Not by bread alone: answering every unknown with the word of God

It was the dumbest thing. I’d left for a week’s vacation and forgotten a prescription at home. What if I needed it during the trip? We were hours from home. What if this careless mistake ruined our vacation?

I fretted off and on for an hour or so before it finally occurred to me to ask the Father about it.

“Lord, what do You think about this?” I prayed aloud.

Instantly the words came, “It will be all right.”

His voice was not audible, but it was unmistakable. All that week, each time worry raised its ugly head, I clung to what He’d said to me, and the knot in my stomach and the anxiety dissolved immediately. And just like He said, the week passed quietly and joyfully and I never needed the item I’d left far away at home.

But months later came a more serious fear. It involved a possible medical diagnosis for one of my children. My daughter had a symptom that was a red flag, I was told. Consumed with dread, I finally went into my prayer closet. Out loud, I asked the Lord about this.

“She’s fine.”

Again, His voice was instant, unmistakable. I took my child to the doctor anyway, not sensing the Lord’s disapproval in doing so. They did some tests, and told me not to worry unless A, B, or C happened.

“She’s fine,” God had told me. I was not going to worry, and not even consider that A, B, or C might develop. For two weeks I declared God’s word over her. “By His stripes you were healed.” “He heals all your diseases.” “There is no blemish in you.” “He is Jehovah, the God that heals you.” Each time the fear came to mind, I answered it out loud with scripture. Eventually, the troubling symptom disappeared for good.

In all these things, and many others, God has been teaching me that “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that falls from the mouth of God” (Deut. 8:3, Matt. 4:4). And this is the practical application: Listen for the spoken, specific word of God in your circumstance – for direction, for the next step to take, for the right response, or to know what to do for that loved one. Once you know what He says about it, declare His written word – every scripture you find that pertains to it – along with His spoken word until it comes to pass.

Was there a time that God gave you a specific word about something and you clung to it like a life preserver?