I've been thinking about something that I believe far too many Christians—especially those over 55—have simply accepted without ever stopping to ask what God's Word actually says.
Turn on the television and eventually you will see the commercials.
Once you reach a certain age, you are told what you should expect. This disease becomes more likely. That condition becomes something you should watch for. Decline is presented as normal. Deterioration becomes an expectation. A pharmaceutical advertisement can spend thirty seconds telling people what may go wrong with their bodies, followed by another thirty seconds listing possible complications and side effects.
Listen to messages like these long enough and they can begin to sound like declarations over your future.
But Christians should be asking a different question:
What did God say?
If I really believe the Bible is God's Word, then that question changes everything.
God does not lie. God does not change. His Word is truth.
So why would I allow a pharmaceutical commercial, a statistic, a cultural expectation, or even a human prognosis to possess greater authority in my life than the Word of the God I say I believe?
Forget Not All His Benefits
Psalm 103 begins with an instruction that is remarkably important: “Forget not all His benefits.”
Then Scripture begins identifying those benefits. He forgives our iniquities. He heals our diseases. He redeems our lives from destruction. He crowns us with lovingkindness and tender mercies. He satisfies us with good things so that our youth is renewed like the eagle's.
Those aren't words I want to casually read and then forget as soon as another voice tells me what supposedly has to happen to me as I get older.
The Psalm specifically tells me not to forget. Yet I believe forgetting is exactly what has happened to many Christians.
We know what advertisements say. We know what statistics say. We know what people around us expect. But do we know what God said?
Second Timothy 2:15 tells us to study and rightly handle the Word of truth. There is a responsibility on our side to know God's Word.
The deficiency is not on God's end. God has spoken. The question is whether we know what He has said, whether we believe Him, and whether we are willing to stand on His Word when something else tells us the opposite.
Look at Abraham
My study of this subject brought me back to Abraham.
Genesis 24:1 says something extraordinary: The LORD had blessed Abraham in all things.
Not merely spiritually. Not merely financially. Scripture says in all things.
Then Genesis tells us exactly how long Abraham lived: 175 years.
Genesis 25:7 records Abraham's age explicitly. The next verse says that he died “in a good old age” and “full of years.”
Abraham didn't merely reach what modern culture considers old age. Scripture presents a man blessed by God in all things who lived 175 years and eventually completed his life at a good old age, full of years.
Psalm 91:16 also speaks of God satisfying His people with long life. Psalm 118:17 declares: “I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the LORD.”
I therefore refuse to let modern expectations about aging establish the ceiling for what I believe God can do in my life.
I believe in long life. I believe in a good old age. I believe in a satisfied life. And yes, I believe that life beyond 125 years is available to the Christian believer.
I don't believe that because modern medicine has promised it. I believe it because I look at what God's Word reveals about His blessing, His promises, and the life of Abraham.
This Isn't Only About People Over 55
Although I began this article by talking specifically about people over 55, I don't want anyone to misunderstand the larger point.
God's Word is not only for seniors. His promises do not begin when we reach a certain age.
The same principle applies whether you are 25, 45, 65, 85, or beyond.
The world begins teaching us expectations about our bodies, our health, our abilities, and our future long before we become seniors. People are told that certain conditions “run in the family.” They are told what they should expect because of their age, their history, their circumstances, or what happened to somebody else. Over time, those expectations can become things people simply accept.
But my question remains the same at every age:
What did God say?
I don't believe a 30-year-old should accept something contrary to God's Word any more than I believe an 80-year-old should. God's truth doesn't become more or less true depending on the number of candles on our birthday cake.
The issue is not really whether someone is young or old. The issue is whose word establishes what we believe.
That's why this message is ultimately for every Christian. Know God's Word while you are young. Believe His promises. Learn to recognize voices that contradict what He has said. Guard what you allow to shape your expectations. Speak His Word. And when circumstances appear contrary to His promises, contend in faith and stand.
