The Power of Words

Photo Credit: Public Domain via Pixabay

Being able to control the words is the power to control your life. The Apostle James compares the tongue to the bridle in a horse’s mouth or the rudder on a great ship. He even says that the guy who can perfectly control his tongue is a perfect man. Your words can steer your whole life.

You can build those around you up, or you can tear them down with your words. Your words are powerful. Your words bless or your words curse. We think of blessing and cursing as things you do by going into a small sanctuary of sorts and mixing up a potion and waving a wand and mumbling a prescribed mantra.

But your words cast a spell every time you speak. To cast means to throw. And a spell is something that seizes. And your words you throw out there often seize control of the people around you. They can control by ripping apart their confidence, or their value as human beings.

So why not cast a spell of blessing. A spell of faith. A spell of confidence. In witchcraft, a spell is endued a magic aura. And perhaps that is why we don’t use that word much. But laying aside the need for spells, words carry an innate power. It is their function in life. As Christians we don’t believe in magic. We believe in the power of truth.

Words are living seeds that grow up to bear fruit. Some immediately, some take a while. Even the earth was seeded with word. God said: “Let there be light!” And that released Jesus to make it happen by the power of the Holy Spirit. So if all things are created first in word, what are you creating with your words?

Words create or destroy. They give vision or dash dreams. They free or bind. Have you ever stopped and thought about what kind of world you are creating today? Or how many people did you inadvertently curse? Or how many people did you bless?

Words build our present and future realities. Have you ever met someone who has no sense of confidence? More than likely their confidence was dashed by people who were careless with their words. In other words, they were cursed and now they are living the world that was created by somebody’s words.

But words can also bless. So if you start blessing that same person, you will often release them into a new world. A world created by words of blessing. Words of encouragement. Words of love.

Maybe it is you that is living this broken life. Imprisoned in a world created by other people’s careless curses. The good news is: You don’t need to wait for somebody to release you. You can take hold of the truth Jesus and Our Heavenly Father are already speaking over you. I love that God is so merciful and loving even while being so honest.

Even while He confronts the sin in our life, He invites us to quit believing the lies that destroy us. Because the truth is that you were wonderfully made. That you were created for a purpose. That you will be a blessing to this world again. That you are a gift waiting to be unwrapped.

Hear the words God says and start speaking them. Speak them out-loud in your sanctuary. Whisper them to yourself at your desk while at work. Or sing them at the top of your lungs. Speaking words of truth will break down the world of lies that traps you, and will build a world with a future.

I love this song about words by Hawk Nelson: