“Did I say that?” (Are you listening to the words coming out of your mouth?)

A few years ago, I’d gone into Staples to pick up some office supplies, and happened to be there at the same time as a young mom with two small children.  I remember those days, that season of life when you need an extra set of arms, and eyes in the back of your head.  Those years when you seem to function in a constant state of tired.  To all mothers of young children – take courage for this too shall pass!

Surely, I must have caught this mom on an ‘off day’ and what I observed was not representative of her typical engagement with her children – for there in plain view for all the world to see, this frazzled mom was trying to ‘discipline and rally’ her children into better behavior by very loudly telling them how stupid they were and how disgusted she was with them.  And my heart broke for them all.

“Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit.”  (Proverbs 18:21)

Faith Like A Seed

I lead a women’s small group, and for the past few months we have been studying the power of our words to bring forth blessing or cursing into our lives, into our families, and into our every day circumstances.    As we explore the simplicity, and the complexity of ‘changing our confession’ so that the words we speak out of our mouth come into agreement with what God has to say about a subject/concern, we discover that ‘speaking life’ over ourselves is not about releasing magic words as if they were part of some sort of spiritual incantation.  But what we do learn from studying our Bibles is that there is power in the spoken word, power to bless and power to curse.  James has a lot to say about the power of our words.   Bible teachers like Kenneth & Gloria Copeland, Creflo Dollar, Joyce Meyer and Charles Capps have also had great impact on my life and radically changed my thinking on the power of our words.

 “Today I am giving you a choice of two ways. And I ask heaven and earth to be witnesses of your choice. You can choose life or death. The first choice will bring a blessing. The other choice will bring a curse. So choose life!”  (Deut 30:19)

We know from Matthew 12:35 that the words we speak reflect what we believe in your heart.   If we want to know the condition of our heart, or of our spiritual health, all we really need to do is to pause and listen to what’s coming out of our mouths.

Are we speaking words of encouragement, of hope and compassion?  Or are we speaking words of fear, judgment and hatred?  Are we speaking of our confident expectation in the promises of God?   Are our words agreeing with the words of the enemy who wants to steal our dreams, rob our resources, and utterly destroy any positive impact we can have in a hurting and broken world?

If the words that a man speaks are like seeds planted in the ground which will yield their harvest at the appointed time, whose word-seeds are you planting?

Blessings,
Jenny