The Power of the Spoken Word
In Gen.1:3, it is stated: “God said, ‘let there be light’ and there was
light.”;
Gen.1:6: “God said, let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and
let it divide the waters from the waters.”;
Gen.1:7: "And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under
the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so.";
Gen.1:9: "And God said, 'Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together
unto one place and let the dry land appear'; and it was so.";
Gen.1:11: "And God said, 'let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding
seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself,
upon the earth; and it was so.'” KJV
All through the first chapter of Genesis, it is stated God said-----God said----
and it was so.
That is the power of the spoken word. When God said it, it was. This is in
effect what God has ordained.
When Jesus began his ministry of healing the sick, setting the captives free and
raising the dead, he very often asked the one being healed or set free, “What
do you want me to do?” He being God knew what they wanted, but they were
required to speak out their desire audibly. In The Gospel of John, a nobleman
asked Jesus to come heal his son, because he was near death: "Jesus saith unto
him, 'Go thy way; your son liveth.' And the man believed the word that Jesus had
spoken unto him, and he went his way. And as he was going down, his servants met
him, and told him, saying, 'Thy son liveth'” (John 4:50-52).
When the nobleman asked what hour his son had been healed, they told him and it
was at the same hour Jesus spoke the words, “Your son liveth”.
In John 5:5 the man who had been lame for thirty eight years was lying by the
pool at Bethesda. When Jesus saw the man He knew he had been in that condition
for a long time. In verse 6 Jesus asked the lame man “Wilt thou be made whole?”
Then Jesus told him to take up his bed and walk. And immediately the man was
made whole.
This is again the power of the spoken word. When Jesus told anyone to do
something and they did it they were healed. Then at times He would ask them to
say what they wanted Him to do for them and they were healed.
If only we had the faith to believe what the Bible says, what Jesus says, what
God says. We have the power of the Spoken Word.
I believe the reason there are so many people who are sick with cancer or some
other dread disease is because we bring most of it on ourselves by our speech;
we reinforce our illness over and over again telling people how bad we feel;
again the power of the spoken word. How many times do we say, when someone asks
us how we are, “Not so well; I have this headache that just won’t go away.” or
“I have this pain in my hip and it is giving me fits.” Every time we rehearse
our sickness or pain, it reinforces it; the power of the spoken word.
Did you ever know someone who gets sick if you even mention they aren’t looking
well? Doctor Phil McGraw on television says we teach people how to treat us. In
the same way I think we teach our bodies how to react to sickness or disease, by
repeating over and over how sick we are. Our bodies react to our spoken
confession.
Jesus said in Mark 7:20: "it is not that which goes into a man that defiles
him, but that which comes out." In other words, the words which come out of
our mouth defile us. That is the power of the spoken word.
We should learn to make a good confession when we are asked how we feel. Then
maybe we all would be sick less often and for a shorter period of time. Don’t
give the devil any leeway; give him an inch and he will take a mile. All he
needs is a crack to get his toe in and he will take over our mind.
There is a saying whose author I do not know: Stop letting Satan tell you how
strong he is and start telling him How great our God is.
That is not verbatim, but it is close. I believe that is what we do when we
continually rehearse our sickness or our pain, we are letting Satan tell us he
is stronger than our God and can deliver pain and sickness to our bodies, when
we should be telling him, our God is stronger than this pain or sickness you
have brought to me. My God can deliver me from this discomfort or pain.
Prayer: Praise You Father for the power to overcome illness and pain by Your
Holy Spirit. Forgive us for always being ready to give way to the devil and
letting him tell us how great he is. Help us to tell him how great our God is.
In Jesus name, amen.
By Nell Berry 7/28/06