Scripture
The word of God is food for our spirits. The foundation of Christian strength is the Bible. Scripture declares that “man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Feeding on the Bible builds power into our spirits, enabling us to overcome every obstacle and fulfill God’s purpose for our lives. The more we feed on the word of God, the more we grow in spiritual power and authority.
Knowledge of the Bible gives us power, and this power is what distinguishes victorious believers from those who are defeated by the circumstances of life. The word of God is “living and active, sharper than any double-edged sword.” It reshapes our inner being and transforms us into vessels of divine power. When we think on Scripture day and night, we build up strength and knowledge that fortify us from within. We renew our minds and align our thoughts with God’s thoughts.
Feeding on Scripture builds resilience. Just as our physical bodies require food to maintain strength, our spirits require the word of God to be strong. Believers are spiritually malnourished because they do not feed on Scripture, and as a result, they lack the power to stand firm in the face of trials. Scripture is the primary means through which God builds up his people, giving them the capacity to resist temptation, overcome adversity, and to conquer new territories. It transforms them from weak and ineffective individuals into powerful vessels who carry and manifest the presence of God.
Knowledge of Scripture equips us for spiritual conflict. When Jesus was tempted by Satan in the wilderness, he responded with, “It is written.” Jesus wielded the Bible as a weapon. He demonstrated that a skillful application of Scripture gives us the power to resist and defeat the enemy. The enemy thrives on ignorance, but when we are filled with the knowledge of the word of God, we become untouchable. The word of God is a sword, and those who are skillful in wielding it are able to cut down every argument and deception that the enemy brings.
The word of God is the source of faith. The Bible says, “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Faith is the foundation of all spiritual power, and without the word of God, there can be no faith. As we feed on Scripture, our faith grows stronger, and with such faith comes the power to move mountains. The word of God builds confidence, not in ourselves, but in God’s promises and his ability to fulfill them. This confidence is what enables us to act boldly, to pray with authority, and to live in victory. Scripture infuses us with confidence and equips us for every good work.
Confession
The confession of faith is one of the most effective ways to make ourselves strong in spirit. By confession, I do not mean the confession of sin. And by the confession of faith, I do not refer to a creed of doctrines. A confession of faith is a declaration of our confidence in God, and an affirmation of the word of God. Confession is not some strange or extreme practice. It is a form of prayer, specifically, it is confident prayer. It is illustrated in many places in the Bible. It is so common that people are unaware that they are reading examples of confession.
Most people do not get stronger when they pray. They sink deeper into a mentality of defeat and depression. When they pray, they affirm their weaknesses and troubles. Perhaps they consider this humble and honest, but it is faithless and self-centered. When they pray this way, they reinforce their doubts and fears. They think they are submitting to the will of God, but the truth is that God is shoved aside and ignored. This is because when they pray this way, they disregard his promises and the resources that he has given to believers.
When we confess and affirm the word of God, we refuse to allow circumstances to dictate our reality. We declare what God says, regardless of what we see or feel. Faith believes and speaks according to God’s truth rather than the appearances of the world. Thus we declare, “My God shall meet all my needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.” And we affirm in the face of sickness, “Jesus took my infirmities and carried my sicknesses. Therefore, I reject this sickness, and I receive healing by faith.”
Psalm 91 is an excellent example of this kind of prayer, where the psalmist declares God’s protection, deliverance, and guarantee of long life: “Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.'” He declares that God will save from deadly pestilence, that no harm will overtake, and that angels will guard in all ways. These are confessions of faith in God’s protection, guaranteed by his sovereignty over all things. By continually speaking these promises, he honors God and proclaims an unshakable confidence in him. Thus confession is also a form of praise and thanksgiving. It is categorically superior to the whiny complaining prayers that most people justify as their honest expressions toward God. Prayers of doubt are sinful. They must be condemned, not encouraged.
Psalm 91 illustrates how confession brings assurance, peace, and strength, as each statement affirms God’s power and presence. Confessing these truths internalize them in believers, enabling them to overcome fear and uncertainty. By declaring these truths, the psalmist builds a stronghold of faith that reinforces confidence in God’s power and faithfulness. When prayer becomes a confident celebration of what God has done for us and what he will do for us, it counters doubts and fears, and it strengthens the inner man, building resilience and fortitude.
