By Joy Haney
Notice in a portion of the verse in Malachi 3:16 that they not only thought upon the name, but they spoke often one to another. You speak only what is computed into your brain. The whole verse is about fearing the Lord and thinking upon His name, so it is evident what their conversation was about. It centered around the name and the power of the name. The Word was rich to them, not something to be endured, but they ate it as a child would eat cotton candy. It was something to be desired. It was a treat, not only for special occasions, but every day the name was like honey or chocolate. It was never stale, boring, or musty; it quivered with delight on the tips of their tongues.
You get what you say! Be careful what you say, for it shall come to pass. Words never die; they are forever floating in the universe. Scientists tell us that the sound waves set in motion by our voices go upon an endless journey through space, and that, had we instruments deli-cate enough, and the power to take our stand upon some planet years afterwards, we might find them again and recreate the words we spoke. All words are recorded in heaven; yes, even the idle ones.
Jesus showed the power of the spoken faith.
And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God. For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith (Mark 11:22-23).
The little woman with the issue of blood spoke her healing before she was healed. “For she said within herself, If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole” (Matthew 9:21). She talked to herself. Jesus said, “Thy faith hath made thee whole.” In other words, “The things you have spoken and believed have come to pass.”
Whatever is spoken shall come to pass, if faith is accompanied with the spoken word. The words can be words of doubt or they can be words of faith. Whatsoever he says shall come to pass.
Jesus told the story about the man who went to his friend at midnight to ask of bread. The friend would not get up, so the man just kept knocking until his friend got up and gave him bread. He got what he asked for. Jesus ended the story with these words: “And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For everyone that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and he that knock-eth it shall be opened” (Luke 11:9-10). Faith was in the voice, purpose, and the knock; faith received, found, and opened the door. Faith always receives and opens doors that are sealed shut.
Jesus told the people that their words formed their destiny. “But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment, For by thy words thou shalt he justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned” (Matthew 12:36-37).
You can talk yourself into a miracle, or you can talk yourself out of a miracle. You can live by speaking words of faith, or you can write your own death sentence. Words such as these are words of doom: “I don’t know what we’re going to do. Everything’s a mess!” “The doctors say I only have six months to live, so I’m getting my house in order.” “We have tried everything, and nothing works. Everything just looks hopeless.” On and on the expressions of doubt, fear, and unbelief speak forth from the lips of men and women daily on the face of the earth. No wonder there is such a negative feeling in the government, politics, homes, and schools. Everyone is speaking man’s wisdom, and their eyes are on the circumstances. Few men and women have their minds and thoughts centered on the name of the Lord.
Listen to the conversation around you when there is a long line at the counter, or when everything looks gloomy in the world situation. Everyone joins in and speaks the same thing. Hopelessness, despair, gripes, complaints, anger, and everything negative in general.
The power of the spoken word is phenomenal! Examine the story of the twelve spies. When Moses sent the in to spy out Canaan, they came back with two conflicting reports. Ten of the spies told the people that they were not able to take the land because of the giants.
And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it. But the men that went up with him. said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we. And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature. And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight (Numbers 13:30-33).
They saw themselves as small, and so they believed their enemy saw them the same way. Their conception of them-selves was rooted in their subconscious mind. Their future was mapped out according to their thoughts and conceptions. They had not spoken to the enemy, they just assumed this to be. Their eyes were focused on themselves instead of the power of their God. God had already spoken to them and told them He would give them the land. It was as good as done, but they did not believe the spoken word of God. They believed instead the apparent impossibilities.
Why does the general public like the negative report, and why does it listen to the negative instead of the positive?
This is exactly what happened in the case of the children of Israel. One speech against another speech. The negative are always the majority. The report of the ten spies was based on men’s wisdom, and it influenced the people to cry out against their leader, Moses. When Joshua and Caleb saw the effect of the speech of the ten spies upon the people, they tried one more time to convince them that the report was not right.
And they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land. If the Lord delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which floweth with milk and honey. Only rebel not ye against the Lord, neither fear ye the people of the land, for they are bread for us; their defence is departed from them, and the Lord is with us: fear them not (Numbers 14:7-9).
Powerful speech? It was so powerful that the children of Israel picked up stones and wanted to stone them. They did not want to hear the report of faith. They wanted to believe the evil report of doubt. God appeared at that precise moment to Moses in a glory cloud and God was angry because they did not have faith in Him.
And the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, How long shall I bear with this evil congregation, which murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against me. Say unto them, As truly as I live, saith the Lord, as ye have spoken in mine ears, so will do to you. Your carcasses shall fall in this wilder-ness…(Numbers 14:26-29).
God had two opinions about the two speeches. He said about Caleb, “But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and bath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land…” (Numbers 14:24). Death came to those who gave the report of doubt. “Even those men that did bring up the evil report upon the land, died by the plague before the Lord” (Numbers 14:37). There are still two factions in the church–those that speak words of faith and those that speak words of doubt. Which side are you on?
Be careful what you speak. Words are as powerful as steel. They hammer into the consciousness of men and of God and form the basis of all actions. Wars are started by mere words. In the momentous hour when Nazism was just coming into existence, Hitler spoke to a group of people in a beer cellar in Munich. His inflammatory words, which bristled with hate, were mirrored in the hardened faces of the evil group, and soon they engulfed the world in war. An artist has portrayed the scene, putting on canvas the facial reactions of the group to Hitler’s fiery words. He titled the painting, In the Beginning Was the Word.
