Word Up

Words are powerful, they carry life or death within them, they can create or destroy, they can plant seeds of faith or uproot hope and toss it out in minutes. The power that words have is so profound that they have made kingdoms fall and nobodies famous by someone who simply decided to use the right words at the right time. Think about it for a moment, everything you see and know was created by words spoken. The toaster in your kitchen may have started as an idea but somewhere at sometime someone shared the idea and those words set in motion the invention of the toaster. The Bible says that God “spoke” the world into existence. He spoke what was in His heart and we were created, a loving God had you in mind and spoke of that love and you were formed in your mother’s womb.

I am always inspired and impressed by writers who can take you on a journey with words. It is said that “a picture can speak a thousand words” and it is true. But who thought of saying that? The words alone invoke a picture in your mind. They create a thought - so what came first the picture or the words? Recently I experienced the power of words in both the negative and positive. Now I know the negative were not necessarily meant to be, I am sure that the people thought they were just trying to help me be a better leader but the words chosen sunk deep into my heart. They shouldn’t have bothered me at all. They were innocent enough and normally they wouldn’t have but on that day somehow they had a sting to them.

We must realize that every word spoken from our mouths will land somewhere. Think of them as arrows launching from a bow. In the Bible it speaks of negative words being like fiery darts. Those references come from a roman army tactic where they would take little arrows or darts and dip the tips in a hot tar poison. The opposing army would be covered in armor and had better weapons. They would laugh at the little darts coming at them but they were designed to land between the armor in the little gaps and they only stung a little bit. They would pull them out and laugh and jeer at the roman army. What happened though is that the poison would slowly enter the blood stream and as time passed they would die a horrible death. The lesson is clear if I leave those negative words that seemed minor but had a little sting, to fester they will eventually kill me spiritually and emotionally. In Ephesians 5: 10-23 the Bible says to extinguish them with the shield of Faith. In other words I have to choose whose words I am going to believe. Am I going to believe God’s words that bring life and create success in my life or am I going to believe the words of satan who uses words to kill, rob and destroy.

I have to make a choice every time I am going to speak or hear “words” do I choose life or death? Dr. Dobson released a study that found it takes 7 positive words to negate one negative. Lets be a generation who speak life and love to each other, let’s understand that we don’t fight against each other, but an enemy that wants to destroy you. Let’s speak to our dreams and passions with a positive word, encouraging one another and spurring each other on to good works. It all starts with words, words from God’s heart to yours and then from yours to someone else’s. You are the mouth of God on earth…or are you?

Mark Gordon enjoys "translating" between people groups experiencing obstacles to communication. He knows how to adapt language to fit each different situation. Mark loves boating and dreams of someday owning a beautiful Cabin Cruiser.