Words of Blessing, Words of Cursing
by Rich Murphy
|
Every believer I've ever met wants to receive more and more of God's blessing. Not only do they want to be blessed, but they want their family to be blessed, their friends to be blessed, and their church to be blessed. Most of our "prayer time" is spent in asking God to bless us in one way, or another. With so much of our prayer focus on asking for blessings, why aren't we receiving the blessings we so desire?
There are actually a number of reasons why we may not receive a blessing, starting with lack of obedience. Almost all of the blessings mentioned in the Bible are conditional on our obedience to God's commands. If we don't obey, we don't receive. But, there's another reason we don't receive God's blessings, and that's what I want to focus on in this study. That is, our words. Our words carry power. They are spiritual seeds, which we "plant" to bring forth a harvest of one type or another. I'm not just talking about our words of prayer, but whatever words we use. Everything we do in the spirit realm is through our words. We pray with words, we worship with words, we break curses with words, we cast out demons with words, and we bless with words. Every word we speak enters the spirit realm and causes some effect. In Genesis, chapter one, God created the whole universe with His words. Repeatedly, we find the phrase "and God said" (Gen 1:3; 6; 9; 11, etc.) followed by "and there was." Whatever God said, came to be. Part of what God created with His words was us, the human race. He created us "in His image and in His likeness" (Gen 1:26). Since we are created in God's image, then part of that image is that our words have the same creative power that God's do. When we say something, it comes to pass; maybe not immediately, but when that seed has had time to grow, it will bring forth a harvest.
Many times, we pray one thing, such as asking God to heal us, and then almost immediately say the opposite. If our words of prayer have power to bring about that which we are praying for, what makes us think that the words we say when we leave our prayer closet don't? When we say the opposite of what we pray, we are double-minded. The Bible tells us that when we are double-minded, we are unstable in everything we do (Jms 1:8). We cannot receive God's blessings when we are double-minded. In fact, we can't receive anything we pray for when we are double-minded, because we negate our own prayers (words) with our other words. God takes our words seriously. When we say something, He not only expects us to carry out those words, but does whatever He can to back them up. Even if we forget that which we said, God of course doesn't. He holds us to those words.
During the reign of King David, there was a time when God brought three years of famine upon Israel. David, being a man of God, knew there was a reason for this famine, and asked God what that reason was.
This verse naturally raises two questions. Who were the Gibeonites? Since God commanded the destruction of all the peoples of Canaan, why did he care about Saul killing the Gibeonites? When Joshua and Israel entered into Canaan they attacked and defeated first the great city of Jericho, then Ai, word spread rapidly of their victories. Those who talked about it probably also remembered the miracles God wrought bringing Israel out of Egypt. This naturally caused great fear in the various peoples of Canaan. One of those groups was the city of Gibeon. Instead of preparing for the eventual battle against Israel, or forming a military alliance with the other cities near them, they went to speak with the people of Israel (Jos 9:1-15). However, they didn't go to Israel in honesty, they went in trickery. Somehow they knew that it was necessary to trick the Israelites into believing they were from a far away place. Or, they wouldn't be able to make an alliance with them. So, the Gibeonite ambassadors wore old clothes, and sandals that were worn out. They took dry, moldy bread with them, and empty, dried out wineskins, so that it would appear they had traveled far to come to talk with Israel. At this point, Joshua, and the elders of Israel made a grave error. Instead of asking God what to do, they trusted in their own judgment. Had they asked God, he could have told them of the trickery that the Gibeonites were doing. But, since they didn't, they went ahead and made an alliance with the Gibeonites.
We must remember that these people, the Gibeonites, were part of the people that God commanded Israel to destroy. By making an alliance with the Giveonites, the entire nation of Israel was committing a sin, in not obeying God's commandment. Yet, even with this, God took their words seriously. Once they found out about the trickery, which only took three days, the people of Israel were enraged. Although the alliance was made under false pretence, they did not destroy the people of Gibeon, they only enslaved them.
In the natural, when an alliance between two nations is made under false pretence, it is considered null and void; as if it had never existed. Actually, it goes much farther than that. Not only is the alliance destroyed, but the lie becomes cause for war. The Israelites held to their word up until the time of King Saul. God went one step further and held to the word of the Israelites at least until the time of King David. Even though the people of Israel had made that alliance outside of God's will, and even though it was based upon a lie, God held His people to their word. When Saul broke that agreement, he set in motion the spiritual force necessary to bring about a curse upon the nation of Israel. It was manifested in the three years of drought that happened during David's kingdom. It wasn't until King David satisfied the Gibeonites (for they were the ones who were wronged) that God lifted the drought off of Israel. Another couple of Old Testament examples involve the city of Jericho. The first of these is that when Joshua sent forth the two spies to Jericho, they hid in the house of a harlot named Rahab. Even though she was a sinner, she ended up being the only one in the city who received blessing, instead of death. The two spies gave Rahab their word that she, and her family, would not be killed, if they remained in her house during the attack.
