by Bryony Wood
When I was little and came home from school upset because someone had been mean to me, my mum would tell me to say ‘ sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me'.
And so off I'd go, armed with a response, but knowing I didn't actually believe what I was saying. Words can, and did, hurt deeply.
Of course physical wounds can cause dreadful injury, but the scars of cruel words can take years to heal. I know a lovely lady now nearly 80 years old, who still remembers what her mother repeatedly said, ‘I wish I'd never had you'. Those brutal words have made her feel unwanted and unworthy all her life.
The Bible teaches much about the power of the tongue – what we say to others can have an immense effect. But what we say to ourselves is equally important and can alter the whole pattern of our life.
Words are the physical outpouring of our thoughts and feelings, they shape the boundaries of our lives, they verbalise our deepest perceptions of ourselves and what we are capable of doing and being. The words we use about ourself can liberate, or limit our ability to receive the ‘abundant life' that Jesus has promised for all those who believe and trust in him. 1
So it's worth taking stock and pondering about the words we think and speak. Do the words I use reflect God's truth? What he would say about me? Or do they limit or belittle the truth that God wants me to live with?
Words shape how we think about ourselves.
For years I thought I was a bit ditzy, with not much to offer beyond a nice smile, and I limited what I did because of my own narrow expectations. Until I started to realise that God had actually chosen and called me as his adopted child 2. I was a new creation in Christ 3. I could do all things through Christ who strengthened me 4. Not only that but I'm a co-worker with Christ 5, made in his image to fulfil the purposes he has set in me…And so it went on, the more I learnt from the Bible about who I am as a child of God, the greater my confidence grew. No longer did I call myself small and insignificant – my heavenly Father, the King of all Kings says I am precious and powerful 6!
When we are able to grasp how God sees us, who we really are, how valuable we are in his sight, then it's only right to walk tall with righteous assurance (which is significantly different from being conceited and arrogant). We know he loves us because it's written throughout the Bible, and the Bible is the word of God. So when we align ourselves to the word of God, then his word can transform us. There's nothing more affirming than knowing you are loved; and being loved by our creator God brings a security and feeling of self worth that's beyond description. That confidence is based on what God says about us; and God always tells the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. His words literally spoke the universe into life; 7, his words carry a supernatural power beyond our understanding.
How often do we hear people talk about their illness to such a point that it becomes their whole identity? We need to speak health into our lives not sickness!
It's very easy to allow an illness or even a potential illness to become a part of us by how we speak about it. It is important to resist reminding ourselves how rough we might feel or how hopeless our situation might look, because with God all things are possible 8.
Things we say can be so commonplace in conversation that we forget the power carried by words which easily trip off our tongues. How often do you hear people say things like, ‘ that makes my blood boil ', ‘ that'll be the death of me'; ‘I can't cope any longer'; ‘heart attacks/ cancer run in our family; ‘I always get depressed at this time of year' … Try to stop speaking words that can destroy spiritual and even physical health. With God in our lives there is always hope and always strength to cope.
As human beings we are made with emotions, because we're made in God's image and God has emotions too. But while some human emotions are healthy, some are crippling. Take fear for instance, it can stop us doing something dangerous – that's good; or it can stop us doing something exciting, challenging and new – that's not good. Worry is another destructive emotion that robs people of peace. So, when faced with such emotions its time to go back to God's word and seek out his truth; then we have the tools to speak out loud and squash those negative feelings. If we keep reminding ourselves that Jesus said, ‘Do not worry'; ‘I will never leave you'; and ‘Do not be afraid' – it really works to lift our spirit!
Negative thinking can blind us to the promise that our God can heal us. He can and does work amazing miracles of spiritual, emotional and physical healing, but we have to work with him. We can speak life into our bodies and we can speak death, sometimes literally. Someone I knew had felt that he would not live to see his sixtieth birthday. That idea came to him when he was in his early forties. That ‘knowledge' didn't enrich his life; he had no medical or logical reason to think he might die young. I suspect it was a contributing factor to the depression that dogged him for many years until he died a few weeks before his sixtieth birthday. His body seemed to follow where his words took him. Was it a self fulfilled prophesy?
Last year I was diagnosed as having a benign brain tumour. Not the best news I've ever had, but I believe that God has a plan for my life that will not be thwarted by a wayward lump in my head! So I keep speaking life and healing into my body. I refuse to ‘own it', its not ‘my' tumour, it has no place inside my head. Of course I consult doctors, and am not against medical intervention but speaking words of faith brings a divine confidence and peace that God will take me through this.
Speaking words of life is more than just ‘positive thinking'
There is a difference between speaking things that are just ‘positive thinking' and things that are based on spiritual and scriptural truths. However much I might want , someone to call me; for it to be sunny tomorrow; for something particular to happen, I can't will it into being by just wanting it badly enough. It's not the words themselves that make a difference; it's the truth behind the words. That's the difference between ‘positive thinking' and ‘scriptural thinking'.
Winston Churchill once said, ‘ During a long life I have had to eat my own words many times, and I have found it a very nourishing diet' . It is my hope and prayer that the words we learn to use will nourish us, as advised in Proverbs 16:24 ‘Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.'
I think I might just alter that phrase my mum taught me to say…‘Sticks and stones may break my bones, but the Word of God will never hurt me…'
1. John 10:10
2. Ephesians 1:5
3. 2 Cor 5:17
4. Philippians 4:13
5. 2 Corinthians 6:1
6. I Peter 2:4, 2 Tim 1:7
7. Genesis 1
8. Luke 1:37
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