The Power of Words

The Power of Words

Words can be powerful. Let's start by looking at God's Word and then see how that relates to our word. Let me begin with this statement and tear it down from there:

"God’s Word spoken in love and in accordance with God’s will creates something from nothing."

We know and can trust from Scripture that God is love. The Bible, God’s Word, we call it, says that God is love. So, every word spoken by God comes from a place of love. Why would we serve God if he were not love? So, if there is a God worth serving, we can agree that he is loving. So, we can assume that anything that is God's word is spoken in love.

And, every word spoken by God is according to his will. As humans, we are imperfect, we lie, our words are not always in accordance with our own will let alone with God’s will. You see that. But, that is not so with God. God is not divided. God is one. God is not a liar. Everything that God says we can assume is according to his will.

So for the sake of brevity, we can shorten this statement to:

"God’s Word creates something from nothing."

Now let me talk through what that "something" is. What is God creating?

We can read in 2 Tim 3:^{16 "}All Scripture is God-breathed [God’s Word] and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, ¹⁷ so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work."

Useful - God's word is practical. It does something. It creates something. In this verse, it is described as creating righteousness.

Righteousness -  The purpose that this verse gives for creating righteousness is so that the servants of God will be able to do good works.

Good works - This is a new possibility that was created by God in his servants. Now, unlike before God spoke, they are able to do good.

In Hebrews 4:12 we read that the Word of God is alive and active. It has life. It is powerful.

Isaiah 55 puts it this way:

¹⁰ As the rain and the snow
    come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
    without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
    so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
¹¹ so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
    It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
    and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

Like rain brings life, God’s word brings life. It creates new life and new possibilities from nothing. It does. It always, 100% of the time, does. Without fail. Otherwise, it is not God's word. So, we can change the statement this way:

“God’s Word creates new possibilities from nothing.”

Now, let's look at the word nothing. Where are those new possibilities coming from?

We see this most clearly in the creation story of Genesis 1 and John 1.

Genesis 1 says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. ² Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

³ And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

He repeats this day after day, speaking this universe into existence. It would be amazing to think about him still speaking everything into existence now and now and now.

John 1 describes the original creation this way, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was with God in the beginning. ³ Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. ⁴ In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. ⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it."

The Word here is referring to Jesus Christ. (Check John 1:13 if that is a question for you.) So, everything that was created by God in the beginning was created through Christ. Life was in him and came from him. And, nothing was made apart from him.

So, now here is the final statement about what God's Word creates in this world:

“God’s Word creates new possibilities through Christ."

Now let's see what we can say about the power of human words.

We were each created. We were a new possibility through Christ. "I am a new possibility created by God through Christ." Try repeating that sentence every day. It might change our lives to think that way. Wouldn't it?

Try repeating it now. Maybe even say it aloud. Try it on for size. Does it fit?

We are created in God’s image according to Genesis 1:27 and knit together by God himself according to Psalm 139:13-14.

The Creator created human beings in the image of the Creator to be like the creator in creating.

Our likeness to the creator is not perfect or complete. "We all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," (Romans 3:23). But, we were created like Him, in His image, to be creative with our words. And, I don't mean using descriptive vocabulary.

We can create new possibilities through Christ when we speak in love and in accordance with God's will.

1 John 5:¹⁴ This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.¹⁵ And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.

This amazing idea is echoed in many verses in the Bible. (Matthew 7:7; Mark 11:22-24; John 14:13-14, 15:7, 16, 16:23-24; Philippians 4:6-7; James 4:3)

So, our words can have power, if they are spoken in love and in accordance with God’s will. If in essence they are God’s words. God can speak through us. 

Or, through Christ, we can speak God's words. And, when we do, God creates new possibilities for us.

(The flip side is also true and this shouldn't be overlooked. There are many exhortations in the Bible to beware false teachers and false prophets whose words have the power to destroy instead of create. Our words can also potentially have destructive power which we see and feel everyday. Almost every fight has been begun with words and has escalated with words.)

Notice I said, they have the potential to create, not that they always do. God’s word has power and always accomplishes what He desires, and it achieves the purpose for which He said it.

Our words are not guaranteed to create because our words are not always spoken in love and aligned with God’s will.

How do we align our words with God's word so that we can create new possibilities through Christ for ourselves and others?

In Matt 7:15, false prophets are equated to ferocious wolves in sheep’s clothing.
God is not condemning wolves. He is condemning deception and ferociousness.