When the army of Israel attacked Jericho, Joshua commanded the two men who had been the spies to save Rahab and her family. He also declared it to the whole army (Jos 6:17) so that they would be aware of the necessity of keeping this word. Not only did Rahab receive the blessing of life, but we find her name mentioned one other time in the Bible. In the Gospel of Matthew, chapter one, Matthew starts out by giving the lineage of Jesus. In verse 5, we find that she had married a man named Salmon, and became the great-great-grandmother of King David, an ancestor of Jesus Christ. The second example involving Jericho was the curse that Joshua spoke over it, after it had been destroyed.
This curse was literally fulfilled when the city of Jericho was rebuilt by Hiel, in First Kings, chapter 16:
Notice that it says that the curse which Joshua had spoken was a "word of the Lord." Although Joshua wasn't considered a prophet, he was led by the Holy Spirit. As such, when he spoke forth that word, it was under the unction and guidance of the Holy Spirit. You might be saying to yourself that these are only Old Testament examples, and that things aren't the same in the New Testament. We must always remember that the Old Testament hasn't passes away, it will exist until the earth passes away. But, if you want a New Testament example, I'd be glad to accommodate you. Let's look at something from the life of Jesus Himself. One day, Jesus and His disciples were walking from Bethany to Jerusalem. Jesus was hungry, and decided to eat. Unfortunately, the fig tree that He wanted to eat from didn't have any fruit on it, so He cursed it.
What happened to the tree? The force of the curse that Jesus spoke forth took hold of that tree and killed it. Had He spoken a blessing over it, the tree would have been blessed. But, since He spoke a curse over it, it died. God takes out words just as seriously as He did those of the nation of Israel, or of Jesus. He has given us authority on earth to bind and loose spiritual forces, blessings, cursings, angels, and demons. How? Through our words!
Normally, when we read this verse, we think of it in terms of spiritual warfare, and binding demons. I don't in any way want to take away from that understanding of this verse. However, I would like to look at it in another light; that of our words. It is through our words that we bind and loose those things in heaven and on earth. All spiritual power that we appropriate here on earth is through words. God didn't command us to use magic, to make potions, amulets, or idols. In fact, He is very strongly against those things. Our only access to the spiritual realm is through our words. It is also through words that we bring about blessing and cursing. Unfortunately, too many times, the words we use bring about cursing, instead of blessing. All words are spiritual seeds. As such, they are intended to bring forth a harvest. The type harvest they bring about depends upon the type of seed they are. Any farmer knows that you don't plant carrot seeds if you are looking for a harvest of corn. No, you plant carrot seeds to receive carrots, and corn seeds to receive corn. If you want a good harvest, don't plant bad seed. In Matthew, chapter 13, Jesus told a parable about some weeds. In that parable, a man had soon good seed, but his enemy came and sowed bad seed amongst his good seed. Both began to grow, the good seed, and the weeds. The good seed was bringing forth the crop he desired, but the bad seed was only a problem for him to deal with; a problem that would take his time, strength, money, and reduce his harvest from the good seed he had sown. The difference between us and this man is that we are the ones sowing the bad seed, not our enemies. Oh, we might blame it on the enemy, and in fact we often do blame him, but in reality the seeds that are bringing about those weeds are coming out of our own mouths. It really shouldn't be much of a surprise that we are speaking forth that type of spiritual seed. We live in a very negative world. Since we were born, we have learned how to be negative. How to say things negative, how to expect negative things to happen to us, and how to have a negative attitude towards those around us. So, we are only conforming to what we have learned. The Bible, on the other hand, is very positive. Although many people, especially unbelievers, think of the Bible as negative, that isn't true. The idea of it being negative comes from people who see God's commandments towards us as a restriction on our freedom, instead of that which gives us freedom. Every story in the Bible ends on a positive note. Every commandment that is given is given for our benefit. In fact, there are many more commandments telling us what to do, for our benefit, then there are telling us what not to do. God is positive, that's why His Word is positive. His blessings are positive, His commandments are positive, His love for us is positive, His activity in the world is positive. When we conform our minds to the world we speak negative things. But, when we conform our minds to the mind of God, we speak positive things. Because we are speaking negative things, we are actually speaking curses over people, instead of speaking blessings over them. For example, let's say there's somebody who goes to a doctor, because they aren't feeling good. The doctor examines the, does some tests, and comes back with the diagnosis, "You've got cancer, and are going to die in six months." According to that doctor's way of thinking, he's only giving a diagnosis. According to God, he's cursing the patient with death. In many cases, the doctor is right. Not just because he gave a good diagnosis, but because the curse that he spoke brought a harvest. Curses aren't just things that witches do. Every word that we speak is either a word of blessing, or a word of cursing. We must put a watch over our mouths, to insure that the only words that come out of them are words of blessing. Here in Mexico, there's a custom which shows forth this principle in a very clear way. Many Mexican men call their