by Jim Sim You have probably heard it said that 'talk is cheap'. Meaning, you can talk a good game, or promise the moon but your actions mean more. And most of us would agree with that. And yet, your words can cost you; a lot. Jesus himself said some powerful things and one of his titles being "The Word of God' you would expect that. How he is called the word of God in John's gospel has symmetry with the first verses of the bible when there was nothing and God began creating. How did he create? "and God said.....and it was so." He created by speaking things into existing. His words had immeasurable influence, and while we do not hold the same standard of genius as God, being made in His image has bestowed upon us the same ability to have power and influence in our words. That is one reason why the old adage isn't true, the one that goes; 'sticks and stone will break my bones bu names will never hurt me'. We have all heard it when a parent or friend tried to comfort us from a mean friend or school bully when we were children. And yet, we all know and can probably remember into adulthood the affect that words spoken in anger or hate towards us, or even from the mouth of a loved one who didn't really mean it, impacts us. Jesus, with his perfect wording, replies, blessings, prophecies, prayers etc., never missed the mark, but he did give us a warning about our words saying that we 'will give account for every careless word spoken'. That is quite heavy. (His grace can cover, heal and forgive those) He is nevertheless pointing out that our words reveal what we believe and later in the New Testament his brother James stated that our personal world is set on fire by our tongue. The words we speak. James reflects on proverbs which states that "death and life are in the power of the tongue". So hear is my question. Are your words more inclined to bless, to honor, to sound hopeful, or are they bitter, complaining, defeatist? Your words have immense power in your life, in the lives of others, and with God. Jesus taught us to pray, to ask for things, to speak to mountains and tell them to move (metaphorical, but potent for the obstacles in our lives) and to bless and do not curse. Many have taken that to mean don't swear and throw F-bombs at people, and while it certainly would include that it has much more significance than that. To curse would be the opposite of blessing right? So what if God speaks something (blessing) to you, or about you, and you disagree with it, you are opposed to it in what you say - you just cursed yourself. OUCH! Here is what I mean. Someone tells you, 'you have a gift from God and are really good at (fill in the blank ____________) and you say something like; 'well not really, I am not as good as (fill in the blank again _______). Or you may have said, 'I am such an idiot', or "I am just no good" all the while God has said, "You are fearfully and wonderfully made" Psalm 139. To speak that way is to directly disagree with God, who is speaking blessing, and in doing so curse yourself with the opposite of how he describes you to the angels, to the heavenly hosts. This way of speaking is reinforcing, the powers of unbelief, fear, negativity, hopelessness to change or to excel and be better in the future than you are today So I say - STOP IT! I have been learning to stop it myself, because it is a bad habit that comes all to naturally to speak negatively about myself, others, and even the character of God (subtly but deliberately for sure, I'm often just not aware of it). I am not talking about walking around bragging and falsely overstating yourself to the diminishment of others, but of speaking the same blessings about your life and the world around you as God is doing. Say it to yourself and back to Him, agreeing with Him. That is what faith is after all, agreeing with God, so don't let your heart spill out the disagreement with Him. but learn to partner in his blessings and watch life grow all around you. So will you join me this Lent season for a fast of negativity and feast on positivity, learning to hear and repeat and say what God says, about me, about you, about others and about our world. He has great hopes for the world and I want to learn to repeat them. How do I know this? He said, "I have come that they may have life and have it to the full". That is a statement of hope from 'The Word of God. Let's start there and begin telling ourselves, speaking to our own soul (bless the Lord oh my soul) that a full, vibrant, thriving life is what God wants for me today, and what Jesus died and rose for. I will believe for it, proclaim it OUT LOUD, and grow in learning to say what he says. Blessing and not cursing. Jim Learn more and join me in a 40 day negativity fast/positivity feast right here. Comments are closed.
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