Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof. – Proverbs 18:21

Old Solomon knew what he was talking about.

Words.

Just hearing certain words can either lift you up:

Talented
Bright
Beautiful
Intelligent
Amazing

Or they can bring you down:

Loser
Ugly
Worthless
Stupid

It depends on who the words are being addressed to and who is saying them. It is amazing how one misstatement can ruin a relationship. Just one slip of the tongue.

We forget what kind of power we wield and often times we slaughter those closest to us because we are angry or frustrated.

But you can also speak things into existence. I am not talking about some weird spiritualism or mysticism or karma. No, I am talking about words creating an atmosphere around you that will affect the way you view life. As a Christian, I am constantly reminded of the teachings of Christ and of the power of the tongue.

Let me tell a little story.

There was a pastor of a nice church. He had a wonderful wife and 8 wonderful kids. I knew the man for years and he had some impact in my life as a child. His oldest child was two years younger than me. She was the apple of his eye and was very bright and beautiful.

She was killed in her 20’s in a terrible car wreck. Her death devastated her family. I cannot even begin to imagine the pain her family went through. The thought of losing one of my children is a thought I cannot ponder long.

We went to her funeral and it was heart breaking to see the grief and anguish her family was going through.

At the graveside service, her dad stood up to read a prepared statement. I do not remember very much about the statement. However, the thing that stood out the most was right at the beginning when he said, “I am a ruined man.”

From that day on, he never was able to climb out of depression. Things got so bad that he took a sabbatical from the church, never to return. Then I heard he had left his wife and 7 kids. I do not know where he is now or if he was ever able to recover from the loss of his daughter, but that day at the funeral, he spoke death over himself.

I do not judge the man. After all, losing a child has to be one of the worst situations in life, but I do see that he spoke things over his life and those words changed the atmosphere around his life and affected him and his family in terrible ways.

I work for a small town in South Georgia. This is the town I grew up in and it is the town I chose to move back to in order to raise my family, but there are many, many issues with this town running from racism to poverty to poor education to lack of hope.

Growing up here, I always heard people talk about how worthless the town was and how they could not wait to get out of it. Most of the people I went to school with left town, never to return. I heard about how bad the schools and police were. I heard people complain about there being nothing to do in town. I heard people speak things over this town. Guess what, by and large, the things they spoke over the town happen to be true. Their words continue to give life to the dark things in the City. I know there are real problems here. I am not trying to pretend that everything is fine and dandy, but peoples words, curses if you will, have not helped to correct the problems we face in this town.

Anyone can point out the flaws in a person or a place. That does not take skill. It is obvious. What does take skill is to be able to pull the gold out of someone or someplace.

What I mean is, instead of telling someone that they have an anger problem, find the gold deep within them. Find what their destiny is and call it out. Again, it is easy to point out flaws, but calling out peoples or places destinies is another matter.

This town is divided racially. That leads me to believe that the destiny of this town is to be radically united. Yes crime is bad, but speak into the good, there are great people in this town who care about their neighborhoods. Speak it into existence. Watch and be amazed at what happens. After all, it only takes a few families in a neighborhood to change that neighborhood for the good or bad. Speak life over situations.

I know I can complain about my job and I have been guilty of complaining about this town, but instead of that, I need to speak the destiny of this City. This City will be radically united and wonderfully prosperous.

Just as you can figuratively kill someone by what you say, you can do the same to yourself and to places.

You probably have someone at work that is a chronic complainer, we all do. Next time that person starts complaining, find something positive to say in the conversation. Do this over and over and over and you will notice something, that person will not come to complain to you anymore. The atmosphere in your office will shift. This doesn’t just work for complainers but for pessimists and depressing people. You are not trying to push them away, but you are cultivating an atmosphere around you that will begin to positively affect others.

This sounds like I am preaching some New Age power of positive thinking, but I am not. The New Age movement may have stolen the idea, but it is a principle of God’s universe. What you think of yourself is what you will become. The same is true of other people, companies and towns.

Your words have power. Use them wisely.