What You Say Matters

Friend, some people say, "Don't be so picky about your words, it does not matter." But really, what you say matters. In Matthew 16:13-18, Jesus asked his disciples what men were saying concerning His identity. They told Him that some called Him John the Baptist, others Jeremiah or Elijah. Notice that Jesus did not leave any comment on their answer. But when He asked for their own opinion, Peter said, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus then said, "Flesh and blood (man) has not revealed this to you, but my Father which is in heaven."

God expects the Church to speak differently from the world. A clear distinction between the Church and the world is that the world will speak death, while the Church will speak life. John 6:63 says that the words of God are life! Jesus said, "Whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak" (John 12:49-50). This means He spoke only the words of God. If Jesus could be this careful and picky about His choice of words, then it matters what you say.

Why Does It Matter What You Say?

Because "You have what you say" (Mark 11:23). "For verily I say unto you, that whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith."

Let's take a look at three major words in Mark 11:23:

1. Whosoever; Friend, whosoever means whosoever, whether born again or sinner, male or female, black or white. Whosoever means just anybody, regardless of status or class, whether Pastor, Prophet, or ordinary believer (laypeople), anyone can do this.

2. Believe; This talks about a strong conviction that what you say must come to pass.

3. Saith; He said, "he shall have whatsoever he saith." Notice, he did not say "whatsoever he said," No, he said "saith," meaning continuously, words that you are always saying.

Therefore, just anyone (whosoever) can have whatever he believes when he continuously says it. Do you know that physical laws work whether you know it or not? The fact that a man does not know what the law of gravity states does not permit him to jump up and not come down. But physical laws were made by spiritual things, and in the Spirit, there are spiritual laws. Therefore, spiritual laws work whether we know it or not. Only those who understand spiritual law can make them work in their favour and against others. Mark 11:23 is one of such spiritual laws. Everyone has engaged in it knowingly or unknowingly.

We live in a word-framed system (Hebrews 11:2). The reason why what you say and believe occurs in your life is because of this spiritual law. I once heard a lady say, "My dreams always come to pass," and because, she strongly believed that because of one or two successful times. But those are words of "death" because not all dreams are from God. One day she saw her brother dead in a dream, and like she says and believes, she had what she said. But was that God's plan? No, she framed her life by her own words.

There is something called "spiritual patterns and programming." Spiritual patterns are certain occurrences the devil plays or uses to create strongholds in our minds. I said that someone who understands spiritual law can make them work in his favour. That is what the devil does; he tries to make spiritual laws work against us. Talking about strongholds and Mark 11:23, the devil, who is the god of this world, manipulates events in our lives to get us to believe it. That is what we call a stronghold.

Let's use the case of the lady who said, "All her dreams come to pass" to illustrate: What the devil does is that he just gives you dreams and manipulates events here (because he is the god of this world) to make sure it comes to pass. He does this several times (spiritual 'pattern' - repeated occurrence). Once you notice that you dreamt and it happened more than three times, the devil then comes and suggests to you that "all your dreams come to pass." Sure enough, you would believe it because of the spiritual pattern that he placed there. Then you go ahead and start saying, "All my dreams come to pass," and you program your life that way.

Because by the spiritual law "whatsoever you believe and say continuously, you will have it," so the devil removes his spiritual pattern and goes because he has to roam "to and fro," but then the program remains. This is how many people curse themselves; most generational curses are self-inflicted, and like the proverb of King Solomon, "thou art snared with the words of thy mouth...." (Proverbs 6:2).

Friend, what you say matters. The way to break generational curses is to rewrite the program to make the spiritual law work in your favour. That is why the Lord said we should transform our lives by renewing our minds (Romans 12:1-2). Don't let the devil deceive you forever; speak life and not death! 1 Corinthians 9:27, says, "But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway."

I have always wondered how Paul was able to subject his body. If you notice, he said, "I keep under my body," referring to himself as a separate entity (being) from his body. Paul taught in his Epistles about the inward and the outward man in 2 Corinthians 4:16. The inward man he refers to is the spirit of man, the real man, while the outward man is the body, which is the house the spirit lives in.

