Use your words.

"Jesus answered, 'It is written'...Jesus answered him, 'It is also written'...Jesus said to him, 'Away from me, Satan! For it is written'..."

- Matthew 4:4a, 7a & 10a (New International Version)

-----

I gotta talk about the temptation of the enemy in the wilderness this week because it is real! I just experienced it first hand. Mine came in the form of a seed of doubt & rebellion toward God that was planted in my mind from a marketing message I saw on social media. Ain't that crazy!? And as asinine as the thought was, it started actually nagging at me. So much so that I started praying to God like, "Lord, please take this thought away. Help me overcome this thought." I didn't want that thang to take root! But do you know what God finally told me?

Stop praying about stuff you should be speaking to. 

Whew! Got it. When that word hit me I was like "Say less!" 😂  Because I've already been taught the power of my words and knew better. Thank God for the way He patiently trains us! 

As always, Jesus is our Mentor and showed us how it's done when He went through His wilderness season. Everything the devil came at Him with, Jesus came right back at it with God's word. And I love how Jesus didn't even pray about the temptation, He just spoke directly to it. We don't have to seek God's intervention for stuff that we already have word to combat. The Word will take care of it for us, we just have to speak it. 

Now I know it's not always easy to know exactly what to speak so if you gon' pray about anything in this moment, pray and ask God what to speak. Ask Him to give you a scripture. Ask the Holy Spirit to remind you of words God has has already planted in you for this situation. Then wait for, expect & look for His response. Trust and believe, He'll give you the words to say. And when He does, speak them! 

-----

Still hungry? Eat some more //

• John 14:26 → Having trouble remembering the words God has already told you about this situation? The Holy Spirit can help. (sidebar: have you been watching Pastor Mike Todd's series on the Holy Spirit? It is FIRE. Especially this past week's sermon. Highly recommend.
• Jeremiah 1:9 → God will put His words in your mouth. He's done it before. ask Him to do it again!
• James 4:7 & Matthew 4:11→ It ain't gon' take long for the devil and his temptation to leave after you beat him up with God's word.
• If you need some structure for how to ask God and wait for Him to respond, this devotional I wrote back in December is a great read for that.