The problem was, I didn’t get to correct her very much. I was always the one fouling up. I’d get upset about some situation and start spouting off about how it was “irritating me to death,” or “about to kill me,” or whatever, and she’d smile at me real big and say, “That’s your confession and I believe every word of it.”
I’ll admit, at the time I didn’t always appreciate this. But eventually her help proved to be invaluable. I’m not the only one who benefited from it, either. Our children did, too. They started at a very young age learning to live by faith and, when they said things contrary to God’s WORD, she corrected them much like she did me.
Try as they might, our children never got anywhere with Gloria by whining when things went wrong and trying to get her to feel sorry for them. She wouldn’t pet their self-pity and say, “Poor baby.” On the contrary! If they started wallowing around in upset and unbelief, she was more likely to respond by saying something like “Sweetheart, get a grip!”
Get a grip! Gloria has said that phrase so many times, with such love and wisdom, that over the years it’s become one of my favorites. I even use it myself sometimes when I’m preaching, because I’m convinced that all of us, as believers, need to hear it now and then. When our soul is running wild, and our thoughts are trying to go crazy over some disturbing situation or attack of the devil, we all need to be reminded to get a grip.
What do we need to get a grip on?
The WORD of God!
His WORD will do for us what human sympathy can never do. It will accomplish in us what someone agreeing with us about how terrible things are will never accomplish. God’s WORD will bring us victory in every time of trouble! If we’ll grab it—yes, I mean literally pick up the Book—start reading it out loud, and say, “Soul, you have to shut up now and listen,” God’s WORD will hold us steady and empower us to triumph in every circumstance.
Why?
Because God’s WORD is His unbreakable, unchangeable covenant with us! It’s full of promises of victory He has sworn to us in the precious blood of Jesus. It’s a divine contract God takes so seriously that Hebrews 6:17-20 says:
BVOV : 5
