The Power of Words #3
Giving Life to words #3
We see throughout the Scriptures the power of words
Words are often the tool that God uses to bring life
The enemy uses words also to bring about death
Once words are spoken they are hard to take back
The words will still be there even if we don’t see them.
What if the words that we spoke showed up on the person we said them to??
We would be careful of the words we spoke wouldn’t we??
We would begin to understand the impact that our words would have
Our words don’t go away
These words can cause people to live in low self esteem, feel that nobody loves them because they don’t look good enough
Have trust issues
Relationship issues
Anxiety
Proverbs 12:18 (NIV84): Reckless words pierce like a sword,
but the tongue of the wise brings healing.
Words that have hurt us and have never gone away
Words like:
Nobody will ever want to be with you
You’re damaged goods
Your lazy
You’re irresponsible
You’re not smart enough
Why can’t you be like your sister
Wish you were never born
Never want to see you again
No one will ever love you
You will never mount to anything
You and your brother were in the way for me living my life
I’m not attracted to you anymore
No one will ever marry you
You lost the game for us tonight
I met someone else
It’s your fault dad left me
I hate you
I don’t love you anymore
And the list can go on and on
The person that said these words to these people may have forgotten about it
They may not remember saying them
But those words are in their mind
There may be some scar tissue covering the wound but it’s still there !!
When we think of these words we think of the depth of these words
We think of these words has direct insults because these words words might have been said in a fit of rage, or just came out, we lose our temper
The Bible mentions a few things that we don’t think about from the damage of words
The power of words can cause lots of damage
Gossip & Slander
Proverbs 16:28 (NLT): 28 A troublemaker plants seeds of strife;
gossip separates the best of friends.
Gossip is talking behind someone back and saying something that isn’t true
But that isn’t the biblical standard of gossip and slander in a negative way
You are tearing them down when they are not there
They are not there !!
The sad thing, we try to justify it by saying something like
There’s nothing I wouldn’t say to him/her even if he/she was here
God hates it!!!!
It destroys communities
It destroys homes
It destroys families
It destroys friends
We take it seriously when it’s about us..!!!
We get offended when it’s about us
But we think it’s ok to gossip about someone else
We notice it when other people do it but not so much when we do it
We don’t gossip do we????
This lady says, I don’t gossip. But you see my neighbor why she did this ….
That’s gossip!!!
We identify it in someone else but we don’t identify it in us
This is a big deal to God
If you feel uncomfortable with this, take it up with God..!!!
Romans 1:28–29 (NLT): Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done. 29 Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip.
Gossip is a person talking about someone else who can’t hear or not around
In Scripture, gossip isn’t something we do with our mouth but what we do with our ears and also what we listen too
Proverbs 17:4 (NLT): Wrongdoers eagerly listen to gossip;
liars pay close attention to slander.
God warns us about this
It destroys a friendship
Some of you could tell the story
You had a friend who you trusted and they betrayed your trust
What happened to that friendship?
It’s often hard to recover from it
Sometimes they don’t
It won’t be at the level of depth or intimacy it once was
Always in the back of their mind will be “ can I trust this person again?”
It destroys it !!
It devastates families
When you’ve around families, have you noticed how nice and kind they are around you ??
If you don’t show for thanksgiving, you hear stories about you
You know when you go to thanksgiving, you hear gossip about those not there and rest assured it will happen to you if you don’t go
Gossip erodes the foundation of the family
Gossip can divide churches
This is a big deal in a lot of churches
You sit with a group of pastors and ask them what is keeping them from advancing the work of God
They will say that gossip, slander and whispering has done behind the scenes in the church
It’s a big deal ..!!
I say this has a warning. We want to protect the unity of Christians and protect the work of God
Be aware of it , don’t get caught up in it. Keep a rein on your tongue
It will be a struggle but I’m telling you this has a warning
Why do people think I want to hear what they are saying?
When the Bible talks about the context of words it a warning, watch out, don’t slip into this
Do t get caught off guard
If it’s a big deal to God, then it should be a big deal to us
The Bible say we are going to be held accountable for the words we speak
If I find out someone is talking badly about me it might bug me
But whether it’s true or not true it can hurt my feelings
The church is the bride of Christ and He has a deep love for His bride
Christ died for His bride and is protective of His bride
When you start tearing down Gods bride with your mouth you need to stop and ask yourself
“How is God going to take that?”
