Life and Death
Oh, be careful, little mouth, what you say.
Here’s the deal. God spoke, and the WORLDS were created. We are created in Gods image. What do you think happens when we speak?
Self-help gurus teach it.
New age writers publish best-selling books about it.
We fear it.
It’s the power of the tongue.
Tell your child that he is stupid, and he will think that he is. He will act like he is. He will give up on learning. He will BECOME what you called him.
Stand in front of the mirror. Tell yourself that you are fat. Get discouraged. Get hungry. Have a box of twinkies to console yourself. You’ve created your reality.
The laws of positivity and negativity are not some New Age Psycho-Babble. Scriptures ABOUND with the blessings and curses of parents over children, and their results. When King Balak hired Balaam to curse the Israelites, God intervened. Because, like it or not, our words have power. This power, it appears, is not just over ourselves, but others, as well.
I suspect, in fact, that if we truly understood the power of our own mouths, our own words, to affect change in ourselves, and the world around us, we would TREMBLE.
Death and life [are] in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof. Proverbs 18:21
That’s a lot of power.
What are you speaking into your life, today? What are you speaking into your family members’ lives? Are you a fountain of Life, or a black hole of Death? It’s your choice.
“Telling it like it is” is not a sufficient excuse for speaking negative things into reality. Every person, and situation has two sides. Speak the Truth, with LOVE. Focus on the positive, and you will create more of it. Focus on the negative, and unfortunately, the same is true.
Think about these two sentences:
“He’s a loser.”
“He’s becoming a great man.”
Both could be factual. Whether the loser becomes a great man will depend largely on what words he speaks into his own life, and the words that are spoken into it by others. Do those words give hope? Do they speak life? Do they build up? Do they demand more? When we speak the negative, we accept it as the reality; we do nothing to combat it.
In the interest of harnessing the power of the tongue, and maximizing LIFE, we should choose our words carefully. And if we just aren’t yet in a positive frame of mind, perhaps it’s time to take the advice of a Disney cartoon. “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything AT ALL!” When people insist on speaking death and damnation into our souls, perhaps we should tell them to stop, or shut the door in their faces. If Balaam is any example, it’s what God would do.
For my part, I choose to embrace the positive possibilities of life as though they were already my reality. I choose to speak the beautiful potential of others as though it were accomplished, already. And I hope that life and death really are in the power of the tongue, as I chant, “life, Life, LIFE! And that more abundantly!”