About two years ago, I had a strange dream. This will sound really crazy, but I had this dream of a lifeless body and someone was putting skin on it. The colors in the dream were bright and vibrant. It didn’t have a scary feel to it. Of course, when I woke up, I was thinking, what in the world! What did I eat before I fell asleep??? Later that day, I ran across this passage of scripture and I was floored:
This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Look! I am going to put breath into you and make you live again! I will put flesh and muscles on you and cover you with skin. I will put breath into you and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.” (Ezekiel 37:5-6)
Guys! What a message from God. Some of you may recognize this passage from Ezekiel. In context, the Lord shows the prophet Ezekiel a valley of dry bones and commands him to speak life over the bones. The verses referenced above are God’s words, a prophetic message that he gives to Ezekiel and asks him to speak out over this depressing valley. He tells Ezekiel, “Speak a prophetic message to these bones and say, ‘Dry bones, listen to the word of the Lord!’” (Ezekiel 37:4).
Have you ever faced a lifeless situation? One that seems devoid of hope? God is the God of the impossible. He can do anything. He brings beauty from ashes and He is Resurrection and Life. But He has given us a role to play. God asks us to speak life. He asks us to speak life when it seems senseless. He asks us to speak life when things seem beyond repair. He asks us to speak life into the face of destruction. He commands us to speak words that reflect a confidence in His power, His character and His ability to breathe life, beauty, and hope into dark and devastated places.
Because your words pack a punch. Your words carry power.
Don’t believe me? Well, think about this way. It tells us in God’s word that we are created in His image and His likeness (Gen. 1:27). Now, think about the power of God’s word. He spoke the universe into existence. We know that His word never returns void (Isa. 55:11). We are told that life and death are in the power of the tongue (Prov. 18:21). Your words really do make a huge difference. What we choose to say makes an impact. And we have the choice and the ability to release the life-breathing power of God into what might feel like impossible circumstances.
Maybe you have tried this before and things didn’t work out like you hoped. Maybe you tried speaking life and things just appeared to get worse. That’s where perseverance comes in. The thing that we must remember is that God’s timing is different than ours. Abraham waited 25 years before he saw the son that God promised him and in the waiting he encountered plenty of hardship and challenges. But he kept trusting and kept believing (with some major mishaps in between). There are some things we can see the evidence of God doing immediately, some things a little later, some things a lot later, and some things on the other side of eternity.
But one thing is a fact. God’s words in your mouth set things in motion. We just need to trust him with the details. Choose your words wisely.
