Love Month Challenge, from Zari Banks

Once again, Whispers in Purple is pleased to have Zari Banks with us. I hope you will enjoy today’s post on this Valentine’s Day.

Happy and blessed Valentine’s Day to you! In honor of this being Love Month I’ve been challenging everyone I’ve come in contact with – and especially the group of people I mentor – to only speak things that line up with the will and word of God. It’s life changing.

We know from Proverbs 18:21 that the power of life and death is in our tongues and that we will live or die according to what we profess out of our mouths. So, if you’re willing to take the challenge – to only speak words that line up with the will, word and promises of God for the rest of February – confess it out loud right now. And, then do that.

You may wonder how you go about only speaking what lines up with God. It’s simple:

1. Get the word of God in you because out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks (Matthew 15:18).
2. Take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5).
3. Believe God’s words as you read, speak and hear them (Romans 10:17).
4. Praise God for making His word become a reality in your life (Numbers 23:19, Isaiah 55:11).
5. Bless the lives of everyone around you as the love and word of God produces the abundant life Christ died to give you (John 10:10, John 13:35).

I spent days, hours and months speaking God’s word and agreeing with the promises He gave for my life and they have produced the following miracles and blessings for me:

• I regained custody of my son through the Court of Heaven and not the court of man.
• My ministry is exploding.
• I’m about to marry the man of my dreams.
• My career is exploding.
• The enemy was caught stealing (Proverbs 6:31) and has to repay me up to seven times for the relationships he’s stolen from me throughout my life.
• I’m experiencing more of God and an increase in spiritual gifts regularly (Ephesian 1:18, John 14:21).

What do I mean by speaking and agreeing with God’s promises? Again, it’s simple. All of the promises in the Bible belong to us (2 Corinthians 1:20), but we have to believe, receive and contend for them for them to manifest in our lives. If you haven’t completely believed, completely received and fought to keep those promises there’s no surprise they aren’t true in your life. The Bibles tells us without faith it’s impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6) for a good reason ... a lot of us just plain don’t believe that God will do all He promises in the Bible because we look at the natural world around us instead of going to battle against the forces of darkness to speak those things that are not as though they are (Romans 4:17b) and trust God. Well, I’ve learned to do just that and you can do it, too. God gives us – you – the right as soon as you accept Christ as your Savior.

Exactly what I do is this:

1. I go into my quiet place with music, journals and my Bible and worship the Lord.
2. When His presence fills my place I begin to decree and declare scriptures and decree and declare that I’m in agreement with promises He’s given me specifically. For example, I spent more days than I can count reciting Jeremiah 31:16-17 with my and my son’s names inserted until that promise became true in my life. Also, God revealed the man I’m marrying to me in a dream, and for many months I denied the possibly. Then, I began saying daily I agree with the will of God that he is my husband, and it’s about to be so. SIDE NOTE: In June 2012 I turned my search for a spouse over to God; I confessed my picker stunk and since He knew everything I trusted Him to reveal us to each other without a doubt. So, the man I prayed for was a promise from God, not me just picking someone and claiming him. Same with getting my son back, God promised his return if I prayed for my enemies.
3. God produces those promises in my life by His grace and my faith in Jesus.

I know I’ve wondered and even asked God why I had to fight to receive the promises He’d already given me. It’s because our adversary walks around like a roaring lion seeking to steal, kill and destroy (1 Peter 5:8, John 10:10) and he doesn’t want us receiving anything that glorifies or points others to God and His awesome blessings and love. And it’s always been that way – nothing from God is obtained without faith. Abraham had to press into to God in faith for Isaac, the Israelites had to trust God to be delivered from Pharaoh, David had to fight and believe God for victory over Goliath and we are no different. We’re still God’s children who have everything Christ has available to us if we choose to believe God, obey God and go for it!

Blessings to you in the name and authority of Jesus Christ!

Zari