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Only the hungry, relentless, or bored should read this blog.  It’s long.  But it’s the best sermon that I’ve received from God yet.  I felt the power of it as I was writing it, and even more so after preaching it at the Quinta.  You’ve been warned.  I supposed I should also warn you that your life will be changed if you choose to walk in this.  Seriously.  It has changed ours.

Here’s the whole point, plain and simple:  The words spoken over you change your life.  Period.  No matter how flippant or seriously they are spoken, they enter the spiritual realm and change your life.  Don’t believe me?  Or are you intrigued?  Read on.

Think of the last compliment you received, and how it made you feel.  If you felt better after you heard it, you agreed with it and let it affect your life.  The same could be said for the last insult or negative comment directed at you.  If it brought you down, it’s because you agreed with it and allowed it into your spirit. 

Just as compliments affect our emotions, spoken things about us affect who we are spiritually.  Our words have piercing power in the spiritual realm.  A LOT of power and weight.  Really.

Every word we say either agrees with God or with the enemy.  There’s no middle ground, no other option.  None. 

If it agrees with God, it brings life to us.  We are agreeing with our identity in Christ, who Christ says we are.  It builds us up.  And we are accepting our inheritance.  Our inheritance is the Kingdom of heaven.   We bring life when we say things like:  I am a loved.  I am accepted.  The spirit of the living God is in me.  I am gifted and empowered by the ruler of the universe.

If it agrees with the enemy, we bring death.  We destroy our identity in Christ.  We turn our back on what Christ is offering us and who he has created us to be.  We reject the kingdom and WILLINGLY invite the enemy to authority in our lives.  We bring death when we speak or agree with:  I am worthless.  I’m not good enough to….  I’m not significant to God.  We don’t say these exact phrases, but I’ve realized that we tend to put them into our own words about our specific situations. 

I’m talking about SPOKEN words.  They leave our mouths and enter the spiritual realm.  We hear them and if we agree with them, they change our emotions, our perspective, and our spirit.  Suddenly our identity is changing.  Here’s why spoken words matter:  the enemy is not omnipotent.  He cannot know our thoughts.  He can only react to what we say out loud.  If we speak life, he must leave.  If we speak death, he immediately accepts your invitation to invade either your life or the life of the person you spoke over. 

If you’ve read this far, I owe you a huge hug.  Maybe even a kiss.  (That just depends…)  Here’s where all of this comes from…James 3:3-12

v. 3-5a
When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal.  Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts.
One small part of the horse or ship changes the entire direction of a large object.  It affects the whole course.  Words are the same.  Each word is a small unit that adjusts our direction in life.  Our words direct our path.  Unfortunately, we tend to use words so flippantly and often choose a direction without realizing it, instead of being intentional.
 
v. 5b-6
Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.
Forest fires tend to start with a small flame, spark, etc.  They don’t start as raging fires covering 1000s of acres.  Think of each word as another flame to the fire.  What fire are you feeding? Just another example of how each word affects us.
 
v. 7-8
All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man, but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
Now we’re talking.  The tongue is full of deadly poison, that, unless we’re careful, we’re releasing on ourselves and on everyone around us.  If our tongues are full of poison, our only option is to turn to Christ.  We have the mind of Christ and the Holy Spirit dwelling in us.  If we allow them to speak through us, we can spread life instead of death.  Man is imperfect (yes, we know) so we need someone else speaking through us. 
 
v. 9-12
With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.

There’s a raging battle for your mind.  It’s going on right now.  The words that leave our mouths and the words we accept into our lives change our direction and how we see our own identity.  If the enemy can convince us that we are not children of God who have inherited the kingdom of heaven, he’s going to have a huge fiesta on our behalf.  It’s called your pity party.  

If our words bring life, we are agreeing with our identity in Christ and taking on our inheritance.  We are loved, gifted, sons and daughters of the King, lovely, without fear, strong, full of heavenly authority, etc.  WE ARE BRINGING THE KINGDOM OF GOD INTO OUR LIVES.  THE KINGDOM!

If you are bringing death, you’re saying/agreeing with statements like:  I am less valuable than others.  I could never live w/o fear.  I’m not uniquely loved by God.  Again, we’re willingly giving the enemy authority over us – it’s an open invitation.

How can we bring life? 
1.  Speak God’s truth over yourself and others.
These are the promises God gives us and all the great things He says about us in the Bible.  These are the examples of life I’ve given thus far. 

Do you want more kingdom in your life?  The kingdom is all the good things in heaven – health, love, strength, hope, etc.  You want it?  Ok.  What I’m going to tell you is NOT stupid.  It will CHANGE your life.  Literally.  Look in the mirror every morning and tell yourself who GOD SAYS YOU ARE!  Remind yourself of God’s promises to us.  He’ll never leave us.  He’ll always love us.  He protects us.  He provides.  Don’t write me off.  This is good stuff.

2.  Revelation and Prophecy
These are God’s spoken words for us and for others.  If you’re thinking that prophecy is no longer needed or is only for super special spiritual people, you’ve just put limits on God and your mind.  God is always speaking to us.  He has something he wants to say to you right now.  It’s something specifically for you and no one else.  It’s only a matter of whether we are tuned in or not.  He will affirm our identity.  He will guide us. 

Better yet, God wants to use you to speak life into the people around you.  Yes, he wants to give you prophecy.  Paul and Joel tell us about prophecy.

But everyone who prophesies speaks to men for their strengthening, encouragement, and comfort.  – 1 Corinthians 14:3

And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people.  Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. – Joel 2:28

Think encouraging someone by telling them who they are and the great things they are going to do.  Now imagine those words coming from God.  Bam!  You just prophesied. 

Remember Ezekiel?  Of course you do.  He prophesied to dry bones and gave them life – literally!  In Ezekiel 37 God takes him to a valley full of dry bones and gives him words of life to speak over the bones.  He tells the bones to grow skin and muscle.  Then he tells the bones they will have breath and the wind comes to give them breath.  All of a sudden, a LIVING army of GOD is standing before Ezekiel.  It was only a matter of listening to God’s voice and being obedient in speaking the words given to him. 

God is still doing the same and wants to do the same with you.

We have the mind of Christ and the Holy Spirit dwelling within us.  We need to choose to make His words ours and to be a fountain of fresh water, not salt water.  Imagine a community that only brings life and hope, that chooses to strengthen identities in Christ, and that doesn’t give any invitation to the enemy.  That’s the power that our words have. 

I pray that we choose to bring God’s Kingdom to earth by our words.  I pray that we speak life and truth to bring the life, hope, health, provision, and blessings of the Kingdom that we have already inherited.  All those things are sitting in waiting for us. 

Heavenly Father, I pray that the eyes and ears of each person reading will be open to your voice and movement.  I pray that we would be continually awakened to who you say we are and that we embrace your truth.  Give us the boldness to give and receive your spoken word to us.