"What are you saying to yourself and what are you saying about your situation?"  This thought came to me after reading Proverbs 18:20 which says, "From the fruit of his mouth a man's stomach is satisfied; he is filled with the product of his lips."  Obviously the fruit of our mouths and the products of our lips are our words.  This same passage is made more clear in The Message Bible.  It says it like this;  "Words satisfy the mind as much as fruit does the stomach; good talk is as gratifying as a good harvest."  But verse 21 goes on to say, "Words kill, words give life; they're either poison or fruit - you choose."  Wow!

As I thought about it, I realized that these verses directly contradict an old childhood adage that we are all familiar with: "Sticks and stones may break my bones but words can never hurt me."  Do you remember being told that?  The meaning was clear - we were supposed to think that words spoken about us and words that we spoke to others had no effect at all.  The more I consider it now, the more I realize how diabolical that innocent childhood adage is for those of us that bought it hook, line, and sinker!  A very sneaky subliminal message from the enemy of our souls.  He started telling us in our childhood days that our words weren't important.  He convinced us that what others said had no effect and what we said to others had no power, even though our own experiences taught us that wasn't true.  But over the years, our pride convinced us that we shouldn't let anyone know that words do indeed have an effect.  Sometimes, that effect can be very destructive.  How many times have we been told something about ourselves that crushed our spirits and kept us trapped in a prison of self doubt?  How many times have we spoken words to someone and destroyed lifelong relationships?  Conversely, how many times have words of life spoken by someone dear to us caused our hearts to soar and made us believe we could accomplish anything? 

The message of that old childhood saying is really this:  "The only thing that can really hinder you is that which is done to the physical body, words have no impact on you at all." 

Now here God is saying, "You've been told a lie!  Words have power!  In fact so much power, they can kill and destroy or they can bring life and encouragement!"  But the awesome part is that we get to choose.  What a gift!  When God made us in His image, He gave us the ability to speak like He does.  Not merely mimic as a parrot can - but  we are able to choose and think about what we say.  Just as He spoke an entire universe into existence, He has given us the ability to speak life into ourselves and others.  He has given us the ability to decide what we will say.  And He has told us that what we say has power.  We get to choose.

So speak life over your circumstances. 

Speak life over others.

Speak life over yourself.

When given the choice... SPEAK LIFE!