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Hey y'all , it's The Walking Well podcast . I'm your host

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, Gilon Marts . Thank you for tuning

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in , thank you for listening . We're in

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season seven , and season seven is all

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about when you find yourself in the wilderness , when you find

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yourself in a place where you don't know what's going on

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, where God seems silent or far away

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, where you feel stretched beyond belief

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, where things are just shifting and changing , and it's

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very uncomfortable . And so

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season seven is my tips for the wilderness

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, not necessarily like answers or 'this is

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how you get out of it' , but like when

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you find yourself here these are the things that have helped me

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in this space . And so we've talked about

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having to be hopeful . We've talked about making

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peace with time , participating in our faith

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, prayer and praying , and

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today is about words . And if you

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follow the podcast , you know I'm really passionate about

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how we use our words , because

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they are just such an expression

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of our authority as believers

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. They are such an expression

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of our autonomy

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, our ability to speak to something and

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see things shift and change based on what we release

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into the atmosphere and to the earth . And

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so this is- it's

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not beating a dead horse , but it's just kind of like getting

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on that pedestal again , or that soapbox

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again to say here

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even now , especially here

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, in a space where things just feel like

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out of whack , it's still important to pay attention to

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our words . So

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Proverbs 18: 21 is one

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of my favorite verses when it comes

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to how we use our words , which

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basically says death and life are in the power

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of the tongue , but they that love it will eat the fruit

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thereof . And so two

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really key ideas , which is you

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have a lot of influence with your words . You

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have a lot of influence with your words towards

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yourself , towards others , your

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world , but then also that

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your reality may very well be based

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on the words that you've released- you know, your existence

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, the things that you're seeing or not seeing . You

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m ay be able to trace that stuff , to go,

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Oh wait, I might be delivering on

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my words . You know this might be a

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reflection of what I've said or failed to say

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. And so my

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main idea for this episode , the main

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point I want to make , is that your words

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shape reality , and

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not shape reality in the sense of

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like , oh , i can get myself up out of this

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space if I just speak against it , like

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that's not gonna work , don't try it . But

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it is to say that

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the way

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that you experience this place , the way that you experience

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and move through and posture yourself in this space , will

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be very much so dependent upon and

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influenced by your words . You

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know , the scripture says that out of the abundance of the heart the

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mouth speaks . And I know , for me , when

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I realized like Oh , this is a place

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that you've placed me and I'm not getting up out of it

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anytime , sooner than you intend for me

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to get out of it , i

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was doing a lot of complaining . I was like

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I was talking to my therapist , i was talking to

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my mom , journaling , and all

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of it was just like this is not working , that's not working

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. What's going on ? I thought you said , you know , just

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doing all of that , and I think there's

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a place for that in the wilderness , like I think we

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have a , you know , a reflection in

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the Psalms of David and others

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, just kind of crying out like this is what

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it is , this is how I feel , this is what I'm

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thinking And I'm just going to dump all of that at your feet

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. But I think the wilderness is really tempting because

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we can find that that's our only

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declaration , that's the only

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thing that's coming out of our mouth is this

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is not working . This is uncomfortable . We hate

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it here And here

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. If not , it's just as important here as

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anywhere else any other season in life to pay

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attention , to be

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intentional with our words . When

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I was walking through anxiety in

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2019- ish , the

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importance of the words that I spoke was

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so clear and like was

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just so clearly demonstrated

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to me , because I think that

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whole faith comes by hearing , and hearing by the word of God

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, but also making a daily declaration

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in alignment with truth and alignment

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with the word of God . Things moved and

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shifted in ways that I was like oh , this might be a thing

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, this is real , and it really changed my

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posture on the words that I said Like you

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just not catch me being like , oh my God , I'm dead , lol

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. Like , no , I don't ever . I'm like

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oh , my words are real important , they're influential . I'm

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not about to declare death over me And you can think that's

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deep, And that's fine , I don't care . I'm

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real careful with my words because

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I've seen the positive impact

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. I've seen how my words have shifted

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emotional spaces and

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spiritual spaces for me , so I'm not just

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going to throw stuff around willy-nilly , but

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again in the wilderness , you can feel so much pressure that

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that's just what's coming up out of you

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, and I think my encouragement

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, you know , to you listener

