"For no matter how many promises God has made, they are 'Yes' in Christ. And so through him the 'Amen' is spoken by us to the glory of God." -2 Corinthians 1:20 (NIV)

 

After we Pray, Amen! When the preacher, preached a good sermon, Amen! When someone says something that is so on point and to your liking, Amen! We use this term in spiritual and natural contexts, but do we truly understand the power of Amen?

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Amen is defined as:

• Verily

• Truth

• For sure

• That which is true

• Faithfully

• Certain

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Amen is more than an expression. We should not use our Amen as a mere figure of speech but as declaration and confirmation over what we are praying for. As we go to God for things, as we seek Him, as we cry out to Him, as we confide in Him, as we cast our cares upon Him, we should also ask Him to strengthen our faith. What does strengthening our faith have to do with our Amen you might ask. Our faith and our Amen must be on one accord. If the meaning of Amen expresses certainty, and surety, then our faith must do the same.

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We all struggle to believe. We all struggle at some point or another not to lose our hope. We all struggle to not waver and stand firm on what it is that God has told us. We all struggle with having faith. And if Amen translates to "truth", "sure", "certainty", and "faithfulness" and we Amen over our prayers and our situations without not even the minimum amount of faith, then what are we speaking over our situations and those things that we take to God? We are speaking a word that translates to faith without having any faith at all.

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Does this mean that we should not Amen if our faith is weak? Absolutely not! Still speak your Amen over your situations but ask God to strengthen the foundation of your Amen. Ask God as you are praying to give you the confidence to believe in what you are praying for. Ask God to strengthen your will to hold on. Ask God to guide your thoughts so that you don't stress over what you can't do, but so that you can rest assured on what He can do.

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God hears our prayers, and He knows all our needs. However, how often do you find yourself going to God asking for things that in your heart you really don't believe He is going to give you? You are asking Him for things yet not trusting His credibility to deliver on what you claim you know He can do.

 

Suppose you had a job where no matter how well you performed, your supervisor overlooked you. And no matter how many times you worked past your shift, came in on your days off, helped when someone else was slacking, your company still didn't think you were capable of taking on a higher position. Suppose they constantly gave you tasks thinking that you wouldn't be able to complete them. At some point you just might decide to do the minimum required, and stop going above and beyond, until they proved to you that they believed that you were capable of more, until they showed you that they valued you just as much as you valued them. You might even decide to move on to a company that better appreciates you.

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Think of our relationship with God. How do we make Him feel when we pray and do not trust Him? No matter how much He has shown Himself to us, delivered us, helped us to pull through, we still pray with doubt. We ask for His help but then say things like, "Hopefully God works it out but if not, I have a back-up plan." You constantly play a game of "Maybe He will, Maybe He won't." Do you not think that God too will get tired? Do you not think that He will sometimes decide to hold off until you learn to trust Him, to have faith in Him?

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Now, God is faithful. He gives us His grace, mercy, and compassion. He gives us things even when we don't deserve them. However, God sometimes gets to a point where He will require us to simply have faith not just in what we are asking for but faith in His ability to fulfill as He has promised before He moves on our behalf. We must put some power in our Amen. We must pack our Amen with some PUNCH! We must secure our Amen with some belief.

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If there is a scripture that helps us to better examine the meaning of Amen, it is found within

2 Corinthians 1. If we examine our scripture highlight, 2 Corinthians 1:20, it tells us that everything

that God promised us is "Yes" in Christ. And it is through Christ that we speak the Amen to the Glory of God. Meaning that whatever God promises is definite, it is a Yes. It is through our belief and acceptance of Jesus that we obtain these promises. Through God and His power, we speak in faith, and He allows His Spirit to work in us as a guarantee of what He said He would do. We are the Amen (the confirmation of truth) to the promise. God promised a Messiah that would be the ultimate sacrifice of our sins. He guaranteed it. It was a definite and assured, "Yes." And as believers of Christ, when we accept Him and receive salvation, we confirm that promise, becoming living proof of the Glory and faithfulness of God (The Amen).

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If we further examine 1 Corinthians 1:18-19 (NIV), it states, " But as surely as God is faithful, our message to you is not 'Yes' and 'No.' For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us—by me and Silas and Timothy—was not 'Yes' and 'No' but in him it has always been 'Yes.'"

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We must understand that there is nothing contradictory about God neither His promises. We must understand that as it concerns the relationship between the Father and the Son, there is, never was, and never will be anything about their relationship that is not in alignment, that is in opposition of one another, or that is not in unison. The Father and the Son, will always speak on one accord, command on one accord, and work on one accord. In the same sense, as believers in Christ our behaviors, our believes, and our actions, should be on one accord with the Spirit of God that works within us and through us. If we ask God for anything our thoughts and our actions must align with what we are asking for.

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If we pray for prosperity, then our thoughts and our actions must think and act in accordance with prosperity regardless of "what it looks like". If we pray for healing, then our thoughts and our actions must think and act in accordance with healing regardless of the "pain or medical diagnosis". If we pray for protection, then our thoughts and actions must act in accordance with assurance and security regardless of "the fear within us". We must become the Amen's to what we are praying for. Our "Amen's" have to seal our prayers.

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It does not mean that we pretend that all is well. It does not mean we ignore the reality of what we are facing. It does not mean that we act like things don't phase us, but it simply means that we recognize that our God has more power than the things that we face. It means that we understand that although these things cause us some pain, some turmoil, some tears, some suffering, some loss, and some distress, we have the certainty of God. We have the assurance of God. We have the proof through Jesus himself that God will deliver as promised, that God will see us through whatever we are facing.

