Just Words
14th June 2022, 04:53, London
“Just words.”
“Lord, I don’t want to have just words.” I utter these words and let out a deep sigh. I can feel tears welling up in my eyes as I finally admit the truth to myself. “I don’t want just words.”
________
God gave me a promise that seemed difficult to believe. To be honest, it seemed more like impossible to believe. When I heard the breadth of everything He wanted to achieve, I was struggling to see how it would all come together. Hence, in typical Tumi fashion I decided to help him bring these words to come to pass. I mean, God certainly needs a sidekick and I thought helping him would be such a good strategy.
So help I did. I started working day and night to ensure things come together. But in a weird twist of events it seemed like the harder I worked the further the finish line felt. It felt like it was all effort and no results – almost like grasping air. I was working hard yet nothing was moving. Nothing was happening.
I remember the day I finally came clean and admitted to God the reason I had acted in that manner. It was because I didn’t want to have to hold on to “just words” ie just His words… yep, the audacity.
The moment I said it out loud I couldn’t even believe what I said. But weirdly enough, admitting this hidden secret in my heart actually felt like my deliverance. I was finally able to confess what was in my heart that I had been hiding from God. Ironic, because nothing is hidden from him.
I realised that my continuous efforts to ‘do’ was an attempt to have something in my hand so that it would look like something was happening. But I knew deep down that my efforts – more like my toil – would not yield the outcome He had told me about. Everything God had promised me had to be done His way and more importantly in His time both of which were two things I attempted to speed up and hope I could get the outcome as soon as possible.
When I bared my heart to God and admitted the truth He was gentle with me. I didn’t get a harsh rebuke or chastisement. I wasn’t put in the naughty corner either. I vividly remember His response.
“Just words? Well, that is exactly what I want you to have.”
Faith is the evidence of things unseen. He wanted me to learn that His words are NOT “just words”. They create things.
God’s words create realities. They are not ‘just words.’
His words created the earth and upholds it.
His words set the boundary for land and sea.
His words caused dead men to rise again.
When God speaks, He creates, so whenever you get a promise from him, they are not ‘just words.’ Even when you see nothing, He will take you on a journey to show you that the very fact that He spoke it is Him creating the outcome and at the appointed time there will be a manifestation of that which He spoke.
So where do we go from here and how did I get out of the rot? Simple: let the words He has spoken to you and the promises he gave you incubate in your heart. Remind yourself of the fathers of faith in Hebrews 11 who believed “just words.” All of them eventually saw the hand of God like never before. Dare yourself to believe not just words but to believe His words.
One of my favourite scriptures of all time is this:
“For no word from God will ever fail.”
Luke 1:37NIV
God will move mountains and do everything necessary to ensure his words don’t fall to the ground. All that’s required of us is a mustard seed of faith and to believe these words. Trust him, and in due course you will see the manifestation of the very words he gave you as a promise.
