I get a lot of lightbulb moments with God, here is one from this weekend that I share in case it blesses anyone else.

In our family’s devotional today, we read Psalm 109 and the verses 17 to 19 just hit me square between the eyes.   I will share while it is fresh on my mind as I think this is a key that I have been praying for.  The imagery of course appeals to a child but will make perfect sense to adults as well.  Here is the verse we read.

Psalm 109:17-19 King James Version (KJV)  “¹⁷ As he loved cursing, so let it come unto him: as he delighted not in blessing, so let it be far from him.  ¹⁸ As he clothed himself with cursing like as with his garment, so let it come into his bowels like water, and like oil into his bones.  ¹⁹ Let it be unto him as the garment which covereth him, and for a girdle wherewith he is girded continually.”

Some other supporting verses:

Deuteronomy 30:19 KJV”¹⁹ I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:”

Proverbs 18:21 New English Translation (NET Bible) “21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love its use will eat its fruit.”

Proverbs 6:2 King James Version (KJV) “2 Thou art snared with the words of thy mouth, thou art taken with the words of thy mouth.”

Luke 12:3 “Therefore whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness shall be heard in the light; and that which ye have spoken in the ear in closets shall be proclaimed upon the housetops.”

2 Corinthians 10:5 King James Version (KJV)  “5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;”

Matthew 15:8 King James Version (KJV) “8 This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.”

Key point:  Our words are powerful, very likely far more powerful than we our actions reflect.   Life and death truly are unleashed by the words we speak and we are releasing blessings and curses on ourselves and others regardless of how aware we are of this truth.  It is in our best interest therefore to guard our hearts with all diligence (Proverbs 4:20-24) and edit every word before it comes out of our mouths.

While words are powerful, insincere words will not release the power of the kingdom into a situation in the same measure as those that are sincere and from the heart.  There is a difference worth noting here.  There is most definitely a place where we know what is true, where we want to believe it and act accordingly but are “unable” to.. that place of I know it up here but need to sink into my heart so that it flows out of me readily and easily.    that is still a sincere heart position.   Just because we don’t emotionally feel something yet does not mean that we don’t sincerely want it and know that it is true and best.

Matthew 12:36 King James Version (KJV)  “36 But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.”

Key Point:  Our words have genuine creative power and every word we speak is recorded, so we do truly need to monitor and take care about every word we speak.  Scripture takes it further and says that we need to take every thought captive to the Lord.  Our Words come our of our hearts.    Ultimate this boils down to letting God heal our broken hearts and cleanse them of all unrighteousness.      At the end of the day, there is great power in our words.. but even greater power in our words that are backed by our whole heart.    It reminded me of the verse about loving our brothers with unfeigned love.   Sincere words are very powerful indeed.  

 

Matthew 12:34 King James Version (KJV)  “34 O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.”

Luke 6:37-38 King James Version (KJV)  “37 Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven: 38 Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.”

What did I see in the PSALM 109 verse?   The law of sowing and reaping is very very real.   The Words I speak literally go out like a garment around others and me….    I can fully understand why the Word warns us to speak few words knowing that this is so.    On a personal note, in the KJV language, this says that word curses I speak over others come back to me like water into my bowels… Having come out of Crohn’s disease that really caught my attention.    A lot of modern medicine points to the facts that our bones are a major player in our immune system and health  and that our bowel health is equally important for our overall wellbeing.   SO INTERESTING therefore that both of these organs are mentioned here as being impacted by the words we speak.   YES, I am motivated more than ever to watch that I am speaking blessings and recognizing that there is absolutely “assignments” of blessings or curses coming back to me in the measure that I dole out.

Consider 2 Corinthians 10:5, which calls us to cast down every high thing and thought that witnesses against God’s Word to us.    Do you remember the white playdough analogy?   If the person we struggle with is white playdough that is being held captive to the food colouring/black playdough and needs to be rescued (by God and His Word not us), then are our thoughts and words reflecting the reality of what God says about who they are really.  OR are we so fixated on the black playdough that we are seeing and hearing that we are actually with our own words and thoughts enforcing their captivity and them with even more black playdough?

The imagery that God illustrated this to me with:

I often give my younger kids playdough to fidget with while we do our studies.   So my son had this lovely green fresh smushy playdough and was pressing into some molds as we read and it came together in my mind.    Every time we speak words and think thoughts about someone, for good or bad, we are in a way, pushing them against a mold.    If they are at all malleable, which many are as they are deeply motivated to please others, these words leave a very deep impression.   Over time, they will actually start to be conformed to whatever it is we say about them.   Others are more like hardened clay.  The harder you push them against the mold, the harder and more resistant they get.   So of course we want to be like soft playdough to the Word and God and like hard clay to wordliness and evil.   Back to the mold analogy, every word I speak to a person or about a person is setting up in a way, an invisible mold around them.  They may not voice it, but they often feel it and respond to it’s pressure.    Perhaps you can think of someone that as soon as you are around them you feel a pressure to act a way that is different than you act when they are not around.   

