We know from the Word that from the heart the mouth speaks.
"For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart." [Matthew 12:34]
"The good man out of the good treasure of his heart BRINGS FORTH what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure BRINGS FORTH what is evil; for his MOUTH SPEAKS from that which fills his HEART." [Luke 6:45]
Interesting, there are no disclaimers attached to these verses. They do NOT say, '...only when you are consciously making faith confessions...' or '...only when you mean to...' or '...only when you're not joking around...'
Speaking Spirit
Genesis 2:7 says 'Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.'
The Targum Onkelos, an ancient Aramaic translation says '...and man became ANOTHER speaking spirit.'
God breathed HIMSELF into the lump of clay, and man, both male and female, became ANOTHER speaking spirit! [Read Lumps of Clay]
The Hip Bone Connected to the Thigh Bone...
Yes, your mouth is ALWAYS connected to your heart!
This is a spiritual, and natural, fact.
The POWER [yad = hand] of life and death is IN THE TONGUE!! [Proverbs 18:21] This is not some made-up saying propagated by faith preachers...IT IS THE VERY WORD OF GOD!
Why did God create us as 'speaking spirits?' Because we are created in HIS IMAGE, and He is THE Speaking Spirit, Who does everything by the words of His mouth! He created us to reign on the earth with the power and authority of the spoken word.
Reign
It is our very nature to reign in the natural with our mouths. They are connected to the treasure in our hearts, whether good or bad, and they WILL bring that treasure forth.
Forth where? Forth, into the earth. In fact, this is exactly what happened to the prophets of old. They SPOKE Jesus into the earth, and the WORD became flesh. [John 1:14]
From where?
'How blessed is the man whose strength is in You, in whose heart are the HIGHWAYS TO ZION! Passing through the valley of Baca [weeping] THEY make it a spring; the early rain also covers it with BLESSINGS. They go from strength to strength, every one of them appears before God in Zion.' [Psalm 84:4-7]
'But you have come to MOUNT ZION and to the city of the living God, the HEAVENLY JERUSALEM, and to myriads of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel.' [Hebrews 12:22-24]
'But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved ), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.' [Ephesians 2:4-7]
Yikes.
This is why Jesus cautioned us about being too cavalier with the words of our mouths.
"But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment." [Matthew 12:36]
He knew the power of the spoken word, and He knew that this law works all the time, for good or ill.
And, for you faith critics, It's the very process by which we are born again!
'But what does it say? "The Word is near you, in your MOUTH and in your HEART"—that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, that if you CONFESS with your MOUTH Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;
'...for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the MOUTH he confesses, resulting in salvation.' [Romans 10:8-10]
What's The Problem
What, then, is the problem? Why is it that, when we need our words to work, they don't seem to?
I think the answer may be found in Mark 11.
'And Jesus answered saying to them, "Have faith in God.
Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be taken up and cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but BELIEVES THAT WHAt HE SAYS IS GOING TO HAPPEN, it will be granted him.
"Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, BELIEVE THAT YOU HAVE RECEIVED THEM, and they will be granted you."' [Mark 11:22-24]
We just don't believe that our words works. If we did, we wouldn't be so careless with them.
Even when we see the truth in the Word and begin to practice it, that nagging doubt stops them dead in the air. James 1:6-8 says a double-minded man shouldn't expect to receive anything from the Lord.
We must believe that what we say will happen, period.
Tower of Babel...Again
I've written a lot about the Tower of Babel [read about it in Genesis 11, do a search on this blog for articles]. But it is just so instructive—words work, whether you are born again or not!
Think about the cautionary tale of Jacob and Rachel, found in Genesis 31. They had fled from Laban, her father, and she had stolen some of his household gods. He pursued and accused Jacob. Jacob swore to him that whoever had taken the gods would not live, not knowing that his beloved wife was the culprit. And, according to his words, she died in childbirth a short time later.
The Tower of Babel was not God's will. In fact, He knew that if He didn't intervene, nothing could stop them.
How did He intervene? He confused their language, so that they could no longer agree IN THEIR WORDS!
What About Us?
If it is true that unregenerate man's words work in the earth, how much more is it true for those filled with the Spirit of God?
Jesus knew that we would be reborn and He knew that we would be one Spirit with Him. He knew that He and the Father would come to dwell in our earthen vessels by the Holy Spirit. [John 14; 1 Corinthians 4:7]
That's why He told us to talk to mountains and trees. To sick and dead bodies. Everywhere He went, He demonstrated what He knew was coming:
'"Truly, truly, 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 the Father."' [John 14:12]
'...as He is, so also are we IN THIS WORLD.' [1 John 4:17]
As Christians, the power of our words should be magnified by the indwelling God!
Faith—believing and speaking—works through love. God is Love, and the love of God has been poured into our hearts. [1 John 4:8,16; Galatians 5:6; Romans 5:5]
But to use that magnified power, we must be walking in love...practicing the love of God which is within us!
Think about this...while explaining how the fig tree withered, Jesus preface His teaching with the words "Have faith in God."
Since God is love, He could've said "Have faith in love."
God's love for us, His love working through us, magnifying our power to reign upon the earth by our mouths.
Think about it.