Don't wait until the world decides you are “old” before you begin learning how to believe God.
But What Does Abraham Have to Do With Christians?
This is where Jesus Christ becomes central to the entire argument.
Galatians 3:13–14 tells us that Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, becoming a curse for us, so that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, and that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
That means I cannot study Abraham as though he were merely an interesting historical figure disconnected from the Christian life. The New Testament itself connects the blessing of Abraham with those who are in Christ.
And that connection exists because of Jesus. Because of His death. Because of His shed blood. Because of His resurrection.
This isn't positive thinking. This isn't trying to convince myself that everything will work out. My confidence is in Jesus Christ and what He accomplished.
Healing Is Not the Exception I Start With
This is where I believe Christians sometimes reverse the order.
We begin with sickness as normal. We begin with deterioration as normal. We begin with shortened life as normal. Then we ask whether perhaps God might occasionally make an exception and heal somebody.
I believe God's Word teaches me to begin somewhere else.
I begin with God. I begin with His character. I begin with His Word. I begin with His promises. I begin with what Jesus accomplished.
Isaiah 53 speaks about the suffering servant bearing our griefs and carrying our sorrows and being wounded for our transgressions. Matthew 8 connects Isaiah's prophecy with Jesus healing the sick. First Peter 2:24 points back to Christ's suffering and says, “by whose stripes ye were healed.” Psalm 103 tells me not to forget the God who heals.
So the blessed, healthy, healed life is not something I believe because circumstances happened to prove it to me first.
I believe it because God said it.
God's Word establishes the standard.
A Doctor Once Told Me I Would Need Medication for the Rest of My Life
This isn't merely theological theory for me.
I've personally had a doctor tell me that I would need medication for the rest of my life. That was the prognosis. But that wasn't the end of my story.
I believe God healed me. Today, I no longer take medications that I was once told I would need for the rest of my life.
That experience taught me something I will not forget: A human prognosis is not God's Word.
Doctors can tell us what they see. Tests can tell us what they measure. Medicine can serve a purpose. But none of those things replaces God.
I am not afraid of medicine, and I am not afraid of what a doctor says. Neither am I going to make a human statement supreme over God.
And I am not afraid to say that if I believe God has spoken to me, obedience to God is not something I treat as optional.
That is my testimony and my conviction. It is not a blanket instruction telling another person what prescription to take or discontinue. Each person is responsible for his or her own decisions.
But I will never tell a Christian that a doctor saying, “You will have this for the rest of your life,” means God is no longer able to say otherwise.
God gets the final word.
Don't Accept Every Word Spoken Over You
I don't have to accept every negative statement spoken within my hearing.
When something contradicts what I believe God has said about me, I can reject it.
Sometimes my response is simple: “I rebuke that in Jesus' name. No weapon formed against me shall prosper.”
Isaiah 54:17 says no weapon formed against God's servants shall prosper and speaks of condemning the tongue that rises against them.
So why would I willingly take a declaration of sickness, deterioration, fear, or premature death and begin speaking it over myself?
I won't.
Instead, I declare God's Word: I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the LORD.
I declare God's promises concerning healing, strength, blessing, and long life. I declare that I will live a long, satisfied life and reach a good old age.
The world doesn't get to write my confession for me.
What Happens When Your Circumstances Don't Match the Promise?
This is where faith becomes more than a theological word.
Sometimes what we see does not appear to agree with God's Word. Symptoms may still be present. Your body may not feel different. The circumstances may appear unchanged.
That doesn't mean God's Word suddenly became untrue.
That is when we contend for the promises of God.
We keep praying. We keep believing. We keep speaking and declaring His Word. And we stand.
Ephesians 6:13 tells us that after having done all, stand. The next verse begins again with the command, “Stand therefore.”
There may come a point when I have prayed, believed, declared God's Word, rejected what contradicts it, and done everything I know to do. What do I do then?
