THE POWER OF YOUR WORDS

For years, the widely circulated Reader’s Digest offered the popular feature, “It Pays To Enrich Your Word Power.” Over time, the name of the feature has changed but the content has stood the test of time because all of us have room to expand our vocabulary.

When it comes to our faith, it is not the size of our vocabulary, but the source that is important – especially when we are facing one of life’s tests. Think about the common expression, “words fail me.” In the natural, this happens when someone has a thought they want to convey but cannot find a way to communicate it. Spiritually speaking, our words fail us when they do not reflect God’s heart and thoughts.

The words you speak are like the rudder of a ship, and they will determine the direction your life takes. Whenever you agree in your heart with God and say what He says about your situations, you are headed in the right direction!

God’s Words

God’s Words have power. At the beginning of the Book of Genesis, He spoke the whole world into existence. As God told Isaiah, “So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:11). When God speaks, you can be certain that what He says will come to pass.

Think about what happened when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. If you remember, Lazarus had been dead four days by the time Jesus came to the tomb where his body had been placed. After the stone had been rolled away, Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth!” and John 11:44 records the result: “he who had died came out!”

Just as the words Jesus spoke brought Lazarus out of the grave, it is the Word of God that comes out of your mouth that will bring change to your situation. Hebrews 4:12 describes the Word of God as “living and powerful,” and when you speak His Word, God’s power is released to do what He wants accomplished.

Your Words

Spiritually speaking, our words are always powerful. As Proverbs 18:20-21 tells us: “A man’s stomach shall be satisfied with the fruit of his mouth; from the produce of his lips he shall be filled. Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.” In other words, we will live with the consequences – good or bad – of whatever we speak.

In James 3:5, our words are also compared to dry wood fueling a fire. We read: “Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasts great things. See how great a forest a little fire kindles!” If we don’t want our lives to go up in smoke, it is important that we understand the power of our words.

Whenever someone speaks negatively, they are helping the devil strike a match that leads to destruction in their life. Sometimes people even die as a result of their words. They say things like, “Everybody in my family dies of cancer. My grandfather died of cancer, my uncle died of cancer, and so did my brother. I’ll probably get cancer and die just like they did.”

However, when you and I speak positively, agreeing in our hearts with what God’s Word says, we light the fuse that brings God’s creative power into the situation. Then, faced with the same family medical history, you and I can see the glass half full instead of half empty. We can proclaim, “He Himself took my infirmities and bore my sicknesses” (Matthew 8:17), and by His stripes I’m healed (1 Peter 2:24).

What you say opens or closes the door to God’s promises being fulfilled in your life. Jesus said, “Have faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘be removed and cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will come to pass, he will have whatever he says” (Mark 11:22-23).

Jesus clearly said that, if you believe in your heart that God will do what He says, and if you do not doubt, you will have whatever you say. Furthermore, God says in Isaiah 57:19, that when you speak, He creates the fruit of your lips. We can speak death, or we can speak life. The choice is ours. It is not some sort of “magic” formula; it is putting the faith that is already in your heart into operation.

Abraham’s Example

Abraham is one of my favorite examples of God’s faithfulness, but the thing I want you to notice is that God’s promise didn’t “just happen” in his life. As you may recall, Abraham and Sarah had tried unsuccessfully for seventy years to have a child. Abraham knew that God had promised he would be the father of many nations, but all the physical evidence was stacked against him. Only a miracle could bring God’s promise to pass.

Abraham’s miracle certainly was not quick in coming. Despite that, we’re told in Romans 4:20 that he, “did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief.” Instead, he had faith and agreed with what God had spoken in spite of all the obstacles he faced. Then, despite the impossibility of the situation, God “called those things which were not as though they were” (Romans 4:17). Isaac was born, and Abraham received his miracle!

Faith was a key to Abraham receiving the manifestation of God’s promise. As Hebrews 11:1 tells us, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” It takes faith to believe what we cannot yet see. Mark 11:24 tells us, “Whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.”

Speaking of prayer, you and I can pray for hours, but if we only tell God the details of our problems, those problems are most likely not going to get any better. When we pray, we should verbalize our agreement with what God says in His Word and begin to pray the solution rather than the problem.

Receiving Your Miracle

God has a promise for everything you will ever need. However, the devil has a plan to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10) – he’ll do whatever he can in an attempt to keep you from receiving God’s promise. If you say and do nothing, the devil will get his way. But if you choose to believe God and stand on His promise, saying what He says, God will bring it to pass.

Here’s a scenario of how miracles happen:

• You receive a promise from God.
• A situation arises that makes it seem like what God has promised couldn’t possibly come to pass. That is one way the devil tries to steal the Word.
• You choose to believe God’s promise.
• You stand on His promise, saying what God says – not what the circumstances say.
• God brings the promise to pass despite how impossible the situation once seemed.

Suppose your checkbook says, “You’re broke!” and your financial advisor tells you that you’re going to have to file bankruptcy. Yet, you know that God’s Word promises He will provide for all your needs. Who are you going to agree with? What are you going to say? What if the doctor tells you there is no cure for what you have, yet you know the Bible says Jesus healed all your sicknesses and diseases? Who will you believe, and what words will come out of your mouth?

The next time you are faced with adverse circumstances, remember that God is faithful, that He loves you, and that He is watching over His Word to perform it (Jeremiah 1:12). Grab hold of the promise God has in place to cover your need. Stand on that promise, believing it and speaking it over your situation.

God’s Word is more powerful than any problem you will ever face, and it becomes a powerful force in your life when it is spoken. Don’t let your words fail you – the miracle you need is in your mouth!