STIR YOURSELF UP!

There are seasons in life when we simply cannot afford to settle.

I heard a statement recently while listening to a teaching by Andrew Wommack, and it stopped me in my tracks. It goes like this:

“You have to stir yourself up, or you’ll sink to the bottom.”

Think about something mixed into liquid. If it is left undisturbed long enough, the heavier particles gradually settle at the bottom. Nobody necessarily pushed them there. They simply settled.

Spiritually, there are seasons when we simply cannot afford to do that.

Stirring ourselves up is akin to swimming instead of sinking. To sink can have devastating consequences.

When circumstances are intense and we are trusting and believing God for a promise He has made in His Word, it is not the time to allow our minds to wander unattended while we wait. If unchecked, our minds can very easily settle into fear, discouragement, weariness, negative imaginations and a long list of “What ifs?”

What if this happens?

What if that happens?

What if things don’t change?

And before we know it, we have imagined an entire future that may never even happen.

Sometimes the best way to interrupt that internal conversation is simply to open our mouths and speak. We cannot afford to let our minds drift and settle where God’s Word has not told us to go.

Scripture repeatedly gives significance to our words:

“Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.”   Proverbs 18:21 KJV

Our words are powerful.

Rather than allow our thoughts to drift into negative spaces, it is better to start speaking.

I am reminded of Jesus’ encounter with the devil after His forty days and forty nights in the wilderness. He responded verbally to each temptation with the Word of God: “It is written…”

He answered what the enemy said with what God had already said.

The Bible also tells us:

“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”  James 4:7 KJV

There has to come a time when we stop listening to our fears and to stop allowing our circumstances to do all the talking. Instead, we must begin to listen to what God has said.

Whenever a tempting thought wants to park itself in our minds, we should answer it with the Word of God, just as Jesus did.

Another way to stir ourselves up is to pray in the Spirit.

“But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost…”   Jude 20 KJV

Sometimes we are overwhelmed by circumstances beyond us and we wait for someone to encourage us, yet that is exactly when we need to begin speaking the Word of God to ourselves.

There are times when we simply cannot afford to be quiet.

That does not mean that we are in denial concerning what is happening around us. Having faith does not mean we are pretending that circumstances do not exist.

It means we refuse to allow what is happening around us to determine what happens within us.

We may acknowledge what we see and still declare what God has said.

We may feel pressure and still refuse to surrender our minds to fear.

So what exactly are we stirring ourselves up with?

Not wishful thinking.

Not empty positive confessions.

Not pretending that everything will somehow work itself out.

We stir ourselves up with the Word of God.

We remind ourselves of who God is.

We remind ourselves of what He has promised.

We remind ourselves of what Jesus Christ has already accomplished.

Last week, I wrote about Jesus picking up the tab. (“PUT IT ON HIS TAB”) 

Christ has already paid the price.

The work is finished.

So when circumstances begin to shout something different, we go back and remind ourselves of what Jesus has already done.

This is why we must continually feed on the Word of God.

Listen to sound teaching.

Pray in the Spirit.

Worship.

Meditate on Scripture.

Speak God’s promises.

Because if we do not deliberately stir ourselves up, circumstances can cause us to sink to the bottom—and that is definitely not a good place to be.

This is not the time to be passive.

Passivity gives fear room to do the stirring.

Dear friends, perhaps you are reading this today in the middle of a difficult season.

Maybe circumstances have been speaking very loudly.

Perhaps your mind has wandered into places it has no business going.

Please bring it back.

Please open your mouth and speak.

Speak the Word.

And even when you do not yet see changes, do it again tomorrow.

And the day after that.

And the day after that.

Not because God’s Word has changed; But because sometimes we need reminding again and again.

Do not allow your mind to settle where God’s Word has not told it to live.

STIR YOURSELF UP!

OLUYINKA EGO-MARTINS ©