Do you ever listen to the words you’re speaking? Sometimes we get so discouraged over the distressing circumstances in our lives that we don’t even realize our words are full of gloom and defeat. If we reflected on our words, they would tell us that we’re convinced we’re stuck and there’s no hope. Whether we realize it or not, we’re prophesying doom about our future.
Proverbs 18:21 says about our words, “The tongue has the power of life and death.” And James wrote that our words direct the course of our life for victory or defeat (James 3:4–5). He even likens our tongue to a fire that can set the direction of our life toward destruction. David prayed in Psalm 141, “Lord, set a guard over my mouth. Keep watch over the door of my lips.” He was saying, “God, don’t let me speak words that get my life off course. I want to speak words of faith.”
Think about the woman described in Mark 5 who had suffered with bleeding in her body for twelve long years. She’d spent all her money on doctors, but her condition only worsened. Can you imagine the negative words she was hearing in her head? “You’ve tried everything. It’s hopeless.” But when she heard Jesus was coming to her town, she kept saying to herself, “If I can only touch His clothes, I will be healed.” She could have said there’s no point in trying, but instead these words fueled her faith and gave her the strength to push through the crowds thronging around Jesus. And with that last reach up behind Him, she was still saying, “If I can only touch Him…” Her words powered her to the hem of Jesus’ cloak, and the power came out of Him and gave her a miracle.
That woman’s words of faith set her on course to get to where she needed to be. The same is true for you and me. She not only had to push through the crowd of people but through the crowd of negative words in her head that said, “It’s too late for you.” If you’re going to direct your life in the course to receive your miracle, you have to push through the negative voices and the opinions of others. You have to be strong in your thoughts and then speak words of faith. Release your words of faith. Words reinforce what you think. Make God bigger than anything else that you see and declare it is true
That woman prophesied her future that day, and you and I have the ability to prophesy the course of our life as well.