We are all inauthentic. We all lie, to each other and most often to ourselves. But, these wolves lie about being wolves. They lie about being inauthentic. They pretend that they are open books when in reality they are hiding. They are hypocrites.

Our integrity is crucial to speaking words that have the power to create new possibilities. Integrity comes from a commitment to being authentic. But, since we are all inauthentic, it is a commitment to being authentic about being inauthentic. That is integrity.

That’s God's condemnation of false prophets. They have no integrity.

And, whether you are a prophet or not, recognize that “God’s Word creates new possibilities through Christ.”

You have the power to create new possibilities through Christ as you speak God’s word in love and in accordance with God's will.

At first, our words take on power when we declare with our mouth "Jesus is Lord." Remember the righteousness that God was creating in us through His word as described in 2 Timothy 3:16-17. When we believe in our heart and confess with our mouth "Jesus is Lord," we are forgiven of our sins and are saved, making us righteous not because we do good things, but because Christ's righteousness is imparted to us. Here's how Paul described it.

Rom 10:⁶ But the righteousness that is by faith says: ... SKIP ahead to verse 8 “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the message concerning faith that we proclaim: ⁹ If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰ For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. ¹¹ As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.” ¹² For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, ¹³ for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

[And, like in 2 Timothy 3:16-17, it is so we can be thoroughly equipped to do good works. And, the first good work is to speak to others so they, too, can experience the power of God's word. Paul continues...]

¹⁴ How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? ¹⁵ And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”

If you want to see the power of God manifest in your life, speak God's word to create new possibilities through Christ. First, in ourselves, as we declare "Jesus is Lord" and then, in others, as we declare "Jesus is Lord."

The Death of Christianity

Christ's death was the most life changing, heaven and earth colliding moment of human history since the Creation of man.

Heaven and earth were close,
intermingled,
indistinguishable,
intertwined.
The fate of all humanity was transformed in an instant, in an eternity.

God, who is with us, who is for us, who is holding us, who is in us, died.

Everything changed,
for us.
God never changes,
for us.
Our reality will never be the same. A door was revealed, an open door. It had been there all the time, but we couldn't see it until God himself came and revealed it. All that happened before and everything that was to happen since made sense in a new way because of his death and resurrection and the new life that He offers to each of us every day.

There is hope for new life.
There is hope in Christ.
There is hope for us to live, really live.

There is hope for love and joy and peace and grace and mercy and forgiveness to be revealed through us, through the Holy Spirit in us reflecting the light that shone from heaven through the cross, through Christ.

There are so many barriers that hinder that light from shining. We talk about shining our light and sharing the Good News. Of all the barriers, there is one that has arguably done the most damage to the Church's ability to share Christ with those who don't know him.

Chris·tian·i·ty

noun \ˌkris-chē-ˈa-nə-tē

 

1: the religion derived from Jesus Christ, based on the Bible as sacred scripture, and professed by Eastern, Roman Catholic, and Protestant bodies

2: conformity to the Christian religion

3: the practice of Christianity

 

Being in the presence of the Almighty God has led some to fall on their faces, to shut up, to shine, to sing, to worship, to see, to dance, to live.

Christianity is designed by well-meaning people to draw others to God, to help people relate to God, and to give guidelines, provide a context for worshiping and serving God.

All of that sounds good and sounds helpful, but the one flaw is that it is designed by people.

Christianity is like a painting of Christ or a statue. It is a representation of Christ created by one for the benefit of another.

And, for as long as there has been a church, there have been those who have preferred enjoying the statue over knowing the Almighty God of the universe.

We tend to talk about different things. We either talk about the creators of the statue or we talk about the Creator of the Universe. "The founding pastor of our church was such a godly man. He was there when my son was sick. He was such a dynamic speaker, such a strong man."

We either talk about how the statue was carved out of a lump of stone or how our hearts were transformed from a heart of stone to a heart of flesh. "We started with just a few families and then started meeting at the lodge and finally bought our own property and built this beautiful church."

We either talk about how the statue makes us feel or how God makes us feel. "When I come to church, I feel so loved, so accepted. I never feel better than when the team leads us in singing."

When times are hard, we either look to the statue or we look to God. "Why didn't someone from the church call? The sermons just don't connect with me. The music team just sounds flat. The programs don't meet our family's needs. Maybe we should visit some other statues."

Christianity must die

The statue must fall. Christianity must be undone. We cannot let anything detract from God, not even our beloved religion.

The system is broken. It doesn't work. It has never worked. It is just what we do. We create systems to replace relationships. We know that something is important and we don't want it to get messed up, so we create a system to protect it, provide it, or pass it down.

