Speaking Life: The Power of Our Words

Today I want to talk to you for a few moments on the power of your words. And I I want to say this again that I don't care how many times you've heard this or think you know it. I like what Pastor Keith Moore says. He said, "If a truth bores you, it's not because you've got it. It's because you lost it." Because the truth of God is always exciting. And it doesn't matter whether you've heard it a million times. If it's of God, it's always lifegiving. So there's that part. And then there's also the reality that many of us have heard confession taught improperly. As if through our words we can manipulate God or through our words we can create reality that's outside of his grace. [00:00:03]

So the ability to control our words is necessary. It's not magic. It's not manipulation. It is faith talk. If I'm talking in faith, then I am confessing God's promises, not explaining to you my situation. Okay. So let's go ahead and get started. The power of your word speaking life into your situation. And there are two kingdom truths that over the years, I know I look amazingly young, but I've been at this now for 40 years. And in that time, I've realized that not every Christian agrees with the Bible. Silence. And the reason is a lot of us have been we've had tradition given to us and told it was gospel. [00:02:27]

A man who thinks earthly thoughts looks at spiritual realities and considers them foolishness because they're not logical. They're not rational. They don't make sense to an earth mind. Thank God we don't have an earth mind anymore. We have the mind of Christ. But if we choose to think earthly thoughts, we look at something like sewing and we think that that's a con man's game because if I want to get ahead, I save. Seowing seems to be counterproductive. You don't get it. You can't understand it if you don't look at it and judge it through a kingdom mindset. Does that make sense? The same is with speaking. If we don't understand speaking from a spiritual standpoint, we think our words are merely sounds. [00:03:45]

Your words are not just sounds. They're seeds. Seeds produce crops. Crops are what we harvest. If you don't like what you're harvesting, change what you're sewing. I want to say that again. If you don't like the harvest, change the seed. But you can't keep sewing the same seeds and expecting a different harvest. So your words are not just sounds, they're seeds. Proverbs 18:21 says this, "Death and life, death and life are in the power of the tongue." And now at Real Life Church, we know this, right? If it's written, our uncertainty is unnecessary. We don't have to be like those who are confused and think my words are meaningless. Uh-uh, baby. Your words have power. [00:06:29]

Your problem is not your situation. Your problem is your speech. Okay, I will. Your problem is not your situation. Your problem is your speech. If you change the way you're speaking, your situation will change. And here's how it'll change. Listen again, it's not magical, but if I begin to confess differently, I'm going to believe differently. And if I believe differently, I'm going to behave differently. And if I behave differently, I will change my situation. But it started because I I used my voice, these words God gave me to harmonize with what he's already said. So I'm not creating it in that sense. You understand that? I don't need to create it because his grace already did. I'm just agreeing with what God said. [00:07:28]

How can I walk with God if I don't agree with what God has said? If I don't agree with what God has said about himself, if I don't agree with what God has said about me, if I don't agree with what God has said about my life, then how can I walk with him? I can't walk with somebody and disagree with everything they say. Oh, I can go to church, but I can't walk with God. And the key to victory is walking with God. So if I want to walk with God, I've got to agree with what God has said about himself. So if God says he is the healer, I'm going to agree with it. Now, are my words creating healing? No. I don't need my words to create. I just need my words to agree. [00:08:50]

There's more to being a Christian than just showing up at a church on Sunday. There's renewing the mind to think like God. Yes, sir. And when you renewed the mind to think like God, you'll believe like God. When you believe like God, you'll have the faith of God. When you have the faith of God, you'll speak to mountains. You'll speak to unproductive fig trees. You'll speak to the areas that are clothed in darkness. You'll speak to disease. You'll stand in front of the tomb without explaining death and you'll cry, "Lazarus, come forth." See, you don't always have to tell everyone your problems. That's your problem. You want sympathy, not deliverance. You don't got to explain your problem. Just agree with God. [00:13:07]

The transformation of our reality begins when we begin doing what? Aligning our words, listen to this, with faith rather than frustration. It takes no faith to align your words with frustration. James went on to say, again, I don't have slides for this, but James talked about how with our tongue we bless God and then curse people. He said, "These things ought not to be because you can't draw both sweet and sour water from the same well." So, we're supposed to bless God and bless his people. And that means ourelves too speak blessing over ourselves because we can't use this tongue of ours to talk about how good he is then how rotten you are. Don't use your mouth to describe your situation. Use it to declare your future. [00:21:38]

Complaining. Listen to this. Complaining is describing the problem. Confession is declaring the promise as greater than the problem. God didn't look at the darkness and say, "It sure is dark." He said, "Let there be light." And I like in in in the original Hebrew, he didn't even say, "Let there be light." He just said, "Light be and it was." So again, God doesn't look at the problem and describe the problem. God declares the promise as greater than the problem. Point number two, life or death, we choose. Going back to Proverbs 18:21, it reminds us our tongue has consequences. [00:22:45]

Words of life bless. Words of death curse. Words of bl of life encourage. Words of death criticize. Words of life edify. Words of death complain. Words of life speak faith. Words of death speak fear. You remember when the spies came back from the promised land? 10 of them spoke words of death. Now, here's the question I want to ask you. Did their doubt and unbelief and speaking death, did that change the promise of God? Not in the least. But here's what it did do. It prohibited them from benefiting from the promise of God. I want to say that again. It didn't change the promise. If you and I talk death, that doesn't change the promise of God. It prohibits us from being blessed by it. [00:24:01]

