Words Matter!

Many of us are familiar with the old and untrue saying, “sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me.” This has certainly not been my experience or that of the many people I have prayed with over the years. Over and above personal experience, this saying flies directly in the face of scripture that tells us that our tongues have the power of life and death. ( Proverbs 18:21)

I wonder how much pain could be avoided if we were just a little more careful with what comes out of our mouths. Many times I have wished I could rewind a moment and take back words that came out of my mouth in a moment of frustration.

Jodi Picoult said, “Words are like eggs dropped from great heights; you can no more call them back than ignore the mess they leave when they fall.”

On the positive side, we have this wonderful ability to use our words to encourage and build up one another as the scripture tells us to do. We can also declare  healing and deliverance and use our words to  bring things into alignment with biblical truth. Just as we discipline ourselves to guard our words, we must also be proactive in speaking life over ourselves and others.

David modeled this so well for us when he spoke to his downcast soul and said, “ Why, my soul are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me ? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. David purposely spoke hope to his spirit.

When we look at the gospels we see Jesus speaking to the sick and commanding bodies to be made whole. We also see Him rebuking the enemy and commanding him to leave and be quiet.

Jesus says to the man with the shriveled hand, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched out his hand and was completely healed (Mark 3:5). In John 4:50-53, Jesus says to the royal official, “ your son will live.” At the same hour that Jesus declares this, the fever leaves the boy. The boy might well have died if Jesus didn’t speak life and healing over him. The man with the shriveled hand might have remained a cripple had Jesus not commanded him to stretch out his hand.

We see Him speaking out with authority against the enemy and unclean spirits. In Matthew 4:10, Jesus is in the wilderness and the enemy is trying to tempt him to bow down and worship him. Jesus responds with, “Away from me Satan! For it is written: Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.”  In Mark 5:8 Jesus says to the man with the impure spirit, “Come out of this man, you impure spirit!”

There are many more examples in scripture where Jesus  commands deliverance and healing. This both encourages and challenges me to be more proactive in speaking life and healing over my own body and soul and over those I come into contact with. When we feel the press of the enemy through discouragement or fear, let’s be bold and say, “away from me Satan!” We have been given the keys of the Kingdom and authority in Jesus name to heal the sick and cast out demons with our words of life!

Let’s use our words to bring Kingdom alignment  whenever we get the opportunity!