THE POWER OF WORDS

I’ve recently been studying the message of many of ministries (especially those on television) and I’ve been hearing a theme that I feel is doctrinally in error and one which sets sincere believers up for disappointment. I will continue my reflections on the "Leadership Lessons of Jesus," but today I want to explore a few things that address the error being propagated by too many preachers and self-proclaimed prophets and apostles.

That there is power in our words is indisputable. I can testify to an incident in my childhood where some of my aunts were gathered with my mother in my grandmother’s living-room. (We lived with grandma while my father was serving in Vietnam.) I remember my aunts telling my mother how bad of a child I was. I was only four-years-old but they felt that I was a spoiled mommy’s boy who needed to be disciplined more. The truth is that if my mother whipped me any more or any harder than she did, she would have been arrested. Nevertheless, they were convinced I needed more discipline because I was, in their opinion, a very bad little boy.

Finally, when my mother could no longer endure their criticism, she picked me up in her arms and stormed out of the room with these parting words, “You just watch he’ll be somebody great someday.” She spoke those words forty years ago but they continue to have a powerfully positive impact on my life. So I would never dispute the fact that words have power. What I do dispute, however, is that our words have some kind of magical mystical power to create and work like a spiritual force independent of some context of communication.

Far too often verses have been ripped bleeding from their context and then pieced together in some Frankensteinian fashion to form the monster known as “Word of Faith.” Let me give a few examples. One that is common, and which I hear quite often, is that we are to “call those things which are not, as though they are.” To use this phrase, torn from its context, and to suggest that if we have enough faith we can simply speak things into existence is a total misrepresentation of the verse.

This phrase, or something like it, is in Scripture. However, it is never applied to man speaking something out of nothing. It is referring to God. Read the verse again:

17(As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were. (Rom 4:17, KJV).

Some will try to twist the verse to suggest that it is Abraham who “calleth those things which be not as though they were” and since God is no respecter of persons, we too can speak something out of nothing. Such a translation shows a basic ignorance both of the Greek and of sound biblical exegesis. Every translation available makes it even clearer that it is God who is calling things which are not as though they are.

The danger of the Word of Faith theology is that it attempts to give man authority that God has reserved from Himself. In fact, many will unashamedly say that God has given us all His authority on this earth. Let me give just one example where such a claim breaks down. Jesus could forgive a man of the sins that would condemn that man to hell. We cannot speak that, therefore God has authority that we have not been given.

Another argument is that Jesus said, “We shall have whatsoever things we speak.” This comes from Mark 11:22-24

22 "Have faith in God," Jesus answered. 23 "I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. 24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. NIV

This looks fairly straightforward. If we have faith when we pray, whatever we ask for will be ours. Here are some questions that have to be addressed: 1) Does this verse say that can ask for whatever we want? 2) Does this verse say that the creative power is in our words, or does the power reside in the One to whom we pray? 3) Is our faith in our words, or is our faith in the one to whom we pray? These questions are often ignored in a rush to take Jesus’ words as support for faulty doctrine.

The context begins with the words, “Have faith in God.” This means that we trust Him, we obey Him, and we serve Him. Then Jesus uses a figure of speech known as hyperbole to make a point. Jesus often used hyperbole as it was a common form of illustration used in rhetoric in that day. The failure to recognize the use of this form of speech has resulted in many ridiculous mistranslations of Scripture. For example, Jesus was using hyperbole when He said it was easier for a camel to pass through the eye of needle than it was for a rich man to be saved. He uses an extreme example to make a point. The point is that it is difficult for the rich to be saved because they tend to have more faith in their money than in God. He was not talking about a gate in the wall around Jerusalem known as “The Needle’s Eye” that was a tight squeeze for camels. Such a gate never existed.Check out this Bible Study on "The Needle's Eye"

The point of Jesus in the message on speaking to the mountain, which was a fairly common rabbinic phrase, is that it takes faith in God for our prayers to be effective. It means that even the greatest of difficulties can be overcome through prayer and faith.

Still, the Word of Faith folks will insist that this be taken literally and that with enough faith we can simply go around speaking to mountains and they will move. If the mountain doesn't move it is a lack of faith on our part. It is interesting that these folks will insist on the literal when it supports their doctrines, but will readily explain away verses dealing with opulent attire and the silence of women in the church. I’m simply saying that every text has a context and that entire scope of Scripture must be in agreement with any single verse.

Asking and receiving must be understood in the light of other verses dealing with this subject, such as:

John 14:12-14
"Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. 13 And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask anything in My name, I will do it. NKJV

The caveat is that we must ask in His name. That doesn’t mean we simply tag the name Jesus at the end of our prayers like some hocus-pocus, and then presto-chango we get what we want. Praying in the name of Jesus means that we pray in accordance to His will and His plan for our lives.

James says:
15 Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that." 16 But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. (James 4:14-16, NKJV)

Then, again Jesus gives us this condition for asking and receiving:

John 15:5-8
5 "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. 8 This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. NIV

Our asking and receiving has everything to do with God’s will and God’s Word. When His Word and His life are flowing through the vine into the branches, then when we pray we should be praying, “Not my will, but thine be done.” It isn’t our shopping list that we are to bring to God, but surrender and submission to His work through us. The vine gives the branch the power to produce fruit, and not the other way around.

The key to answered prayer is God’s desires in our heart, God’s word in our mouth, and God’s will in our mind. The Word of Faith movement seeks to put man’s words in God’s mouth. This is the mark of a false prophet. The false prophet says, “Thus saith the Lord,” when God has not spoken. A true prophet has God’s Word in his mouth. He only speaks what God wills.

Do I believe that God hears and answers prayer? Sure I do. But I do not believe that praying for things that are outside of the scope of the plan of God for our lives is a prayer that God obligates Himself to answer.

James 4:2-10
2 You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. 4 Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5 Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, "The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously"?

6 But He gives more grace. Therefore He says:

"God resists the proud,
But gives grace to the humble."

7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up. NKJV

The danger of the Word of Faith message is that it tries to give man prerogatives that are God’s alone. It promises that with enough faith our health and wealth are assured. Therefore, it sets men and women up for spiritual crises in their lives. No one dies of health. There is a sickness unto death and to live in denial of that fact only makes the end more painful. Furthermore, it implies that people who have achieved wealth have more faith than those who are poor, that those who have had the benefit of a great healthcare plan and have been healthy are somehow greater examples of faith than those who live in countries where disease is a daily reality, regardless of your “faith.”

There is the power of influence through our words, the power to positively or negatively affect the lives of others and ourselves through “self-speak.” There is the power of speech in prayer when we pray according to God’s will. There is the power to rebuke Satan in the name of Jesus and gain the victory over temptation and trials. There is power, but is not a creative power that is mirrored in creation. That is God’s power and is demonstration of the Creator’s omnipotence in contrast to our limitations as created beings.