issue 23

August 2007 | Speaking the Language of Life - iii

 
Words have such power; often we underestimate how deadly they can be. We think a few well chosen words won’t have any more effect than to put someone else in their place, or give a different perspective. Too often we have no idea of the far reaching impact of our opinions, and this is all the more powerful when the words we say are our opinion and not God’s.
 
When we speak slighting or belittling words over other people’s lives and work, we can have no idea of the degree to which we may be adding to their sense of discouragement and inadequacy. Often when a person is in a spiritual battle, the enemy senses the vulnerability and will use the opinions of others to reinforce the struggles they are already experiencing. Even when words are spoken behind closed doors, they seem to have the ability to sprout wings and fly into situations, releasing all sorts of negativity, doubt and condemnation. The person spoken about may have no idea that anything has been said, yet the effect of those words is tangible because, as was said in Language of Life I, our words frame our world. Opinions expressed, whether deliberately or carelessly, somehow add to our feelings of brokenness, leaving us feeling inexplicably drained and weary of fighting the good fight of faith to which we are called[1].
God addresses this issue in His words to Isaiah, saying that although He created the person who is speaking those damning words, it is not His intention that they speak that way. He does not want what is said to wreak destruction on the person who has been spoken about.
 
Isaiah 54:15, 17 (NASB) If anyone fiercely assails you, it will not be from me. Whoever assails you will fall because of you……No weapon that is formed against you shall prosper; and every tongue that accuses you in judgement, you will condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their vindication is from me, declares the Lord.
 
When God is at work in us, it’s His intention that His plan will come to pass. He also knows that there are times when other people’s opinions conflict with His, even when they are good and godly people. That’s why He makes it clear that words spoken in judgement against us don’t have to reach their mark… He can and will vindicate us if we stay focused on Him and not our own feeble inadequacies. We can choose to stand with Him and refute the judgements that seek to rob us of our energy and call.
 
It’s important to realise that we don’t condemn the person who has spoken the words, but the enemy who provoked them to speak in judgement against us. Don’t fight fire with fire!
 
Proverbs 26:2 (NIV) Like a fluttering sparrow or a darting swallow, an undeserved curse doesn’t come to rest.
 
Curses flit around all the time; everyone has an opinion about just about everyone else, and at times that opinion may be negative. Most people have no idea that in speaking wrongly they are cursing someone else and yet, like a little bird, those words when released look for any reason we might give them to settle on us. If they can do that, they will leave their marks all over us; (have you ever seen the bottom of a budgerigar’s cage?) Negative words have so much ability to spoil the amazing things God is doing using ordinary people. We can feel our energy and enthusiasm draining away but we have no idea what is causing it or how to stop it. Look at the second half of the verse: a curse without a cause can’t land! What are the causes that give a landing pad for the often unconscious curses that come from the words of others?
 
One of the most powerful is unforgiveness, but there are others. Lack of repentance, dishonesty, self pity, selfish ambition, bitterness…the list is endless. The issues that lay undealt with in our hearts act as magnets for negative words to come and wreak havoc on the call of God on our lives. When we determine to deal with things the way Jesus would, our lives become de-magnetised and we no longer attract the destruction that the words of others can so easily wreak. People may continue to have their opinions over our fitness for life and ministry, but we no longer provide a landing place for their words to build a nest on. Literally, staying demagnetised means we can live for Jesus every day of our lives and fulfil the work He has prepared us to do.
 
Make a resolution, even though it isn’t new year, to watch what you say about other people; that way you will ensure no little birds come from your mouth to damage what God is doing in them.
Bev

 

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