins to give you language for the life God has called you to live.
There is also a reason vision is so important. Before you can consistently speak about something, you must allow yourself to see it. Proverbs 29:18 says, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” What are you seeing? Are you only seeing the person you have been, or are you beginning to see the person God is calling you to become? Are you only seeing the failed business, or can you begin to see the business God has placed in your heart? Are you only seeing your current circumstances, or can you begin to see the future beyond your circumstances? Are you only seeing your weaknesses, or can you begin to see what God can do through you?
This is why vision boards and intentional exposure can be useful. Place before yourself things that remind you of the future you are praying toward and the person you are becoming. Let your environment continually point you toward faith rather than fear. Your vision should not replace God's Word; rather, God's Word should shape your vision. When God begins to give you a picture of what He is calling you toward, you need to allow that picture to become stronger than the picture fear has created.
Sometimes people struggle when they see someone succeeding in the very area where they believe God has called them. Instead of being inspired, they become envious. Instead of learning, they withdraw. Instead of celebrating what God is doing in someone else's life, they avoid seeing it because it reminds them of what they have not yet experienced. But sometimes the person you are tempted to avoid is carrying a picture of what is possible for you.
You may look at someone who has built a successful business and ask, “Why them?” You may see someone walking in a particular calling and ask, “Why not me?” You may see someone experiencing a healthy marriage, ministry, influence, or level of achievement and become frustrated because you have not reached that place yet. But what if instead of allowing comparison to produce envy, you allowed exposure to produce vision? Paul said, “Follow me as I also follow Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1). There is a place for learning from people who are further along in areas where God is developing you. You do not have to despise someone else's manifestation in order to believe God for your own.
Sometimes you need to see what is possible so that your faith can begin to speak. The enemy would love for you to avoid every picture that reminds you of what you could become. He would love for you to remain focused on your present limitations, your past failures, and your current weaknesses. But there are times when God will allow you to see something because He wants you to recognize what is possible through Him.
Faith is not merely something you keep hidden inside yourself. Scripture repeatedly connects faith with confession. Paul writes, “With the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Romans 10:10). What are you saying about your life? What are you saying about your future? What are you saying about your family? What are you saying about your calling? What are you saying about your capacity to obey God?
There is a difference between pretending that problems do not exist and refusing to allow problems to have the final word. Faith does not require you to deny reality. Faith teaches you to speak from the reality of God's Word while facing your circumstances. The Israelites saw giants, but Caleb saw a promise. When others said, “We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we,” Caleb responded, “Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it” (Numbers 13:31; 13:30). The circumstances were real. The difference was the voice they chose to believe.
You cannot spend all your time listening to fear and then expect your mouth to naturally speak faith. You have to deliberately expose yourself to the Word of God. Read Scripture. Listen to teachings that strengthen your faith. Spend time around people who encourage you to obey God. Study the lives of people who have walked faithfully in their calling. Fill your environment with reminders of what God has spoken. The goal is not simply positive thinking. The goal is biblical thinking.
There is a difference. Positive thinking says, “Everything will work out because I believe it will.” Biblical faith says, “I trust God because He has spoken, and I will align my life with what He has said.” That kind of faith produces a different vocabulary. Instead of saying, “I cannot,” you begin to ask, “What is God asking me to do?” Instead of saying, “It will never happen,” you begin to say, “I will trust God with the process.” Instead of continually declaring your fears, you begin to declare God's Word.
There is a connection between vision and language. When God begins to show you something, your vocabulary begins to change. You begin to speak differently because you are seeing differently. You begin to see the business. You begin to see the ministry. You begin to see the family. You begin to see the assignment. You begin to see the possibilities. You begin to see yourself walking in obedience to God. And as you see, you begin to speak.
This is why you must guard the images you allow to dominate your mind. The enemy would love for you to develop a mental picture of a future completely dominated by fear. God, however, calls you to renew your mind. Paul says, “Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2). Transformation begins with renewed thinking. What you continually meditate upon can influence the language you use, and the language you use can influence the way you approach the life God has placed before you.
Perhaps the question you need to ask yourself today is simple: What have I been vocalizing? Have you been vocalizing your fear or your faith? Have you been speaking more about what the enemy can do than what God can do? Have you been rehearsing your failures more than God's promises? Have you allowed your past to become the vocabulary of your future?
It is time to change the language. Begin to speak over your life. Speak over your destiny. Speak over your family. Speak over your calling. Speak God's Word over the areas where fear has become dominant. Do not simply speak because you want something to happen. Speak because you have chosen to bring your words into agreement with God's truth.
Faith comes by hearing, and hearing comes by the Word of God. So expose yourself to the Word. Let the Word reshape your thinking. Let your thinking reshape your vision. Let your vision influence your language. And let your language reflect the faith that God is building within you.
Stop vocalizing your fears and start vocalizing your faith. The life God has called you to live requires you to see differently, think differently, speak differently, and walk differently. What are you seeing? What are you hearing? What are you saying? And most importantly, what have you subjected your spirit to?
It is time to teach your spirit a new vocabulary. It is time to vocalize your faith.
