by Dr. Larry Ollison, Ph.D. 

The other day I was watching a western movie on TV. In the movie, the general store in town had just burned to the ground and the lady who owned it had lost everything she owned. She was standing in the middle of the burned out shell of a building when one of the townspeople walked by to give her a word of encouragement.

He said, “I knew a lady in Topeka, Kansas that had the same thing happen to her. Her store burned down and she lost everything. She never recovered. Eventually she went to the poor house and later killed herself. She just couldn’t take it anymore. Well, we’ll be prayin’ for ya.”

Needless to say the encouraging words of the passerby did not help the lady in distress. Why? Because the encouraging words were not really encouraging. They were in fact filled with fear, doubt and unbelief.

Even though this was just a movie, there’s a point to be made. We as Christians need to keep our words full of faith and the promises of God. When a friend has a disaster happen in their life, we must speak the promises of God and not keep confessing the problem.

God is a faith God and He releases His faith in words. In the beginning, God spoke and the universes were formed. In Genesis 1:3 God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And throughout the creation until now God has spoken and whatever He spoke came to pass.

In Mark 11:23 Jesus said, “For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will come to pass, he will have whatever he says.” When Jesus was here on the earth, the Bible tells us that He spoke to the winds and sea and they obeyed Him. He didn’t act fearful. He didn’t panic. He simply spoke to the wind and sea and said, “Be still!” He believed what He said would come to pass. He knew His authority and He spoke in faith. What He said – happened.

Ephesians 5:1 tells us to be imitators of God as little children imitate their parents. Let’s make Jesus our example. We are to live as He lived. He walked in faith and we are to walk in faith.

Proverbs 18:21 tells us that death and life are in the power of the tongue. But what does that mean anyway?

Well, it’s this way. Words, your words, are containers. They can contain faith or they can contain doubt. What you say today can affect the world for years to come. Your words are important.

As Christians we are to make our words reflect what God said in His Word instead of what we see with our natural eyes. When we see disaster, when there is a problem in our life or in the life of a friend, we should do as the scripture says. We must speak encouraging words of faith instead of doubt and despair. In other words, see things as they should be.

Proverbs 6:2 says, “We are snared by the words of our mouth and we are taken by the words of our mouth.” Proverbs 18:21 tells us that “Death and life are in the power of the tongue.”