On the flip side
If you stand up and speak on behalf of His bride, you think God notices that?
I think He does
The Bible says to say what is useful to build one another up
Criticism and Complaining
We don’t see these words has sinful words but the Bible teaches that they are
Philippians 2:14 (NLT): Do everything without complaining and arguing,
Most of us can identify with someone in our life has to this is what they do..!!!
They complain about everything
The weather is too cold
The music is too loud
The food is to spicy
The parking lots to crowded
The servers are too slow
These type of people drain the life out of the room
This also destroys communities
There has been a lot of research in this area when it comes to marriages and one of the greatest predictors is this stuff. Gossip.
University of Denver did this research that where there are 10 or more negative comments for every 100 comments in that relationship is one of the greatest predators of divorce
That’s true in the workforce
10 year study involving 200,000 employees
79% quit there job because of lack of encouragement
Culture of criticism
Proverbs 12:18 (NIV84): Reckless words pierce like a sword,
but the tongue of the wise brings healing.
With our mouth we can destroy
With our mouth we can heal, we can bring life
There is powerful healing when another person speaks healing in a persons life
Proverbs 25:11 A word spoken at the right time is like fruit of gold set in silver.
We need to think about how we need to use our words to bring life
God can you help me speak the right words at the right time when that time comes
I don’t know when that time is but show me when the time comes to bring life with my words to those that need to hear it
We have power to bring life into this world if we would pray that prayer
God has given us words to speak life or to speak death
It’s not so much us having the right words but having the right words from God giving power to it
Any word has power to it
The Word of the Lord has supernatural power that overrides any other word
In the Old Testament God would raise up prophets to speak His word at the right time for His people
Sometimes He would wait generations to do this
It might a word at the right time. Repentance, warning ect
Ezekiel 37:1–10 (NLT): The Lord took hold of me, and I was carried away by the Spirit of the Lord to a valley filled with bones. 2 He led me all around among the bones that covered the valley floor. They were scattered everywhere across the ground and were completely dried out. 3 Then he asked me, “Son of man, can these bones become living people again?”
“O Sovereign Lord,” I replied, “you alone know the answer to that.”
4 Then he said to me, “Speak a prophetic message to these bones and say, ‘Dry bones, listen to the word of the Lord! 5 This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Look! I am going to put breath into you and make you live again! 6 I will put flesh and muscles on you and cover you with skin. I will put breath into you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’ ”
7 So I spoke this message, just as he told me. Suddenly as I spoke, there was a rattling noise all across the valley. The bones of each body came together and attached themselves as complete skeletons.
8 Then as I watched, muscles and flesh formed over the bones. Then skin formed to cover their bodies, but they still had no breath in them.
9 Then he said to me, “Speak a prophetic message to the winds, son of man. Speak a prophetic message and say, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come, O breath, from the four winds! Breathe into these dead bodies so they may live again.’ ” 10 So I spoke the message as he commanded me, and breath came into their bodies. They all came to life and stood up on their feet—a great army.
Ezekiel spoke and he listened and he watches what God does
The question I ask you
Can God bring back life to your cold heart?
Can God do that?
Can God bring life back life to your soul?
Can God bring back life to your relationship?
Can God bring back life to your marriage?
Can God bring back peace to you after a storm that has robbed you of everything?
Is it possible hope can still live?
Can these dead bones come back to life?
A lot of it has to do with how we speak
Some of you are probably tired, exhausted from trying to be faithful has to what God has called you to be. A husband, a wife, a father, a mother
You have been telling yourself it’s to hard, it’s too difficult, I’m too tired
You’re saying those words.
Gods not saying that !!!!
Matthew 11:28 (NLT): Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.
Philippians 4:13 (NLT): For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.
We need to say what God says and watch what God can do
Some people have not forgiven themselves and the enemy has used it against you
Romans 8:1 (NLT): So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.
Romans 8:28 (NLT): And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.
2 Corinthians 12:9 (NLT): Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.
We need to speak what God is saying not what we are thinking and saying
Hebrews 13:5 (NLT): Don’t love money; be satisfied with what you have. For God has said,
“I will never fail you.
I will never abandon you.”
Need to start saying what is saying
You are not alone. God is right here with you