There's a friend of mine, a woman on our staff, who lives in an urban part of Houston. She has a townhome with a townhome on each side. When the townhomes were built, all three neighbors had identical trees planted in front. They were young trees, maybe 10 or 12 feet tall. When hurricane Ike came through in September 2008, those three young trees were toppled over, blown by the strong winds. They looked as if they were dying.
After the storm, all three neighbors went out to replant their trees. They tied their trees to stakes in the ground and did whatever they could to help those little trees take root again. But, my friend did something different from her neighbors. Every day she'd pass by her tree on her way to work, and she would speak to that little tree, "Be blessed! Grow straight and strong." Day after day, she would speak life over her little tree. It wasn't long before she noticed that her tree was growing stronger and straighter than her neighbors. In fact, her neighbor's trees are still leaning over, not looking too healthy or growing very much, but her tree is now straight, strong and flourishing! All three trees received the same amount of sun, the same water, the same soil. What made the difference? The power of words.
As you think about your life, what are the things that have been blown over by the storms and circumstances of life? What looks like it's dying in your world? Are your dreams toppled over? Does your marriage appear to be uprooted? I encourage you today, just like my friend, to begin to speak life and blessing to the dying places. Water those areas by speaking the Word of God. When you sow seeds of life and blessing no matter what your circumstances my look like, before long—just like my friend—you'll see life and health flourish by the power of your words!
The tongue has the power of life and death… (Proverbs 18:21, NIV)