Isaiah 55:11 — “So is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”
Have you ever stopped and realized how much talking we do about what is happening in our lives and what effect those words have on us?
Some of those phrases might look like this:
Money is tight.
Doors aren’t opening.
I can’t forgive.
I’ll never be good enough.
I’ve been marked by my past decisions.
The answers will never come.
I will always live in pain.
This season is wearing me down.
I’ve talked about this before, but if I’m being honest, I don’t think we can ever talk about it too much because this is something we need to be continually reminded of.
Romans 12:2 tells us to be transformed by the renewing of our minds.
But how do we renew our minds?
One thing I know for certain is this: we cannot keep filling our minds with the problem and then wonder why our thoughts are overwhelmed by fear, discouragement, defeat, and hopelessness.
We speak the problem while we’re getting ready in the morning. We speak it on the phone with a friend. We rehearse it in the car, think about it in the shower, and sometimes give ourselves a complete thirty-minute presentation in the wee hours of the night.
And let’s be honest—those late-night presentations we mentally create are rarely encouraging. LOL!
I am not negating the reality of the seasons we are walking through. I’m walking through my own season as we speak, and I have to catch my words and thoughts continually because the human mind wants to focus on the season - the difficulty, the lack - and forget who the God of every season is.
That is why renewing our minds cannot be something we do once and check off the list.
It has to be continual.
We have to keep bringing our thoughts back under the truth and the authority of God’s Word. We have to stop allowing what we see, feel, and fear to speak louder than what God has already said.
Let me give you a few powerful examples of what God says vs. our circumstances:
The water may be rising in your life, but God says:
“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you.” — Isaiah 43:2
Notice that God says when you pass through the waters—not if you ever encounter them. He does not promise that we will never walk through overwhelming seasons. He promises that the waters will not overtake us because He will be with us in the middle of them.
When you feel surrounded, God says:
“God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.” — Psalm 46:1
You may feel surrounded by trouble, questions, pressure, or uncertainty, but you are also surrounded by the presence and protection of God.
When you don’t know which way to go, God says:
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight.” — Proverbs 3:5–6
You do not have to understand every turn in the road for God to direct your steps. Your responsibility is to trust Him, acknowledge Him, and follow where He leads.
When you feel completely depleted, God says:
“Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.” — Isaiah 40:31
Your strength is not limited to what you woke up with this morning. That reality gets me celebrating. Let me say it again: Your strength is NOT LIMITED to what you woke up with this morning! God knows how to breathe fresh strength into the places that feel completely spent.
Are you getting the picture?
Instead of continually speaking into your life what everything looks like in the physical realm, start speaking God’s Word into your situation and watch what begins to happen inside of you.
Here’s the honest truth that hit me just a few weeks ago. It was one of those powerful ‘ah-a’ revelations and I can’t stop thinking about it but here’s the reality:
Stop putting yourself at the center of the story and
start putting God at the center of your situation.
Isn’t that the truth!!!
Making the paradigm shift means we start answering our circumstances with what God says about them.
What does God say about you?
What does God say about your finances?
What does God say about your family?
What does God say about your future?
What does God say about your season?
What does God say about the difficulty standing in front of you?
There is nothing too difficult for God.
Testing Seasons are Growing Seasons
We also need to remember this: the testing seasons and battles we walk through are producing something in us.
James 1:2–4 tells us that the testing of our faith produces perseverance and that perseverance is helping us become mature and complete.
We tend to only see the difficulty, but God sees what is being developed through it.
He sees the deeper roots.
He sees the stronger faith.
He sees the maturity.
He sees what this season is producing in us that comfort never could.
God’s Word is alive and active.
His Word does not leave His mouth and then wander around aimlessly, hoping something good happens.
He sends His Word with purpose.
It goes to work.
It produces fruit.
It accomplishes what He desires.
And that is why staying continually in the Word matters so much.
We need His truth in us before the difficult moment arrives.
We need His promises rooted deeply enough that when life speaks loudly, something inside of us rises and says:
“Yes, but God said…”
That is the Holy Habit this week.
Before you repeat the problem one more time, pause.
Ask yourself:
What has God said about this?
Then speak the Word back.
Additional Scriptures to Sit With This Week
Isaiah 43:2 — “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you.”
Psalm 46:1 — “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.”
Proverbs 3:5–6 — “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.”
Isaiah 40:31 — “Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.”
Psalm 119:105 — “Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.”
Romans 10:17 — “Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.”
James 1:2–4 — “The testing of your faith produces perseverance.”
Holy Habit Reflection Questions
What situation have I been speaking about more than I have been speaking God’s Word over it?
What sentence do I keep repeating that is feeding fear, discouragement, or hopelessness in me?
When I talk about this season, does God’s faithfulness ever enter the conversation—or do I stop at the problem?
What has God already said in Scripture that directly answers the fear I keep rehearsing?
Have I been waiting for my feelings to change before I begin speaking with faith?
Am I allowing what I see in the physical realm to become more authoritative than what God has spoken in His Word?
What would it look like to let God’s Word become the loudest voice in this situation this week?
Holy Habit Practice
This week, grab a piece of paper and draw a line down the middle.
On the left side, write:
What I Keep Saying
On the right side, write:
What God Has Said
Now write down one sentence you have been repeatedly speaking about your situation.
Maybe it’s:
“I don’t know how we’re going to make it.”
“I feel completely alone.”
“Nothing is ever going to change.”
“I don’t have what it takes.”
“I’m too tired to keep going.”
“My past will always define me.”
“I will never be free from this.”
Then search the Word for what God says about that exact fear and write the Scripture beside it.
Don’t collect fifteen verses and turn this into a research project that requires snacks, twelve highlighters, and a seminary degree. LOL!
Just find one Scripture you can hold onto.
One truth.
One promise.
One answer from the Word of God.
Then every time the old sentence tries to come out of your mouth this week, stop and speak the Scripture instead.
And don’t only speak it when you feel full of faith. Speak it when your voice shakes, when your emotions disagree, when it feels odd, and when the situation looks exactly the same. Keep speaking it until the truth of God’s Word becomes louder in you than the fear that has been speaking to you.
The problem may still be there. The water may still be rising. The answer may still be on the way. But the problem does not get the final word.
God does.
~Tracee
Tracee,
What resonates deeply with me is the difference between naming what hurts and allowing what hurts to name us. Scripture never asks us to pretend the waters are not rising. The Psalms are filled with people telling God exactly how frightened, exhausted, confused, and wounded they are.
Biblical faith is not positive thinking dressed in Christian language; it is the courage to tell the truth about the storm while refusing to make the storm more authoritative than the God who meets us within it. Sometimes the most faithful sentence we can speak is not “everything is fine,” but “this hurts, and yet God is still here.”
That is why your phrase “speak the Word back” carries such weight for me. There have been seasons when my circumstances did not immediately change after prayer, but the Word changed the person standing inside those circumstances. It reminded me that grief could speak without becoming prophecy, fear could be acknowledged without becoming lord, and yesterday could be remembered without being permitted to define tomorrow.
So, maybe renewing the mind begins there: not in silencing our pain, but in teaching our pain that it does not get the final word; for as you so beautifully said, 'God does.'
Blessings,
Ze Selassie
Beautiful piece Tracee needed this!