James said, "The body without the spirit is dead" (James 2:26). So, it is the spirit that is the real man; the body is just the house. Now back to 1 Corinthians 9:27: "I keep under my body." By "I" there, Paul means his spirit man. His spirit man brings his own body into subjection. You see, "the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other..." (Galatians 5:17, NIV).

2 Corinthians 4:16 gives a fine picture of this conflict: "But though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day." When the body perishes, the spirit is being refreshed; and when the body is being refreshed, the spirit perishes. Indeed, "to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace" (Romans 8:6). The word 'perish' does not necessarily mean death or old age; it also means 'deny.' It takes denying the flesh to do the things of the Spirit.

Therefore, for Paul to do the things of the Spirit of God who lives inside his spirit man, he has to subject his body and keep it under. But how did he do it? James 3:2-4: "For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body. Behold, we put bits in the horses' mouths, that they may obey us; and we turn about their whole body."

James 3:6: "And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell."

Just like the horse that is controlled by putting ropes on the mouth to turn it in whatsoever direction, even so, the tongue turns the whole body. It controls it. Jesus said, "Those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart (spirit), and they defile the man" (Matthew 15:18). The way to control or subject your body is through your tongue, "suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin; neither say thou before the angel, that it was an error" (Ecclesiastes 5:6).

Your tongue is the control button. No matter what problem you have in your body—addiction, sickness, weakness, laziness, low retentive memory, name it—your spirit man can turn your body around through the use of your tongue. "The reason you have a tired body is because you have a tired mouth," Kenneth Copeland said.

Friend, you can change your life only if you can change your words. But your words proceed from your heart. So the question is, what is in your heart? The words of God or junk, because the fruit must produce after its roots. Matthew 15:18: "But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man."

Matthew 7:16-18 says, "Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit." These are two scriptural laws: the words you speak come from your heart and they defile you, but a good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, and neither can an evil fruit bring out good fruit. Therefore, your heart must have been defiled for your words, which are a fruit of your heart, to have defiled you. A change in heart content results in a change in words and ultimately leads to a change in life. Your heart in Matthew 15:18 refers to your spirit man. Change first starts from the heart before it evolves in your life.

Matthew 7:16-18 talks about the good tree which brings forth good fruit. If all you have in your spirit is junk, your life will be 'junk-ful.' Proverbs 18:21 says, "Death and life are in the power of the tongue." The only way things will either die or be alive around you is under the rule of your tongue. But you cannot expect to have life when all you speak are death words.

Notice John 10:10 says, "The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." The word of God is "spirit and life" (John 6:63). Though God wants to give you life, you have to be filled with the word of God so you can speak it and have it.

There are some words the Lord Jesus said a lot during His mission on earth. One of them is "fear not." Notice, "There is no fear in love" (1 John 4:18) and "God is love." So there is no fear in God. And Jesus said, "Whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak" (John 12:50). Since there is no fear in God, surely God would not speak fear. And Jesus heard the words of God in His heart, so Jesus always said "fear not."

Another word that was particular to the Lord Jesus on earth was "Only believe." Mark 10:27 says, "For with God all things are possible." Jesus was filled with the words of God, with whom all things are possible. Therefore, He never saw impossibility in any case and got in the habit of saying "only believe," for all things are possible to him that believes.

Your words are products of your heart's content. Paul in Colossians 3:16 said, "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom." When you fill your heart with the word of God, you begin to speak life and not death. You begin to speak God's own opinion concerning your life in every matter.

You see, Peter answered Jesus in Matthew 16:13-18, saying, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God," and Jesus said, he spoke the words revealed to him by God the Father. Then Jesus said something that startled me. He said He would build the church on this principle of speaking the words of God, and the gates of hell would not be able to prevail against the Church.

Friend, most times when we face defeat from hell, it is because we have drifted off speaking death words and not the life contained in God's word, and so we keep having what we say (Mark 11:23).

Remain Blessed. Jesus is Lord!

Min. Roi