Joyce Meyer
By Ashley Andrews-700 Club Interactive
CBN.com –Words are as infinite as they are eternal. History has proven that words are stronger than sticks and stones, and Scripture tells us that our words have power to bring about life and death. Still many of us have yet to realize just how significant words are. Our words can lead to our undoing or our salvation. They can build up or tear down, divide or unite, motivate or belittle, inspire or mislead, ignite a fight or put out a fire. We can break a promise or seal a friendship with what we say. Our entire existence is swayed by what we speak into it. So, this leaves us to wonder...is there anything more powerful than words? For Joyce Meyer, our words can either bless us or curse us. But these days, there are just too many words. That's why she decided to write Change Your Words Change Your Life in hopes that others would see just powerful the words we speak can be.
TOO MANY WORDS
We live in a time where it is popular to say whatever it is that we are feeling or thinking. And thanks to advances in technology and social media, we can text, tweet, chat whatever is on our minds. But according to Joyce, that is exactly the problem. "Most of us don't realize how powerful words are and how huge an impact they have on our lives. Think about it," she urges. "Even two simple syllables - Da-da - are powerful enough to make a grown man cry when uttered for the first time by his baby." But somewhere along the line, we have forgotten the prominence of words. Nowadays, anyone can say anything anywhere at anytime, and this inevitably dooms language to nothing more than redundant irrelevance. As she pointed out, "It is easy to talk about how you feel or what the world is like, but it won't help you. I am asking you for your own sake and for God's sake to choose a more excellent way. Speak on purpose and make your words count."
The bottom line is that humanity has a knack for saying the wrong thing at the wrong time, and outlets like Twitter and Facebook have only exaggerated the flaw. According to Joyce's research, statistics show that "Never in the history of the world have words been so cheap, quick, irrevocable and viral. Through cell phones and the Internet, we now have texting, email, instant messaging, blogs, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. In addition, we have radio, television and printed media. Words are flying around in the atmosphere like never before. As of June 2010, 77.2 percent of all Americans use the Internet (267 million people). One quarter of the world's population is online. Forty-one percent of all Americans actively maintain a profile page on Facebook, which generates one billion pieces of content every single day. U.S. awareness of Twitter has exploded from 5 percent in 2008 to 87 percent in 2010, and by now the figures are even greater. 2010, more than 17 million Americans used Twitter and the average number of 'tweets' per day in the United States alone was 1000005.5 million." Too many are vying for re-tweets, shares, comments and likes. And too few acknowledge the power behind what we speak. As Joyce described, "I believe that words contain tremendous power: it can be either positive, constructive power or negative, destructive power." In Genesis, she mentioned, God created the entire world with words. What's more, Proverbs 18:21 says that our tongues have the power of life and death. This is something, Joyce insists, that we all must consider. "Each time we speak words, we are speaking either life or death to those who hear us and to ourselves. So we need to be cautious..."
Along with watching what we say, Joyce asserts that we also must recognize that what comes out of the mouth is what is in the heart. That is to say, "Our mouth gives expression to what we want, think, and feel; therefore, it reveals a great deal about the one who is speaking...Matthew 12:34-35 says that, 'out of the heart the mouth speaks. The good man from his inner good treasure flings forth good things, and the evil man out of his inner evil storehouse flings forth evil things.' Our words are the result of our inner thoughts and attitudes. One might say that our words are a movie screen that reveals what we have been thinking and the attitudes that we have." With that, she suggests that we each listen to ourselves - we may learn a great deal.
A BAD NEWS WORLD
Truth is, bad news is everywhere. It's on TV, radio, blogs, Twitter, Facebook. And it is constant. "You will find it filled with reports of murder, theft, wars, famine, and all kinds of horribly tragic events." And according to Joyce, it's about time we shared some good news. "I believe there are many good things happening in the world and probably there is more good than bad, but the evil is magnified in a way that often seems overwhelming. Although we may want to know what is going on in the world, we should not have a steady diet of 'bad news,' but we should choose to read, watch, and talk about good things. I am not suggesting at all that we deny reality, but we can choose what we want to talk about. If we are not helping ourselves or anyone else by rehearsing all the bad things going on in the world, then why fill our conversation with it? I realize we are going to talk about conditions in the world to a certain degree. We want to be well informed of what is going on. There is no wisdom in being ignorant and taken by surprise, but to talk about it excessively or with no purpose merely creates a gloomy atmosphere that nobody will enjoy."
REAP WHAT YOU SOW, EAT WHAT YOU SPEAK
We have all heard the saying "You will eat your words." But as it turns out, it's quite true. Just as we reap what we sow, we also will eat the words we speak. As Joyce shared, "I believe that our words can increase or decrease our level of joy. They can affect the answers to our prayers, and have a positive or negative effect on our future. We should pay a lot of attention to what the Word of God has to teach us about the power of our words. When a person isn't satisfied with the condition of her life, it would be wise to take an inventory of the words she has spoken.
God has a good plan for each one of us, but it won't automatically happen without our cooperation. We are partners with God in this life, and He wants us to be in agreement with what He has spoken about us in His Word."
