Living in What You Say-Youth Summer Bible Study #2

Death and life are in the power of the tongue and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof

- Proverbs 18:21

Also see:

For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh

- Matthew 12:34b

But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart and they defile the man

-Matthew 15:18

Have you ever sat in a room with a friend and suddenly someone you don’t like or someone you have a problem with comes into the room and you feel differently now that you see them and now that you are around them? You were just telling your friend how you don’t like this and that about the person and how they made you feel and what you would do or say to them if you saw them and then they popped right up. Now your mood changes and now you’re frustrated, mad or sad.

There are times when great teams lose games they could have won. One of the reasons why I believe that Pau Gasol wasn’t able to perform at his highest level in the 2011 NBA Finals is because of how he spoke about the game, the Dallas Mavericks and especially his opponent Dirk Nowitzki. Pau Gasol is an excellent player, but when matched up against Dirk Nowtizki and the Dallas Mavericks his swag and confidence was on ZERO! Interestingly enough, I heard an interview where he spoke extremely highly of Dirk Nowtizki which is okay to do once the battle is over. He gave a lot of credit to Dirk Nowtizki as if he couldn’t be stopped before the series was even over and he played out the very thing he spoke, thus losing the championship.

SO what’s your point Rev. Max!?

The Bible says that “death and life are in the power of the tongue.” We really don’t understand that we create and destroy things with our mouths. We are created in the image and likeness of God and we have been given the power of God from God through the Holy Spirit to have dominion and authority on earth giving life or summoning death to a thing or idea. Don’t you remember in Genesis, God caused life to exist by words? God has given us that same power residing in our own mouths and we sometimes misuse that power and authority to sabotage our own lives.

We must realize that we can have happier, more fruitful and loving lives if we change how we talk and what we talk about. Sometimes the defeat we experience is the defeat that we spoke right out of our own mouths. The negativity that we experience is the negativity we spoke concerning the day while we were getting ourselves together in the morning. We sometimes claim that we don’t like certain people and we don’t know why, but could the answer be possibly found in your conversation and thinking about that individual? Why are you depressed? Why do you dislike yourself? If you want to change how you feel about yourself then change the way you think and talk about yourself. We are victims of our own tongues.

If you want to have a different experience in your life, church or even school then change how you talk about those things. You have to stop setting yourself up to walk in awful experiences that come as a result of your words. Like the man in the picture above we live in our words so don’t get stuck in the phone booth of life with bad results that come from what you say. Change your words and you will change your life.

Pray this prayer:

Lord, thank you for the power and authority that you have placed in my mouth. Help me Lord not to sabotage my life with the death that comes from my own mouth. Fill me with Your Word so I may speak Your Word and live in the Life of Your Word. Lord, where I need healing in my life so I can think differently about certain things, please provide the healing so I don’t speak out of my wounds and continue to live an even more pain-filled life. Right now, in the name of Jesus, I speak love, power, joy, peace, kindness, and purpose in my life and I expect change to manifest itself in my life-Amen

Rev. Max



You Have New Strength-2011 Youth Summer Bible Study #1

“No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it” - 1 Corinthians 10:13 NASB

Have you ever said, “I CAN’T TAKE IT ANYONE MORE!!!?” I have you ever felt like what you were facing was more than you could bear by just looking at it or hearing about it? Well I want to encourage you and let you know that when you find yourself facing something a little bigger or more than what you are a custom to, you are not being overtaken, but you are receiving a direct message and revelation from God that you have NEW STRENGTH!

1 Corinthians tells us that God is faithful and when we are going through life and face with temptations and other life challenges God will never tempt us with more than we can bear. It may seem extremely challenging and unbearable, but if you know that God is faithful then you know that you can overcome!

You may say, “Well, that’s not true, I have been through something recently and it was too much to say no to or deal with in the right way.” I will tell you that God knows you better than you know yourself and God’s word is true. “So why did I go through it and why did it overtake me?” I’m glad you asked!

You have to realize that God is consistently faithful. God is not about games or tricks. He has blessed you with the ability to overcome. God is not going to tell you that He has put a certain amount of weight on the bar and then make you lift it to make you fail. No! God doesn’t work like that. You must not panic and give in. You must be faithful to fight as God is faithful to provide strength and a way of escape.

I hear you REVIE REV, but still, why does God allow this!!!?

Listen, if you are experiencing new weight-greater temptations, challenges, and obstacles and you know that God is faithful and true saying He will never give you more than you can bear then that means this new challenge, temptation and /or obstacle is a revelation of your NEW STRENGTH!

God knows His children. God knows what you can take and not take. God knows what you need to bring out the best you that He placed in you Himself. So look at your week. Think about your life. Think about the various challenges you have ahead of you. Does it appear to be a little more than what you are used to??? Well, CONGRATULATIONS! You just moved up another weight class!

God doesn’t want us to stay the same way. You should always expect growth and with growth comes greater challenges. So whatever you are facing you can make it! Whatever you are going through, you are already showing growth by just the mere fact that you are going “through”! If you find yourself stuck in a certain place in life, continue in the strength of the Lord because He is only furthering your spiritual development by requiring more reps than usual. You have NEW STRENGTH!

Pray this prayer:

Lord, I thank you for being faithful. Thank you for knowing me the way you do and for being the best steward over my life. Lord, I trust you with my life and I know you will never give me more than I can bear. Help me to see my new strength that you have given me. Help me to operate in my new strength so I can give you more glory. Teach me Lord to remember that you expect me to grow and with growth come challenges and with challenges it produces more growth. Thank you Lord for all you have done for me and being a keeper and sustainer in my life. Amen!

Tell me about the new challenges you have recently faced. Tell me how this indicates that you have new strength. How is this different from your past challenges? What growth do you see from previous challenges from the ones you presently face by looking at how you want to deal with them now? Post your comments; send an email, or send a message to my Facebook inbox. God Bless!

Rev. Max