Lesson 2. The Power of Words. A school from “Faith and Confession” that lays an amazingly deep foundation on the Word of God. Charles Capps teaches how to activate the power of God in your life.
Lesson 2. The Power of Words
Most people never even think about the power of words. Have you ever thought that what you say is foundational to our lives?
Words can mislead us. Words can come to pass. Think about it. The words we speak can build either faith or fear. So, when we talk about what we say, we are talking about things that have power.
Let us begin with the Book of Genesis, where God looked upon the darkness that covered the earth.
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth
Now the earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. Gen. 1:1–3
Did you notice that the Spirit of God was hovering over the water? There was water, there was darkness, and there was the Spirit of God. But nothing began to exist until words were spoken. God said, “Let there be light!” and when God spoke, it—the light—came into existence.
His words were His creative power. Today, so many people think that words are not an important part of life. Surely you have heard people make statements like this: “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” Nothing could be further from the truth. Words can even kill you. If you do not know how to use words, they can even destroy you.
The integrity of the upright guides them, but the unfaithfulness of the treacherous destroys them. Book of Proverbs 11:3
Unfaithfulness is deceitful and contradictory speech. The Book of Proverbs says a great deal about deceitful lips—about lying and contradictory speech, that is, speech that contradicts what we truly believe.
Many people speak deceitfully. They do not know why they do it. You need to get rid of this inexplicable habit.
People often say something completely different from what they think and mean. I am sure you have heard people say, “Oh, what a huge, toothy dog!” when looking at a tiny Chihuahua.
This is exactly what the Bible calls deceitfulness. Such speech is false and contradictory. By speaking this way, you say the exact opposite of what you truly believe or think.
God created human beings in His image and likeness. The Word of God is His will for humanity. By saying human being, I mean all humanity. A person's words—that is, your words—should express your desire in agreement with God's will. We truly should not say aloud what we would not want to happen in our lives.
Life and Death Are in the Power of the Tongue
In English, there is a saying: “What you don't know can't hurt you.” But the truth is that what you don't know can even kill you.
Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit. Book of Proverbs 18:21
We are talking about how to make our words be in harmony with the Word of God.
The Word of God hidden in a person's heart, then spoken through the tongue and lips, becomes spiritual power that releases the might of the Lord. These are words conceived in a person's spirit; he becomes, as it were, pregnant with them. Then, through the tongue, he gives them voice. Have you ever noticed that we speak articulately?
The Word of God, when sown in a person's heart and then spoken with the mouth, releases God's possibilities. God intended His Word to work precisely in this way.
This also applies to other words. For example, if we quote the devil's words—something negative—we release the devil's power. It is that simple.
Many people cannot understand why we need to talk and teach so much about confession. Some criticize us for our teaching on confession and for teaching about the power of the Word of God proceeding from our mouths.
But in reality, what we are doing is simply biblical truth. We are simply showing you how to use the principles of the Word of God.
God's Principles
God's principles are directly connected with the principles of faith and confession.
The Bible says that faith comes by hearing the Word of God.
It does not say that this is the only way to receive faith.
Faith in the Word of God comes from hearing the Word of God. We could say that faith in the devil comes in the same way. Faith in the devil could come from hearing the words of the devil.
That is why we should not take the truth and try to adapt it to ourselves.
Hearing the Word of God causes our faith in God and His Word to grow. This spiritual power is also released through our mouths when we speak the Word of God. I think this is one of the reasons why Paul said:
I can do all things through Christ Jesus who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13
He understood that the Word hidden within us and spoken aloud is the foundation, the cornerstone of his life.
When I first heard these principles, I immediately understood that they were true because the Bible speaks about them. When preaching, I make the following statement: “The Word of God hidden in a person’s heart and spoken by the mouth becomes spiritual power releasing the power of God.”
But at that time I did not know why this could be considered true. Now, many years later, I have discovered why this truth is indisputable and why it works.
