It's true, you will get what you say. "Life and death are in the power of the tongue" (Pr 18:21).

Your words will put you over in life or they will sink you. The life you're living now is the result of the words you spoke in the past. If you don't like the life your living, then speak new words.

The words you should speak are God's words, and all of them are found in the Bible.

Some Christians complain, "I have spoken the Word of God over my life, yet His Word hasn't come to pass. I said that I'm healed by the stripes of Jesus and that my God supplies all my needs. Yet those positive things haven't happen. I'm still sick and broke!"

Since some people fail to receive what they confess, many assume that the confession of God's Word doesn't work. But it does.

Why then do we sometimes fail to receive the benefits of the spoken Word of God? The answer came to me unexpectedly.

REVELATION, MEDITATION, AND PROCLAMATION

I was at a local restaurant drinking its delicious coffee and enjoying my Bible. I was reading through the Psalms when chapter 39 struck me. The wonderful smell of the coffee vanished. The people at the restaurant seemed to fade. All I could see and hear was Psalm 39, verse 3:

"My heart grew hot within me, and as I meditated, the fire burned; then I spoke with my tongue."

When I read those profound, yet simple words, God spoke to me. He spoke only three words: revelation, meditation, and proclamation.

I saw it! It was as though a beam of light entered my heart. I understood what God was saying to me.

He was saying that first comes revelation, second comes meditation. And when you have experienced revelation and practiced meditation, then you are ready to make your proclamation.

You see, many people fail in their confession because they don't have any personal revelation of the things they are confessing. They say that they are healed, prosperous and blessed, but they don't have a revelation of these blessings, nor do they meditate on them. As a result, their confessions don't work.

HEARTBURN

David said, "Then I spoke." Then means next in order of time. Before he spoke with his tongue, David went through two phases. First he said, "My heart grew hot within me." Second he said, "And as I meditated, the fire burned." Notice these two stages: His heart grew hot, and he meditated.

What did David mean when he said that his heart grew hot? Well, he was not talking about heartburn. He did not need Rolaids.

The heart is the spirit of man. The spirit of man is the real you made in God's image. It is the place of real spiritual power. The heart is where you believe. By believing with the heart you are saved.

David used the word "heart" to speak of his spirit and he used the word "fire" to describe a spiritual experience. He was saying that spiritual insight came to him. The New Testament uses the word "revelation." Revelation is supernatural insight into the mind of God.

David was saying, "I have received supernatural insight into the mind of God. I know what God is thinking at this moment. I know what's on His mind. I know His perfect will."

Do you see what I'm saying? Before your confession of God's Word can work for you, you must receive revelation. This is what Paul prayed for in Ephesians 1:17: "I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation." There it is: the Spirit of revelation.

He goes on to pray,

"I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe" (Eph 1:18-19).

He prayed that the eyes of their hearts would be enlightened. "Enlighten" comes from two words: en which means "in" and light which means "fire." To be enlightened is to have a fire within you. The heart is enlightened by fire, and the fire is the Holy Spirit. "Do not put out the Spirit's fire" (1 Thess 5:19).

Paul prayed that the Holy Spirit would open their spiritual understanding so that they could know three things: First, the hope of their calling; second, the inheritance within them; and third, the power that is available for them.

This is the most important prayer to pray, because the greatest need in the body of Christ is revelation. Once the Church receives revelation, nothing can stop it.

ROAD TO EMMAUS

Many people pray for revelation but don't receive it because they have too many burdens on their hearts. There is a fascinating story in the Bible which illustrates the need to cast your cares on the Lord in order to receive revelation. The story involves the resurrected Christ and two disciples that were traveling on the road to Emmaus.

"Now the same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; but they were kept from recognizing him." (Luke 24:13-16)

My question is simple. Why were they kept from recognizing Jesus? The answer is in verse 24: "They stood still, their faces downcast."

Do you see what their problem was? They were depressed. They had a lot on their hearts--things that had weighed them down. So Jesus, instead of telling them that He was Jesus, asked them many questions in order for them to get their burdens off their chest.

Doesn't it feel good to talk with someone about your burdens, especially when it is the Lord? When you do, you feel a hundred pounds lighter.

You see, a bad time to study the Bible is when you are depressed. You will not get anything from your study. Revelation will not come when you are depressed. It is important that you cast your cares on the Lord before you study the Bible. When you do, you are better prepared to study the Bible because you are free to receive revelation from it.

