ARE YOU SPEAKING PROPHETICALLY?

Proverbs 25:11, A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.

WORDS MATTER!  The words you speak are not just empty sounds that fade into the wind, they matter and they have a great responsibility attached to them.  They can speak life and blessing to the hearer or hurt and destruction, but they will have an effect.  The old adage, “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me,” is totally false; words can break hearts, wound spirits and leave eternal scars.  WORDS MATTER!

A lesson I wish I had learned at a younger age is the words you speak over and to your children can have a prophetic affect. Research reveals that a child who is constantly told he/she is “no good, stupid, fat, clumsy or a piece of garbage,” will begin to believe that about themselves and ultimately become those words.  On the other hand, a child that is told they are loved, that their thoughts and opinions matter, encouraged in pursuing their dreams, and affirmed with loving correction will be successful.  True, some have been over-affirmed without the loving correction and we have created egotistical monsters but by using affirmation correctly and choosing your words, carefully, you can prophesy great things into the lives of your children and even your peers.

I will never forget the first time someone told me I was “sweet and nice.”  At first my mind just couldn’t wrap itself around that phrase; they were talking about me!  I couldn’t wait to get home and let Steve know that someone thought I was sweet and nice.  He, of course, looked at me as if I had lost it and said, “Well of course you are, I always thought so.”  My mind was reeling, I didn’t know my husband thought those things about me, no one had ever told me before.  I had wonderful parents who loved me and cared for me, but believed that pointing out negative traits would “shame” me into being a better person.  From the time I began to talk, I had a mouth that needed to be tamed.  I knew I was a “smart alec,” “hateful,” “sharp-tongued,” “intimidating,” and always “had to have the last word,” because I was told so.  I tried to be the soft-spoken, sweet girl that everyone flocked to but deep down I knew I just wasn’t born to be sweet and nice until one day a person, unknowingly spoke a prophetic word over me.  That sparked something in me that longed to hear those words again and again.  I began to find ways to speak loving things to others, to affirm them rather than criticize, to smile rather than retort and to listen rather than speak. A Facebook connection, recently commented that I was so arrogant and needed to tone things down; the old nature threatened to rise up.  I wanted to come back with sharpness and a quick retort but I refuse to let those words prophesy into my life.  I took them seriously and stepped back to do self-examination and asked God for a “heart adjustment,” but I refuse to allow the words to once again define me.

Jeremiah 29:11says, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”  Allow God’s opinion to define you; allow Him to speak a prophetic word into your life.  He has great thoughts regarding you and He created you to be a beautiful vessel, set apart to accomplish great things.  GOD’S WORDS MATTER; let them be the words you speak to others.