The Power of Words

 Proverbs 18:21 - Death and life are in the power of the tongue.

 

 The power of our words is so amazing. We can create things with out words and we can also destroy things. I remember one night I was preparing a Sunday School lesson and I leaned back in my chair and glanced at the ceiling. I live in a wooded area and there was a big wood roach over my head that had apparently gotten in from outside. I grabbed a towel and went to kill it but I missed. As I swung I said "You are a dead roach." I knew I didn't hit it but at the moment I spoke those words the roach fell to the floor dead. I was stunned and then I immediately heard the Holy Ghost say, "your words have that much power. You killed that roach with your words. You need to watch what you say."

I know that may sound crazy to some but we all know how much power is in our words. It is with words that man's imagination is ignited. Countries have been compelled into war by words and words are used to make pacts of peace. Words cause people to feel well and to feel bad, both physically and spiritually. Words of truth bring clarity and words of deception bring confusion. Words of encouragement bring hope and words of doubt often bring fear. 

 

Let us be careful of every word for we will answer to God for every idle (vain or evil) word that we speak. Why? Because by giving us the power of speech God has given us the power of creation.God created the world by His word and our words are the creative factor that is with in us. Doesn't it then stand to reason that we can affect destiny with our words. Let's not create things God didn't want created; let's use our words to build his kingdom. It's the only thing worth building!

Where is your trust?

 Psalm 33:17 - A horse is a vain thing for safety; neither shall he deliver anything by his great strength. 

There is the tendency in all of us to put our trust in the known or in what we are good at. Yet life has a way of surprising us with things we could not have foreseen. It is in those time that we see just how inadequate our safety nets are and we must trust in God. I am so glad that when we need him the most, our God never fails.

A friend of mine once told me the following story. I'll call him Jack since I didn't get permission to use his story.  When he was in college he and his girlfriend (now wife) were at a nice restaurant celebrating his birthday. As they left the restaurant a man pulled a gun on them in a dimly lighted portion of the parking light. The man demanded Jack's wallet and his girlfriends purse. Jack asked the man if he could keep his driver's license and the man only became agitated and demanded the wallet again. His girlfriend was urging him to just give the man what he wanted in hopes that he would let them go. What happens next is truly only something only God can do.

Jack said that at first he was just going to do what the man asked. But he said, "All of a sudden I felt a boldness that can only come from God." Jack looked at the man with the gun and said, "I rebuke you in Jesus' name." The man laughed and replied, "I rebuke you too." Jack then said, "But I rebuke you in Jesus' name." By this time the man looked stunned. Jack then said, "I rebuke you in Jesus' name the third time."

When he did, the man with the gun started to tremble and cry and dropped the gun. He began to confess and tell them that he had never done anything like this before. He told them that the only reason he was doing it was desperation. He said his wife and baby were at home without any food and he had been without work for a long time. Jack began to witness to the man and prayed with him before they parted.

Now my intention in telling this story is to be neither political nor to talk about gun control. I simply want to say this: as a grandmother in our church used to say, "My God will do to depend on." When all of our safety nets are stripped away, there is safety in the name of Jesus and He will never let us down.

Trusting Him Daily,

Spanish Pastor Jones

Trust

"Trust people and they will be true to you; treat them greatly and they will show themselves great."
Ralph Waldo Emerson

David Wilkerson was an evangelical preacher who is best known for his work among the street gangs of New York in the 1960s and 70s. His story of work among New York City's toughest children and teenagers is told in the book The Cross and The Switchblade and in the movie of the same name. A story that he shares in the book exemplifies what trust can mean to someone.

Nicky Cruz was a young man that Wilkerson met in the streets. The first time they met Cruz pulled a knife and told Wilkerson he would kill him if he came near. Nevertheless, Wilkerson persisted and convinced many of the youth to come to a rally at a rented facility. This was a massive undertaking which required busing the children from different gangs across town to keep them from fighting as they went through a rival gang's territory. Nothing like it had ever been attempted before and all the critics said it would fail.

During the rally when it came time to take the offering Cruz was the one chosen. They passed an offering plate and he and several of his fellow gang members were asked to go through a side door and bring it up onto the stage. All the youth began to laugh and Wilkerson knew why.There was also an exit from that side door out onto the street and everyone knew that Nicky would simply take the money and leave: but he didn't. In his own words, Cruz later testified: "When I went out of that side door with the money it suddenly dawned on me that the preacher trusted me. In all my life no one had ever trusted me before." This trust opened the door to Nicky's heart and his conversion. In time Nicky Cruz became a well known minister himself and continued Bro. Wilkerson's work among the gangs.

Is there someone in your life that is hard to deal with? Someone that seems to make the same mistakes again and again. Perhaps they just need someone to believe in them, to believe they can be different. You just might be that someone if you won't give up. After all, a little trust goes a long way.

Trusting Him Daily,

Spanish Pastor Jones