Paintbrush

How we express ourselves is important. In fact I believe, it's not what you hear or what you see but what you declare and decree...even when casually spoken...that dictates each life.

Scripture says the power of death and life is in the tongue. It tells us that we are snared by the words of our mouth and that a good man is satisfied by the fruit of his mouth.

I spoke to a man last week who was in the midst of a divorce that he did not want. He asked me what to do. I asked him if he would do anything to get his marriage back on track. He said he would. I said what I am about to tell you may sound silly. He listened. I said "Rent the movie Fireproof." He then told me some more about his problems. I said "rent the movie Fireproof." He went on to tell me how other people were poisoning his wife's mind. My counsel did not change. He told me how he wasn't from Alabama and didn't know where to rent a movie. He spoke all the things that he didn't want. He told all the reasons why he couldn't do a silly simple thing like rent a movie. In fact, everything he spoke was negative.

Today a man parked his car and started to walk toward me. He placed two hand stitched crosses in my hands and walked up the road with me for about a quarter of a mile. I asked if there was anything I could pray with him about and he said he needed a job. We talked a bit and I noticed he had a brace on his left leg. He told me how
no one was hiring a 57 year old handicapped man. I told him they might hire someone at age 57 who was dependable, honest and hard working. He assured me "they" wouldn't.

As we finished our walk together and stopped to pray. He told me to be careful because even though God placed His angels and a hedge of protection around me, "these 18 wheelers don't care about no hedge." I thought doesn't he think God is more powerful than a truck driver?

Both of these men went on at great lengths describing the opposite of what they wanted. The first man wanted his marriage to continue but only spoke about the end of his relationship with the woman he loved...as if there was no hope. There is always hope! The second man spoke only of the job "they" wouldn't give him and all the reasons why "they" wouldn't give it to him.

What would happen, if they began to change the way they spoke. Some people believe things happen to them then they speak it. What if your words were a paintbrush and you could paint your life the way you wanted it? Would you watch your words?

What if you could get what you say? What if Mark 11:22-24 were true? "Have faith in God. Whosoever says....and does not doubt but believes that what you say will come to pass. It will be done for you."