Time to Pray and Declare

Three weeks after their first date, my father proposed, and my mother said, “What took you so long?” My parents marriage is a testimony to the phrase we say in our family, “God is the God of Romance!”  (as you read in yesterday's 1 + 1 = One.)  They are madly in love in their late 80s, after 60+ years of marriage, and the love they have cultivated and share is a love we all hope to experience in marriage.  

My mother, affectionately known as Babby, is an amazing woman of God, and she has spent hours praying (with my father) for our family, and hours praying for my future husband and I to meet.  A mother’s heart aches when the marriage of her youngest daughter is delayed or destroyed, and though my mother has often tried to “fix it”, and find the perfect male, or simply one with a pulse, daily she prays for me. 

Some of my mother’s famous quotes:  

“Onward and upward!” 

“Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and start all over again!”

“Be careful of the things you say (confess with your mouth) - your words are powerful!” 

Because of my mother's dedication to prayer, when she told me that there is supernatural power when we speak the Word and promises of God, I listened.  In recent years many of the Christian teachers I respect, are catching up to my mother, giving a similar message - that the words we speak have power to create, good or bad.  

A book was handed to me after a lovely dinner party with friends a couple of years ago, and that book has been one of the inspirations for me to pray about the desires of my heart for marriage differently.  Charles Capps, Faith and Confession is the book that reinforced my mother’s teaching over many years, and when I told her about my discovery of Charles Capps, she said, “Oh yes, I heard him preach many times!”  The same teaching that impacted my mother’s life, was now impacting mine.  Isn’t God fun?  

“God’s principles are involved in confession and the principles of faith.  The bible says ‘faith comes by hearing , and hearing by the Word of God.’It didn’t say that’s the only way we can get faith."

 “Hearing the Word of God causes faith in God and in His Word to come to you.  This spiritual force is also released out of your mouth when you speak God’s Word.  It actually releases God’s ability.  I believe that is one of the reasons Paul said -
‘I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.’”  (Philippians 4:13) 

“God’s word that is conceived in the heart, formed with the tongue and spoken out of the mouth becomes a spiritual force, releasing the ability of God.”  

So, if speaking, or declaring the Word of God regarding our desires for marriage releases faith, hope, and is a spiritual force releasing God’s ability, don’t you think it is worth stepping out of your routine box, and trying something new?  As one of my praying friends said, “it is sort-of an experiment!”  I believe that as we choose to make these declarations in agreement with each other, for each other, and for the many other people all over the world longing for a Godly marriage, we will see a shift, and an increase in marriages in our communities.  

“Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit.”  (Proverbs 18:21)

The very next verse says....

“He who finds a wife finds a good thing, And obtains favor from the LORD.”  (Proverbs 18:22)

Coincidence?  I think not!   

Choose to allow God and His powerful word to heal your heart from the battering of disappointments, and hope deferred.  

Choose to have faith in God, and by doing so, you are telling disappointment, fear and discouragement to hit the road, get lost, be gone!  

Choose to believe, and to hope again.  I am not promoting a formula - “do this and you will get married and live happily ever after,” but all things are possible with God!  At the very least, you will build up your faith, increase in hope and peace, and you will have more joy in the Lord.  

My first prayer of declaration for you is from Romans 15:13 - Amplified Version

"May the God of your hope so fill you with all joy and peace in believing [through the experience of your faith] that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound and be overflowing (bubbling over) with hope."   (Romans 15:13 Amplified) 

“I would have lost heart, unless I had believed
That I would see the goodness of the Lord
In the land of the living.”
Wait on the Lord;
Be of good courage,
And He shall strengthen your heart;
Wait, I say, on the Lord!  (Psalm 27:13-14)

I pray for you and declare - Do not lose heart!  I believe that you and I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living - soon!  So wait on the Lord, be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart!   Let’s endeavor together to bubble over with Hope!  

Amen!  

Expecting to be amazed ~

Barbara

© Barbara Nelson – 2012