Words

 "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." Isaiah 55:11...."I will speak life into dead situations, truth into deceptive circumstances, and possibility into impossibilities." Chris Tiegreen

We all know that there is power in words. They can lift up, and they can tear down. They can heal, and they can wound. We know there is power in the words we speak, but I wonder, do we really believe there is power in the words that the Father speaks? Scripture says that He spoke, and from His words came creation. Throughout the Bible, we are told that His Words are living words, that they are literally infused with His very life. They are creative words, healing words. They are words that, when spoken by Him, will accomplish all for which He intended. They never return to Him empty. It is His expectation that we, His people, would also speak His words of life into all of our situations and circumstances. Why is it that we so often don't, and when we do, why do they often seem to come back empty? I think the answer in both cases is simply unbelief. Someone said that "we don't believe the God that we say we believe in." What wonders, miracles, healings, and deliverances have we not seen or been a part of simply because we don't really believe that His word is living and active, and pierces even the deepest darkness?

What would happen if we, like Tiegreen, resolved to speak His truth, His promises, His words into all of our life situations. Into all of our impossibilities, into all the lies of our culture, and into all the death that permeates it? What if we began to do so with full confidence that what He has said He will do, and what He's promised He will accomplish? I'm reminded of the scene from the movie, "The Fellowship Of The Ring," when the company stand before the door leading into the mines of Moria. The inscription above the door reads, "Speak Friend And Enter." Gandalf commences to speak every word he can think of to no avail. Finally, Frodo asks him what the elvish word for friend is. Gandalf says it, and the door swings open. Too many of us in the church are like Gandalf. We speak many words, but there is no power in what we speak. Whether it's the result of our unbelief or our corrupted lifestyles, the words we speak, even if they are the right ones, do not bring about the culmination of what we hope for. If we're not living in the power of His Living Word, we can have no expectation that His word will have any deep effect within us or around us. This is not the way He intends it to be. In the risen Christ, He has given us His risen words, but we must partake of His risen life to experience the power and effect that He intends.

What would happen in our own circles of influence, and the wider world around us, if we, like Tiegreen, began to speak His Life into all the death around us? His Light into the deepest surrounding darkness? Truth into all lies and deception. Words that know all things are possible, even in the midst of the most impossible. What would we see coming about? What would happen if we just dared to believe all that He has said, and all that He has promised?

We have so little idea of all that we have in Christ. All that is available to us in and through His name. Scripture promises that "the grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of the Lord stands forever." May that truth be burned into our hearts. May His words be fully alive within us. We will see dry bones live, life come forth from death, wholeness from brokenness, hope out of despair. May the words we live by be His words. Words of life.

Blessings,

Pastor O