Words: They Kill or They Give Life

Words: They Kill or They Give Life                 Capt. Kelly Durant   10-2-2012

All day long we speak words. An amazing physiological ability really! I recall working with my deaf son as a child and every day for several thousand days it was hard work to get him to learn just a few words each day! An average toddler by age 3 can speak and arrange into sentences over 1,000 words. With 1,000 words you could speak a second language! What is it per day that people speak, 7,000 words for men, and 20,000 for women? That’s 7,300,00 per year!

Words help us express our needs and feelings but there is a serious factor involved with the words that everyone speaks. Our words are drastically affecting our bodies and spirits, and bringing about eternal consequences: either heaviness or joy, either blessings or a judgment. Matthew 12:37 For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.

First, I would like for you to understand a certain precept, God holds us to our words like a words on a contract. Our words determine our vocal acceptance of salvation or our vocal rejection of it. How many of you have confessed with your words Jesus as your savior? You are privileged. Romans 10: 9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.  The words we speak forge our eternal destiny! Confessing Jesus gives anyone who believes salvation from eternal death! God abides by your own words!

Before we get into a case study on people who speak vile words, let’s first lift up the power of positive words! Do you want to always feel encouraged? Psa. 100:4 I will enter into his gates with thanksgiving in my heart, I will enter into his courts with praise! It really works that you will always feel good when you praise the Lord out loud and lift up Jesus! Words are like air, like it or not, you must take them in and give them out in order to stay alive! The question is how healthy is your air?

Why do people love to listen to music? It is because certain words inspire the hearers and makes one want to live, love and fight for the right! (Unless it is evil violent music, of course) Jesus himself said, John 6:63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. And what is the word of life but God’s energy in you?

It is The Holy Spirit which comforts you with words in your mind to make you feel love, joy, and peace like you are in heaven! Don’t you feel you empowered and invincible when you take in God’s word? I do! You gain indescribable strength! But like breathing, you must take it in constantly! Like the song, ‘This is the air I breathe’! However, there are many other times that you or I feel inadequate and stupid. But I have always found comfort in this verse… Psalm 119:130 The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple. God’s word and the Holy Spirit will illuminate you and me to make us smarter than what you or I actually are! Do you believe it? God’s word can flow through us if we are pure in tune instruments.

Here is another precept: The more you fill up yourself with God’s word, the more inspired and empowered you will be! When I first started serving the Lord I would memorize a new scripture everyday just to keep my mind on the Lord. Isaiah 26:3 Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee. I got up to about 500 verses memorized and I recall many of them to this day and I have them in my mind ready to quote when the situation fits. So one way to keep your mind on the Lord and be encouraged all day long is to memorize God’s word repeating it in the morning, noon, and night.

Another thing I have learned by studying God’s word is to always filter the outside words one is hearing through the Bible’s precepts and wisdom found within the Word of God. Are the words someone is speaking to you of truth? Are they making you mad, sad, or glad? If so, determine if it is a manipulation of your emotions or a justifiable truth that requires an action from you or from someone else. Ask yourself, what purpose does the person talking have in sharing these words? Again, you have the responsibility to define in your mind how the words that you hear are affecting you, for good or for evil. It is amazing how words will either torture you or comfort you! Words always seem to play over and over in your mind. Words either inspire you and heal you, or depress you and make you sick!

Here is a good standard to filter words by, Philippians 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. We are commanded sift through words; to throw away the trash or worthless words and just keep the good ones in our minds that are pure and worthy of praise. If something is not in essence glorifying God, then we erase it out of your mind. Forget who said something bad too!

Some of you, I am sadly conscience of, are forced, by your family or work situation, to interact with carnal, selfish, unsaved unloving people that all day long produce nothing but depressing toxic words. Everything coming out of their mouths seems to be a curse word, a ridicule, a complaint, a sarcasm, or a tale with a plot for their benefit. Being around some people, listening to all their bitterness can cause you to feel sick or depressed!

Haven’t you and I observed how some people in this Corps literally get sick due to unkind words from people close to them? And what is our role? To heal them with Jesus words and pray for them and speak healing words to them! We share the joy we have. Proverbs 17:22A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.

Another thing, consider how words will condemn a person’s soul to destruction, for example, for people who curse God. Matthew 12:31 Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. The Holy Spirit is an internal voice of conscience and people who practice the occult, or people who oppose the the presence of God when He eternally speaks to them that Jesus really is real, rejecting conviction, these people live condemned by their own choice.

I have always thought that the phrase, “Go to hell” was one of the most terrible curse phrases ever used. Because the person speaking it for one, is not God to make that judgment call (God will never be mocked), and two, the person saying it must be truly evil to wish the flames of eternal fire on someone! Matthew 7:2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. The law of curses is that person will eventually reap what they have sewn.