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Jesus endured pain, harm, and persecution beyond what any of us will ever have to face. However, even while bearing the cross that he had to bear, he understood that the pain was not a reflection of the power and control of man, but of the Glory and assurance of God. The pain was in accordance with the promise. The pain was part of the fulfillment of the prophecy.

 

We read in Luke 23:46 (NIV), "Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” This is profound because Jesus knew that the cross would bring death which would bring life, which would fulfill the promise and the prophecy. He had already been beaten, hung, and physically wounded. He could have simply taken his last breath without any words whatsoever, but he uttered these words telling God that he was committing his spirit unto Him. Many of us miss the significance of this verse. Man thought that it was their doing that brought this harm upon Jesus, but it was always under the orchestration and control of God and the surrender and submission of Jesus.

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Jesus stating these words shows his sacrifice and God's fulfillment of promise. Man did not take Jesus' life, but he gave it up. His last words show his commitment to be the confirmation and

Amen to that which God had promised, to what God commanded and orchestrated. His natural life circumstances inflicted upon him by man though many and troublesome, were not more powerful than God's plan and Jesus' submission. Man could not take the life of Jesus unless God allowed it, and Jesus submitted. The Father and Son had one goal, one mission, one vision, and through this joint effort, a generation of promises came forth. Through this one event, we all gain all the promises of God when we confess and accept Jesus as our personal Savior.

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Keep in mind that the thing that you are praying for may be the open door to the rest of your life. That one thing that you are begging God to do may be the door to the manifestation that you've been seeking. That thing that is weighing on you, testing you, tearing you apart, making you feel like you can't make it, that you won't make it, may be your cross that you are going to have to bear to receive whatever it is that God has promised you. Therefore, you simply must endure and trust God to carry you through. And amidst the pain and the suffering have your Luke 23:46 moment and commit yourself to that thing that you must endure to receive what God has said is yours. You may have to be the Amen to the process that God has placed you in. Joseph was an Amen to his process. God had already given him the vision of what was to come although he did not understand it. He was placed in a pit, sold, put in jail, but stood firm and became ruler of all of Egypt fulfilling that very vision that God had given him, becoming the Amen to the promise of God.

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Moses had to accept his assignment with the stiff-necked Israelites, in turn, leading a people who did not want to be led. However, he pressed forward to become the Amen to what God had promised him. And Moses' Amen, stemmed from Abraham's Amen, because it was God's promise to Abraham that caused him to send Moses to deliver the Israelites out of Egypt. What does this mean?

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Our Amen's are not just words, not just speech, but our Amen's are also reflected through our action and our obedience to do what it is God has called us to do. How can you ask God for direction and after you pray for direction, after you verbally say, "Amen.", refuse to listen and act upon what He tells you to do? How can you pray to God asking Him to help you overcome your temptations, verbally sealing your prayer with an "Amen.", and then continue sticking your hand in the same cookie jar that you are praying to God to help you to stop being tempted by? How can you ask God for wisdom, knowledge, and understanding, seal your prayer with a verbal, "Amen.", and then when He directs you because it does not make sense to you, and because you don't understand it, you take the opposite route because it makes more "natural" sense? We cannot just utter the words. "Amen.", but we must act them out. Our Amen does not just become the benediction to our prayer, but it becomes the footprint to how we will maneuver after we have prayed about that particular thing that we have taken to God in prayer. It becomes our stepping-stone, which is why we must make sure that our Amen is stable, so that we can stand firmly on it.

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We are not perfect. And as much as we might "Amen." to the thoughts to ponder mentioned in this blog, the truth is that many of us will read it, say "Amen.", and still struggle with believing. And you know what, we're human. BUT GOD is omnipotent, omnipresent, supernatural, majestic, infinite, and flawless, which is why He is right there to help us with our unbelief, with our fears, and with our doubt.

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Be real about what you "think you can't do" so that God can show you WHAT HE CAN DO. In order to overcome the circumstance, you must acknowledge that it exists and after acknowledging that it exists, acknowledge the power of our God to overcome it. Seal it with an "Amen."

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In Philippians 4:13 (KJV) is states, "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." which highlights the fact that there are things that we cannot do on our own. There are things that we just don't have the strength to do. However, through Christ we can do whatever it is we need to do to walk boldly and confidently into what God calls us to do. Through Christ we can overcome all the challenges that we face. Through Christ, we can conquer all the obstacles that stand before us. Through Christ, we can speak our Amen in assurance knowing that whatever it is, whatever we need, God can supply, provide, conquer, win, overcome, control, and defeat whatever we stand against.  That AMEN can't just be about who you are but about who God is.

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Stop putting all the weight on your human self and let God carry you. In last week's blog we reminded you that God is a heavyweight, undefeated champion. And as heirs of the promise, we inherit that same ability to conquer whatever mountain stands before us. We are WINNERS BY RIGHT!

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No matter what you are facing, seal it with a definite "Amen." No matter what it looks or feels like, seal it with an assured, "Amen." No matter how dark it may seem, seal it with a confident, "Amen."     

No matter how long it seems it might take and how long the situation lasts, seal it with a stable, "Amen." And most importantly place the Power of that "Amen." on the Rock known as Jesus, The Cornerstone, The Alpha, The Omega, the ruler of the heavens and the earth, The Holy One, The Sovereign One, God Almighty.

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Now Let all Who Believe in the Power of the Living God who cannot lose, be defeated, pushed aside, or set asunder, say, "AMEN!"