(Ver 1.2)  This is now Part 4 in the series of very important lessons on spoken words found in the Bible.  If you have not read this series from the beginning I would suggest that you go and start reading with “Part 1“.  The Bible contains some of the strongest language on what people say.  Either Christians are not aware of this or they simply ignore it and pretend that it does not apply to them.  God says in His Word that it is impossible for Him to lie.  We can obviously see that with men and women in the world this is entirely possible.  In my earlier blogs on spoken words I talked about the sword of your mouth and how it cuts two ways.  A double edged sword proceeding out of your mouths, is a symbolic representation that tells us words have spiritual power.  You can speak good things or you can speak evil things.  Speaking evil things is much more than just speaking lies, as well as speaking good things is more than just speaking the truth.  There is an established precedence in the Bible that spoken words establish blessings and in the opposite realm spoken words can also establish curses.  Today I will explore this subject in more depth.  Let me give you my foundational scripture reference s from the Book of James, let’s read them carefully:

Jas 3:8  But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.

Jas 3:9  Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God.

Jas 3:10  Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.

You can clearly see that God is talking about your mouth, your tongue and the words that they produce. It is mentioned in verse 8, with the concept of the tongue being a potential poisonous serpent.  That does not sound good, does it?  Then in verse 10 it says your tongue can produce both blessings and curses.  What are the blessings and cursing that this tongue produces?  We are not talking about curse words, those 4 letter words that mature Christians do not normally say, although these could be a small part of what God is talking about.  Let’s get a Bible example of cursing something.  In the book of Mark, Jesus is visiting Jerusalem and traveling in and out of the city.  One day Jesus on his walk, views a fig tree and walks up to it and finding no fruit on it, Jesus does the following:

Mar 11:14  And Jesus answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever. And his disciples heard it.

Many people read these stories in the Bible, but ignore the point that is being made.   Was the words of Jesus a blessing to the tree or a cursing to the tree?  Jesus looks at the fig tree and does not find any fruit on it.  I do not believe that Jesus is angry at the tree, but I do believe that He chooses to use the barren fruitless fig tree to demonstrate a very powerful spiritual life and death lesson to His disciples.   Jesus does not pray, or ask anyone else to do anything.  Jesus simply looks at the tree and speaks words directly to it.  Please notice that these words were not positive.  The negative words were directed only at the bare fig tree, but they were loud enough for everyone near Him to hear them.  The next day Jesus and the same disciples are passing back by the same fig tree and Peter stops everyone and says this:

Mar 11:21  And Peter calling to remembrance saith unto him, Master, behold, the fig tree which thou cursedst is withered away.

Peter tells Jesus, that the fig tree which He had cursed was dead.  Jesus had just spoken  negative words to something inanimate and living and Peter remembered it and called it speaking a curse.   Notice that Jesus did not dispute it or deny it.  The definition of this word “cursed” in the Strong’s means to “doom” and to “execrate”.   To speak words that have a very negative effect on something is a better definition of the word.  Jesus spoke some very simple words and said “No man eat fruit from you hereafter forever” and that resulted in the tree dying within 24 hours.  Of course Jesus was God and this does not apply to you and me, and if you think that is true then you are wrong.  Nowhere in the Bible does it say that God came to the earth in His omnipotent Godhead powers.  In fact if we study and search the Bible we will find the opposite being taught to us.  In Acts 10:38 it says God had to anoint Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost power to do miracles.  If Jesus was God in full power of the Godhead, Jesus would not need to be anointed by God, would he?  Then in Hebrews 2:17 it says Jesus was made like us, his brothers.  Jesus was a natural man and the Son of God at the same time.   Jesus Christ the God Man became like the rest of us and chooses to become like one of His creations:

Php 2:7  But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:

Php 2:8  And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

These two verses in Philippians are very interesting.  The term that Jesus “made of himself no reputation”, can be taken as He removed or separated Himself from His Deity power.  Think about the “reputation of God” and then compare that with the reputation of Jesus Christ (the Anointed).  These verses tell us very clearly that God became like a man.  He looked like a man, he walked like a man, he talked like a man, he got tired like a man, he slept like a man, he ate like a man and went to the bathroom like a man.  If God was here in his full deity power, you would not see some of the things that we see in the Bible.    Jesus got hungry and thirsty, Jesus slept,  Jesus wept, I mean look at the characteristics of God and see how they change in the life of Jesus Christ.  While hanging on the cross Jesus said “I thirst”.  Would God in his omnipotent power ever be thirsty?  If Jesus Christ was here in the full deity power of the Almighty it would have been impossible to kill him physically, yet we see Jesus dying on a cross.  Then there is the temptation of Jesus in the Gospels that I mentioned in the last lesson in this series.  Jesus fasts for 40 days so he is obviously hungry and weak physically.   Satan tries to get Jesus to do something simple for an Almighty God to do, by turning stones into bread.  This is not something that is hard for God to do, is it?  Why is this consider a temptation to God the omnipotent?   It would only be a temptation if God had stripped himself of his deity power and was here on the earth operating within the limitations and constraints, like a normal human male.  Do you understand this?

