Words Have Power

God spoke the world into existence in Genesis chapter one. This shows us words have power. Since God lives in us as the Holy Spirit, we have access to this power. But how often are our words not aligned with God’s? More often than I like.

Mark 11:23 NKJV - For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. Our words can move mountains out of our way. Are we talking to our problems in order to move them? Pray and then act as God directs. Speak to your problems according to God’s promises and this will invoke the power to put them in their place. Sure your problems may not disappear instantly, but aligning with God will make them seem like a bump in the road instead of mountainous. Sometimes miracles do happen, but they won’t if you don’t speak out.

Another example of the power of words is earlier in Mark 11 starting at verse 12. Jesus comes upon a fig tree in leaf, but it doesn’t feel like giving up its fruit. It will do so when it wants to regardless of the season. Jesus rebuked the tree for not bearing fruit and the next day when they passed it, it was withered. All Jesus did was rebuke the unprofitable tree with words. Personally I never want to hear that from God and wind up withered. I’m hoping to hear the well done good and faithful servant comment no matter how much I have stumbled trying to align with God.

In the same way, our words can really hurt people and make them whither into a shell of themselves. Words really do hurt. We do not need to be causing strife. Prov 6:2 NKJV - You are snared by the words of your mouth; you are taken by the words of your mouth. Our words can lead us towards a fight or towards resolution. Do not let your words snare you from moving forward into the life of an overcomer that God promised, nor take people down to make yourself feel better. It is a vicious cycle of decay.

However, words can lift people up to heights they never expected to reach. Be an encourager. Prov 12:25 NKJV - Anxiety in the heart of man causes depression, but a good word makes it glad. We all get worked up about things and encouraging words from any source will help us overcome. I love making people smile or at least see a positive point they can be heading toward despite the issues they believe are overwhelming them.

Prov 25:11 NKJV - A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver. I wish all my words could be like this. I’m still learning to properly speak to my problems and to the world about how we all can be overcomers in Christ Jesus. It is not an easy road, but a comforting one and filled with blessings.

How are you directing your words? Are they rebellious and quarrelsome? Or are they positive with uplifting power, not only for you, but for others? I would challenge us all to learn how to aptly speak the right words and even show love to our enemies. One kind word can diffuse what feels like a war. One word can move a mountain.

Ask God to direct your words and to speak his words through you. He will answer this prayer, it is one of his gifts.

Don't Be Rude

I see a lot of rudeness in today’s culture. We think being aggressive will get us what we want rather than the more positive assertiveness. If we don’t fight for what we want, we could lose more. Yes, we need to fight for what is right, but not to get what we individually want. We need to work and fight as a team to keep humanity on the higher track, one that lifts us up and isn’t putting us down.

So many quote the Golden Rule, which can be found in Luke 6:31 NKJV - And just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise. What I see more often is mistreatment and then retaliation which cycles into a downward trend. We have racism, religious persecution, rape, stealing, lying, and murder to name a few things all because each individual is striving for what they want first.

We are not to retaliate to the evil. I’ve seen hatred diffused because of one act of kindness. Sometimes it will take a lot of acts of kindness, but in the end kindness wins. This is because it is based on love. 1 Cor 13:4-5 NKJV says - Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil. We are to show love even to our enemies, so they know that what they are doing is not right. We are not to let the enemy walk all over us, but they better know we are not going to retaliate the way they expect. Doing it the enemy’s way will only make it worse.

Prov 20:3 NKJV - It is honorable for a man to stop striving, since any fool can start a quarrel. Anyone can get into an argument and most times it is over something petty and selfish. We find it so easy in our culture to throw out anything that is considered an inconvenience or causes us a little aggravation. We scream for what we want and in turn don’t want to let others have their rights because they annoy us.

There is a lot of freedom of speech infringement going on as people start crying about hate speech. I do not have to agree with every belief you have and you do not have to agree with mine. I would like that those that disagree could have intelligent conversations to understand the other point of view better. Bringing up our thoughts on abortion, gay rights, religion and politics sometimes leads to ducking for cover as the words fly. Whatever happened to true debates where you could relish the intellect and presentation of it to the point of being able to adjust your own opinion? Most of the time, I’m tuning debates out as people slam their opponents like bullies. It’s downright refreshing when a debate has minimal lambasting.

God does not want us fighting amongst ourselves over selfish things. He knows that will not help us prosper in the long run. Isa 35:8 NLT says - And a main road will go through that once deserted land. It will be named the Highway of Holiness. Evil-hearted people will never travel on it. It will be only for those who walk in God's ways; fools will never walk there. If you are a Christian and not acting the part, everyone will see that and you will not make it onto God’s highway. Do you want others to follow you onto God’s path? Then you must make sure you are on it, as well.

Let’s show the world how to be assertive with love.

Pride

Proverbs 16:18 NKJV - Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. The pride of Eve and the lies of the serpent made her believe she could be like God if she ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Adam did not stop her and ate, as well. Then they knew they had done wrong and wanted to hide from God. In the end it caused man to be removed from the garden and put into a world where the land would rebel against them as they tried living off of it. This is called the Fall and the curse of it is what we all must face. We should be looking at how we live and making sure we are on track with God. Do not wander off because something catches your eye as ‘good’ when it really isn’t.

Proverbs 8:13 NLT - All who fear the LORD will hate evil. That is why I hate pride, arrogance, corruption, and perverted speech. God does not want us to have a pride that makes us think we can do it ourselves without him or that we are better than others. We are all created in his image and no one should be exalted above or trampled below another. Our goal should be learning how to help others as Jesus did. Our pride should be in knowing we have done our work for the day the way God intended us to.

If you look about the world, you will find that man tends to fall to the evil side if they have not learned how to properly discipline themselves. Our culture loves to think we are all individuals entitled to doing it our way. In the end, we wind up bumping into each other and causing friction instead of cohesion as God planned. When our society believed in an objective morality, we proved how great we were as we worked together. Now we are not seen as great as our individual prides vie to be seen and gain what they are entitled to. Everyone is entitled to their opinion unless your opinion does not agree with theirs.

Galatians 6:3-5 NLT - If you think you are too important to help someone in need, you are only fooling yourself. You are really a nobody. Be sure to do what you should, for then you will enjoy the personal satisfaction of having done your work well, and you won't need to compare yourself to anyone else. For we are each responsible for our own conduct.

We should be helping others because they need it, not because of some ulterior benefit. Be sure of whom you are as a child of God and your actions will tell the world. You won’t need to be arrogant about it or need to think you are better than someone else. You will be content in being you.