Words, by God’s design, affect our body’s chemicals producing moods of joy or moods of depression. I recall as a young adult I was disturbed by the words of the Bible! You might say to me, excuse me? Why? Because I was living in sin and the Word was convicting me to change to give my life to the Lord and I didn’t want to give up my life of sin at that time! Here is one passage that disturbed me a lot. Luke 9:26 For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father's, and of the holy angels. But later when I gave up and surrendered all, and I started living to serve Jesus, these same words brought me great peace, that Jesus would not be ashamed of me because I was not ashamed of Him! Consider this: Words affect you according to how your heart is with God! This might explain why some people love certain sermons and others don’t like them!

Here is another factor on words, we should seek words that bring us wisdom. Proverbs 10:19 In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin: but he that refraineth his lips is wise. Proverbs 4:5 Get wisdom, get understanding: forget it not; neither decline from the words of my mouth.

If you are not full of God’s life giving words having your goals on obeying God to gain rewards in heaven and saving others while here on earth, then you are as an open house vulnerable for anything stray to come in. Not being full of God’s words of wisdom means you will be occupied and taken over easily (deceived) by any ones words. People fall into traps because they seek to gratify your own selfish ambitions.  So how can you protect yourself from deceitful words then?

Focus in on, pray over, and analyze the words that others speak to you. If a person sincerely says, “Oh, you look good today”, don’t you feel good inside? People reap what they sew. People who always say nice things to others also usually get nice things said back to them, have you noticed that? Proverbs 16:24 Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones. Literally words can heal! This is what prayer is all about, you are proclaiming God’s words of promises for the healing of your (or someone else’s) body or spirit!

Do a research on positive words. You will find hundreds of books on the powerful effects of positive words. Many self-help books are just a basic guide to getting you to speak positively so you will be more successful, and it actually works! For example, a person that usually would say, “I am too old to learn anything”, would seem to live out just that, an inability to learn. But if the person says to theirself, “I can learn anything I want because God will help me”, this person gets positive results! It is a law of nature to some degree that you pronounce your own success or fate! Of course your will has to line up with God’s will or it will not work.

However, be careful with the non-Biblical optimistic doctrines of speaking into existence your desires. You cannot just say, “I will be rich and I will be a millionaire”, and expect it to happen by magic. God’s will for your life may not be that you become rich but maybe He would prefer you to be rich in souls you would win for Jesus! God is interested in what will last for an eternity and that which is worth a lot more than our desires!

Here is the whole duty of a Christian concerning our words; the words of this verse affected my mind and changed my life. Psalm 19:14 Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer.  If you can pray this and practice it you will live blessed!

Proverbs 18:8 The words of a talebearer are as wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly. Today we are shocked how many people speak lies and false stories. A few years ago it seemed that we could recognize foolish talk, slander, or bad words at our jobs, or with in our families. Let’s take a typical scenario. Maria is a hard worker and does her job well. But Maria, being one of the prettiest women on the job as the cashier seems to attract all the young men to go to her to register to place their order. What happens? The usual typical reaction is she is getting stories told about her behind her back by the other women workers. Mean things get said about her, things like, “Oh, she is such a flirt (or worse)”. In society, people a few years ago would take this type of talk for granted that it was not true observing the comments were coming from a jealous person.

However, what has changed today is that the people are not verifying the source of the spoken words they hear. The just hear, swallow and repeat. People today are dangerously vulnerable to being deceived since truth is less valued than something interesting like a scandal. Over 70 years ago when Hitler said to kill all the Jews because they were the reason for their economic depression and poverty, everyone believed him!? And they followed through doing just that, killing innocent people. Today we observe that a majority of people live without God’s wisdom, truth, and knowledge, so this is why they just accept any misinformation of words from anyone. So what can we do? Pray for discernment!

Time reveals the evil or truth of words. You and I must resist the temptation to speak on a matter until we know more about it. Ecclesiastes 5:2Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few. Proverbs 21:23 Whoso keepeth his mouth and his tongue keepeth his soul from troubles.

In life each of us experience thousands of words every day and we are being constantly tried and tested and these words attribute to our blessings or to our condemnation. Each of us must choose our words, the ones we will hear, and the ones we will speak. Choose to hear the positive ones from God’s word! You will be happy and encouraged and powerful.

Choose to always praise God and share kind words to others! Choose also to resist toxic words that will make you sick through people who insult God and others. Don’t forget words come to us by personal conversations, by phone, by radio, by TV, by computer, by and news print. We choose moment by moment what we will hear, and what we will repeat. Proverbs 13:3 He that keepeth his mouth keepeth his life: but he that openeth wide his lips shall have destruction.

