Do you know the POWER of your WORDS?

 Proverbs 18:21 says Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.

A good friend of mine told me about an elderly gentleman who had his tractor flip over on him but he escaped serious injury.  A couple of years later, in the spring the same man had his tractor stuck and his fifty year old daughter came to his aid and said “Dad, please be careful out here.”  The man replied,  “Little girl, with his finger pointing at the ground, I love this land, and if I die here, I will die doing what I love”.  The next day they found him and the tractor had flipped on him and he died at almost the exact place he was pointing his finger at the day before.

Proverbs 26:2 Like a flitting sparrow, like a flying swallow, so a curse without cause shall not alight.  This verse explains the power of the spoken word.  The pattern here is a curse has to have a cause to come to pass. 

In Genesis 31, in the story of Jacob, he works seven years and gets the wrong wife because his father in law is underhanded, so he works another seven years to obtain Rachel, the one he loves.  In this story he is at the end of twenty years of dealing with his father in law, so one day when his father in law was absent, Jacob left with Rachel.  Genesis 31:17    17 Then Jacob rose and set his sons and his wives on camels. 18 And he carried away all his livestock and all his possessions which he had gained, his acquired livestock which he had gained in Padan Aram, to go to his father Isaac in the land of Canaan. 19 Now Laban had gone to shear his sheep, and Rachel had stolen the household idols that were her father’s. 20 And Jacob stole away, unknown to Laban the Syrian, in that he did not tell him that he intended to flee. 21 So he fled with all that he had. He arose and crossed the river, and headed toward the mountains of Gilead.  Jacob had no idea that Rachel had stolen her father’s household idols.  In verse 30 his father in law catches up with Jacob.  Genesis 31:27-31  30 And now you have surely gone because you greatly long for your father’s house, but why did you steal my gods?” 31 Then Jacob answered and said to Laban, “Because I was afraid, for I said, ‘Perhaps you would take your daughters from me by force.’  And then in Genesis 31:32  With whomever you find your gods, shall not live. In the presence of our brethren, identify what I have of yours and take it with you.” For Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them.  Jacob spoke death upon Rachel and did not know it, but because of his anger and sharp words, in Genesis 35 in verse 18 she died, during childbirth, at an early age.  Think about the impact on what her husband spoke against her.  Rachel opened the door, when she stole the items, the words of authority fell and she died because of it. 

In 1801 William Henry Harrison became Governor of the Indian Territory.  His prime task was to obtain title to Indian Lands so settlers could press forward into the wilderness.  At the same time he was breaking a treaty that was made in 1795 with the Indians.  Enraged, the Shawnee Chief Tecumseh and his brother Tenskwatawa (the prophet) established a village on the Tippecanoe River to unite many tribes into an organized defense to defend their lands against the growing number of settlers. The white settlers became alarmed and asked for protection.  In 1811 Governor Harrison arrived with a force of 1,000 men.  While Tecumseh was on a recruiting mission against the Chief’s orders the prophet attacked Harrison’s regiment.  Although the Indians fought fiercely, the Governor’s superior force decimated them and destroyed the Tippecanoe village.  When Tecumseh returned and found all his plans in disarray, furious at his brother the prophet, he asked him to leave and live somewhere else or he would kill him.  The prophet left in disgrace.  Two years later Tecumseh was killed in battle.  Later, as William Henry Harrison was running for president the prophet said, “Harrison will not win this year (term) to be the great chief, but the next year (term), he will die in office.  I who caused the sun to darken and red men to give up firewater tell you, Harrison will die and after him every great chief (president) chosen every 20 years thereafter will die in his office and when each dies, let everyone remember the death of our people” Harrison was unsuccessful in 1836, but in 1840 became president.  Just one month into his presidency, he died. In Deuteronomy 27:17 “Cursed is he who moves his neighbors boundary mark” and for 140 years, what the prophet said came to pass!

1.                  1840, William Henry Harrison, Died April 6, 1841 of pneumonia

2.                  1860, Abraham Lincoln, Assassinated April 14, 1865

3.                  1880, James Abram Garfield, Assassinated July 2, 1881

4.                  1900, William McKinley, Assassinated September 6, 1901

5.                  1920, Warren Gamaliel Harding, Died August 2, 1923 from food poisoning

6.                  1940, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, died April 12, 1945, stroke

7.                  1960, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Assassinated November 22, 1963

8.                  1980, Ronald Wilson Reagan (SURVIVED), Assassination attempt on March 30, 1981

 At a major conference in November 1980, there was a man present who was a direct descendent of both President Harrison and Shawnee lineage.  This brother stood, publicly acknowledged, and asked forgiveness for the "sins of his fathers."  Church leaders, and all attending, expressed repentance over our nation's "root sins" of rebelliousness, violence and witchcraft. (1 Sam 15:23)  There was a time of governmental prayer to break the curses, and of corporate intercession to ask for the protection of then President-elect Reagan. 

Proverbs 13:3  He who guards his mouth preserves his life But he who opens wide his lips shall have destruction.  

