Research shows that the average person makes approximately 35,000 decisions a day. Think about it. That’s approximately 2.5 decisions every minute! Imagine if every decision we made was habitually based on the Word of God. Oh, how different our lives and the world would be! When a situation is presented to us, we often speak something about it before we actually do anything. This means we tend to speak into existence what we’re thinking about the decision we’re making. However, when we decide to speak the “reality” of the situation rather than the “potential” of it, then we continue to have what we have rather than what God said we could have.

Looking at the reality of a situation should be for the purpose of seeing beyond it to speak a better solution into our life and future.

Interestingly, when we make life-changing decisions such as whether or not to change jobs, start a ministry or family, or retire and start a new work, it is often easier to consult God about what He wants us to do. However, when the decisions are more rote or automatic, we sort of move forward without putting a lot of thought into them. Because we have the power to speak either the continuation of a situation or a new outcome, what we say determines what we get.

Romans 4:17c says that God “calleth those things which be not as though they were.” (KJV) When God called Abraham a “father of many nations,” it wasn’t because Abraham had done anything special to warrant God’s attention or promise, just as we haven’t done anything to warrant God’s unconditional love, mercy, and grace. Yet, Abraham believed God even when he didn’t have a son. How could Abraham consider himself a father of many nations when he didn’t even have a child? Because God speaks into existence everything BEFORE we can actually see it. God said “let there be light” BEFORE there was light, THEN God SAW that it was good.

Speaking always comes before what we see, not the other way around. Once we see it, it has already been spoken. It’s the time lapse between the two that often causes us to forget that it was spoken first.

This is the same principle for our daily lives today. In order to have a promised life of abundance and fulfillment (spiritual growth, love, health, peace, finances, family, etc.), we must speak into existence what God has already said for us in His word. Isaiah 55:11 says “It is the same with my word. I send it out, and it always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it.” (NLT) When we speak God’s word the situation has to submit to it. Nothing can stand against it!

So what does this have to do with being a realist? The dictionary defines a realist as “a person who tends to view or represent things as they really are.” A realist will speak what is and maybe hope to see something different, but a faith-filled person speaks what God said and then expects to see what they spoke.

Here are a few examples of the difference:

·        A realist will tell you what they can’t do because of the amount of money in their bank account. A faith-filled person will tell you Philippians 4:19 “that God will meet your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.” (NIV).

·        A realist will tell you how much experience they don’t have to get a promotion, but a faith-filled person will tell you Philippians 4:13 which says “I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.” (KJV)

·        A realist will tell you what diagnosis the doctor gave them, but a faith-filled person will tell you I Peter 2:24b “by whose stripes we are healed.” (NIV)

You can’t do both. You can’t speak as a realist based on how things are in the natural and expect the blessings of faith that requires you to “speak those things that are not as though they were.”

Choose today. Will you speak what is in the natural or what has been promised by God in His word?