LIFTING MY VOICE: THE CREATIVE POWER OF SPOKEN WORDS"Sticks and sto...

LIFTING MY VOICE: THE CREATIVE POWER OF  SPOKEN WORDS"Sticks and sto...: THE CREATIVE POWER  OF  SPOKEN WORDS "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me." This is a saying t...

THE CREATIVE POWER 

OF  SPOKEN WORDS

"Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me."
This is a saying that I remember my mother quoting to me a number of times as a child, particularly during my primary school years, as I bore the brunt of playground taunts directed at me because of my facial deformity from birth. I was born with right-sided facial paralysis, combined with a deformity to the left side of my face, resulting in an asymmetrical mandible (lower jaw).
Fortunately for me, I cannot remember receiving these same taunts at high school, although I was acutely aware of my appearance, so underwent four plastic surgery procedures during my teenage years.
Back to the quote above, I must say that, although my mother had the best intentions in trying to help me navigate the cruelty of those early years, the statement "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me" is simply not true, at least not the second part.
Words spoken have the power to create, and to destroy - to build up, or to break down. 
Proverbs 18:21 says Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.
The Bible has much to say about the power of words, both to build up and to destroy or to break down.
Ephesians 4:29 Don't use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them.
I don't know how many times I have heard about children and teens being told by their parents, teachers or peers that they would never amount to anything. The one person I distinctly remember relating this pronouncement over his life as a child at school by his headmaster, was the director of the Bible College in New Zealand I attended in the 70's. He was told repeatedly: "Houston, you will never amount to anything!" The sad fact was, that he believed that statement throughout his childhood well into his teenage years - until he heard the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and committed his life to Christ, being "born again" by the Spirit of God. He discovered that God loved him, that "in Him [Jesus], we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace
which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence,
that we are accepted in the Beloved." Ephesians 1:7,8,6b.
Because of Jesus' death on the Cross of Calvary for us, shedding His blood as the perfect sacrifice for our sins, Pastor Houston came to realize the reality of Hebrews 4:16, where it says we can come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. As a son of the living God, he now knew that he had throne room rights, because of the High Priestly position Jesus now holds in heaven, representing us to the Father.
That curse word of failure over his life was forever broken off of him, and his life took on new meaning and purpose as he committed his life to doing God's will.
In the third chapter of James in the New Testament, James says of the tongue: With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God's likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. Verses 9,10. 
Jesus, in speaking of the power of our words says in Luke 6:45 A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.
Proverbs 15:4 says The soothing tongue is a tree of life,
but a perverse tongue crushes the spirit.
1 Peter 3:9 Don't repay evil for evil. Don't snap back at those who say unkind things about you. Instead, pray for God's help for them, for we are to be kind to others, and God will bless us for it.
Our words have the power to impart life and hope and blessing to those we speak with, if they come out of the overflow of hearts filled with the Holy Spirit, and the love of God.
At the commencement of His earthly ministry, Jesus in the synagogue at Nazareth says of Himself, in quoting Isaiah 61:1,2 "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised."
Jesus brought salvation, healing, deliverance from demons, hope to the hopeless, impartation of faith to His hearers and more by the words He spoke under the direction and anointing of the Holy Spirit, as He was motivated by great love and compassion for people everywhere He went.
As followers of Christ, born again and filled with the Holy Spirit, we too are to expect God to use our words to minister life and hope and healing and health and wholeness to our hearers. 
When we study the early chapters of Genesis, the first book of the Bible - the book of beginnings, we see clearly the creative power of God's words to create the universe, and in particular the earth on which we live, in all its complexity. 
Looking at chapter one, and the six days of Creation, the Bible records ten statements of God prefaced by "Then God said...." Each time God spoke, His words created tangible physical realities out of nothing. Amazing! Simply amazing!
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
The earth was without form and void;
and darkness was on the face of the deep.
And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
Then God said, "Let there be light", 
and there was light.
And God saw the light, that it was good,
and God divided the light from the darkness. (Emphasis mine)
When, in verse 3 it says: Then God said: "Let there be light", the literal Hebrew meaning of this statement is apparently Then God said: "Light be!" providing an added sense of awe at the creative power of the word of the Living God.
Verse 5 of Genesis 1 says: God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. (Emphasis mine). So God spoke a command which brought creation into being in all its various aspects, and after the word of creation followed a calling of the things He had created. Such was the close fellowship the first man, Adam had with the Creator God, that the Lord brought every creature of land animals and birds before him, and he had the honour of naming each one. 
The prophets of the Old Testament were called to speak powerful words to the kingdoms of Judah and Israel, as the Holy Spirit anointed their mouths to speak as God's mouthpieces to the nations - words of correction, judgment, and also words of hope and comfort.
In the New Testament, every believer can be filled with the Holy Spirit's anointing power to be used to proclaim words of life, words of edification, exhortation and comfort to both other Christians, and those who are yet to come to the Lord. In a real sense, we, as Christ's ambassadors, can create life and hope and impart blessing by the words that we speak. What a wonderful privilege to speak, as Peter says in 1 Peter 4:11 as the oracles of God.
It is certainly true, as Kenneth Copeland says: One word from God can change your life forever."
If you have read this blog, and have questions about how to become a Christian, here are a couple of suggested sites to help you:
www.vision.org.au Click on the "Grow your faith" tab, then "Looking for God" , or go to www.livingwaters.com Click on "Resources" then "Save yourself some pain."
GOD BLESS!