Power of Words

Remember when kids would say "sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me"? That's a lie. No matter how hard you try, words will always affect you in some way.

Before coming back to Santa Barbara, I remember attending a youth group called Wildfire, and the youth pastor named Todd talked about the power of words. They can help, but they can also cause harm. That is probably common sense; however, did you ever consider how they can affect you spiritually? I remember hearing about an example from some reality tv show I have never watched. Apparently some girl decided to wear clothes she loved, and when her mother criticized the clothes privately, the girl ended up feeling bad the rest of the day. I find it interesting that someone would feel negatively from something not said in front of her.

Remember Matthew 21? In that chapter Jesus went up to a fig tree to look for fruit because he was hungry. Since he found nothing except leaves, Jesus said, "May you never bear fruit again!" The tree immediately withered. Jesus then tells his disciples that if they believed and had no doubt, they will receive whatever they ask in prayer.

I still need to accept that words can be powerful. Sometime during the first week of being back in Santa Barbara, I decided to go to the prayer shed for some quiet time. As I sat on one of the couches, I decided to open the Bible up to a random page. I flipped to Proverbs 12. When I got to verse 18, it said "Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing." It really seems like God has been teaching me about the power of words recently. I've been trying to make sure the things I had been saying are encouraging.

On Monday, I decided to meet up with Ian. During our meeting, he pointed out that he feels I need to set my priorities straight. Honestly, I had been feeling the same thing for a bit. Although I knew he was right in a lot of what he had to say, I still felt down about it. That night, I decided to go back into the prayer shed for some quiet time. I never really do it in my room because I know I will either be distracted by my laptop sitting on my desk or by thoughts that I might bother people by praying out loud when that should not be an issue at all. During that quiet time, I used it to ask God to change my heart so that it would be at the right place. I had to submit myself while I was alone in the room. What does that have to do with words being powerful? Well, I found that actually praying out loud helped a lot with putting my focus on God. I focused more on talking to Him instead of wondering about other things. It was one of those moments where I felt a release of stress.

Right now, I would like to ask you to pray that God would break me down to the point that I put all my trust in Him. I believe prayer helps because there's power in it. I pray that you may realize what you say can have a great effect on others. I apologize if this seems disorganized as all my posts are done in one shot without much planning and organizing.

Until next time,
Kenneth