Why God’s Method Works
Your attitude will change when you understand how it works.
Why does creative power fill you when you confess the Word of God?
The answer to this question is found in the Old Testament, when God spoke to Joshua.
Let this Book of the Law not depart from your mouth, but meditate on it day and night, so that you may carefully observe everything written in it; then you will prosper in your ways and act wisely. Josh. 1:8
Do you want to be successful in your life? Do you want to know the secret of success? It is to do exactly what God commanded Joshua to do. Put the Word of God in your mouth.
Let me explain why this principle is so important. The words you speak are far more important to you than to anyone else. The reason is the influence they have on you, not on other people.
A person who curses someone while taking God’s name in vain will not harm that person, but will harm himself. By speaking these curses, he calls them into his own life.
Ears to Hear
Imagine being given a recording of your voice to listen to for the first time.
When you heard it, you would probably say, “Who is that? That’s not me!”
But that is exactly how others hear you all the time. That is what your voice sounds like.
God created you with two sets of ears—not just the ones on either side of your head. You have an inner ear and an outer ear. The inner ear is a small bone-like structure inside your head. Your inner ear perceives your voice exactly as it is. You hear it with your spirit, or your heart. That is why the words you speak are much more important than what others tell you, even if it is something negative. The words you speak affect your entire being and nature.
Medical discoveries show that the part of the brain responsible for human speech has nerve endings connected to every part of the body. The words you speak about yourself can affect your health. For many years, people did not understand this. There is a direct connection between what we say and what happens in our lives.
Jesus knew this two thousand years ago. He told a man that he would have whatever he asked for according to his faith (Mark 9:23; 11:23, 24).
Now let us put all of this together, paying attention to what was said and examining the essence of the words. In the beginning, when nothing yet existed, God said, “Let there be light!” God saw darkness, but commanded light to be.
This is God’s method. People do not use this method. But we have just seen that God acts according to this method. When God saw something that did not align with His will, He spoke what He desired. If one of us had been in His place, we would probably have said, “Wow, it’s so dark there! And I believe the darkness will become even thicker.”
But God is very wise. As soon as He said, “Let there be light!” it began to exist.
Have you ever wondered why God never tells a lie? Because with every word God speaks, He releases enough faith for what He desires to be accomplished.
Why Jesus Had Great Faith
Have you ever asked yourself why Jesus had such great faith? Jesus had faith because He spoke only what He heard from the Father. And faith comes by hearing.
And if anyone hears My words and does not believe, I do not judge him, for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world.
He who rejects Me and does not accept My words has a judge:
The word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day. For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a commandment—what to say and what to speak. And I know that His commandment is eternal life. Therefore, whatever I speak, I speak just as the Father has told Me. John 12:47–50
Jesus spoke the words of His Father, and when He did so, faith came. Faith in the Word of God fills your spirit when you speak it aloud.
The Bible does not say that faith comes through reading; it says that faith comes by hearing. And in order to hear something, you need to speak it.
The word that you yourself speak aloud is far more powerful than the word you hear from someone else, because we prefer what we say to what others say.
The words you speak affect you more than another person’s words. You can receive a little faith when you hear me speak
the Word of God. But your faith will grow much faster if you speak the words with your own lips. That is why God commanded Joshua: “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth day and night.” In other words, “Keep speaking; keep confessing what I have said.”
When Satan approached Jesus, trying to tempt Him in the wilderness, Jesus answered him by saying only what the Father had told Him: “It is written…” (Matt. 4:4, 7, 10). This is how you can develop faith in the way God sees it.
The more deceitful words, the less faith
Many times, people have canceled out their faith with deceitful words. We say things we do not really mean. We often say, “What a huge dog!” when there is a very small dog in front of us, or “It’s so hot outside!” when it is actually 20 degrees below zero. By doing this, we lose faith in words. But God puts faith into every word.