Faith confession is also a declaration of authority. As Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him.” The power of confession is the power to command and change circumstances. Jesus referred to a physical mountain, but a mountain can represent lesser things such as obstacles and seemingly impossible situations. Jesus told us to speak to things. This is not strange, but most Christians feel awkward about this. They have an unbiblical worldview, and it makes them feel foolish to do what Jesus taught. But Jesus himself spoke to trees, diseases, demons, storms, and they obeyed him. This is the Christian worldview, and this is reality. A worldview that rejects this is the delusional one.
Faith confession is crucial for overcoming the lies of the enemy. Satan’s weapon is deception, and he tries to use circumstances to create doubt and fear in our hearts. By confessing the word of God, we counteract these lies and establish God’s truth as the reality in our lives. This is why it is essential to confess what God says rather than what circumstances dictate. Circumstances are temporary, but the word of God is forever. When we confess his word, when we confess the reality of what Jesus Christ has done, and when we confess the reality of who we are, what we have, and what we can do in Christ, we are declaring that his truth is greater than any temporary situation we face. So we speak this way not only when we pray, but in everyday situations we naturally say, “I am the righteousness of God in Christ. I can lay hands on the sick, and they will recover. Greater is he who is in me than he who is in the world.”
Reason
Faith and reason are not only compatible, but they are two sides of the same coin. The Word is called Reason, Wisdom, or Logic. Faith emphasizes the kind of content that we believe. It has no implication that we believe something false or irrational. In fact, since the Word is Reason, and God is Truth, faith is reason itself. Anything other than faith is against reason, and any exercise of reason is concurrent with faith.
Faith is rational. It is a spiritual and intellectual identification with the Word or Reason. Thus it is rational to believe in the atonement, in the resurrection of Jesus, in miracles of healing, in speaking in tongues, and so on. It would be irrational and outright stupid to not believe these things.
It is rational to believe the teachings and promises of God. This rational faith produces strength and resilience. Doubts and fears are irrational. They are not logical deductions from revelation and reality. And this means that they can be overcome by logical deductions from revelation and reality. If we reason on the basis of God’s word, we can conquer doubts, fears, and temptations without exerting much willpower and emotional energy.
Reason is a spiritual asset. By reasoning with ourselves, coaching ourselves, and preaching to ourselves using the truths of Scripture, the challenges we face lose their power. Reason makes knowledge effective. This is why reason can make us spiritually strong. Reason is a practical tool for maintaining peace and confidence. When David faced Goliath, he reasoned that God, who had delivered him from the lion and the bear, would also deliver him from Goliath. This logical reflection on God’s faithfulness made him confident without needing to work up emotional courage.
Fear, worry, and unbelief are irrational. They trigger feelings of cynicism and doom without sound argument or evidence. Reason exposes their emptiness. Reason leverages the truth of God’s word and applies our faith effectively and with little effort. Reason conserves spiritual and emotional energy by providing a clear, logical basis for disagreeing with doubts and fears. Instead of struggling against them by sheer willpower, reasoning from God’s Word allows us to address them with calm calculation. This efficiency enables consistent victory.
Scripture commands us to develop our reason and understanding. Paul instructed Christians to be transformed by renewing their minds. This transformation increases our immunity to the pressures and ideologies of the world. And he said, “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God.” Paul described our confrontation with non-Christian ideas as warfare. Reason is a weapon by which we tear down falsehoods that oppose God’s truth. By reason, we confront faithless theology, refute objections against the gospel, and we attack and destroy, totally degrade and humiliate, all non-Christian worldviews and religions.
Reason makes us strong. Reason reminds us of God’s faithfulness, his past deliverances, and the logical certainty of his continued provision and care. Reason enables us to have faith for miracles without effort. Temptations lose their power when subjected to reasoned analysis. We will see them as empty promises that cannot compare to the eternal reward in Christ.
One who is fortified by faith-reason stands firm when others fall away. He remains calm in the midst of chaos, and trusts in God when the world seems to be collapsing. Christians have seen reason as a threat because they have been following the assumptions of unbelief and contrary worldviews. They try to believe like Christians but think like non-Christians, so that to keep believing like Christians, they have to stop thinking altogether. This is self-defeating. If you think like a Christian, then you will believe like a Christian, and there will be no struggle.
Praise
Praise God because he is worthy of the highest recognition. We ought to praise him even if no benefit results from it. Nevertheless, when we praise God in faith and sincerity, we stir up our joy, and we grow strong in spirit. And when we praise God, his presence and power come on the scene, bringing blessings and miracles. Praise is a deliberate act of glorifying God, declaring his power, his wisdom, his goodness, his other attributes, and his acts of grace and power.