wives, "gordita" (little fatso), or "vijita" (little old woman). In some way, or other, this is supposed to be a term of affection, but the women don't think of it that way. Generally speaking, teen-age Mexican girls are very thin, and married Mexican women are not. In fact, I don't know a single Mexican woman who's husband calls her "gordita" who isn't a gordita. Nor do I know a single Mexican woman who is thin and her husband calls her "gordita." Those men are simply receiving the "blessing" of what they are speaking out. Of course, the men don't think of it as a blessing. If you ask they Mexican men, "how many of you want your wives to get fatter and fatter?" none of them will raise their hands. (I know of only one exception, a man who's wife is unnaturally thin due to health problems.) But, these same men, who don't want their wives to get fatter, are constantly planting seeds of fatness in the spirit realm. When they receive that harvest, they shouldn't be surprised. How many times do we call out children by a name that is speaking forth bad characteristics, instead of good? How many times do we curse them, declaring bad things will happen in their lives? How many seeds of cursing are we planting in our children's lives? A parent tells his child, "If you keep running out in the street like that, one of these days a car is going to hit you!" Then, when that day comes, the parent doesn't understand why their child was hit by the car. It was because of their words. Teach your children not to run out in the street, but don't do it with negative words and curses, do it with positive words of instruction. Or, another parent tells his son, "You'll never be amount to anything!" Then, when the son grows up, he can't do anything. The parent declares to one and all that it couldn't be their fault, when in fact, it is their fault. They spoke the curse over their child, and they only received what they spoke forth. If we want the best for our children, our spouses, our churches, and our communities we must change the way that we speak. We must eliminate the words of cursing that we are currently speaking, and learn how to speak words of blessing. The Jewish people have a custom of speaking blessings over their children. Specific times in the life of a Jew are customary for parents to take time to speak these blessings over their children. These times are: the birth of a child, at his circumcision (boys only), at his dedication, at his bar or (her) bat mitzvah, and at his wedding. If a parent is about to die, they will take the time, as one of their last acts, to speak a blessing over their children (somewhat like a dying declaration). Many Jews also bless their children on their birthdays. When we're talking a blessing here, we're not talking about the parent saying "God bless you." This isn't a blessing, it's a platitude, or a greeting. Speaking a blessing over someone is declaring those things that you desire to see come to pass in their lives. Let me give you a couple of examples:
It is interesting to note that each and every one of these blessings that was spoken out in these examples happened exactly as it was said. In Genesis, chapter 49, when Jacob blessed Judah, he also blessed his other sons. These sons, who became the twelve tribes of Israel exactly fulfilled the blessings spoken over them. The blessing I've quoted here, spoken over Judah, was not only fulfilled in the lineage of King David, but much more through Jesus, the King of Kings. The Jewish people consider these blessings extremely important. Children desire to receive them from their parents, and in some cases will do almost anything to be sure to receive them. In Genesis, chapter 27, Jacob stole the blessing that belonged to his older brother. He did this by disguising himself as Esau, and going to his father. Since Isaac couldn't see well, he managed to steal this blessing.
When Esau returned, the trickery of Isaac was found out, but this didn't put an end to the blessing he had stolen.
Esau was a man of the field, a hunter, a "macho man." Yet, even so, he cried when he found out that his brother had stolen his blessing (Gen 27:34). He begged his father to bless him also. Since Isaac had already blessed Jacob with his brother as a servant, he couldn't change that. Although he declare a blessing over Esau (Gen 27:39-40), it almost wasn't a blessing, but more of a declaration of the struggle that Esau would have. Blessings aren't prophetic, except in the vaguest sense of the word. A prophecy comes from the Holy Spirit, and is spoken through a person. A blessing comes from the person, and goes to the Holy Spirit, that it might be carried out. God has people prophecy in order that His will can be accomplished here on the earth. People speak forth blessings in order that their own will (which should be in agreement with God's will) is accomplished in the life of a person. When we speak forth blessings, just as in all things, we should be led by the Holy Spirit. That way, instead of only speaking forth our own will, we are also speaking forth the will of the Father. We become instruments in the hands of God to accomplish His will here on earth.
It is important to God that we become people who speak forth blessings, and not just people who speak forth idle words; or, even worse, people who speak forth curses. There are more than enough people in the world, and even in the church, who are speaking forth those idle words. Those people will have to answer to God for their idle words.
If we want our children to be blessed, we should call them blessed. If we want them to be intelligent, we should call them intelligent. If we want them to have wisdom, we should call them wise. It is time for us to take control of our tongues, and use them for God's purposes, instead of the enemies purposes. Why is this important to God? Because only those words that are spoken forth as words of blessing, or words of prophecy, can be used by Him to bring forth His will here upon the earth.
|
              |
Copyright © 2004 by Richard A. Murphy, Maranatha Life. All rights reserved.
