We’ve probably all heard about the power of spoken words. Maybe it’s just the circles I run in but it seems to be a big topic recently and even secular sources from long ago agree with the word of God that “the words you speak become the house you live in” (Hafiz). I love that about the Bible! It holds such truth and all the answers we need to know in this life. Many people discover new things, and if they are true they can be confirmed in the Word of God, no matter what that person who discovered it believes. Whether they believe in God or not, the fact is He created them and any real truths they discover will point back to His Word.
When I first heard about the power of faith-filled words, it was more of a name-it-and-claim-it concept. You say what you want and expect it to come to pass, regardless of whether it was provided in Christ’s atonement or not. I later learned that as Christians, we can only claim what Christ has already done for us. Forgiveness, healing, deliverance, prosperity (not necessarily the way most Amercians think of prosperity but God’s kind of prosperity) are all part of salvation, according to the Greek meaning of salvation’s (or “save”, “saved”) root word, sozo. These are gifts Christ provided for us and I for one don’t want to leave any gifts on the table that my Father carefully picked out and wrapped up for me. I want to unwrap them all!
Something I’ve learned about the words we speak is that if we don’t believe what we are saying, it can cause what Dr. Caroline Leaf refersto as “cognitive dissonance”. She has a more polished way of explaining what this is but I simply remember it as “internal confusion”. If I am speaking words just to try to change a situation but don’t really believe what I’m saying, it creates internal tension because deep down I know I don’t believe what I’m saying.
“… for out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.” Luke 6:45.
Our words reflect what we believe. “I believed, therefore have I spoken.” Psalm 116:10
We use expressions like, “I died”, or “you’re killing me” in humor and we don’t fall over dead because we don’t really believe it – it’s just an expression (not that those are completely harmless) and we didn’t expect to actually die when we said it. But throw in some physical symptoms, throw in a doctor’s report, then start confirming everything your body is telling you with your words and agree with those words spoken over you and I guarantee it will give birth to something you don’t want. The fact is, maybe you are sick. Maybe there really is xyz going on in your body. But instead of agreeing right away with a doctor’s prognosis, the first thing we should do as Believers is to run to God and ask, “what do you say about this?”
**Begin bunny trail**
If you’ve spent time studying what the Bible says about healing, you already know the promises of God concerning this and can immediately take a stand. I didn’t know this when the symptoms and the doctor’s reports came, and I didn’t take a stand – I kind of just crumpled. As a result, we lost lots of time, money, and joy. I’m telling you this now in case it helps shorten your journey. Learn what is yours so you can take a stand. We have an enemy who seeks to steal, kill, and destroy, and any area of life that we are not concrete in knowing the promises of God is subject to attack. We especially need to know about the benefit package Christ died to give us (Psalm 103:1-5). When you give the enemy gets an inch, he takes a mile. What we don’t know about God’s provision can wreak havoc in our lives.
**End Bunny Trail**
When I first learned about the power of faith-filled words, I was confused for a while about what to speak because at the time, I knew what the Bible said about healing in my head, but I can’t say it was 100% solid in my heart. I believe we can choose to believe that God’s Word is true and when we come into agreement with it and back it up with our words, it does wedge deeper into us and become an actual heart belief. I hope that makes sense. It’s okay to speak the Word of God even though you don’t feel like it’s true in your situation. Feelings are just feelings and they don’t change what is true. When you realize that, you can choose to believe God’s Word is true, despite what you see, and choose to agree with it. This is a lot different than saying something just to get a desired result.
Here is are some examples based on personal experiences:
If I say, “I am healed”, but my body is screaming, “No! Are you blind? Look at this and this and this,” and my thoughts back up what my bodyis saying with, “Yeah, I know. Yes, you’re right. I’m supposed to say this, though, because I want to get well”, that is what I now think of as name-it-and-claim-it. That is me knowing that I need to speak one thing but not believing it because I’m looking at my body to determine what is true.
If we want to live in the best that God has for us, if we really want to walk with Him in power, we have to get to the place where we choose to believe the Word of God is true above what we see in the natural. My reality was that I was sick, but truth always trumps reality. When I choose to believe that the Word of God is true, despite what my physical senses are screaming at me, I can expect to see my reality changed based on truth. When I choose to believe that what God says is the ultimate truth, I can choose to agree with Him and speak it out in faith – and that makes all the difference in the world!!! It’s not me making something happen – it’s me choosing to believe that Christ has already made it happen.
Instead of just speaking what I want in hopes it will change things and then looking to my senses to see if it did, I can make a conscious decision to come into agreement with the Word of God about my situation. So when I say, “I am healed,” it’s because I know Christ already paid for my healing and it is a finished work. Because I have an enemy that has had a heyday with us in this, my body may respond, “No, you aren’t. How dumb can you get? See this? Feel this? You know what this means.” When I choose to renew my mind with the Word of God, I can respond, “Yeah, I see that. I feel it. But The Word of God says that I am already healed. Jesus paid for my forgiveness, healing, and freedom. This is mine! So no matter what I see or feel, THIS is what is true and I am standing in this. I am not a sick person trying to get well, I am a well person resisting sickness.”
THIS is where the power of faith-filled words comes in. And they are powerful! It shouldn’t have amazed me that the answer we spent so much money and time seeking was right in front of me. If we as Believers really believed – REALLY believed – that the Bible is true, how different our lives would be!
There are so many verses about speaking to your situation. If your situation is speaking to you, you get to speak back! I used to pray and beg God to take this from me and I couldn’t understand why a loving God wouldn’t. I wish I’d known earlier that I was asking God to do something He told me to do. What a revelation that was when it came! He wasn’t holding out on me. He had already provided everything I neededand had even given me instructions for what to do with it but I was so bogged down with religion and physical symptoms that I missed it. He has already provided. And when we realize that and start agreeing with the finished work of Christ, God Himself cheers us on and surrounds us with songs of deliverance (Psalm 32:7).He has been longing for your freedom more than you have. He gave EVERYTHING for you to be sozo saved – forgiven, righteous in Christ, healed, prospered, delivered. This is your Father’s heart toward you!
In Mark 11:23-24, Jesus mentioned the power of words 3 times and any time Jesus repeats something, it’s worth noting. “SAY to this mountain, ‘Be cast into the sea’”. He told US to speak to the mountains in our lives! I’ve heard it said, “Don’t talk to God about how big your mountain is; talk to your mountain about how big your God is.”
James 4:7 tells US to resist the devil and he will flee from US. God isn’t going to resist the devil for us – He told us to do it. And He gave us the authority to do it (Luke 10:18-19). Anything that steals, kills and destroys is from the devil (John 10:10) and God told us to fight against it – we won’t/can’t do this if we think it’s really God doing these things. That could probably be a whole other post. Just remember: Devil – bad; Jesus – good. Resist the devil’s work and speak it out loud.
“Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat its fruits.” Proverbs 18:21. We sow and reap the words we speak.
“I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore, choose life, that both you and your descendants may live.” Dueteronomy 30:19 (emphasis mine). Life or death – we get to choose. We choose with our thoughts, with our beliefs, with our words. What are you choosing? What are you speaking? Don’t use your words to cancel out what you are praying for.
My very favorite passage of Scripture lately is next but I’ll save it for the next post. You want to talk about the power of coming into agreement with God and speaking it out loud? This next one just blows me away.