It didn't work. It doesn't work. It never works.

Christianity can't protect Christ, can't provide Christ, and can't pass down Christ to future generations.

At best it can protect an idea, provide a doctrine and pass down a beautiful building. But, it isn't worth the sacrifice. We lose more than we gain.

The system robs us of relationships. The system replaces relationships with programs. The system replaces intimacy with bureaucracy.

The best hope for the message of Christ to move forward is for Christians, those who know and love God, to know and love those around them.

Christ describes it this way, "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."

 

Christianity must die, so that people are not distracted from Christ. The statue must be torn down, so that when people reject the model, they don't think that they are rejecting God.

We must trust. Trust Christ to not let the church die. Trust ourselves to keep loving God without having a structure to protect us. Trust our children to not lose faith and forget the God who loves them.

Let the Bible be our structure, not a building. Let the relationships that we have provide for us not the programs that we design. Let the presence of God in our lives pass on our faith to our children.

God died, but He is not dead.

Now it is time for Christianity to die. Death is not the end. It will be a new beginning.

4 Keys to Being a Christian (Instead of Acting like One)

About eight years ago, I realized that I had been making choices in my life based on what I thought was a good Christian response. Instead of living my life in a loving relationship with God and others, I was living according to a complex legalism based on my understanding of what was good.

I wanted to be good, so I decided to act good.

This is the dilemma of someone who lives in a Christian bubble. Do I act like a Christian or do I have an honest relationship with God and those around me?

It is a tough question to answer.

My soul longs for honest relationships, but they are difficult and messy, unpredictable and dangerous.

Acting like a Christian is safer. If we get rejected, it is ok because I know the real me wasn’t rejected. The real me is hidden behind this mask of Christian-ness.

As I got better and better at acting like a Christian, I got further and further from being myself.

It left me feeling like nothing I did was ever good enough. If I did the right Christian thing, I would feel worthy for the moment, but know that it was just an act. If I ever did something questionable, either something I was sure was sin or something I thought people would judge me for, I felt guilty. At times, I felt that the opinions of my most vocal detractors were the ones that determined my value. And sometimes, I was my own worst critic.

The legalism finally broke when I was able to see the lies that I was believing. My worth is not based on my performance. My worth is not based on the opinions of people. And, I began to believe the truth. I am valuable because I was created with value. God’s opinion of me is the only one that accurately defines me. And, His opinion is always loving and accepting even when he is disciplining and correcting me.

The Blackwell Companion to Christian Ethics says, “Much contemporary Christian ethics strives to act Christianly. … It tries to make ‘Christian’ an adjective, an epithet, a style—when what God offers his people is particular actions—verbs—through which they can become and be distinctive nouns—people, disciples, witnesses.”^[1]

When deciding what is ethical or morally right, we can begin to think that we should act Christianly. This leads us to lists of right and wrong, legalism.

We begin to believe that there are “Christian” things and “not-Christian” things. And the implication is that if you are a good Christian, then you will do only Christian things.

To act Christianly is to act like people from my subculture would expect me to act.

“What Would Jesus Do?” has come to mean the same thing as, “What would I do if I knew that someone from my church was watching me and would judge me for my actions?”

We tend to believe that Christians should do Christianly things like go to a Christian theater (e.g. the “Sight & Sound Theatre” in Lancaster, PA), go to a Christian amusement park (e.g “The Holy Land Experience” in Orlando, Florida), buy Christian gifts (e.g. the  bobble-head Jesus), hire Christian contractors, and use Christian dating services.^[2]

The business world has taken notice. As Christians, we are the target of million dollar marketing strategies.

All of this may lead a child raised in this subculture to believe that being Christianly is sufficient.

The effect on adults in the subculture is just as soul-numbing.

It has become a question of our identity.

4 Keys to Being a Christian (Instead of Acting Like One)

1 - Be yourself

Once I realized that God wasn't calling me to fit into a Christian cookie cutter mold and be the best Christian cookie in the bunch, I felt free to have likes and dislikes, wants and needs. I felt like I was waking up from a long winter and ready to breathe in the fresh air, soak up the sun's rays, see the Spring colors and feel the cool breeze. I was ready to live.

Be honest about who you are, what you feel, what you think and what you do. If you are hiding anything, then you are acting. You are trying to please someone else. You are trying to make someone think that you are something that you are not.

If that someone is your spouse, start going to counseling and get it all out on the table now. Worst case scenario: You may still have time to save your marriage. Best case scenario: you want to build your relationship on a strong foundation and this can only happen if the foundation is real, honest, truthful.