Concerning words: measure them by God’s word! Investigate the source, filter the content, and discern the motives behind them. You cannot control the words of others but you can control your words! Pray to gain wisdom! Repeat that which builds God’s kingdom of love, peace, and joy! Words in the end are power, for good or for evil! How many words do you use a day to pray and to bring about healing and good?

Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

The Storms in Life: What Action To Take

The Storms in Life: What Action To Take                  Capt. Kelly Durant  9-16-12

2. Earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, volcanoes, are all termed in the legal books as ‘Acts of God’. Why? Because these are powerful forces that no human being can produce, manipulate, or control!

As humans, we are, in the end, weak tiny creatures and often all of us get reminded by massive catastrophic events how defenseless we really are! Also we get reminded that we should build on the right foundation, that we need God!

3. We just passed the 11^th anniversary of 911 and sadly even more violence continues to happen abroad. Catastrophic events humble each of us. As Jesus reminded us that we are not like God, we cannot even make one of our hairs black or white. No one is a match to stop the pain of the massive catastrophes or ground shaking events that happen in our lives!

Nature destroys at times, but how sad it is when evil human nature destroys! These are not acts of God but acts of men!

4. I was in New Orleans for the last 2 weeks. Most everyone knows that it is famous for its mix of French and African cultures with the Catholic one. These combinations are similar to Central and South America. New Orleans is known for its wild partying in the streets, creative jazz music, and distinctive Cajun culture. I experienced a variety of different accents, and spicy sea food.  It is a place where the football team has the name “Saints” and the restaurants have the name “Voodoo”!?

It is very coincidentally disturbing that the storm, Isaac, hit New Orleans exactly 7 years to the day as Katrina. If you are superstitious or not, no matter how you look at it, God is in control and He allows everything for a purpose. No one died this time though, thank God he protected life! This is God’s love and mercy to all! But when life fails, consider this:   Ezekiel 33:11 Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?

5. No one should be surprised by these events since we who live on this earth know that man, and all creation, fell from perfection several millennia ago and came under a curse. Romans 8:22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.

Physical storms and floods invade the lives of millions every year. This is a product of creation’s fallen nature. Devastation, even without nature’s forces, comes into our personal lives as well. Destructive events provoke great losses, and we wonder, what is God’s purpose in this? God tests our compassion, for one.

6. I, with The Salvation Army teams, fed the victims from the canteen trucks serving the suffering. The people often expressed appreciation for the food that we were providing since they had no electricity for many days. We also gave out cleaning kits and Wal-Mart gift cards.  It was amazing to find most everyone expressed gratitude, even after having lost all furniture and everything, people were still thanking God that they were going to get through it all that and they were glad just to be alive!

7. Pain, apart from making us seek God, should bring us closer together to each other! In my experience the past 2 weeks, I discovered, by hundreds of conversations that many of the people who lived in the suburbs, that were flooded were quite neighborly, looking out for each other, and the elderly. The lesson of the pain of Katrina taught the people of New Orleans to be more united.

Before, in the days of Katrina the situation was much more hostile, but the conclusion that can be deducted is that many people have learned better ways of dealing with crises; by looking out for each other, and applying prayer, positive-ness, patience, and persistence! As Christians these are the qualities we promote!

8. Now, let’s compare the hit of the massive storm of Isaac to our personal lives. There are times that, due to the sins of others in the world, or due to our un-submitted to God nature, we suffer from bad choices. Adversity, loss, and the stripping away of all that we thought we had, may overwhelms many of us at some time or another in our life.    

The experience of people who lose everything by a disaster is not unique in many ways as it is a majority of the people who pass through some life-changing crisis sometime or another.

The storms of life are inevitable. Everyone goes through a storm of some kind. Some people lose everything by bad relationships or break-ups, or the death of a family member or a serious health problem. Other ones, like Job in the Bible, experience devastation due to invading events from the outside. Job kept his faith. Job 13:15 Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him.  Sadly, however, some people get bitter and blame everyone and God for their bad times. Recovery will not come with this attitude.

9. The frightening reality is that any one of us could lose our property, family, friends, and/or our health, overnight! It is in these painful times that we must exercise even more our faith to get us through. And, if we pray, and allow friends to be there for us, we will come out like pure gold refined in the fire as Job.

Some storms, or turmoil, come from the consequences of us having made bad choices. Why would anyone choose to build in flood area is always a question that reoccurs. Some people are just unwilling to give up their way of doing things to move to safety. But most of all, why would anyone chose to live without being close to Jesus, without establishing their life on the rock foundation, is the question that should disturb us.

