I had a personal experience some weeks ago. Things got so tough, I mean really tough (financially) - I could barely afford anything. And guess what…I gradually got discouraged and slowed down in my regular routine of praying and sowing seed-words.
Until one day the Holy Spirit jolted me; it was as though He sat me down to have a chat that morning. He said to me, “If (your) praying was that palatable to the devil, why have you stopped? The devil has talked you into discouragement and has distracted you from sowing seed-words”. Then He said, “So what are you going to do about it?” I got a clear-cut instruction from the Lord that day to get back on my feet, to get back to the place of prayer, to get back to the place where I first began; after all, it won’t cost money to declare God’s promise concerning my life. I made up my mind to get back on track, whether it was palatable to me or not.
Words are seeds, they create our world and they must be sown at all times, we became born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever (1Peter 1:25). As seeds, words need to be cultivated.
How?
The answer is ‘continuity’ – you have to continually remove weeds from around you seeds.
Let’s ponder on that question once again: If the devil likes the fact that you pray and confess the Word of God often, why have you stopped? …. You got so discouraged, very busy, or too comfortable to pray-to sow seed-words.
The parable of the sower explains this point. The enemy tries to choke the Word in our lives by distracting us - the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things. (Mark 4:7.18-19).
The Word of God is Spirit and it is life (John 6:63) but the devil will succeed in stifling the Word planted in your spirit as soon as he is able to take your attention off it. When he gets you to this point, you begin to live in unbelief and doubt. Doubting comes easily. We don’t wake up in the morning and say to ourselves, “Today I'm going to doubt God.” No, doubt moves into a vacuum; it takes over when we do not do the right things. (James 1; 6-8)
As Christians and soldiers in the army of the Lord, we must constantly fight the good fight of faith putting on the whole armour of God especially the shield of faith (Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.) I was able to establish earlier that faith is speaking that which you have believed. It is the declaration of an unwavering belief. (see: http://grenepages.com/issue_5/my_words_my_world.php)
In ancient Greek, there was a disgrace attached to warriors who lost their shield in battle; it was regarded as the deepest dishonour, a crime that was punishable with death. The shield could only get lost by their own neglect or imprudence. We should not be like the cowardly soldiers; we must not cast away our confidence, which has great recompense of reward. (Hebrews 10:35).
Circumstances that come your way should never get a hold of you. Be determined to create your own world with the abundance of your lips irrespective of the things going on around you. It may be good, it may be bad – the devil will distract you anyhow.
Remember - we walk by faith, not by sight.