The Power of Words!

Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof. Proverbs 18:21

Recently God taught me a very important lesson. You see, I'm generally a very nervous person. Anxiety runs in my family. Several family member have been or are now currently on anti-anxiety medications. To call me a worry wort is an understatement.  Because God gave me such a vivid imagination, I can often imagine terrible things happening to me and my loved ones in the future. I mean, it's to the point of seeing it played out in my mind like it already happened. It often goes like this: I get some disturbing or shocking news. I start to panic. My mind goes in a whirl and all the possible outcomes and situations come flooding in. Things like sickness, accidents, death, loss, hardship. Then I start voicing my fears. I tell my friends and husband that such and such might happen and I'm terrified of this happening. By that time, my fears have pretty much taken residence in my soul and I'm a nervous wreck.

And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell. James  3:6

Let's face it, Satan knows us all too well. He knows I'm a nervous person, so the first thing he does when I get disturbing news is flood my mind with negativity. You think by now that I'd be onto him. Instead I cling to each negative thought and do the worst thing possible, I give a voice to it. Basically every time I tell a friend what I'm afraid will happen, I'm AGREEING with the powers of darkness.  The Bible tells us that what we say, what we allow to fall off our tongues has the power of life and death.  When we agree with the Devil, we grant him power to come in and do his will. We basically open the door and invite him in.

But what would happen if instead, I rejected the fearful thoughts in my mind and spoke a truth from God's Word??  What if instead of agreeing with Satan, I agreed with God? You may not think your words are powerful, but the Scripture says otherwise. How powerful are our words! So powerful, they can save us from hell!

That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Romans 10:9

In our flippant culture today, I don't think we place much value on what we say. A man's word is no longer expected to be reliable, blasphemy is everywhere, cursing, insulting, lying. It seems many of these things are commonplace. Therefore, I don't think we realize how powerful our words are. They can alter the course of our lives and either bring curse or blessing down upon us.

For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile 1 Peter 3:10

If you're like me, when something bad happens, you like to run to your closest friend or maybe your spouse and tell them how horrible everything is. You want sympathy and understanding. But I realize now that what ends up happening is I curse myself and my situation and often bring my worst fears into reality.  Yet God is so gracious he often rescues us anyway. But He doesn't always do that. Remember how the Israelites grumbled in the wilderness???  They spoke outloud that they would die in the wilderness. And God gave them what they declared.

Recently I received some bad news about a loved one. It's too personal to share here but suffice it to say, it's something that caused me great distress. Instantly my mind was filled with horrifying outcomes. But I stopped. I rejected every thought. I quoted Scripture that came to mind, and I prayed that God would use the situation for His glory, that His will would be done, and that what the devil meant for harm would be turned around for good. I also quoted my favorite verse Romans 8:28 that ALL things will work together for good.   And then I went about my business. Did the fears return? Absolutely. Over and over again. And I did the same thing over and over. Then I suppose the enemy got mad or bored and left. Now, I'm standing on the Word of God and proclaiming Victory in Jesus's name and not allowing the spirit of fear to take root.

Will I have relapses? Probably. Does the problem still exist? Yes. But instead of walking in fear, I'm now walking in Victory and standing on the promises of Almighty God that everything will work out for my good and His glory!!

I pray that my experience can help you do the same!
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