I stand.
I don't surrender the promise because time has passed. I don't change my confession because circumstances haven't changed yet. I don't decide that what I see must be more truthful than what God said.
Standing does not mean doing nothing. It means refusing to be moved away from what God has said.
We don't rewrite God's promise to make it agree with the circumstance.
We pray. We believe. We declare. We contend. And having done all to stand, we stand.
We continue standing until what we see comes into alignment with what God has said.
Watch What You Say While You Stand
There is another part of standing in faith that Christians cannot afford to overlook: Watch what you say.
My pastors, Pastors Hank and Brenda Kunneman of Lord of Hosts Church, have been teaching on these very things, and one point they have emphasized struck me profoundly: look at what happened to the Israelites on their way to the Promised Land.
God had already told Israel what He intended to do. He promised them a land flowing with milk and honey.
But when the twelve spies returned from Canaan in Numbers 13, ten of them focused on the giants, the fortified cities, and everything they believed made God's promise impossible.
Joshua and Caleb saw the same land. They saw the same inhabitants. They saw the same obstacles. But they spoke differently.
Caleb said, “Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it” (Numbers 13:30).
The other spies said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we” (Numbers 13:31).
Same circumstances. Same God. Same promise. But very different words.
Then the congregation joined the negative report. Numbers 14 records the people complaining against Moses and Aaron, talking about dying in the wilderness, and even proposing that they return to Egypt.
They were speaking contrary to what God had promised them. And God heard them.
Numbers 14:28 records God's response: “As I live,” says the LORD, “just as you have spoken in My hearing, so I will do to you.”
That should make every believer stop and think about what comes out of our mouths.
God had spoken about a Promised Land. The people spoke about defeat and death. Joshua and Caleb continued agreeing with God. The rest of that generation did not enter into what God had promised them.
The New Testament Tells Us to Learn From Them
This isn't merely an Old Testament story that has nothing to do with Christians today.
First Corinthians 10 says that these things happened to them as examples and were written for our admonition. Paul specifically warns Christians not to follow their example of complaining.
Hebrews 3 also looks back at that generation and warns believers about unbelief. It tells us that they could not enter because of unbelief.
That connects their words to something deeper. Their mouths revealed what was happening in their hearts.
They had God's promise, but they continually spoke as though the promise were not true.
Jesus taught that “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matthew 12:34).
That is why I need to watch my tongue.
If God says one thing, why would I spend my day confessing the opposite?
If God speaks healing, why would I continually make sickness my identity? If God speaks blessing, why would I continually declare defeat? If God speaks long life, why would I adopt premature death as my expectation?
If God gives me a promise, why would I allow the media, an advertisement, fear, somebody else's experience, or my present circumstances to teach my mouth what to say?
Whose Report Will You Agree With?
The ten spies had a report. Joshua and Caleb had a report. The world has reports. The media has reports. Advertisements have reports. Our circumstances sometimes appear to have their own report.
But God has spoken too.
I want my mouth agreeing with Him.
That doesn't mean pretending circumstances don't exist. Joshua and Caleb didn't pretend there were no giants in Canaan. They simply refused to make the giants greater than their God.
Faith does not require me to lie about what I see. Faith requires me to refuse to let what I see overturn what God has said.
So I need to guard my mouth while I stand.
I don't want to continually complain about the very circumstances I am asking God to change. I don't want fear determining my confession. I don't want the world's expectations becoming my words.
I want to speak what God said. I want to speak what God promised He would do. I want my words to agree with His Word.
So when circumstances appear contrary: Pray. Believe. Speak God's Word. Contend for the promise. Watch your tongue. And having done all to stand—stand.
Don't let another voice teach your mouth to speak against what God has promised.
Abraham Faced the Same Choice
Romans 4 gives us an extraordinary picture of Abraham's faith.
God had given Abraham a promise, but his physical circumstances appeared to say something completely different.