If that someone is your parents and you are living at home, be slow and deliberate and build a strong relationship with them. If they aren't open to that, keep trying, keep being honest.

If that someone that you have been trying to please is anyone else, STOP. Picture your life without them and decide whether your life will be better off or worse off. If you decide that you want them in your life, work on the relationship and be honest with them. If not, stop pretending and just be yourself. They will either leave or try to force you to leave (or change themselves). Whatever they do, it is not your problem.

Be yourself, respect yourself and love yourself.

2 - Be alone

Some of the most difficult times in my life have led me to value time alone with God. It is during these times of desperation that I have learned that I need times of solitude even when things are going well. This book by Ruth Hailey Barton was a valuable resource.

Spend time alone with your thoughts. Listen to your own heart. Be honest with yourself about your faith, your doubts, your fears, your commitments and your dreams. Do all this in the presence of God and listen for His gentle reply. he will not be harsh with you if you are being honest with Him. He will be gentle. Seek Him in the silence and solitude and you will find Him to be loving and gracious.

Honor your commitments to people. Make your marriage and your children and your friendships a priority. Work hard to build these into healthy relationships where you can be yourself and honor who they are.

Reevaluate your commitments to organizations (e.g. work, church, clubs, etc.) Why are you involved with them? Can you be yourself there? Do you feel accepted there? Do you feel fulfilled there? If not, either work to change the organization or find different organizations to be connected to that meet these criteria.

(PS - I wouldn't suggest you quit your job unless God is VERY clear or unless you have a new job lined up already.)

3 - Live

I felt like God said I could have anything I wanted. I could pursue anything I wanted. And, I realized that God had already brought me so much of what I wanted. I had just lost my appreciation for them. I was surrounded by things that I enjoy. I just had to remember how to enjoy them.

There are some things that I would change, but they were minor compared with what was most important to me. I have so much to be grateful for, and now that I am enjoying those things, if I want to make some changes, I can. I can plan a weekend away with my wife or a family vacation or a game night with the kids. I can do fun things because I want to, not because I have to or because I am failing as a man if I don't. My home isn't perfect, but really, it's pretty great. My cars aren't what I always dreamed of owning, but they work.

I am free to enjoy what I have and try to enjoy life more.

What do you enjoy? Celebrate those things. Find new ways to enjoy life even more. Carpe Diem for you Latin lovers.

4 - Love

I spent years of my life trying to do things for people that I thought was loving. I did some wonderful things. I did some sacrificial things. I worked hard. God is gracious and He blessed others through my hard work.

But, in reality, I wasn't loving people, I was acting like I thought someone should if they loved someone else.

Pretty confusing.

Then, God set me free to love. I felt love in my heart that I wasn't expressing because I was too busy trying to figure out what I should do. So, as I was learning to be myself, sitting in solitude wrestling with my thoughts and with God, and enjoying life, I learned to love again.

Loving is very easy, but we make it complicated. We let other motives and past hurts distract us and bog us down.

Sometimes when we treat people meanly, we use the excuse that we are just being honest about the way we feel.

Bull $&*! We are just being mean.

If we were being honest, we would be completely honest about all that we feel including our own pain and prejudices, insecurities and fears. The conversation would leave us feeling vulnerable not overconfident. Complete honesty is love. Love can be painful, but it is never mean.

Loving is desiring what is best for the other person regardless of how it effects me. The greatest love is when we sacrifice our lives for another. But, every time we set aside our own desires in order to do what is best for another, it is love.

Let me be clear. Sacrificing is not love. Setting aside our own desires is not love. Doing what is best for someone else is love and sometimes that means sacrifice.

Christ's love for us demonstrated this beautifully. His love for us led Him to the cross. He died for us, to reap the punishment for our sin so that we would not have to.

As a Christian, for me to love is for me to share Christ with those that I meet. This is what it means to love them. But, until we learn to be ourselves through solitude and enjoy life, loving others is impossible.

May God richly bless you with the grace to love yourself, to enjoy the life that you have and to love others.

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1 Stanley Hauerwas and Samuel Wells, The Blackwell Companion to Christian Ethics, 1st ed. (Wiley-Blackwell, 2006), 13.

2 Sight & Sound Theatres, Lancaster, Strasburg, PA,” http://www.sight-sound.com/WebSiteSS/getlanguages.do (accessed August 28, 2011); “The Holy Land Experience - Orlando Florida,” http://www.holyland-orlando.com/ (accessed August 28, 2011).