If you can acquire faith from the Word of God, then you must first believe in the Word itself. If you have an empty bucket, you cannot pour water from it. If you have no faith in the Word of God, you cannot draw faith from it. But the Word of God is full of faith.
Faith in the Word of God will fill your entire being if you speak it aloud. Remember when you first heard your voice on a recording? You said, “That’s not me!” But it was you.
The reason it seemed to you that this was not your voice, even though everyone was accustomed to hearing it exactly that way, is that you always hear your inner voice with your inner ear.
Your inner ear caught your voice and directed it straight to your spirit.
And in this way, you heard your speech.
When you heard your voice on a recording, only then did you realize what it actually sounded like—and this greatly surprised you. And you said, “It can’t be me! It’s hard to believe that this is my voice!” But it was you.
Write the Word of God on Your Heart
It is interesting why God created us with two sets of ears—one external and the other internal. It is because there is a part within us that also needs to hear. This is our spirit. And I believe the Bible calls it the heart. The author of the book of Proverbs makes the following statement:
Let not mercy and truth forsake you: bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. Prov. 3:3
And how are we to write words on the tablets of our hearts? This was the psalmist David’s revelation when he wrote: “…my tongue is the pen of a ready writer” (Ps. 45:1).
Now let us try to put all of this together. God said to Joshua: “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, so that you may carefully do everything written in it; then you will prosper in your ways ”
The Lord commanded the people of Israel: “If you will diligently listen to the voice of the Lord your God and carefully observe all His commandments that I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth; and all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you will listen to the voice of the Lord your God” (Deut. 28:1–2). In this verse, the word listen is rendered in English as hearken, which means to listen wisely and declare. In other words, the people of Israel were strongly encouraged to declare what God had told them.
Remember that “…faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God (Rom. 10:17). The spiritual power of faith—which is the assurance of things hoped for and the certainty of things not seen—comes to you when you hear the Word of God. And in order to hear the Word, it must be spoken.
The power of faith will come to you more quickly and will be deeper if you begin to speak it with your own lips. When you do this, your voice is picked up by your inner ear and fills your spirit. This is how you can write on the tablets of your heart by speaking words of faith with your own lips.
I think we have lost all of this over the years. The Apostle Paul understood its importance. The saints of the New Testament—and of the Old Testament as well—understood this, but we have begun to lose sight of it. We underestimate the power of words, which influence a person's inner spirit or heart. James says:
If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this person's religion is worthless. James 1:26
In other words, we deceive ourselves by considering ourselves believers and godly people if we cannot bridle our tongue, because our tongue deceives us.
The Deception of the Heart
Why does our tongue deceive our heart? Because it speaks the words heard by the inner ear, which directs them straight to the heart. And your heart, or your spirit, assumes that you are saying what you desire. The deception lies in the fact that your tongue makes your heart believe that the words you speak are what you want. And your spirit will try to find a way to bring about what you desire.
It is hardly possible to talk about this without turning to the Gospel of Mark, chapter four. It concerns the parable of the sower. Jesus spoke about a sower sowing the Word. We will not go into the details of this parable, but I would like to draw special attention to what Jesus said when He explained it to His disciples.
The sower sows the word… Mark 4:14
What does a person sow? Words. The words we speak are seed. Specifically, Jesus is speaking about the Word of God. This is also what God meant when He spoke to Joshua: “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth .”
The Word—Imperishable Seed
Since the Word of God is imperishable, incorruptible, and eternal seed, we can draw a parallel with the words we speak. Every spoken word is potential seed. Whether it grows or what fruit it produces all depends on how we use it.
The Word of God is imperishable seed. I was a farmer for more than thirty years, and I never had imperishable seed. But when you operate according to spiritual law, the seed cannot perish; it is eternal. And the Word of God proceeding from your mouth has these same qualities. This seed will always bear fruit.