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, a watcher , is to not

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fall off of what you know to do , especially

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in the area of your words . Right ? Your

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words are still going to bring life or death . Your

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words are still going to be something that create a reality

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and shape a reality for you , and

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so , you know , if

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you're not intentional with them , you're

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complaining . Not

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that you don't get the right to vent to the Lord or to

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your people- you do have that right . But

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it can't be the only thing that you're doing with your words is

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basically what I'm saying . You have

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to be intentional . I've had to

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be intentional with using my

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words in a way that directs

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my focus to what I want to see , to

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the reality I want to experience , and

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so sometimes

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, a lot of times , you can use your words to direct

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your focus . You

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know , like I said , out of the abundance of the heart , the mouth

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speaks , and so your words are belying

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where your focus is , and if your focus is

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in , nothing is working , everything is going wrong

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. God's not listening . You're hearing

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that , you know . You are hearing that first

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. And if faith comes by hearing , then are you

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building your faith in a reality that you don't

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want to really experience right ? L ike , is

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your faith or your unbelief being

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built in the direction of 'God is not faithful',

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'God is not listening' , 'he's turned his back on me' , 'he's

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forgotten me' , 'his word is not true' , 'he

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is not faithful' . 'I can't trust him' . Like

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, if that's what you're saying and that's what's stewing

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in your heart , that's

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going to be what comes up out of you , and then you're going to hear it and it's just

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going to feed into the system , the cyclical

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system , and it's

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going to have the opposite effect . I really think that

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there were things that the children of Israel did that

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kind of prolonged , obviously

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, their experience in the wilderness . And

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complaining and the refusal to believe

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God , I think are two really key things

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, because when you

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complain , when you spew

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out all of the things that go contrary

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to what you hope to experience , you're hearing that

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and your faith is being built in that . There's a scripture

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that says Jesus was talking to

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disciples , talking to people , and he's like hey , if you have the faith

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of a mustard seed , you could say to this mountain , be

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thou removed and cast in the sea and it'll obey you . And

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obviously we're not watching mountains get tossed into the

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sea , but I think what he's saying, I

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believe what Jesus was saying in that space, is

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a little bit of faith has a lot of

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, a lot of bit of movement , right ? And so

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if I'm building my faith or my

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unbelief because faith is just belief in

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the positive direction right , if I'm fostering

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an unbelieving heart , if I'm going

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yeah , God's not , God's not , God's not . And I'm

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eating that , how can I expect

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to see God move ? I can't even . I can't

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pray faithful prayers . I can't wake up

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in the morning with expectation that God is going to be

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who he said he's going to be , and so now

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all of my energy , all of my authority

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is being partnered with an outcome I don't even

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want . Right ? And so we

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have to also be really mindful of that , that it's not

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just going to be a way that we direct our focus

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, but that we have to be mindful that we are creative

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speaking beings , that we have authority all

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up in our words . Our words are laced with

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authority , and you can see this not just

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in Christian spaces , but out in the world . The world

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knows , hey , when I say something , I speak it , I'm

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bringing it towards me because it's just a natural

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law . It's a law that God has put in the earth that

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impacts everybody . And so if I'm

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someone that speaks- not if I , because I'm

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someone that speaks and things obey me

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because God created me in his image and that's how God

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rules, I got to be mindful of what I'm partnering

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my authority with right ? I have to be mindful

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of how I take the authority the God-given the authority

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I have to speak and see things move and change

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, and what I'm

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, what I'm associating that with right

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? And so this is really just an encouragement

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to be mindful . When you're in the , when you're in

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the desert and things are tight

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and you're feeling stretched and it's really

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uncomfortable , it's okay

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to journal , it's okay to vent , it's okay to say whatever

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you- you need to say to get it off of your chest

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. But man , regroup , regroup

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, regroup . I remember there was a time I was writing in my journal

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, I was just fuming just like God , this and this

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and this and this and this and this . And I sat

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back and I just was like , okay , we

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just said a lot of negativity , not just negativity

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, like you're not supposed to be negative . But , like we just said , God isn't,

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God didn't, God this God , this God , this . There's

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no way that God is absolutely not coming

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through . There's no way . That's just- that can't

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just be , that just can't be the truth , right ? So

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now I had this opportunity to reflect and go,

