The spirit of a word
20 December 2009

Words have power. A person who speaks, sows; a person who hears, reaps. But both of them reap the fruits of the word. The lack of understanding about this truth has caused serious problems not only to those who speak but also to those who believe.

Many times, people don’t mean what they say. Sometimes they speak out of selfishness, because they don’t want to listen to others. There are people who say what they are not supposed to just because they don’t want to be at a disadvantage. Either way, every conversation brings consequences—some good, others bad.

The mother says to her son or daughter, “If you do this to me… your child will do something worse to you.” The years pass and there’s that son or daughter going through even worse situations with their kids. And so their mother’s “curse” is fulfilled.

Few people know that words have spirit. If a word is bad, it produces sadness, pain and death. But if it’s good, it produces joy, health and life.

Jesus used the power of words to heal the sick, set the captives free, etc. His work was characterised by the use of words.

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed.” (Luke 4:18)

And yet He also used a word to kill a fig tree. Through that attitude, He was showing the negative power of a word.

Those who work in the media know this power very well, one reason why many people hate me without knowing me. I don’t bother or hate them, because we don’t sing from the same song sheet. I feel sorry for those who have been poisoned by their own venom.

Be very careful with the words you hear, “for the ear tests words as the palate tastes food” (Job 34.3)

Bishop Macedo