But this does not mean at all that it will produce the harvest you would like. The seed that has been sown will produce the results God has built into it. You can do something that prevents the seed from growing and bearing fruit. But you cannot force the seed not to grow. It will do its part. And I
I think this is why James stated, “If anyone among you thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this person’s religion is worthless.” In other words, if a person is unable to bridle his tongue, his faith is in vain. His tongue will deceive his heart and lead it astray. And when this deception reaches his heart, it will lead it (the heart) down the wrong path, believing that everything is going well.
The Kingdom and the Seed
Let me demonstrate this from Scripture. You may be thinking, “Where does it say that?” In the Gospel of Mark, chapter four. Remember that, explaining this parable, Jesus said that the sower sows the Word of God. In verse 14, the Word was sown in a person’s heart. Now, let us look at verses 26–28:
And He said, “The Kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground, and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow; he himself does not know how. For the earth yields crops by itself: first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head.” Mark 4:26–28
The Kingdom of God is like a sower who sowed seed in the ground. Jesus said in Luke 17:21: …for indeed, the Kingdom of God is within you.
And the Word of God is the spiritual power at work in this Kingdom. And it dwells in your heart, within you.
And the kingdom within you is neither smaller nor weaker than the powerful and mighty Kingdom that will be in the New Jerusalem. In fact, it is the same Kingdom. But the Kingdom within you is a spiritual manifestation, and it contains everything necessary for your life; it is manifested through the spirit within a person. This is what Jesus speaks about in this parable. The Kingdom of God is like a man sowing seed. By “man,” God means all humanity and each person individually.
…and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow; he himself does not know how. Mark 4:27
Notice that this man both sleeps and rises. And it is not difficult at all to do this—to have enough faith to go to sleep or wake up.
But this verse does not mean at all that, once you have confessed something, you do not need to do anything else. If you cannot live by faith while refusing to work, you may die of hunger. Faith is not a path to laziness.
The man plants the seed, sleeps, and rises night and day. In other words, he works. The seed sprouts and grows, and the man does not know how this happens. You do not need to know how it works. Just know that it works and do your part.
Kingdom Resources
The Kingdom within you is the Kingdom of God. And Jesus is in it.
Remember what the Apostle Paul said:
And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of His glory in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19
How can He meet all our needs? Through Christ Jesus. Who is Jesus Christ? The anointed Word of God. And He will meet our needs through the Word of God. And how does the Word of God work? The Word of God works through the human spirit in the same way that food enters our physical body. You eat food, and it is transformed into energy.
When the Word of God enters the human spirit, it is also transformed into a power that we call faith. And this power comes from the Word of God. The Apostle Paul explains to us how this happens.
On the Lips and in the Heart
In Romans 10:6–8, Paul says:
But the righteousness that comes from faith says: Do not say in your heart, “Who will ascend into heaven?” (that is, to bring Christ down).
Or, “Who will descend into the abyss?” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).
But what does Scripture say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart”—that is, the word of faith that we preach.
In verse 6, Paul says what we should not say, while in verse 8 he says that the righteousness that comes from faith speaks this way: “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart.”
It is worth noting that the word is first on the lips and then in the heart. This corresponds to what is written in Proverbs 3:3: “...write them on the tablet of your heart.” Then David’s words: “...my tongue is the pen of a ready writer” (Psalm 45:1). And we should reflect on the words of Jesus: “A good man brings good things out of the good treasure, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil treasure” (Matthew 12:35).
The Kingdom of God is like a man who sows seed. And the Apostle Paul says that the word must first be in your mouth and then in your heart.
That is why I keep returning to the example of a recording in your own voice. You can understand this because your voice is heard by your inner person, filling your heart. In this way, you sow the seed of the Word of God into your heart—by speaking it aloud.
Nurturing the Seed
Speaking what God says produces several things at once. When the Word comes from your mouth, you nurture the seed. And something else happens: “...faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God” (Rom. 10:17).
The more often you speak the Word of God aloud, the more you believe it. The more you believe the Word, the more often you speak it.