Heb 4:15  For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.

How is it even possible to tempt an omniscient God?  A God who knows everything is unable to be tested or tried like a human yet that is what this verse said happened.  Therefore, we cannot believe Jesus was God in His full deity abilities or this would invalidate the truth found here in Hebrews 4:15.  If God is God and has the power and ability to create whatever He wants, whenever He wants how is it possible to ever tempt Him?  You see in this verse in Hebrews it clearly says that Jesus can identify with how we feel.  Because He was tempted in the exact same way that we are tempted, yet He did not sin.  Was it possible for Jesus to sin?  If it was not possible for Jesus to sin, it would not be a temptation to Him.  If He was here as God, it would have been impossible to tempt Jesus with anything.  Do people understand that Jesus was tempted in every way just like we are?  How is this even possible if He is here in His Omnipotent Glorious Ability?    Obviously it is not possible, so what does that teach us?

There are just so many references in the Bible to the man Jesus Christ not being in His omnipotent Godhead power that I cannot give you them all.  I will give you another couple of examples of Jesus healing the sick.  Was there anything that hindered or kept Jesus from healing anybody?   You see if Jesus was God in his omnipotent power, no one would ever not get healed, if that is what God wanted to do.  Do you agree?  However, we find some conflicts with this thinking in the scriptures.  If you read the 6th chapter of Mark you find some very interesting things occur.  Jesus is visiting his hometown and place where he was raised as a child.  But, when Jesus tries to heal people there, this is what the Bible says:

Mar 6:5  And he could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them.

So it did not say that Jesus would not heal anybody, it said He could not heal anybody.  A mighty work is easy by any of God’s omnipotent standards, yet Jesus is unable to do anything mighty here, so obviously we have a situation that is very hard to explain away.  Either Jesus was not operating in His Godhead Omnipotent power or there is a force greater than God that kept him from it.  What do you think it was?   I do not believe there is any force greater than God’s power so Jesus must have made the decision not to use this power.  There are many other scriptures that you should take note of, but I will stop there for now.

The Jewish O.T. Bible says “God is not a man” (Num 23:19), therefore, the majority of the Jews did not recognize Him when He became a man in Jesus.  Today we have the same foolish philosophy and reasoning in the reverse being projected that says Jesus was God in His full deity power and this is how He did all the miraculous things that He did.   People put God in their religious box and expect Him to abide by their rules and this is a major mistake.  Is God still God?  If God chooses to do something different than what you like to think about on how God is supposed to act, can He only do that?   If God wants to come to earth in the form of a man without using His deity powers in manifestation, can God do that?  Is it legal?  Is it even possible?  I believe it was God’s choice to what He did and how He does it without our input or consultation.  Obviously we need to realize that we have a lot to learn.

So let’s explore the flip side of the coin and look at the blessings.  A blessing like a curse is a word based expression that someone speaks out of their mouth that results in a positive outcome.  There are a lot of examples of this in the Bible and I will give you only a few of them:

Gen 1:22  And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.

There is an established pattern of words of blessings found in this verse in Genesis.  Can you see how these words contrast with the example that Jesus showed the disciples when speaking a curse to the fig tree?  By the law of first reference also called the law of first mention, we can discover that Spoken words from God can contain blessings.  Blessing are what I will call “word containers” filled with love, favor, goodness and mercy within them.  The words of curses that Jesus spoke were containers filled with poison.  Uh oh.  I believe we are now learning something very profound.

If God would have said nothing, there would have been no blessing from Him given even if He thought great thoughts about them.  What we should realize is that silence is not always a blessing.  I just like to call silence “Empty” buckets waiting to be filled.  In many service times in churches people stand up for a moment of silence, thinking they are paying honor or respect to someone or something.   I have not found a Bible verse to confirm this practice, have you?   Could silence be something that Satan wants us to do instead of speaking a blessing over them?  Could this silence simply be those empty containers awaiting to be filled with a positive expression?  I believe that we can learn a very valuable spiritual lesson from this verse in Genesis.  God speaks positive words as full containers of blessing to His children and the result was a positive God given outcome that occurred in their lives or we could also say this was God’s vision of possibility that was being transferred to his creation.   I believe that this was the establishment of the spiritual law of either Blessings and Curses from spoken word containers being taught to us.  God was teaching Adam and Eve by His awesome example, however, I’m not really sure if they got it.

