When A Princess speaks...

A story is told in my family of how I was born. Apparently, unlike many babies, I did not open my mouth to cry at birth. I had to be pinched in order to let out my first cry, which I hear is the first breath a baby takes- Am not a doctor so don’t quote me on that- anyway, for some reason, as a baby, I just did not like opening my mouth. My mom says she had to wake me up or shake me a bit, just  to feed me or get some sound out of me otherwise I would not just fuss. I was just so quiet; she says it was like there was no baby in the house. And this continued through my early years. At kindergarten, I was so shy, and the story is that I could not utter any words if none of my parents or siblings were around….hahaha…yeah, yeah, yeah…I was whatever you might be thinking I was…

Over the years I have wished many a times, that this had lasted but alas!! It must have been in grade two when I finally knew that the mouth could be used not only for eating but talking too. And so off I went, from quiet to talkative. Suddenly, my name was found on the noisemakers list. My mom said I was probably making up for all the years in silence. I remember I had an aunt who would quote scriptures of how a man would rather sleep on the roof or corner of a house than be in a room with a nagging wife (Prov 21:9). I am not sure I really understood what that meant but I did know I had to tame my tongue because it was bad to talk all the time.

I have grown up since…thankfully..and learnt to shut up…but still occasionally I find myself falling short. Sometimes it’s not particularly the abundance of words (because I can be really quiet) but just the quality of them; what I say when I speak. Do you relate with this? Anyway, I found myself over this past weekend wondering about this.  I spent last weekend hanging around with friends and working too and I can count the amount of things I said but I question whether there was any meaning to them, anything tangible in them. I know a lot of people say words are just words but if words were just words would they have the power to hurt a person? To warm you inside? To cause massive revolutions in history? I do strongly believe words are not just words. They do have power, more especially those of a princess.

The Bible clearly states that death and life are in the power of the tongue, and they who indulge in it shall eat the fruit of it ( Prov. 18:21). In other words, by your words you can either produce life or death; you can break things or mend things. It is not surprising therefore that one can be hurt with words. If negativity is spoken into another person’s life, you are in fact killing them-I am not just being dramatic although there is some fun in that- I do have proof. When Jesus cursed the fig tree in Mark 11, He did not say, ‘ I curse you, you wicked tree that has failed to give me fruit!!!’ He just spoke negatively to it and told it no one shall ever eat any fruit from it again and He believed what He had said. The next day His disciples said, ‘look, the tree you CURSED has withered away.’ It’s so easy to doom a thing or a person as a Christian. All you need to do is believe it when you speak negatively about yourself, others or things. If you say for instance, that you always fail at something, you will continue to do so. Some people are continuously lamenting of all that is wrong with them or others and how things will never change…well, it will continue to be that way. You will never change and they will never change…

I  am in fact not exaggerating this. If anything, I am not really saying all there is to say. The Bible clearly states that by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned or innocent or guilty…whatever you prefer (Matthew 12:37). You will be accountable for all you say. Your words have power to free you from any situation or to keep you imprisoned. There is something in words that just makes you believe it and amplify it in your spirit. 

James has equated the tongue to a rudder on the ship. It charts your course in life. The more you say you are a failure, do not be surprised if you fail all the more...your whole system, begins to shift towards failure just as the whole ship turns to where the rudder turns to. I remember I once told my boss I could not catch a ball (of course I could but I did not like playing ball when I had to work) so I kept saying it each time he said, ‘Ruth catch!’ For as long as I said it, I never ever did catch it even if I genuinely tried. Then I stopped saying it…and to cut it all short…I am catching again. It seems so little but it is the same principle that applies to bigger things. There is power in words and the point your life is right now is a result of your words unless we call the Bible a liar.  When I first learnt this, I thought it was a joke but I began to think about things I had said in the past and it rang true. Of course, I then had to renounce a lot of other things I said.  If you do not believe this, we can look to God. God’s words led to you and to me; to all you see around you. Don’t you wonder why He had to say it, to bring it into being? He would have just thought it because He is after all God. But no!! He had to say it. Still more, everything happening now, the earthquakes, everything!! He already said it would happen; you can search your scriptures. God has placed so much value in words. He loves words so much that Jesus is His word personified. It CAN NOT get bigger than that.