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that all-- everything was bad

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. Is everything bad ? Like

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, are there some good things happening ? Let's

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be honest , sis , like , let's be truthful . And

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for me in that moment it was like , oh wait , I

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can see my perspective is off because I'm not

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even going, God , thank you for breath in my body , Or

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thank you that my family is healthy . God , I'm believing

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you for healing for this person . I'm not seeing

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it right now , but you said you're a healer . Like

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, I'm not even engaging in that process . It's one

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of those things like , so , as

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a therapist , if someone sits down with me

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and they're like this isn't going right , that's not going right , everything

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is wrong . I

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know , because I'm sober thinking

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, I'm not as tight up in , as close up

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in their circumstances- I know the likelihood

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that everything is going wrong is

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highly unlikely . There's something going well

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, something is going right in their universe , right ? But

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because they're so like , focused

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so tight in on the thing that's not going well,

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they can't see it . And so it's

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my job to reflect and go wait , didn't

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you get a promotion last week ? Well

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, last time we talked , you said your daughter was

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like having this conversation with you, was opening up and being

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honest , and that wasn't something that she had done before

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. So that's , I mean , that's a win , right ? So now I have

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to reflect back to them like, wait a second . I

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know that's what you're saying , but some of your perspective

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is off , right ? And

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so in this space , I think it's really important

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that we not only have people

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that can go, I hear what you're saying; that's

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not the whole truth . It's important that we can do that

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for ourselves , but I think the

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main way that we're able to kind of step

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back is to be able to go, Wait, what

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has God said to me ? Right ? I'm talking

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about the importance of words . What has God said to me ? What

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are promises God made me ? What are whispers

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that God gave me in night seasons ? What

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are dreams that I've had ? Let me

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go back through my journals , through times when I remember

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things were really good and really tight , because right now

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I'm just taking in information through my senses

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and I'm allowing it to dictate who God

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is to me . God has been faithful , God

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has been good . This season is just a tight

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one , and so I need to be reminded of what

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truth is . And on top of that , I need to say

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it out loud: God , I'm thankful for

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. . . Lord, I see that you did this thing . I was concerned

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about that . Thank you for working on it . Say

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it out loud , because as much as we've complained

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, as much as I've complained about the

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tightness of the season , about feeling like God are

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you listening to me As much

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as I've complained about that or brought

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up my

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requests about how I wish things

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were , I need to also

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be mindful and intentional

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with my words and building my faith . This isn't forever

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, it's for now . This is

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where you are today , but know that God is doing something

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. Lord , thank you that my endurance is being built up

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. God , you know , if this would have happened a

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month ago , it might have crumbled me , but I know

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that because I went through it before I'm getting

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stronger . It's not impacting me like it used to

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. I am speaking kindly to myself

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. What ? ! That is such progress , Lord

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, like I'm being gentle with myself . Whoa , this

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is all good . These are all good things . These

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are all testaments of God's faithfulness

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. And so , while maybe some of the big things

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are still on the way that you're praying for and believing

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for , it's okay a nd it's important

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that we pause and go, wait God is still

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faithful , and I can point out his faithfulness

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here , here and there . So

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that's just my encouragement that , as as

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much as you're feeling pressed on every side

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or pulled in every kind of which way

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, be mindful about using

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your influence , your authority , in a way

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that highlights the goodness of God , highlights

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God's faithfulness , so that your faith can consistently

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and continually be built up in the

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God that you know as a deliverer , the God that you know

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who sees you and knows you and cares

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for you and carries you . So

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that's my encouragement: Use

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your words today to highlight God's

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faithfulness in your life and

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gratitude and gratefulness , and

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just even the moment of like, You know what ? I

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won't be- I

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won't be dominated by

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darkness . I'm not going to be overcome by

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negativity . God is doing something and I

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refuse to let it go unacknowledged Right . So

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that's my encouragement to you this week . Pick

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something that you know God is doing

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that is a win for you , and

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thank him for it out loud with your words and

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be intentional with your words about highlighting

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the faithfulness of God , the goodness of God and

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how God is showing up for you , like he's showing

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up for me in every

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day , little and big ways . So

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that's it for this week . I hope you have an amazing

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one . Make it a great one . Talk

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to you guys later . Bye .