Overcoming Anxiety & DepressionSample

Power of Our Words

Our words play a much larger role in our lives than most of us realize. Many of us know words reveal our inner condition based on Jesus' comment, “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matthew 12:34). That is just the beginning. They are more than revealing. Words also steer our hearts. Proverbs 18:21 warns us that death and life are in the power of the tongue, and James 3:4-5 compares our tongue to the bit of a horse or the rudder on a ship, setting our direction.

We live in a world full of voices that say all sorts of things to us, but those words come from outside, and we get to decide whether to accept or reject them. Our own words come from inside the filter and drop straight into our heart, beginning the cycle of shaping our view. Joshua 1:8 says God’s Word should always be on our tongue. Our tongue is the paintbrush of our heart, but the canvas it paints is the window we look through. A whole generation of Israelites missed out on the Promised Land because they let their negative and complaining words shape their future. When Joshua got God’s plans for defeating Jericho, he added the instruction not to say anything until it was time to shout. He knew that if they let their mouths complain, it would set the wrong direction.

Our body looks to our words for direction. I heard this years ago and decided to experiment. I found a dumbbell that was at the edge of what most of the guys could lift. I gave it to half a dozen friends and told them to confess out loud, “I am strong” ten times before lifting it. They did so and then lifted it. Then I had them say, “I am weak” 10 times and try to lift it again. The weight they had lifted just a moment ago was now too difficult for them to lift as they had before. Their body responded to the belief of what they said and came into alignment with their words.

If our bodies are responding to our words, if our words are shaping the filter we see through and affecting the chemicals that our brains are releasing, are our words helping or hurting us? Our words put our faith into action for both good and bad. If we see what we have been saying come to pass, will it be a blessing or a curse?