People are estranged bywords. Murders are committed because of violent words. The spoken word is as good as done, so be careful what you say.
Five words caused Zacharias to endure forty weeks of silence. When the angel appeared to him as he was executing the priest’s office, he told him, “…Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elizabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John. And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth. For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord…” (Luke 1:13-15).
The next moment in history was an important one. The next words spoken were words of destiny for Zacharias. His words would either be words of faith or words of doubt. What were they? “And Zacharias said unto the angel, Whereby shall I know this? for I am an old man, and my wife well stricken in years” (Luke 1:18). He just could not believe that this could be. It sounded too far-out or impossible.
Because of his words of unbelief, the angel told him, “…thou shalt be dumb, and not able to speak, until the day that these things shall he performed, because thou believest not my words…” (Luke 1:20). The people could not figure out what had happened to the priest. They wondered why he was taking so long, and when he came out he beckoned to them. They thought he had seen a vision because he was speechless. God took away the very thing that had caused his predicament in the first place: the power of the tongue to speak.
The power is in the tongue. “But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach” (Romans 10:8). You have to work at being able to speak words of faith, because man is naturally negative. The mind must be filled with the powerful Word of God, so that the extension of the mind, the tongue, can speak words of faith.
The Lord hears every single word that we speak. We either delight God’s heart or we weary Him with our words. “Ye have wearied the Lord with your words” (Malachi 2:17). How refreshing it is for the Lord to hear a group gathered together for a prayer meeting speaking about what God is able to do and what God is going to do. His eyes are upon them whether they be in America, Korea, Africa, Europe, Asia, or any other part of the world. He smiles upon those of pure faith and gives them special visitations of the spirit. They are walking in a dimension of faith where to them everything is possible. They just believe that with God all things are possible, and the worse the situation, the greater the miracle will be. They do not talk about Aunt Mary’s death when someone asks prayer for cancer. They pray in faith telling the cancer to be canceled in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the power of the blood. They do not equate circumstances with negative things in the past; they only apply the word and faith in the Word and believe for a miracle. These are the people that have the approval of God. He says about them as He said about Caleb, “They have another spirit.”
The spirit of Joshua and Caleb was revealed by their words. Words are simply the mind speaking its contents.
The Lord wants his people to give blessing and not cursing. The mouth speaks these forth.
Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren…not rendering evil for evil..but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called that ye should inherit a blessing. For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil…For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers; but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil (I Peter 3:8-12).
The children of Israel spoke their own curse. They could have chosen blessing, but their mouth brought the curse upon them. They did not bless one another, they cursed one another. Because of the evil speaking, they had to walk in the wilderness forty years. That was not the original plan of God, but they spoke it into existence. How many Christians today wander in the maze of a spiritual wilderness, and wonder why God never does things for them, and does everything for someone else? We need to all examine what we are filling our mind with, and what we are speaking. Anything that exalts itself against the knowledge of God is evil. Any thought or imagination that supersedes the Word of God must be brought down forcibly and replaced by power thoughts. Words of faith can he spoken from way down deep, but before that happens he fountain has got to be cleansed.
Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren these things ought not to be. Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter? (James 3:9¬11
Words only erupt out of the source. They are already in the mind before they are spoken. Liquid thoughts become words of substance. It is essential that the mind first be cleansed from fear and doubt in order to bless a world with the language of faith.
We must bless one another with words of faith. Before we speak words of faith, we must first believe. “We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak” (II Corinthians 4:13).
Two weeks ago, I was heading home from church when I felt prompted by the spirit to go to a certain grocery store. The original plans were for me to go the following day, but such a strong feeling came over me to go that night that I turned the car around and went there immediately. The minute I got out of the car and started walking towards the store, I thought I saw someone familiar. I glanced away, but saw a lady who had just prayed through recently come walking hurriedly towards me. As soon as we got within speaking distance, she said, “Oh, Sister Haney, you are an angel. I just prayed that the Lord would send someone to encourage me. I just got word that my husband is leaving me for another woman and I am just devastated.”
The presence of the Lord enveloped the two of us as I told her, “Honey, let’s pray right now.” We joined hands there in the parking lot and prayed a prayer of faith. We took authority and prayed against the evil work of’ Satan, the destroyer of marriages. Then I quoted to her Philippians 1:6 and Mark 11:22-24. She left with tears in her eyes but with faith in her heart, and said, “I feel so encouraged. I know God is going to answer our prayer.”
As I drove away my whole body tingled with the presence of the Lord. He had sent me on a mission, and I had not let Him down. It was the greatest feeling in the world. No, I did not speak to a great audience, no bells were rung, but God was smiling on me. I felt it so strongly. It was the most glorious experience. This is what life is all about–speaking words of faith to all we meet, and pointing them to hope in Jesus Christ!
The above article “Saith Faith” is written by Joy Haney. This article was excerpted from chapter twelve in Haney’s book Great Faith.
The material is copyrighted and should not be repainted under any other name or author. However, this material may freely be used for personal study or purposes.
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