Knowing how important words are makes me want to shut up. It really does because I do not want to make a mess of things. If my words have so much power, any incorrect use of them is not good. It is like having a knife in your hands. You do not want to hurt anyone. And thank God the Bible has given us clues of what our words ought to be like. For instance, Colossians 4:6 says that ‘EVERYTHING we say should be kind and well thought out so that we know how to answer everyone’; it does not say that only some things should be kind but that all we say. Also Ephesians 4:29 says that ‘Let no foul or polluting language, nor evil word nor unwholesome or worthless talk [ever] come out of your mouth, but only such [speech] as is good and beneficial to the spiritual progress of others, as is fitting to the need and the occasion, that it may be a blessing and give grace (God's favor) to those who hear it.’ Its clear to see that we are not to speak just because we have a mouth or because it is fun. Our words should ALWAYS have a reason and the reason should be to build up another person. I know we often indulge in jokes and I am not saying it is wrong to joke but you will agree with me that most of such talk is worthless. And it is really sad though, that a lot of Christian conversations are not beneficial, they are more on the gossip and negative side…yeah.. the deep stuff has its moments, right? Wrong!!..its for always. And what if we talked right? What if we did it all the time? This verse says blessings will rest on all who hear us talk. How amazing is that. We will bless people like crazy!! WoW!! This is a way a princess is meant to talk. Do not talk like a normal person. You don't have to sound unsure because everyone is speaking confusion. You are a princess!! Speak like one!!

I will be honest and say am not there yet. As I said, last week, I did not particularly say harmful stuff..but yeah, I was on a worthless rant!! Sometimes, I like listening to myself as I speak and I hear shallowness, pride, self-centredness and even when I hear nice things, my motives are not entirely pure. It can be really frustrating and I asked God how I can fix this. Should I stop talking, I said? In answer, He led me to James 3 where James is clearly stating how a man who does not stumble in words, is a perfect man and how it is impossible to tame the tongue as it is unruly and full of deadly poison. You can imagine that this is not particularly what I wanted to read because I wanted methods of how to make my words count, not that I can’t make them count. But I read it again and again until I noticed that it is interesting, how in that chapter after talking about the tongue, he begins to talk about wisdom and the heart and how if you have bitter envy and self seeking in your hearts, you should not BOAST and LIE…both things done by mouth. It led me to Matthew 12:34 which says out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. I had the aaahhh moment!!

 Whatever is in your heart will come out of your mouth through vain talk or whatever. Just listen to yourself speak. It is no wonder the Bible cautions us to guard our hearts above all things because it is the wellspring of life. For every born again Christian, you have an advantage because you have been given a clean heart and a life giving spirit. It is therefore in your nature to speak life, to speak positively. Your job is therefore just to guard what God has invested in you. If you let fear in, your speech will be full of fear and you will become more fearful but if you guard it, allowing only what helps you grow, your speech will be blessed.  

You also need some wisdom. James says the wisdom from above is pure and peaceable, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. This again is available to you because Christ has been made to us wisdom (1 Corinthians 1:30). You have wisdom to know that which is from above and that which is not. Do not speak everything that comes to mind. You have to watch what you say, period!! Some words can be planted in your mind by the devil but you don’t have to say them because He who guards his lips guards his life, but he who speaks rashly will come to ruin (proverbs 13:3).

So once you begin talking RIGHT, you are set for life!! Some things in your life do not need praying for. They just need you to change the way you speak or for you to talk them out. The devil has put lies into peoples head, ‘Oh, don’t say that, you might jinx it. Oh don’t say anything otherwise it wont happen.’ He wants you quiet because he knows how lethal the tongue is when used wisely. Mark 11 does not say when you pray believe what you pray; it simply says believe what you say. Jesus inspires me because He, after cursing the tree did not sit by and watch it to see if in fact what He said would happen. The results were seen the next day. You can start now, or continue, whatever is true in your life. If you are facing south, and want to turn north, start speaking north irrespective of how turbulent the waters are!! You do not have to see the north first. Sometimes it might sound unreal because things are not really like that. By way of example, if I am not patient and begin to say that I am patient..it would seem fake but keep saying it because as you do, your whole body is being re-programmed to act that way. It is in fact not lies because you are that in Christ Jesus. So you can say it: I am a love creature, born in love, walking in love, I speak love, I ooze love.. I am not proud or selfish, I endure long, I do not fail… and there you go..taking a hold of your identity in Christ.

When I started this, I felt silly. Sometimes fake!! And people can laugh but when you say it long enough, you believe the truth you are saying. Because it is truth..it just sounds fake because you have not believed it. AND IT WORKS BIG BIG TIME!!  But let me just say here: you CANNOT do this just because you are determined to. No matter how many times you say, ‘ I can do this, I can do this, I can do this,’ it will not work. I have tried that too…. The whole reason all this works is because of who we are. Because of the power that runs through your body. Because of the life force that vitalizes your body. The Bible says, as He is, so are we in this earth. Can you grasp that one? You can speak life on this earth because of the life He has given you. Because Jesus is Lord of your life. If you have not chosen Him, choose Him today. He is the real deal.

MAKE THINGS HAPPEN IN YOUR LIVES LADIES!! YOU CAN SO DO IT!!!