Of course, watching what we say is not limited to just what we speak. We must also guard what we type, text and chat. "Obviously, there are good uses of all these forms of communication; however," Joyce interjects," there are many disturbing consequences, including online bullying that has led to teenage suicide, identity theft, child safety risk, pornography addiction, and ruined careers. Job applicants lose out because of Facebook accounts of bad behavior; workers send ill-advised emails before thinking. People have destroyed relationships by typing their most secret thoughts in email and then pressing send before realizing how revealing the message was." In some ways, it's becoming somewhat of an epidemic - an epidemic that Joyce calls "loose mouth disease." And many people are dealing with the consequences. "Owing to the information available today, personal privacy has all but vanished. Sadly, anyone can say anything about an individual- whether it is true or not-and it is out there floating around in cyberspace just waiting for someone to access the information. People's reputations have been destroyed by what others have said and yet their words held no truth at all. You might say that we have a 'word explosion' going on, and we have yet to see what damage will be caused by it unless people learn the power of words and make a commitment to use them in a godly way."
Moreover, Joyce asserts that words are infinite. They do not disappear over time. Everything we utter is recorded, and we will each give an account of all that we have spoken. And whether we acknowledge it or not, every word from our mouth has staying power. "The words that come out of our mouths go into our own ears as well as other people's, and then they drop down into our soul, where they give us either joy or sadness, peace or upset, depending on the types of words we have spoken. Our words can even oppress our spirit. God desires that our spirit be light and free so it can function properly, not heavy and oppressed. When we understand the power of words and realize that we can choose what we think and speak, our lives can be transformed. Our words are not forced on us; they formulate in our thoughts and then we speak them. We can learn to choose our thoughts, to resist wrong ones and think on good, healthy, and right ones. Where the mind goes, the man follows. We could also say, where the mind goes, the mouth follows!" With that, she urges every one to guard their words - don't make a joke about something that God doesn't think is funny, don't use the Lord's name in vain, don't complain, don't gossip, don't lie or embellish, don't worry and be careful what you hate. Or, in the words of Earl Wilson, "If you wouldn't write it and sign it, don't say it."
LET YOUR YES BE YES AND...
"There was a time not too far in the past when a man's word was his bond. It represented his honor, and not to keep one's word was unthinkable." Nowadays, that is simply not the case. People have fallen victim of "loose mouth disease," and they make commitments without giving one sincere thought to what they are saying. As Joyce put it, "They merely love to talk and they do it incessantly." And more the point, "When we say something that we don't mean, it may be minor to us, but in God's eyes, we have not told the truth." Now, for some of us, there is another factor to consider to this disease. After all, some are plagued with the need to serve - they simply do not know how to say no. And so, they say yes in the moment, and either refuse to follow through in the last second or the stick to their word only to run themselves ragged in the end. For these folks, Joyce ensures them that it is okay to say no. We should not fear saying the word. "It is true that everyone who makes a request wants to hear 'yes,' but we all know that just isn't possible...We should follow the leading of the Holy Spirit and say 'no' when we believe that is what we are supposed to do, and say 'yes' only when we believe that is what we are supposed to do. We are responsible for being obedient to God, not keeping everyone in the world happy."
SELF-TALK
What can be done to fix damaging thoughts and negative talk? Joyce encourages her readers to take some time to think about their conversation. "If we are honest with ourselves, we may find that some of our bad moods are directly linked to our conversation. Even some of our problems can be linked to bad choices we make about what we say." For instance, she continues, "if a man continually says, 'I can't control my appetite,' he'll believe he can't, and therefore he won't control it. If a woman says, 'I will never have any money or own nice things,' she may end up living far below the level that God desires for her simply because she won't even try to do better." In other words, we are our worst critics, literally. "We believe more of what we say than we believe what anyone else says to us. This is very important, so I want to repeat it: You believe what you say more than you believe what others say to you. Think about it. When someone compliments you when you're wearing a dress that you don't particularly like and you're having a bad hair day, do you believe her? Or do you believe that little voice inside that says, 'She's just being nice, because you don't look good; you look terrible.'"
Our self-talk is extremely persuasive. It affects the way we perceive others, the way we perceive ourselves, and the way we live our lives. As she described, "If we say a thing often enough, silently in our hearts or verbally, we will believe it whether or not it's true. And the Bible teaches us that we receive what we believe. All of God's promises are received through believing them. Actually, believe means 'to receive,' and receive means 'to believe.' Believing and receiving are like conjoined twins. The two cannot be separated. What we believe becomes our reality!" Here, she clarifies that, "I don't believe we can change all of our circumstances into pleasant ones by making positive confessions, but I do believe many of them will change according to God's will...God would never say, 'This bad circumstance is too much for me; it is just too hard and I am going to give up.' You might be thinking right now, 'Well, of course God wouldn't say that!' So then why do you? God is in control, not us; however, we can cooperate with His will or hinder it by agreeing or disagreeing with His Word. One thing is for sure: Speaking negatively could hurt you, but speaking positively never will, so why not go with the positive and see what kind of results you get?" Why be a slave to your words, when you can be happy in His promise?
With that, Joyce shared these words, "Changing your words and thoughts is definitely not an easy thing to do, but with God's help all things are possible. We have to choose to think and speak positively. It doesn't come naturally-and it doesn't happen overnight. In fact, it takes a lot of practice. There will be days when you have setbacks, but just get back up, dust yourself off, and start again...Be patient with yourself. As you change your thinking, your words will change and so will your life!"