The tongue can bring death or life; those who love to talk will reap the consequences. Proverbs 18:21
Have you ever worried over something so much that it happened? You are afraid that since a parent has some disease, you might end up with it, so you worry over each and every symptom that seems to manifest. Or maybe you have spent years of your marriage believing that your spouse would eventually leave you, and then one day it happened. The Bible tells us something about this phenomenon in Proverbs 18. Life or death. Do you believe that you have the power in Jesus to produce fruit and life in a situation, or to speak death and destruction over it?
Let’s first look at speaking negatively; when you tell someone that you believe something to be true, you are speaking it out into the world. Where it says you will reap the consequences of your words, it means that what you speak is what you get. Through your words the enemy has a specific fear in mind to attack you on, all he has to do is start working on his attack plan. The enemy’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give you a rich and satisfying life. (John 10:10) Since the enemy exists only to steal, kill, and destroy, exposing your fears and doubts to him only fuels that purpose. It isn’t just spiritual; science has shown that there are “mirror neurons” in the brain that mimic thoughts and cause the body to react. For example, if you say, “I am tired,” your body will actually begin to react by slowing down the processes within, as though you really were tired. When you speak things that align with the enemy, you are choosing to stand for what he stands for, rather than agreeing with God’s plan. Word curses put you in the enemy’s prison camp; you become a Prisoner of Words.
However, the opposite is also true; aligning yourself to God’s word brings about His blessings. God’s plan is to bring you freedom and life, abundantly! This isn’t just ‘name it and claim it’, where you can say, “I’ll have a Rolls Royce in my driveway,” and it just appears; but if you read in Mark, it’s pretty clear what Jesus is saying: Have faith in God. I tell you the truth, you can say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen. But you must really believe it will happen and have no doubt in your heart. I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you’ve received it, it will be yours. (Mark 11:22-24) When it says, ‘Have faith in God,’ it means to have God’s type of faith. In Genesis, He spoke and it was done. The same agreement is given to us in our faith, when we speak out in faith over a situation. Consider Romans 4:16-17:
So the promise is received by faith. It is given as a free gift. And we are all certain to receive it, whether or not we live according to the law of Moses, if we have faith like Abraham’s. For Abraham is the father of all who believe. That is what the Scriptures mean when God told him, “I have made you the father of many nations.” This happened because Abraham believed in the God who brings the dead back to life and who creates new things out of nothing.
This is the Power of the Word. Faith that is without doubt and speaks life into situations that seem dead. This is God’s type of faith. God’s faith creates things from nothing; it is not our own faith that does this; it is relying on His faith to work through us.
How do we go from being Prisoners of Words to having the Power of the Word?
There are two steps to keep yourself from speaking negatively and bringing word curses on yourself. The first is found in 2 Corinthians 10:5, through taking every thought captive. The choice lies with us that when a thought or doubt comes to our mind, we must decide whether to speak it out loud and give it credence, or to rebuke it. We must learn to be conscious of those thoughts, and take them captive. Try not to voice your fears and doubts, instead take them to God in prayer. Next, remember that if we resist the enemy, he must flee from us (James 4:7). Therefore, when something does slip out, we know that rebuking it (speaking the opposite, with faith that God will take care of it) will keep the enemy from having the authority to use it against us.
Self-Reflection
Can you see some things in your life where you have spoken something negatively that has come true?
Spend some time speaking life over some places in your life that are dry or fruitless, in faith that God will revive them.