“The tongue has the power of life and death..” – (Proverbs 18:21).
As the Apostle Paul and Barnabas went about on their first missionary journey they met a slave girl with the spirit of a fortune teller. She kept following Paul “and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved” (Acts 16: 17). This girl whose owners were making money out of her fortune-telling kept following around Paul and his team to a point of irritation. “Finally Paul became so annoyed that he turned around and said to the spirit, “in the name of Jesus I command you to get out of her!” At that point the spirit left her” (vv 18).
One of the significance of this event is that Paul had to speak loudly to the evil spirit which on hearing his voice fled. Had Paul merely kept looking on or just thinking let the evil spirit go away it might have remained unbothered. We see the same pattern when the Lord Jesus was called up to the tomb of Lazarus. After praying to his Father in heaven, “Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave cloth and let him go” (John 11:43-44).
There is power in the words we speak as we see here. Our words have a certain energy around them. A person may think of someone as dumb and stupid and it will have little effect until it is said to him. One may think of one as beautiful but it has little effect until it is told to the person. Let us not despise our words as neutral. The words we speak can yield positive or negative energy.
Today let us not neglect that power of the spoken word to speak blessings in our lives or those around us. And let us use the same power to speak down that which is arresting, for as Isaiah 54:7 says: “No weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and this is their vindication from me,” declares the LORD!"
Prayer for today: Lord Father God of Abraham, maker of heaven and earth, today I rise to speak bessings to all my affairs, and that you deliver me from any evil attack and bring victory to all my undertakings, for I am your child, whom you have promised a good future, this I pray in Jesus’s name!
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18/05/2024 - 19/05/2024 All day“Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.” (Colossians 2:15)
Perhaps one of the most inspiring passages in the Bible with enduring lessons is where Moses pleads to Pharaoh to let the Jews go. Instead Pharaoh dared Moses if he had the power as that of a king. Challenged to “perform a miracle” Moses turned to Aaron who threw his staff down in front of Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a snake. Pharaoh then summoned wise men and sorcerers, and the Egyptian magicians also did the same things by their secret arts: Each one threw down his staff and it became a snake. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs (Exodus 7: 9-12).
What we see here is the presence of occult powers in high places, as is true even today. A common mistake by some is to deny the existence of the occult behind certain thrones or power centers, especially in instances where we find those putting on a genteel manner of social respectability. There are also those who through their education and confined exposure to the spirit realm of things, doubt the existence of occult powers. The reality is that in the world we live in the enemy is much at work. 1 Peter 5:8 says, “Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”
In this passage we see that while Pharaoh did release his snakes the staff God had placed in the hands of his messenger, Moses, was far greater and swallowed all. Here is the point. As believers we do have a far greater and mighty power to protect us from any attacks of the enemy. It is the blood of the lamb. As it is written, “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony...” (Revelation 12:11).
Today whatever snakes you may encounter from anywhere be assured that you have a far greater power than of the enemy. It is the blood of Jesus. As His word says, “call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor Me” (Psalm 50:15).
Prayer for today: Lord Father God of Abraham, maker of heaven and earth, today I pray for protection from the attacks of the enemy by the blood of the lamb, this I pray in Jesus’name.