Abraham was approaching a hundred years old. Sarah's womb appeared incapable of producing the child God had promised.
Abraham had God's promise on one side and physical circumstances on the other.
Romans tells us that he did not waver through unbelief. Instead, he became strong in faith, gave glory to God, and was fully persuaded that God was able to perform what He had promised.
He didn't make the condition of his body greater than God's promise. He didn't decide that God's Word needed to be reinterpreted because circumstances looked impossible.
He believed God.
That is the pattern I want in my own life.
We Walk by Faith, Not by Sight
Second Corinthians 5:7 says: “For we walk by faith, not by sight.”
There may be times when I don't feel healed. There may be times when my body doesn't look healed. There may be times when circumstances appear to contradict what I am believing.
I can still declare: “Body, I command you to align with God's Word. I am healed in Jesus' name.”
I don't have to wait until my senses give me permission to believe God. I believe God first.
That isn't denying that a symptom exists. It's refusing to make that symptom a higher authority than God.
Jesus Taught Us to Believe and Speak
Jesus didn't teach passive faith.
In Mark 11:22–24, Jesus begins with: “Have faith in God.” He then describes speaking to a mountain, believing rather than doubting in the heart, and believing when we pray.
Notice the combination: Faith. Speaking. Prayer. Believing.
Jesus also told two blind men who believed He could heal them: “According to your faith let it be to you.”
Elsewhere in the Gospels, Jesus repeatedly draws attention to faith when people receive healing.
Faith does not make God truthful. God was already truthful before I ever believed Him. Faith is my response to the God who cannot lie.
Speak God's Word
That's why I believe Christians need to pay attention to their own words.
If I spend the entire day declaring the opposite of what I am praying for, what am I actually believing?
I don't want sickness to become my identity. I don't want decline to become my confession. I don't want premature death to become an expectation I casually accept because somebody told me it was statistically normal.
I want God's Word in my heart and coming out of my mouth.
When circumstances disagree: Speak the Word.
When fear comes: Speak the Word.
When somebody declares something over your future that contradicts what God has promised: Speak the Word.
When you haven't yet seen what you're believing for: Keep praying. Keep believing. Keep declaring. Keep contending. Keep standing.
This Is Why Christians Need to Know Their Bible
None of this works if Christians don't know what God has said.
We cannot stand on promises we have never learned. We cannot recognize a contradiction to God's Word if we don't know God's Word. And we cannot confidently declare God's Word if our understanding of Christianity comes primarily from culture, advertisements, social media, other people's experiences, or occasional snippets of Scripture.
Study. Know the Word. Know who you are in Christ. Know what Jesus accomplished. Know what belongs to you. Know the blessing of Abraham. Know the promises of God.
Then when another voice says something contrary, you recognize it immediately.
Who Gets the Final Word?
That's ultimately what this is about.
Who gets the final word?
The commercial? The statistic? The culture? Fear? Your present circumstances? Or God?
I have made my choice.
God has not changed. His Word has not changed. Jesus Christ has not changed. Christ's finished work has not changed. And the blessing of Abraham has not disappeared.
So I will study God's Word. I will believe God's Word. I will declare God's Word. I will contend for God's promises when circumstances appear contrary. I will stand. I will walk by faith and not by sight.
I will not accept premature death as my expectation.
I believe God for healing, health, strength, blessing, usefulness, long life, satisfaction, and a good old age.
And I believe these truths matter at every stage of life. Whether we are young, middle-aged, or old, God's Word—not our age—should establish what we believe and expect.
Not because the world told me those things are possible.
Because I believe God.
The commercial doesn't get the final word. Fear doesn't get the final word. Circumstances don't get the final word.
God's Word gets the final word.
Practical Takeaway
Study the cited passages for yourself. Know what God has said. Let His Word shape what you believe, pray, speak, and expect. When circumstances appear contrary, contend in faith, guard your tongue, and having done all to stand—stand.
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