THE WORD & WORDS
30th Nov 2016
“Prophets use words to remake the world. The world - heaven and earth, men and women, animals and birds - was made in the first place by God’s Word. Prophets arriving on the scene and finding the that world in ruins.....take up the work of words again to rebuild what human disobedience and mis-trust demolished.” This quote is taken from the introduction to Micah in The Message, where Eugene Peterson writes a comment on each book, which I find fascinating and stimulating.
As believers, our lives are formed by God’s Word, and as those who are in-dwelt by the Holy Spirit we are being called to speak prophetically into our world and to mould and change it by our words. I find this both exciting and challenging!
We are formed by the Word. Jesus said to His disciples, “The words I have spoken to you are Spirit and they are life.” and “You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.” The Psalms are full of the power of God’s Word, “The entrance of your Word brings light.” and “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”
The centurion recognised the dynamic power of Jesus’ word when he said, “But just say the word and my servant will be healed.” and Jesus was astounded at his faith.
Our words are powerful, in Proverbs 18:21 it says, “The tongue has the power of life and death.” So how are we using our words? We have been given the power of the Name of Jesus to defeat all the power of the enemy, “For at His Name every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.” (Philippians 2:10-11)
But also, our words spoken under the anointing of the Holy Spirit have to power to bring salvation to the lost, healing to the sick, encouragement to the weary, hope to the discouraged, strength to the weak, and direction to those who have no focus to their lives.
So what are you doing with your words?
by Charles Sibthorpe
