I love to think about how the Lord formed Adam from the dust of the ground. Genesis 2:7. He breathed into that form the breath of life. His brain was fully functioning ~ he named the animals he had never seen before.

This is God’s way. Psalm 92:14 Amplified says, “(Growing in grace) they shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be full of sap (of spiritual vitality) and (rich in the) verdure (of trust, love, and contentment).”

Here is a verse in Job 21:24 Amplified. It says of one who dies in full strength, “His pails are full of milk (his veins are filled with nourishment), and the marrow of his bones is fresh and moist.”

We will live out our fashioned days. Psalm 139:16. How we live them out is in our stewardship. The only things that we can control in our lives are our thoughts. No one, nor any circumstance dictates our thoughts.

Psalm 32:5 Amplified says, “I acknowledge my sin to You, and my iniquity I did not hide. I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord (continually unfolding the past till all is told)—then You (instantly) forgave me the guilt and iniquity of my sin. Selah (pause, and calmly think of that)!”

The wording reminds me of when Hannah poured out her heart before the Lord. Eli the priest thought she was drunk. 1 Samuel 1:16 says, “…for out of the abundance of my complaint and grief I have spoken until now.”

Psalm 62:8 says, “…pour out your heart before Him…” Why does the Lord want us to do this when He knows what is in our heart? Pouring out all the emotional pain that we buried, is the pathway to receiving forgiveness and inner healing. 

Ignoring our emotional pain is sin because of what it does to our health. Our bodies belong to the Lord ~ we are only stewards.

I started to memorize Psalm 32. As I worked through verse 3 my mind went back to David’s prayer in Psalm 51. His bones were affected by his unconfessed sin. Read verse 3 carefully and think of your own life. It says, “When I kept silent, my bones grew old through my groaning all the day long.”

How healthy are your bones? Here is a verse from a new song called “Rejoicing Bones.” When I thought about my circumstances I became gloomy inside. My heart was getting heavy and my peace destroyed. Then in Your Word You revealed the secret of health. My bones are affected when my heart is in despair.

Verse 4 was the fruit of his unconfessed sin. It says, “For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; my vitality was turned into the drought of summer.” Dry. Barren. No fruit of the Spirit. Hidden sin that we don’t want to face blocks our vitality.

Pronouncements are against God’s design for us. We need to ask Him to forgive us, and then renounce them. 2 Corinthians 4:2 says, “But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.”

Hebrews 4:13 Amplified says, “And not a  creature exists that is concealed from His sight, but all things are open and exposed, naked and defenseless to the eyes of Him with Whom we have to do.” Hallelujah! That means that He knows what our pronouncements are ~ those we have spoken and those that were spoken over us. 

Pronouncements defeat, they keep us in bondage, they block healing: emotionally, spiritually, or physically. They produce fear of succeeding, or finishing things we started out doing. They sap life because they are death words that destroy our inner strength, and keep us on a treadmill of futility.

Here is a paraphrase from a paragraph in my first book, “Freedom! From Past Hurts.” What we speak affects us and the one we are speaking to. Our words release something in the spirit realm. 

Paul spoke words over Elymas that had an immediate effect. Acts 13:9 says that he was filled with the Holy Spirit, and looked intently on him. Verse 11 says, “And now, indeed, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you shall be blind, not seeing the sun for a time. And immediately a dark mist fell on him, and he went around seeking someone to lead him by the hand.”

Have you ever said, “You stupid fool” or “I can’t do anything right” or said those words over someone else? Those words have the power to build inner strongholds that bind our lives and hold us captive. Berating can become a habit that defeats. We have no right to condemn ourselves because the Lord doesn’t. Romans 8:33-34. 

Our inner strength comes from our relationship with the Lord. Ephesians 3:16 Amplified says, “May He grant you out of the rich treasury of His glory to be strengthened and reinforced with mighty power in the inner man by the (Holy) Spirit (Himself indwelling your innermost being and personality).”

Think of inner strength like spiritual rebar. I drive by a construction site for our new jail facility. There is rebar sticking out all over to fortify and reinforce this all brick building. However, there is something that defeats inner strength ~ negative pronouncements.

In court they pronounce a sentence on someone. We pronounce a sentence upon ourselves when we say, “I can’t…” I am…with a negative word, or we place a critical judgment on ourselves, others, or our circumstances. 

Remember Proverbs 18:21. It says, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.” Listen to what you are negatively speaking over yourself.

When we understand that God has a preplanned purpose for our lives, we will not allow other things to distract us. Jesus finished His earthly purpose when He died on the cross for us. John 17:4 says, “I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given me to do.” Isaiah 43:7 says that we are created for His glory.

I love Job 42:2. It says that nothing can thwart God’s purpose. Ephesians 1:11 says that He works all things in our lives according to His purpose for us. When He formed us in the womb., He knew everything that we would ever do, not do, what would distract us, and how we would finish our course.

Paul finished his course. Do you love and look forward to His appearing as Paul did? He wrote about the fruit of that fixation on Jesus so we can all finish well ~ the crown of righteousness. 2 Timothy 4:8.

Years ago I was called to the ER. They had care flighted my friend from Lake Tahoe to Reno. Her heart had stopped en route. As I walked into her room, there were many machines beeping as they were working on her. 

Her eyes were open and fixed. The Holy Spirit spoke to me, “This is what I mean to fix your eyes on Jesus.” Nothing they were doing affected change in any way. Jesus is our example. Luke 9:51 says, “…He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem.” Even though He knew that He was going to be crucified, nothing deterred Him from His purpose.

John 4:34 says, “Jesus said to them, My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.” John 13 is the account of Judas Iscariot’s betrayal. Verse 3 says, “Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God.”

Think of a magnifying glass. Allowing the sun to shine through the glass onto an object  intensifies the heat. How do I know this? My cousins taught me as they fried earthworms to my protest.

When we focus on the Lord, who is the Sun of Righteousness, the reflection of His character is intensified through our lives. It is when we focus on ourselves instead of Him that our hidden flesh is manifested.

Centering our focus on the Lord brings inner stability and strength to endure. Hebrews 10:36 says that when we endure our trials, then we are doing the will of God. His desire is for fulfillment and completion of His will and purpose in our lives.

Our flesh hates endurance, and looks for ways to distract us so we lose focus. Humpomone is the Greek word for endurance. Note in my Bible. “…capacity to continue to bear up under difficult circumstances, not with passive complacency, but with a hopeful fortitude that actively resists weariness and defeat.”

The moment we act independent of the Lord, we have lost our sensitivity to His nearness. We cease to hear His still small voice, checking our spirit to warn us, but also to encourage us. John 15:5 should be a verse that is etched in the walls of our heart.

I had a hidden leak in my old mobile. It took me a while to realize it was there, until a wet spot appeared. After the flooring man took up the vinyl planks, the subfloor was laid bare to dry out. 

I wrote strategic verses all over the floor. I wanted to stand on them. It was a prophetic statement to me to always be standing on His word. We also do that through memorizing and meditating. That causes His word to be implanted or etched on the walls of our heart. That is another way the Holy Spirit checks our thoughts ~ He brings that word into our mind to stop us in our tracks before we sin.