Words have power.  Your words have power.  Not just the power to influence or persuade but supernatural power.  God spoke creation into existence – both the seen realm and the unseen realm, the spiritual and the natural.  You are made in God’s image.  Your words also carry power. Although our words have power to create to a much lesser degree than the Father’s, they still have power to set things in motion with life-changing and world-changing  outcomes.

God intended to rule the earth through those he created and into whom he breathed his life giving Spirit.  He gave Adam and his descendants dominion over the earth and all the works of his hands.  They were given authority to subdue the earth and establish the culture of heaven (God’s will being done) on this earth.

How does anyone rule?  With power and authority.  Authority directs the power that backs it up.  In the case of Adam, he would command with authority and the power of heaven would back him up.  How do you command?  You command with words. As Adam would command, the Spirit of God or the angels of heaven would move to establish what he had spoken.

Our prayers accomplish the same thing.  As we pray, we invite heaven to act on our behalf or another’s behalf to bring about outcomes on the earth that are consistent with God’s will.  When we speak a blessing over another person, it is a form of a prayer and by faith we believe that God will act on behalf of the one we blessed to bring about some positive outcome.

In other words, your words set things in motion in the spiritual realm that creates realities in the natural realm.   That is why we pray and bless.  That is why we are commanded to pray and bless, even our enemies, because the heart of God is to do good to all men.  When we speak, he acts on our words.

But there is another part of the spiritual realm that hopes to harm, to oppress, and destroy.  The demonic realm also hears our words and has the capacity to act on them.  When we speak hurtful words, condemning words, or vengeful words we are declaring curses.  Curses are simply prayers for the harm or destruction of another.  Curses have the capacity to mobilize the demonic realm to being about destructive realities in the natural realm.

In Numbers 22, Balak, the king of Moab, was confronted with the presence of a million or more Israelites camping along his borders.  Terrified, he summoned Balaam and asked him to place a curse on Israel so that Moab might defeat them in battle.  The idea was to summon spiritual powers to war against Israel and to hinder them so that they might be defeated. Balaam sought God before he pronounced the curse.  God told him not to do so because he should not curse what God had blessed.

The blessing of God sets angels in motion to bring about positive outcomes for the one who is blessed – provision, success, victory, good health, protection, favor, etc. God commanded Balaam to refrain from the curse because that would set the demonic realm against Israel and hinder the blessing and victories that God intended.

Words, then, have the power to set things in motion for good or for bad in the spiritual realm. That’s why proverbs tells us that the tongue has the power of life and death. It’s why James counsels us to guard our tongues so that we don’t burn down a forest with one spark – so that our words don’t ignite a destructive force in the spiritual realm that goes far beyond what we intended.

Your words have power.  You walk in the authority of the kingdom of heaven so your words have great authority.  God directs us to bless and not curse. He directs us to be careful with our words and speak only those things that build others up. In the same way we need to speak life to ourselves.  We need to speak blessing and goodness over ourselves rather than condemning words that curse and demean.

Watch your words.  They are powerful and authoritative.  Speak blessing, strength, success, peace, competence, provision, safety and affirmation over others as well as yourself. You have the capacity to set powers in motion in the spiritual realms for great good or great harm.  Watch your words and choose to be source of blessing.  Be fresh water that gives life wherever you go because you speak life to every person and situation your encounter.