The Power of Our Words – in Thought, in Communicating, and in Speaking Life
In life, there are often times when we feel we are communicating clearly, when really, our words are subject to interpretation.
If you don’t believe this, try one of these little “experiments.”
- The Block Game: Select two people and have them sit at a table facing one another. Give each person the same number, color and shape of building blocks. Put something in the middle so that they cannot see what the other is building. Have one of the participants begin to build a structure out of the blocks while communicating to the other participant what they are doing. Participant number 2 tries to build the exact same structure while following the directions without asking questions. This experiment is even more fun when the participants are husband and wife.
- The Blindfold Game: Create an obstacle course. Have someone try to lead a blindfolded participant through the obstacle course using just their words.
In both of these instances, you will most likely find that no matter how concisely someone believes they are communicating, or how closely the other tries to listen, the results will not be perfect. More than likely, in experiment A, participant #2 will follow the instructions to the tee. However, the two structures will not look the same. In experiment B, the blindfolded person will end up crashing into things or heading in the wrong direction.
It can be difficult enough to communicate and work together under normal circumstances, much less when we are communicating or filtering things negatively.
According to stats in Richard Dobbins book, “Feelings Friend or Foe,” our self-image is pretty much formed by the age of five. How many of you can think of things your parents said when you were growing up that still have an effect on how you operate today? (i.e. “That is the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen” or “Can’t you do anything right?!”)
Are we doing the same thing to our children?
Our words have the potential to do harm or good!
Proverbs 18:21 tells us “Death and life are in the power of the tongue and they that love shall eat the fruit thereof.”
Proverbs 16:24 – “Pleasant words are as a honey comb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones”
Proverbs 12:25 – “Heaviness in the heart of man maketh it stoop: but a good word maketh it glad.”
Ephesians 4:29 – “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their need, that it may benefit those who listen.”
1 Peter 3:9 – “Do not replay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, replay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.”
Luke 6:27-28 – “But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.”
In the New Testament, the English word “bless” is the translation of the Greek work “eulogeo.” According to Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance, “Euloges” means “to speak well of” (thank or invoke a benediction upon, prosper).
Our words can have a positive impact in the lives of others or a negative impact, they can also do the same in our own lives!
I don’t know how many times I have heard people say, “If only God would just zap me and change me.” Unfortunately, it doesn’t usually happen that way. Nor can we depend on others to change us or help us to feel better about ourselves if we are constantly speaking negative things over ourselves. Why? Because no other person can talk to you as fast as you talk to yourself!
A person talking to you (i.e. your spouse, parents, friends, pastor, counselor) can only talk to you at the rate of 200-300 words per minute, but our mind is so amazing, it allows us to talk to ourselves in thought at 3,000 – 4,000 words per minute (Dobbins: Feelings Friend or Foe). That is why so many of us have a difficult time believing compliments or accepting the blessings others speak over us, and why it is so easy for us to cling to the negative comments we hear if those are the lies we are believing!
The Lord desires us to speak blessings or His truths of who we are, over ourselves and over the lives of others.
Challenge: Ask the Lord to make you attentive to His spirit and to hear the blessings that He desires to speak.
Scriptures of blessing you can pray:
Romans 15:5-6 (NIV) 5 May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, 6 so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 1:4-9 (NIV) 4 I always thank my God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. 5 For in him you have been enriched in every way—with all kinds of speech and with all knowledge— 6 God thus confirming our testimony about Christ among you. 7 Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. 8 He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
2 Cor. 1:3-7 (NIV) 3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 5 For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. 6 If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. 7 And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.
2 Cor. 2:14 (NIV) 14 But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere.
Phil. 1:3-6 (NIV) 3 I thank my God every time I remember you. 4 In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
Phil. 9-11 (NIV) 9 And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10 so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.
Phil. 4:6-8 (NIV) 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
Col. 1:9-14 (NIV) 9 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives,[a] 10 so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, 12 and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you[b] to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. 13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
1st Thess 3:12-13 (NIV) 12 May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you. 13 May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones.
1st Thess 5:23-24 (NIV) 23 May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.
2nd Thess. 1:11-12 (NIV) 11 With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may bring to fruition your every desire for goodness and your every deed prompted by faith. 12 We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.[a]
Hebrews 13:20-21(NIV) 20 Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, 21 equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
1st Peter 5:10-11 (NIV) 10 And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. 11 To him be the power forever and ever. Amen.