Religious people are usually faithless and ignorant, and so they consider it strange, even heretical, when we talk about faith confession as a form of prayer. However, confession is done in the same spirit of praise. If confession is strange to them, then they ought to have the same attitude toward praise. Indeed, faithless religious people sing hymns of unbelief, defeat, and guilt. They sing about their sinfulness instead of how Jesus has made believers the righteousness of God. They sing about their failures instead of how Jesus Christ has made believers more than conquerors. Their hymns sing about themselves and the power of sin.
If you can praise God, you can also confess your faith in God, and your victory and righteousness in Christ Jesus. And if you can confess these things, then you can praise God excellently. When we praise God, we direct the focus away from ourselves, our problems, and our perspectives, and instead fix our minds on God’s unlimited greatness and possibilities. The Bible says that God inhabits the praises of his people, as if our praises provide a throne for his presence to manifest, which empowers us and brings his intervention. When we praise God, we invite the supernatural into our natural circumstances.
Praise releases supernatural joy, and the joy of the Lord is our strength. It awakens your spirit to the reality of your salvation. When you are unhappy, praise God by faith, and you can become happy. When you are weak, praise God by faith, and you can become strong. Praise him, give thanks, confess his power and goodness, and confess your faith in him and who you are in him. Praise cultivates an inner strength that will not bend. It will produce an inner environment that makes a person immune to the climate around him.
Paul and Silas were beaten and imprisoned, but at midnight they praised God. As they were praising him, God sent an earthquake that opened the prison doors and broke their chains. Of course, something like this can easily happen today. God can still send earthquakes and break chains. But what we often have the opportunity to witness is that when God’s people gather to praise him with faith, he releases his power to heal the sick and cast out demons. People’s bodies are restored even without prayer, and evil spirits are compelled to depart.
Praise God at all times. Praise God all day long. Praise God in your songs. Praise him with your words. Praise him in your thoughts. But when you praise God, stop bragging about how weak and sinful you are. Stop praising your troubles and diseases. Stop trying to impress everybody with your self-deprecation. You are not being humble when you do that. You are mocking God, but he is not fooled by you. Praise God for his power and wisdom. Praise God for his forgiveness and healing. Praise God for making you righteous in Christ Jesus. Praise God for giving you the victory.
Tongues
Speaking in tongues can make a Christian strong. When a person receives Jesus Christ by faith, he receives forgiveness and justification. He receives new life in Christ. But after this, he can also receive the Holy Spirit by faith. This is a distinct blessing and experience. When a Christian receives the Holy Sprit, he receives power for ministry, power to be a witness for Jesus Christ. Since he is infused with this power, so that it becomes an inseparable part of him, this power also benefits him in his personal life.
He takes on some of the abilities and characteristics of God himself. He becomes more confident, intelligent, and powerful. Some people might be surprised by this statement. They have become so spiritually dull that the blessings of the gospel sound wrong to them. So how can we explain what we mean? The people’s minds are so darkened with death and unbelief that it is easier to illustrate spiritual truths to them with the things of Satan, because their doctrines and thoughts are more compatible with the devil. So consider this: someone who is filled with an evil spirit takes on the abilities and characteristics of the evil spirit. It is as simple as that, and this is amply illustrated in Scripture.
Therefore, someone who is filled with the Spirit of God also takes on some of the abilities and characteristics of God. He has the power to heal the sick and cast out demons. He is more prone to receive prophetic visions and dreams. He can prophesy and speak in tongues. He is more indignant against unbelief and unrighteousness. He is more incisive in teaching and defending the gospel. He is more intelligent and accurate in his expositions, and he is more bold to proclaim the words of God.
In any case, our focus is on speaking in tongues. Paul wrote, “He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself.” He strengthens himself and builds up himself. He makes himself strong. Paul also said to the Corinthians, “I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you.” You should not only speak in tongues, but you should do as much of it as possible. The moment you think that you have done enough of it is when you should do more of it, and then it is still not enough.
Speaking in tongues is a supernatural way to build up the inner man, bypassing the limitations of human articulation, and transcending what human effort and comprehension can achieve. Speaking in tongues feels more natural to a person than his native language, and he can do it when he is happy or sad, when he is energetic or tired, when he is in comfort or in pain. And if he is sad, tired, or in pain, the Holy Spirit can lift him out of those situations. Speaking in tongues enables a person to pray even when he does not know what to say, or when he feels inadequate to verbalize his thoughts and feelings. It is a supernatural ability that allows a person to pray from his own spirit, speaking to God from the deepest part of his being.