But having the same spirit of faith, as it is written: I believed and therefore I spoke, and we also believe and therefore speak. 2 Cor. 4:13
Here Paul quotes the Old Testament, specifically Psalm 115, verse 1: “...I believed, and therefore I spoke...,” and then adds: “...we also believe and therefore speak.”
In other words, what you believe is what you speak. If you believe in the Word of God, you speak it. And if you speak it aloud, ultimately you will believe it and have even greater boldness to make a confession of faith. This is a kind of divine cycle for growing in faith. It works just like nurturing a seed.
This is how the process works. The Word is in your mouth and then in your heart. When it is abundant in your heart, it automatically appears on your lips. That is why it is so easy to determine a person’s spiritual condition after speaking with them for just a couple of minutes. The abundance of a person’s heart is reflected in their
Mouth and the words they speak. Talk with a person for just a few minutes, and what is in their heart will be on their lips.
Sometimes people do not like what they say. I remember that one man worked on my farm for several years. One day he came out swearing and using foul language. When he saw me, he slapped his hand over his mouth and said, “Oh, I didn’t mean to talk like that.” He meant that he would not have wanted to speak that way in front of me. But he spoke that way because his heart was filled with it.
Sooner or later, what truly fills your heart will slip from your lips. If you are filled with doubt and fear, you will speak about them. If you are filled with faith, you will speak about faith.
Jesus said that the Kingdom of God is like a man who sowed seed in the ground. And you need to understand that God will not do this for you. The seed will not grow simply because you read about it in the Bible.
As soon as the word is on your lips and you speak it, it immediately enters your heart. This means that you have sown the seed.
Everyone knows that if nothing is planted, there will be no harvest. That is how it is—you will not have a good harvest.
Do Not Leave Your Work to the Lord
I have heard people say, “Well, I’ll just leave it to God. Let Him do as He pleases.” Let’s draw a parallel with the physical, real world and see what happens. Imagine that I said:
“Lord, here is my farm; I’m entrusting it to You. I’m not going to plant anything, and whatever grows this year will be God’s will for me.” What do you think my harvest will be? I can answer that question: weeds and thistles. I will have nothing fit to eat or sell.
Why? Because the ground is under a curse. And you need to make a great deal of effort for it to produce something good. You need to plant good seeds. Notice that Jesus said that the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who sows seed in the ground, then lies down and gets up, night and day. The seed needs time to sprout and grow. And the man has no idea how it happens, because the ground produces a crop by itself.
The ground (the heart) will produce a crop by itself. Isn’t that what Jesus said? In Mark chapter 4, Jesus stated that the seed is sown in a person’s heart.
When people hear about the heart, they instinctively place their hands on their chests, where their physical heart is, but Jesus meant your spirit. Have you ever been so frightened that you said, “My heart sank”? But where did you actually feel it? Somewhere around your stomach, right? That is where your spirit is. Or when you are very nervous, you feel butterflies—English speakers say, “butterflies in my stomach.” In such situations, you feel that something is happening in your spirit.
This is your spirit, the center of your entire being. It is also the dwelling place of the Kingdom of God, which resides within you. The Holy Spirit also dwells there, and this Kingdom within you has the power to grow the seed that has been sown.
And it is up to you what you sow—good seeds or bad seeds. You can cultivate either the Word of God or the words of the devil.
Unwanted Seed
Sometimes we deceive ourselves or even go astray by saying, “Well, God knows what I mean.” Sometimes we make statements of doubt and unbelief like these: “I never succeed at anything. Everything always turns out badly for me.”
Someone might say, “I wouldn’t say that if I were you.”
“I’m just telling it like it is.” That person is also sowing a seed.
Surely you have heard people say, “I read the Bible, but I can’t understand it. I simply can’t understand anything.”
They have probably been saying this for 20 years. What happened? Their inner ear heard their voice and directed it into their heart (spirit). And their spirit, as it were, switched off the knowledge of revelation because they declared that they could not understand it.