Faith is able to stand in the middle of chaos and declare peace. Faith is is the ability to stand on the storm toss sea at the bow of the boat and declare peace. Faith is the ability to look into the abyss and declare God's presence. Faith is the ability to stand in front of a valley of dry bones and prophesy life. It takes no faith to complain. It takes no faith to criticize. It takes no faith to go, "I ain't got nothing." But it takes faith to put your hands into your pocket and feel nothing and still say, "My God said, he'll supply all of my needs according to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus." That takes faith. [00:26:56]

My words are my responsibility. It doesn't matter whether I don't need anyone else to believe for me to believe. I don't need anyone else to be blessed for me to be blessed. I don't need anyone else to speak properly for me to speak properly. Now, is that going to make me stand out and possibly be ridiculed? Most certainly. But so was my master. And if to be like him means some people are going to mock and ridicule and misunderstand me. So be it. I don't need their applause. Neither do you. You don't need to help me get to my destiny. He is my destiny. Yes, sir. So I don't need anyone else to understand what I'm saying. I just need to understand I'm responsible for my words and I want to use them as tools within the kingdom. [00:16:16]

Now, God creates worlds, but we create realities. And by that, I mean we create our own reality. Have you ever noticed when you're outside looking in, you can look at someone's life and man, they seem like they got it all together. They got the nice car. They got the beautiful husband. You thought I was going to say wife. They seem to get it. Like, they have everything. And yet they're absolutely miserable. But if you listen to them, you know why they're miserable? Because they seem to have it all together, but they all they do is talk misery, doom, despair, agony on me. Then you see someone else and they're living in a shack. They don't even have a car and they're as happy as can be. [00:17:38]

So what you say you believe. So if you say you can, you believe you can. If you say you can't, your soul shrinks. Genesis 1 verse three. Then God Then God Then God, we're going to say it till you get it. Then God God didn't think. God said, The the Bible plays the worst type of insult to silent faith. I've heard people say, "Well, pastor, I don't need to say it. I just believe it in my heart." That ain't faith. Nowhere in the Bible is that faith. Because the Bible teaches us, and we'll get there in just a moment, but if you believe in your heart, you're going to confess with your mouth. And that's what results in salvation. [00:19:27]

What kind of world are you creating with your words? Are you creating a joyfilled atmosphere or are you creating a miserable atmosphere? Are you creating a lifefilled atmosphere or are you creating a life sucking atmosphere? Start speaking what you want to see, not what you currently see. If you can only say what you see, that's not faith. Faith calls those things that are not as though they were. The transformation of our reality begins when we begin doing what? Aligning our words, listen to this, with faith rather than frustration. It takes no faith to align your words with frustration. [00:20:51]

Jesus goes on to say right here, "Your very words will be used as evidence against you. And your words will declare you are either innocent or guilty." Meaning the ledger don't lie. You want to know why the promises of God don't seem to benefit you? Look at the ledger. Why is it that it works for other people and not you? Look at the ledger. Why is it work for Cleave and not Jimmy? Jimmy's got to look at the ledger because I promise you it's not that God loves Cleave more than he loves Jimmy. I mean, how could anyone love Cleave more than they love Jimmy? And I heard that and I'm ignoring that. But the reality is God does not love Cleave more than he loves Jimmy. [00:31:44]

For some of us, I'm telling you, if we would just give God words to work through, We'd be amazed at what he would do. Because again, it's not that he loves Cle. I mean, who could love Cleave more than he loves me? Who? Your words are assets or your words are liabilities. Let's go to the next point. Point number three. As we're going there, don't rehearse the problem. Proclaim the promise. Jesus. Point number three, Jesus and the power of the spoken word. In John 11 verse 43, Jesus is standing in front of a tomb containing a dead man who stank. And yet he said, "Lazarus, come forth." Jesus didn't describe death. He didn't talk about the possibility of a resurrection. [00:33:03]

The word is near you in your mouth where and in your heart. Notice the correlation. It's in your mouth and it's in your heart. That is the word of fear which we are preaching. Verse nine. That if you confess with what? with what? With what? Jesus as Lord over what? Everything. And believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart a person believes, amen, resulting in righteousness. And with the mouth he confesses, resulting in which is wholeness. Now, here's the thing that I want to I want to bring out to you. I've never met anyone who would disagree that that is the way into the kingdom. [00:35:30]

So out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. The reason some people have a hard time speaking the word is because the word ain't in there. Put the word in there. Your words can call things out of the grave. Just like Jesus's words did. Your words can call dreams out of the grave. Your words can cause hope to come out of the grave. Your words can call relationships out of the grave. Let your confession, listen to this, let your confession be resurrection language, not funeral language. Last point maybe your words reflect your heart. Luke chapter 6 verse 45. Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. If you don't like the words coming out of your mouth, check the condition of your heart. [00:37:42]

God wants to partner with us in bringing resurrection power to bear in our homes and in our families and on our jobs. God wants to partner with us. God brought the prophet. He asked the prophet a question. He Let me modernize it. Is this right? Is this the way it should be? Because you know who the dry bones were, right? The dry bones were the house of Israel because the Bible goes on to say, they say, "Our hope is gone." And the more they said it, the more they withered until in the spirit they were nothing more than a valley of dry bones. Everything about them was hopeless. There was no life anywhere to be found because they said it's over. They said we'll never recover. [00:40:11]

God doesn't show you anything in order to condemn you. God shows it to you. Hear me when I say this. Because you are the solution to that problem. God brings you to it to fix it. God brings you into that dark place to be the light. He brings you into that tasteless situation to be the salt. He doesn't bring you into the situation, hear me, to become part of the situation. He brings you into the situation to change it. And you change it by prophesying to it. You will live and not die. You will come together. You will be a blessing. [00:42:58]