Time to Raise Your Expectations?

And he said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord God, you know.” Then he said to me, “Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.” Ezekiel 37:3-4 (ESV)

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If your house is freezing, what will help most: a thermometer or a thermostat?

A thermometer tells the current temperature, but a thermostat sets it. Confessing God’s Word aloud over our lives works like a thermostat. It sets our expectations of the future.

As I talk with people, I’ve discovered very few pray the Word out loud, yet doing so changes everything. In Ezekiel chapter 37, God told Ezekiel to speak over a valley of dried, scattered bones. As Ezekiel did, the bones reassembled into whole people again. Speaking God’s Word in faith is powerful. 

I recommend reading God’s Word aloud too. It works to plant it in your heart and allows angels to leap into action because they serve believers and obey the voice of God’s Word. (See Psalm 103:20, Daniel 10:12.)

Someone recently asked how I was handling the pandemic. I said, “I haven’t changed. I just get up and speak the Word.” For example, every day I declare, “We are blessed coming in and going out (Deuteronomy 28:6). No weapon formed against us shall prosper (Isaiah 54:17). We declare no plagues are coming near our dwelling (Psalm 91:10). We declare that we’ll be rewarded with long life (Psalm 91:16).”

When it comes to God’s Word, speak it out loud. Let your kids see you prophesying God’s Word over your future. Don’t be like a thermometer, merely stating what is. Confess God’s Word aloud with confidence because, like a thermostat, your life will rise to the level you set it.

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