The Power in Your Words...

Have you ever heard voices coming from inanimate objects?  Well, I sure did this morning.  While I was preparing my breakfast I suddenly jumped when I heard my pocket talking to me!  It was not as much of a twilight zone experience as you may think though…  I must have bumped up against the sink and accidentally activated the voice control on my IPhone in my pocket.  It the quiet of the morning I heard my pocket saying: “Call Mom and Dad Berruto!”

I had to laugh as I pulled out my phone and listened to it ringing.  I called over to my wife who was sitting at the kitchen table and told her what was happening and said “Wouldn’t it be funny if they actually answered… from heaven?”  (My folks passed on a year or so ago)

After I turned the phone off I began to recall my Mom’s bright and cheery voice, greeting me as we spoke just about every morning until they moved to the Assisted Living complex a couple of years ago.  My Mom was definitely a morning person.  She like to get up early, exercise and then begin preparing breakfast as the rest of the family would begin to stir.  It was always a joy to walk into the bright, sunny kitchen first thing in the morning and see her happily standing near the stove with a big smile and an encouragingly happy “Good Morning!”

My wife is like my Mom in many ways, but being up and bright in the morning was not one of them, at least not in the early days of our marriage.  Over the years that all changed and it soon became the best thing in my day when I would awake to her beautiful smile and cheery “Good Morning Honey!”  Now that she doesn’t talk that much, I sorely miss the sound, the pitch and that little familiar crackle in her voice!

Another voice that I enjoy and look forward to hearing each morning is the voice of Papa God as He shares His daily plan with me.  You might ask how I hear His voice… well, I’ll tell you… It is through the voice of His Word within the pages of my Bible!  Hebrews 4:12 tells us that “God’s word is living and active…” (God’s Word ©) and when I read it, it is as if He is speaking directly to me through His voice that is written on each page.

As I listened to His voice in Luke 4:21 earlier today, I suddenly came to the realization that in what is most likely His first public sermon, Jesus pointed His listeners to His Word!  Then it dawned on me that His last recorded sermon to His disciples also pointed them to His Word!  I may not be the brightest light in the room, but I definitely get the idea that Jesus wanted us to know how important His Word is to be to us who believe in Him.

Just prior to His resurrection, Jesus told His disciples that “all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Go ye therefore and teach…” (Matthew 28:18-19 God’s Word ©/KJV)  The answer to the question of what to teach is unveiled in Mark’s rendition of that incident when he wrote “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel…” (Mark 16:15 KJV)  Jesus laid the foundation of our work on this earth by instructing us to go out and teach or preach and share His Word to the broken and needy individuals that we interact with on a daily basis, everywhere we go!

A few verses later Mark ends his book by accenting Jesus’ point in declaring “And they went forth, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with (them), and confirming the word with signs following.” (Mark 16:20 KJV)  You may notice that I put parentheses around the word “them.”  The reason behind this is because that particular word is not actually in the original language.  It was added by the translators because they felt it would better complete the intent of the sentence.  I think that we get a better understanding of Jesus’ previous statements though, when you leave out that word!

Without the addition of “them” we tend to get a stronger idea of the importance of the Word in our lives.  Without it the verse reads: “And the Lord working with and confirming the Word with signs following.”  I firmly believe that the writer’s intent was to demonstrate how Jesus works today through the living and active power of His Word that is spoken through our lips and followed through by our subsequent actions of faith!

In Matthew 28:18-19 Jesus informs us that His authority is in His Word!  John 1:1 tells us that Jesus and His Word are one and the same.  So it tends to make sense that when we speak out and act upon His Word that it is just the same as if Jesus was doing it Himself… through you and me!  Kind of cool isn’t it!  When Jesus spoke to sin, sickness and disease when He was on the earth, things happened… and I think that we should expect the same when we speak His Word in faith.  I John 4:17 declares that “as he is, so are we in this world.”  (KJV)  Hummm… makes you think doesn’t it!

So let me ask you as we begin this second full week in 2015, are you expecting to see the same things that Jesus saw when He spoke His Word on this earth?  Are you expecting to see His Word spoken through your mouth and acted upon in your life to be confirmed with signs following them?  The end of the books of Matthew and Mark tell of many of these signs, but the greatest is when an individual’s heart is instantly born-again and they become a brand new creation in Christ!  That’s the kind of miracles that I want to see happening to those that I speak out His Word to!  How about you?  Have a great week.  Stay in tune to and speaking out His Word, and keep asking yourself… “What signs am I expecting today?”