10. Jesus points out that some are wise, and some are foolish. Matt 7:24-27   24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: 25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. 26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: 27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.

The sand is the world and Jesus is the rock. Without faith and God’s strength, all we have collected over time, our efforts, our productions and goods, all will be washed away without supporting our lives on God’s salvation. People that lose all but have God, remain strong; those who don’t have Him usually go crazy.

11. And consider what Paul writes…

I Cor. 3:13 Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.14 If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.15 If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.

God is the fire. Deuteronomy 4:24 For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God. In the final presentation of our souls returning to our Creator, it will be like a person running out of house on fire. He or she will escape alive, but everything that is not of God in their life, or in your life, will vanish into smoke! But what you did for God; that you will get to keep forever!

12. Many people in life have had to start over. What you as a good Christian will not lose, if you are firm on the foundation of God, is your faith, and your place in heaven with your rewards for the works you have done on earth.

In this country, and all around the world, most people are not right now rebuilding their houses due to a physical storm that has devastated their property but rather they are recovering from a personal loss, a heavy spiritual battle that has hit them hard. Many people do want to rebuild on Jesus, but they need help.

We are living in hard times and those not experiencing pain must help those who are in pain. After experiencing a loss, after a deep injury, the biggest question by them is, where do I start to rebuild? We must help and guide one another.

13. Sin, like a storm, destroys not just the one who practices it, but all the ones close by as well. Never is just one house flooded, it is entire neighborhoods!

In society today, when you consider bankruptcy, divorce, addictions, and selfishness, it is more than one in every two homes that has suffered destruction of some kind. Devastation may have come by an act of God, or by an attack of the enemy, or it may also have been brought on by someone’s sin, even your own sin.

It is sad reality that many of our Corps members, amongst everyone we know, we conclude that the storms in life have caused many to end up with broken dreams, broken relationships, and broken hearts, and also end up with no money as well!

The effects of sin we can compare to the destructiveness of a storm. At first it seems far away and few believe it may cause any danger. The reality is very few people ever prepare for a storm with survival goods.  God’s Word, our faith, and His strength in us made perfect in our weakness… is our survival equipment!

So how do we escape the pain of losing it all? Why not just give it all up all to Jesus today? The disciples gave up everything. Do a preemptive offensive.

14. Matthew 4:19-21  19 And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. 20 And they straightway left their nets, and followed him.

When Peter, James & John abandoned their fishing business to follow Jesus they appeared to have lost everything. It was the same as if a storm had blown their ships away. But they gave it all up for Jesus, the One who would reward them forever in heaven for following Him! And they gained the status of being one of the first of the faithful. Multi-millions of Christians have admired, studied, and respected the disciples ever since, and in heaven they have honored seats. Ask yourself, am I willing to give up my ship, my life, everything for Jesus?

15. To gain something better than what you will lose there must be a step of prevention. How do you prevent a fire from burning down a forest? You do a controlled burn, so that no dry leaves on the ground could burn hot enough or high enough to catch the limbs of the trees on fire. This is done in most national parks in the U.S. This is the lesson from the verses in I Cor.3:13.  Are you ready to do a controlled burning up of the things not of God in your life? Purge out the sin!

How do you escape a loss from a flood?  You build in an area where there is no flooding, on a higher ground with a solid rock foundation.

16. Many people in the world, not just in New Orleans, right now are in the phase of rebuilding what they have lost. In many places you see torn out carpet, cabinets, and drywall making huge piles of rubbish near the street.

Don’t worry if people see your trash. You cannot stay alive in a house and not get sick if you do not remove the rotting wood, the slime mold, and the mud filled mattress! A pile of your trash out front is a healthy indicator that you have decided to no longer live with filth!

Burn away the trash! Move away from the flood area! Rebuild your life on Jesus today and nothing in the future will affect you!

Let the old be burned or buried and replace it with the new. The physical things can be compared to the spiritual things in each of our own lives. Start building as of right now a strong foundation of faith in The Lord. Connect more with others of the faith, read & study the Bible more so you will know better how to save and help your own self! Soon afterwards, you will be able to help save others as well!

Christians are survivors! They have endured 2,000 years of losing it all due to persecution and torture and this continues today! If you have gone through a storm or you are going through one now, remember, where there is life there is hope.

Don’t just not do anything and lose it all when you die either! That would be a total loss! Starting today, get rid of the things and people in your life that are worthless, selfish, and self-destructive, in other words don’t tolerate “sin”.

Do what you have to so you will never have to worry about future storms. Storms will come and go but you will be just fine, strong and prepared, because your treasure consists not in the things of earth, but in the heavenly ones.