Just by their presence, there is a pressure to be conformed to their expectations of you.   If those expectations are for godliness and expressed in love and gentleness, than this is a great thing.   If those expectations are for failure, letting others down, harming others or in any other way negative, the spiritual pressure is for us to be conformed to that image.  Perhaps you know someone that seems to bring out this side of you.   When you are around them, you feel like you cannot do anything well enough, right or that you will fall short in their expectation.     This can be words and expectations they have projected on us BUT it can just as easily be words an expectations that we have allowed to be established in our hearts and minds by our hearts and words.     What expectations (invisible molds) are our thoughts and words those around us into?

So I am going forward with 2 lessons learned:

1. I will choose carefully which molds I expose myself to and speak into to being over others
2. I will guard my own heart diligently, seeking to be like flint to the ways of the world and the pressures “invisible molds” that others mostly unknowingly speak over my life, and yet remain pliable and moldable to the Master’s hand and plan for my life

Every time I seek God and his Word with a desire to be molded into His likeness, I am choosing to let the Master Potter press me into the mold He made for my life personally. 

Every time I choose to set before my eyes, ears, heart, hands etc things that are of the world and ungodliness, I am helping to construct molds around  myself to conformed to those images.  I recognize i cannot leave the world and therefore must learn how to live with God’s armour on all the time, abiding in his presence so that I am unimpressionable in these things.

Isaiah 50:7 King James Version (KJV) “7 For the Lord God will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed.”

Jeremiah 15:19-21 English Standard Version (ESV)
19 Therefore thus says the Lord:
“If you return, I will restore you,
and you shall stand before me.
If you utter what is precious, and not what is worthless,
you shall be as my mouth.
They shall turn to you,
but you shall not turn to them.
20 And I will make you to this people
a fortified wall of bronze;
they will fight against you,
but they shall not prevail over you,
for I am with you
to save you and deliver you,
declares the Lord.
21 I will deliver you out of the hand of the wicked,
and redeem you from the grasp of the ruthless.”

Practically speaking, what do word curses look like?

Most you statements are  form of word curses.  “You always….   You are just so….   You never….    if only you would ……    you drive me crazy…    Isn’t that just like you to ….   

Instead we could say something like “I feel like something is amiss in the atmosphere of our home/ in my own heart  right now.   Could we stop and pray and speak blessings over the situation and shift things back to a kingdom perspective?  I know that we both love the Lord and want what He wants.  I am so thankful that you are a gentle/God/compassionate/loving spouse.” 

Any thought or words that imply that someone is stuck and unable to change and every accusation no matter how subtle.

Sometimes they come in the form of warnings:   If you do that, you will….  this is so so so easy to do with our children.    “Stop doing that, if you do you could _________  (harm in some terrible way) your siblings”  “Stop jumping on the couch, you could fall of and break your______”  instead we can say.   “Stop jumping on the couch, it would be far wiser to jump on the little trampoline.  God bless this child with wisdom and discernment and the ability to chooose that which is wise and will keep him/her safe.”   Same message but one with a curse, one with a blessing.

Yes, it takes effort and work to speak blessings instead of curses.    But we can do all things in Christ who strengthens us.

I was DEEPLY convicted when we read this verse especially in the context of these other verses previously impressed into my heart and head.  Thankfully, even though the enemy can build up his prison  walls over generations, and years, freedom is far more easily obtained, with a few simple minutes of sincere repentance and humility before our God, we can see everything begin to shift and those carefully crafted walls begin to quickly crumble.

Humanly speaking, our natural response to ungodliness and to someone else’s weakness and sin is to take it personally, take offense, let our buttons get pushed, fight back, retreat, stonewall, build up our defenses, get wounded etc…    What sunk in for me that these negative responses are actually driving the struggling one further from God and His flock instead of building them up and strengthening them.    Absolutely, there is a time and place for a gentle and godly rebuke.   If not done in love, than there is a very good chance we are actually building up the prisoners walls instead  of helping to tear them down.  But here is how scripture calls us to respond to the areas of weakness of our brothers and sisters:

Galatians 6:1 Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)  “6 Brothers, if someone is caught in any wrongdoing, you who are spiritual should restore such a person with a gentle spirit, watching out for yourselves so you also won’t be tempted.”

Ezekiel 34 ERV “20 So the Lord God says to them: “I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the thin sheep! 21 You push with your side and shoulder. You knock down all the weak sheep with your horns. You push until you have forced them away, 22 so I will save my flock. They will not be caught by wild animals anymore. I will judge between one sheep and another. 23 Then I will put one shepherd over them, my servant David. He will feed them and be their shepherd. 24 Then I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David will be the ruler living among them. I, the Lord, have spoken.”

I confess before you all that I have fallen prey far too many times to being the fat sheep, to responding to the sin in others by taking it personally, seeing their weakness as an intentional willful attack against me, by  pushing them, nagging them, speaking death over them instead of life and blessings and with all gentleness speaking the truth and freedom over their lives.    I have confessed this to my God who is faithful to forgive me and wash me clean as snow and throw my past sins into the sea of forgetfullness.   I am going forward from strength to strength and glory to glory and will from this time forward even more so choose to speak life abundantly and,  set my face and heart as flint against curses and ungodliness, for His glory and Kingdom, with Christ who strengthens me.