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You have what your tongue says you have (Part 2)



Last week we talked about the power of the tongue.  The tongue, like the rudder of a ship, though small, has the power to steer our lives.  I once heard the story of a bitter alcoholic who had a family and a son, desperately in need of a father.  The son would go out to his father’s shop where he worked on cars, just to be with him.  But the father belittled the boy.  Whenever he would try to tighten a nut on a bolt, trying to help, his dad would say, “Can’t you do anything right?  You can’t even tighten a nut without cross-threading it.”

When the boy grew up, a close friend observed that it seemed every time he tried to attach a nut to a bolt, his hand would shake and he would mutter to himself, “Seems I can’t ever do this without cross-threading the nut.”  Words have power.

When we read the Bible, we see a pattern developing that is applicable to us.  God used words to create the heavens and the earth.  Jesus used words to work miracles and in many stories in the Bible, we see words being used powerfully.

Consider the following: “Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness.  God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day.” (Genesis 1:3-5, NKJV).  Someone might say, well yes, but that’s God.  People can’t do that, or can they?

Jesus said, “…whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.” (Mark 11:23, NKJV).  His message was to His disciples.  Today, that’s you and me.

In the book of Genesis, at a time when Isaac was old; his eyesight nearly gone, knowing that he would soon die, he called Esau, his oldest son, to prepare him a meal, that he might bless Esau before he died.  Having set out to obey his father, Esau’s younger brother Jacob, in collusion with their mother, made a meal and went to great lengths to fool Isaac, so that he would instead bestow the blessing upon Jacob.

When Esau returned ready to receive his father’s blessing, Isaac declared he could not, for the blessing had already been given (see Genesis 27:37-38, NKJV).  Whatever your thoughts may be about Jacob, people understood words have power.

It has been Becky’s and our practice to speak blessings over our two sons’ lives.  Even now that they are in high school, morning and night we lay our hands on them and speak the Word of God and declare His blessings over them.  As a result, both serve the Lord and are happy, well-adjusted young men.

Whatever has been said about you, God says you are loved (John 3:16). Starting now, you can set the course for your family by the words you say.  More next week.

Rob Granger is Senior Pastor of Faith Harbor Church, a non-denominational church that meets at 10 a.m. Sundays in the Escondido Columbus Hall, 515 W. Valley Parkway. His wife, Becky, serves as Co-Pastor. Videos of Pastor Rob’s sermons can be seen on YouTube by typing faith harbor church escondido ca in the YouTube search box. Visit fhcescondido.com for information about Faith Harbor Church.

  The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of  The Times-Advocate.

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