The Power of Life and Death

The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit. –Proverbs 18:21 NIV

In Matthew 21:19 (NIV), Jesus said to the fig tree, “May you never bear fruit again!” and the tree immediately withered. This verse demonstrates the power of spoken words. The universe and life as we know it was created with the words spoken by God. And because we were created in the image of God (see Genesis 1:27), our words have power—they can bring life or destruction to a situation. Each of us may have experienced a time when we were trying to accomplish a goal and uttered the words, “I just can’t do this!” After speaking those words, we most likely felt a sense of defeat, and maybe we gave up completely. In what areas of our lives are we speaking words of destruction? Imagine what we might achieve by speaking positive words. We must begin telling ourselves that through Christ our Lord, we are strong, confident, bold, and valued (see Ephesians 3:12, 1 Peter 5:10, and Matthew 10:31). As we begin to speak these new words, which are true according to Scripture, we will tap into feelings of unshakable confidence. We will begin to believe, as truth, all the things God says about us.