"After the two disciples had shared their burdens, Jesus started to talk with them about the Scriptures. He [Jesus] said to them, "How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory? And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself. As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus acted as if he were going farther. But they urged him strongly, "Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over." So he went in to stay with them." (Luke 24:25-29)

You see, Jesus tested them. He pretended to go farther. He wanted to see if they were going to diligently study the Scriptures or if they were content with their Bible study on the road. Thankfully, these disciples wanted more. They made Christ teach them the Bible at their home.

We must be like them. A little Bible study will not do. We must dig deep in the Word of God in order to get revelation.

"Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. They asked each other, "Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?" (Luke 24:31-32)

I find it interesting that the thing which the disciples found wonderful was the fact that their hearts burned within them as they learned the Word of God. Notice that they did not talk about Jesus disappearing. They were more excited about their hearts burning than about Jesus supernaturally disappearing.

Revelation is by far the greatest spiritual experience that anyone can receive, even greater than seeing Christ in the flesh.

So the two main lessons we learn from this story are: to cast our burdens and cares on the Lord, and then, to diligently study the scriptures until we receive revelation knowledge.

MEDITATE

Once your heart grows hot, you must meditate on the revelation that you received in order to start the fire. It's not good enough to simply have a warm heart; you need a fire.

Many people are content to receive revelation, but they stop there. They don't go further by meditating on the Word of God. You must continue to meditate on your revelation. Don't stop simply with the revelation; continue until the heat turns into a fire. Only then are you going to have the spiritual force to make your words come to pass.

"Meditate" means to think deeply about something until subconsciously you begin to speak it to yourself. The Hebrew word for meditation means to mutter. "Mutter" means that you speak to yourself in a low tone of voice.

Have you ever thought so deeply about something that you unconsciously started to move your lips? Perhaps you thought about asking your boss for a raise. So on your way to work, you went over in your mind what you were going to say, and as you did, you detected that someone was staring at you. And as your eyes look up to see who it was, you blushed because you had been talking to yourself. Do you know what you were doing? You were meditating.

So to meditate is to be so absorbed with certain thoughts that we talk to ourselves. We should be so absorbed with the Word of God that we talk it to ourselves without realizing it.

Meditation has been one of the most beneficial things in my life. It has also made people wonder if I was crazy. When I used to work for a pizza parlor, I would constantly meditate on the Word of God. Often, my fellow employees would interrupt me, "Hey, Tom, what are you babbling about?"

I would blush, "I...I...I...was just thinking about the Bible." Oh, I was embarrassed, but the growth in my life was incredible. I would rather have people think that I'm crazy than fail to meditate. Anyway, many of my fellow workers are now members of my church, and they are doing what I did.

CHEW THE CUD

In the Old Testament, God gave Israel permission to eat any animal that chewed the cud. A cow is an example. A cow takes its time to chew. Slowly it crushes the hay and masticates the food. After minutes of gnawing down the hay into small particles, it swallows. Gulp! The first of three stomachs breaks down the food into vitamins and minerals. Soon, the cow regurgitates the food and starts the process of chewing it again. And after some time, it swallows the food once more.

The food then passes into his second stomach where it undergoes another process of digestion. After hours, the food is passed into the third stomach, where every remaining vitamin that can be drawn out is absorbed. The rest is discharged. The whole process takes about twenty-four hours.

Now, I've brought all this up to show the process meditation. We should be like the cow and slowly chew the Word of God before we swallow. We meditate by taking a few Scriptures and mulling them over in our minds. After we have done that a few times, we bring back those Scriptures again and start the process once more. We keep that up until the Word becomes a part of us.

Unfortunately, most people feed on the Word like a pig feeds on slop. The pig, unlike the cow, was considered an unclean animal. A pig swallows the food without hardly chewing it. In just a matter of six hours, the food is part of the pig's body. Very little nutrition from the food is absorbed by the pig, because he eats his food in a hurry. This is the way most people read their Bibles--in a hurry. This explain why most do not get much out of the Bible.

People often wonder how to study the Bible. There are many good ways, but the best way is to meditate on those portions of Scriptures that God has used to warm your heart. Study those parts that your heart has received revelation from.

When you start to meditate, the heart that was warm will catch fire. When it does, you are ready to make your proclamation. Your confession will at that time have power and come to pass. Your words will become more powerful, and they will work to predict your future.