There Really Is Power In The Tongue

Death and life are in the power of the tongue   Proverbs 18:21a

  I never paid much attention to this scripture because preachers, of the prosperity ilk, are always spouting it on television as a way to fleece money out of their followers. You know, the name it and claim it, speak it and reap it, and so on. Just say it and believe it and it will be yours. I take umbrage with that, big time! You can say something over and over, like a mantra, but if it's not God's will for you, it ain't happening. You can click your heels three times in your sparkly red shoes and get the same effect. Nothing. Nada. Zilch.

  I looked at 22 homes before I found mine, and it was the 23rd. My friend Dorsey, although she did not look at all of them, did accompany me checking out a gang of them. There were two homes I wanted desperately. I found myself speaking it over and over, IT'S MINE, and praying without ceasing about it. God did say only believe. Each time my realtor called me to give me the bad news, that I'd been outbid, I'd burst into tears. Once in my department she and my other coworker, Lisa tried to comfort me, but I was inconsolable. God told me to move. And I was trying to act upon this revelation. I'd been in my home 25 years and it was check out time. God had told me so. But no amount of speaking to it or praying about it got me either of those homes.

  The bible does say, "For verily I say unto you, that whomever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou moved, 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. Mark 11:23

 THAT'S GOOD NEWS! It can and will happen, absolutely! But ONLY if it's God's will for you. If it is not you can cry, wail, prostrate yourself before Him and whatever else comes to mind, but ultimately it is His decision. You may find out why and you may not, this side of paradise, the reason it didn't work out for you, but if you're His child, out of His deep and abiding love for us, He calls the shots. For MY thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways, says the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your way, And My thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:8-9

  I think what the expression, commonly used, 'there's power in the tongue' should mean, in our mouths we have the power to uplift and edify. To encourage someone going through a rough time, to remind them that this too, shall pass. To speak peace to others. To help someone free themselves of anxiety, fear and stress, if it all possible. You can see the recipient of the power you're sharing sometimes square their shoulders, raise their lowered heads, and you can almost feel some of the burden removed by simple acts of kindness and encouragement, reminding them you're there for them and praying for and with them. I've had to have friends and family speak to my discouragement this summer and let me tell you, it is like a balm to a festering wound. Or just by listening as well, being a sounding board is powerful, to have someone be naked, vulnerable and confide in you as well. Power should always be for the good. For the betterment of the community. We must be careful not to use this 'power' to inflict pain, further distress, and disharmony.

  Hoping and wishing do not make it so. Playing let's make a deal with the Creator of the heavens and the earth won't do the trick. Hopping on the phone and getting everyone you've known since kindergarten to touch and agree with you to move God will not get the job done. Faith is key, no doubt about it and if your faith is in agreement with His will, you have no worries.

  But I've learned the most effective prayer is 'thy will be done.' Matthew 6:10  In my humble, this lets our heavenly Father know that as much as we want something, or some desired result, that ultimately we bow to Him knowing and trusting that He has our best interests at heart, and even in His no, we know it's because He has something even better! 

  By the second rejection of a house I totally wanted to reside in, I started looking at homes that I really kind of liked, but weren't exactly what I REALLY wanted. Desperation had set in. Then I started putting bids in on homes just because I thought I just had to make do. That I couldn't have the type of home I wanted. Then BAM!

  One cold February night, my realtor sent me an email at 10:30. I was just looking around, checking my email and saw it. It was just the type of home I was looking for and wanted so much, lower in price than the others BONUS, and enough of a blank canvass that I could put my stamp on it(HGTV person that I am). I saw it the next day, just as another couple were exiting. I thought, oh no, here I go again. I followed my realtor to her office and put in the bid anyway. I went home and that night asked God to please let me have that house. That as He well knew I loved that home and could see my family and me in it. But I ended the prayer with, but not my will but thine be done. I've been in my home almost 6 1/2 years. I learned to let God make the decisions and to try my best to get out of his way. I've learned accept His no, His later and His yes, and to thank Him for whatever His decision is. That's the hard part, to thank Him and praise Him anyway through the no. And the later. I'm working on that. Because we're all a work in progress right?? Not that I have already attained or am already perfected: but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended: but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:12-14

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