Remember, we have already discussed that there is a part of the brain responsible for speech, and that it has nerve endings connected to all parts of the body. What do you think will happen to your body if you say, “Well, flu season has begun. I’ll probably be the first one to get sick”?
Most likely, that is what will happen—at least, you are sowing such a seed. You will justify yourself by saying, “But I always get the flu.” Your inner spirit
hears your voice and says, “Immune system, you don’t need to work, because he has sown a seed for sickness.”
God created us this way, but He commanded us to manage our words positively. Jesus said that the Kingdom of God is like a man who sows seed in the ground. Do you now understand what Jesus meant?
The Heart Is a Garden
The heart is a small garden. It is the soil God provided for us so that it could produce everything necessary for life. In Eden, Adam had a garden that God gave him. It was called the Garden of Eden, and it contained everything Adam needed. But he sold it to Satan, and Satan became the god of this world. But Jesus came and restored this garden. And now the renewed human spirit that God placed within you—this is the garden that will produce everything necessary for your life.
Your spirit is fully capable of leading you to what you need. It has wisdom to guide you. This is because your spirit is in contact with the Spirit of God. God’s Spirit knows everything about God. The Apostle Paul speaks about this in 1 Corinthians, chapter 2.
For who among men knows what is in a person except the human spirit within? In the same way, no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.
But we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know what has been freely given to us by God. 1 Cor. 2:11–12
He says that you do not know everything about yourself, but your spirit does. Your spirit knows everything about you.
No one among people knows me as well as my spirit does. No one knows everything about God, but the Holy Spirit knows everything about Him. And if you can cause your spirit to be reunited with the Holy Spirit, you will be able to discover a source of knowledge for yourself.
Your spirit will seek God's wisdom in order to help you reach the position you confess from the Word of God—the things you want to have in life. It will lead you. This may come to you at night or while you are traveling.
But if you constantly say, “I never know what to do. I always make foolish decisions,” then your inner spirit will lead you, and you will make mistakes, and then blame God, saying, “Perhaps it is not God's will for me to be successful.”
But the whole problem is that you sowed the wrong seed. The foolishness of man perverts his way, and his heart rages against the Lord (Prov. 19:3).
The Kingdom of God is like a man who sows seed in the ground. The Word of God is incorruptible, imperishable seed. The Word of God is the seed you should sow by speaking it and confessing it. And eventually, it will bear fruit, and you will receive what you sowed.
There is no harvest without seed
The Kingdom of God is like a man who sows seed in the ground, and it grows. The ground produces a crop by itself. The ground is the heart. Jesus established this fact. And the ground will produce its crop. All you need to do is be wise enough to speak it. Plant the seed and go to sleep. Then get up and go about your usual activities. This means not worrying or being anxious, and not being overly focused on it. And this does not mean that you have to quit your job.
Today, so many people do not understand or believe in the power of their words. That is why I assert that words are the most powerful things in the universe.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God
All things came into being through Him, and without Him nothing came into being that has come into being. John 1:1, 3
Nothing came into being without the Word of God that has come into being. And I am more than convinced that this was true then and is true now. Authority cannot be exercised without words. And God has given us authority over the devil. It is hardly possible to do anything without words.
Someone may say, “But words can also be written down.” But they will still remain words. When we speak, we have more time to think over our words. We should watch our mouths very carefully. David says:
“Set a guard over my mouth, Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips” (Ps. 141:3).
Some people may say, “But if the Lord guards my mouth, it will be like captivity.” But you do not know what captivity is until you say what you want to say; this is the greatest captivity you can fall into. God has given us instructions (the Bible). And if you follow them, you will discover that everything works exactly as God commanded.
We must understand that God knew what He was talking about. If we do what He said, then we will have what He intended for us. Do not be hearers only, but doers of the Word of God.
The Word of God is Good News. It is the Gospel and the power of God.
End of lesson.
Author: Charles Capps
Source: The book “Faith and Confession.”