Let’s move into the 27th chapter of Genesis and see the story of Isaac and his son Jacob.  We know that Jacob became the Father of the natural nation of Israel.  But, how did this occur, since he was not the firstborn son of Isaac?  If you recall the story, I’ll shorten it in order to get to the part I need to get to.  Jacob got Esau to sell his birth right for a meal.  Later, Jacob’s mother helps Jacob implement a plan to get the blessing from his father Isaac.  Isaac comes to his father when he was very old and he brings him a meal and some drink.  Jacob is also dressed like Esau and smells like Esau.

Gen 27:23  And he discerned him not, because his hands were hairy, as his brother Esau’s hands: so he blessed him.

Isaac is tricked into blessing the younger son Jacob, thinking that he is blessing Esau.

Gen 27:27  And he came near, and kissed him: and he smelled the smell of his raiment, and blessed him, and said, See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which the LORD hath blessed:

This is the beginning of the blessing, but not the end of it.  What we again see is the established pattern of God being passed down upon the generations.  Just as God blessed Adam and Eve with His words, Jacob is now getting the words of blessings of his father.

Gen 27:28  Therefore God give thee of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine:

Gen 27:29  Let people serve thee, and nations bow down to thee: be lord over thy brethren, and let thy mother’s sons bow down to thee: cursed be every one that curseth thee, and blessed be he that blesseth thee.

Jacob receives the words of blessings from his father Isaac.  Jacob then goes out with the blessing and his brother Esau comes in from hunting and asking for the blessing.  But, Isaac is very surprised saying “who are you”?   Who was it that I blessed earlier?

Gen 27:33  And Isaac trembled very exceedingly, and said, Who? where is he that hath taken venison, and brought it me, and I have eaten of all before thou camest, and have blessed him? yea, and he shall be blessed.

If you read this carefully you will discover a principle, it is not as easy to take back your words after they have already been spoken.  There are just a lot of Christians who do not have a clue what I just said and how it applies to them.  If they say something by mistake they simply think it is OK to start over and do it again.  It’s funny Isaac did not take this position or attitude.   Isaac knew what was done was done.   The blessing was given and it would not be taken back.   Like I have said before, your words have more power and significance than you can imagine.

Gen 27:34  And when Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with a great and exceeding bitter cry, and said unto his father, Bless me, even me also, O my father.

Esau pleads with his father for him to bless him also.  But, Isaac says that it is too late:

Gen 27:35  And he said, Thy brother came with subtilty, and hath taken away thy blessing.

This chapter in Genesis contains some amazing information, if you learn to apply it to your life in the here and now.  Words are significantly powerful and can bless others, transfer blessings, transfer authority and ownership,  and they are a legal contract in the eyes of God.  Like Isaac you should learn to be a man or woman of your word, stand up and stand behind your words.  Mean what you say and only say what you mean.  Esau did not get a blessing from his father, because the blessing had already been given to Jacob.  This represents character and moral fiber that few have in our world today.

There are just so many stories in the Bible about the blessings of God, I’ll just give you one more example from the O.T.    This next story is also from Genesis and occurs in the 48th chapter.  Joseph brings his two sons to Israel to be blessed.  Israel is presented the sons with the older son on his right hand and the younger son on his left hand.  The older son is expected to receive the Right Hand of blessing and the younger the Left Hand of blessing.  But, Israel crosses his hands over and speaks the blessing upon his grandsons.   Again we see a principle that Words are the mechanism of blessing containers being transferred upon these children.  But, the hands are also being placed here with great significance and meaning.

Gen 48:20  And he blessed them that day, saying, In thee shall Israel bless, saying, God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh: and he set Ephraim before Manasseh.

Joseph was not happy that his younger son got Israel’s right hand blessing.  So there must have been meaning and significance to what happened.  If it did not mean anything, it would not have mattered would it?  The right hand of blessing is intended for the older son and Israel gave it to the younger.  The net result was the younger son became a greater people in the eyes of God.  So what you do and what you say matters and makes a difference in the life’s of your children.   Learn the lessons from the Bible of the power of the blessing and then learn not to curse your children with your the words of your mouth and they will achieve and rise to level of what you have spoken over them.  Words are seeds that grow in young hearts.  If you tell your children they are nothing and nobody good, that is exactly what they become.

Mar 10:16  And he took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them.

People while Jesus walked the face of the earth realized the potential for the blessing still existed.  People would bring their little children to Jesus for Him to bless them.  There were those who tried to stop people from bringing their children to Jesus, but Jesus rebuked them and told them not to do this.  Jesus said this is a spiritual law and a foundational way of the Kingdom of Heaven.  To touch someone and speak positive words of blessings has a benefit that you probably do not fully understand.  Children today are growing up and their parents put curses upon them rather than blessings.  As a result the children grow up cursed.  Your children will live up to your words, either positive or negative.  What you transfer into them, is what they will achieve to.   What you speak over them, is what they will become.  It is a spiritual law found in the Bible.

If you like to continue reading this series of lessons on spoken words, you can go to “Part 5“.