My oldest son was taking a series of tests for computer certification.  He would study hard and burn the midnight oil, so to speak.  He had a trial test he could take on his computer and each time would score high on his knowledge of the subject.  When he went to the testing center and paid the $100.00 dollars to take the test, he would fail it each time.  He told me one day, “Dad, I know the material, but when I take the test, something happens to me and I can’t think at the testing center.”  I remembered when he was in high school he would say “I HATE SCHOOL and I HATE TESTS”, I got him to repent of his words and we prayed.  After that he ACED each test and got his degree in network engineering. 

Matthew 12:36  But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment.

A lady I knew was riding with her husband and her two boys and said, “I HATE THIS CAR, I WISHED WE WOULD TOTAL IT!”  Seconds later as they went thru an intersection, some one ran a red light and crashed into their car.  No one was injured in the accident, thank God.  This lady in her heart was ungrateful and out of her mouth exposed this stronghold in her heart.  It could have cost her dearly; her family could have been killed. As we wrote in “Have you been lied to”, the enemy starts with thoughts in our mind and if you do not take the thoughts captive the enemy can move to your heart and it becomes a root.  Then we speak and give the lie power.  A man I know is 62 years old.  He told me when he was six years old his father who was a plumber and an angry man took him out on a job with him.  The father asked the boy to hand him a copper 45-degree elbow.  He said out of fear of my father, reached in the bucket of parts and handed his father the first thing that he touched his hand, and it was the wrong part. His father exploded and called him stupid.  The man told me, “That these words have followed me all my life”.

Luke 6:45  A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil.  For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.

This tongue is powerful. When we speak words, words are like arrows and they can find their mark in the positive or in the negative and once you shoot the arrow, you can’t take it back, unless you repent.  Once I was talking to lady about this very thing, she remembered that her Father had always said he wanted to live long enough to marry his children off.  Two weeks after the youngest girl was married, her father passed away.   Another lady I go to church with had a brother who his whole life said “I will never live to see 40, it is a proven fact in our family history”, and he died at age 38.   Do you speak death on yourself?  Can you see that there is power in the tongue, just as God’s word says?  God is serious; church, take heed!  People are snared by the words of their mouth.  We were ministering to a lady once who had pain in her legs and we began to pray and the Holy Spirit spoke and prompted me to ask her if she had ever spoke against her legs?  She thought about it and said, “Well I hate my legs, and they are ugly”.   She had spoken against her legs and when she repented the pain stopped.  That lady had spoken a word curse on herself.  She hated something God created.    Church, do you see the power of your words?   Life and death ARE IN the power of the tongue, and this is SERIOUS.  If you look in the mirror and you say, I hate my nose, I hate my hair, I hate my ears, you have just cursed yourself.  When it becomes a pattern in your life, the very thing you hate, will come to pass.  It may take twenty years or it may be a short period of time, but it will come to pass!

You can see how these lies can be used by the enemy to set up a spiritual fortress in your life when you become passive in your thought life and don’t take your thoughts captive.  The path to victory occurs when God awakens us out of slumber and we then begin to recognize that there is a battle going on for our families, and us confidently knowing that God has given us the tools to win the battle.  This battle is won or lost by how we respond to the lies that come to our minds daily with the truth of the scripture.  And you will know the truth and the truth will make you free.  John 8:32.  Renewing our minds is done as we humbly go before God acknowledging the His thoughts are much higher than ours.  We confess to Him that we have believed lies and ask Him to help us evaluate our thoughts so that we can make them obedient to Christ.  We also need to give other people the opportunity to reminds us when they hear us speaking negative words out of our mouths, which are reflecting the things stored in our hearts and minds.  Are you deflecting the darts that are being thrown at your mind by Satan with the powerful truth of God’s word?  It has been said, ‘to expose the lie is to win the battle’.

If words are that powerful in the NEGATIVE, how powerful are they in the POSITIVE.  What can you do to change it?  Recognize is the first step, recognize the sin of your words and REPENT is the second step. According to the concordance, the Greek word for Repentance is “Metanoeo”  “Meta” means after “Noeo” means to think.  Repentance is a decision that results in a change of mind, which in turn leads to a change of purpose and action.

Ask God to reveal what words you speak is sin in His eyes.  You may even need to break word curses spoken by yourself or others.  Simple phrase, “Girl, you are crazy!”  How many simple phrases do we overlook, not realizing the power behind our words.  Go over this list and put an “X” by the ones you have spoken and you may add to this list.

 

      I hate my feet

      I hate my nose

      I hate my ears

      Over my dead body

      Runs in the family, I suppose I am next

      I wish I was dead

      I will die doing what I love

      Driving me insane

      I am sick and tired

      This really burns me up

      I hate my menstrual cycle (monthly curse)

      I hate these spots on my skin

      My hair never does right/looks good

      I will never be like my parent(s)

      I will never be hurt again

      You will have this pain ALL your life

      I dread work

      I hate school

      I hate test

      I just don’t measure up and I don’t even like myself

      This person will never change; their whole family is the same way

      If I give up control I will get hurt again

      I know other people have had victory in this area, but it won’t work for me

      I have crossed a line and gone too far; God won’t forgive me.

      If I opened my heart even to close friends, they would reject me

      (After an anger outburst) “That is just the way I am”

      God helped me in the past, but He won’t do it again