“Don’t you mean ‘It is what it is’?” Nope. It is what it isn’t. That’s what God would have us say anyway. He didn’t say, “Call those things that are as they are.” He said, “and calleth those things which be not as though they were.” Romans 4:17 KJV
As faith-filled children of God, most of us know not to confess a negative outcome over any given situation. “Well, you just never know, this disease could wipe us all out.” Yeah, we know better than to talk like that. We are to believe and trust God for the best possible outcome. But some of us still use idle-empty talk, saying things like, “That’s gonna be the death of me.” Or “That just kills me.” If this is you, stop it! God is very clear in His Word that words have creative power. “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.” Proverbs 18:21 “For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” Matthew 12:37
So, maybe you’re not confessing death over everything, but are you confessing life? Maybe you’re like me, a realist, confessing things that are just as they are. I often hear myself saying, “It is what it is.” Oh, I know better than to confess death over a situation, but am I confessing life, and life abundantly? Are you confessing life and life abundantly?
We all know the age old question, “Is the glass half empty, or is the glass half full?” The optimist states it’s half full while the pessimist states “it’s half empty.” But folks like me, the realist, simply point out, “there is a glass of water.” That’s it. No more, no less. It is just quite literally and very simply a statement of fact- a glass of water. I happen to like facts (and logic and reason). But nothing, quite literally and very simply, nothing happens with realistic ways of speech. The status quo remains the status quo.
But who wants that? Especially when the status quo is mediocre? When we enter into the spiritual realm of dealing with matters, it isn’t facts we should rely on, but the truth of God’s word. We ought to be confessing, “My cup runneth over!” Psalm 23
I came to this conclusion recently when I realized how often I confess, “the older I get, the more tired I am.” Well, that may be a simple fact of life but why should I confess that over my life, over and over again? Shouldn’t I be confessing what God’s word says about my youth: “My youth is renewed like the eagle’s.” Pslam 103:5 and “With long life I will satisfy him.” Psalm 91:16
Being tired from age is anything but satisfying.
I made a decision to stop that type of realist, “it is what it is,” confessions and confess what God says to confess. I even took the time to repent for all the “it is what it is” confessions I’ve made over the years.
But, oh how quickly we forget. I blew it the first chance I had to practice that decision!
While at the salon recently, I proceeded to tell the stylist, the masseuse, and the nail technician just how much having an energetic 4 year old is tiring since I hit 41. Anyone with a 4 year old at any age knows just how factual this statement is. I was just making conversation, but still, I needed a bridle over my mouth! I learned that day that years of confessing realism is harder to stop than I had previously thought. This is why God tells us to renew our minds: “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” Romans 12:2
I needed to learn the value of follow-through by being a doer of His Word and not just a hearer only.
James 1 has a great lesson in all this:
“So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.
If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless. Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.”
As faith-filled children of God, we ought not look like the world, saying what the world says, doing what the world does. The world says “It is what it is.” But we ought to by saying “It is what it isn’t, my cup runneth over!”
In His Service,
Rebecca Hamilton, Founder/ Executive Director
For Every Great Battle, There is a Great Victory!!