I’m not going to try to give all the scriptures that support the importance of positive words. One example: Proverbs 18:21 says “Death and life are in the power of the tongue.” One does not need to be a Christian to know how healing and motivating words can be and how wounding and degrading they can be. That is not the purpose of this post.

This post relates to the “creative” power of the tongue. The idea behind “believe it, speak it, and it will come to pass.” The teaching that if you can imagine it, then speak it, and you have it.

I promised you a lesson from Numbers Chapter 14. Here it is. Beginning with the end of Chap. 13.

On God’s bidding, Moses sent twelve spies to spy out Canaan. They did so and came back with a huge cluster of grapes that took two men to carry it on a pole. They all said it was a bountiful land; ten of the spies warned, however, that the inhabitants of the land were also big – giants even. No way could they overcome them. “We look like grasshoppers compared the them.” Two spies, Joshua and Caleb, said it was true. There were giants in the land, but they could win. “Come on. Let us go.”

The people set about whining and crying about being faced with all the problems. They asked for a new leader. When it came right down to it, they refused to be obedient. They refused to go.

Moses so faithfully interceded for the people. He told God just how wonderful he (God) was, how forgiving, how strong “abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion.” The story gets a little long, so I’d better leave some reading to you and get on with my lesson.

The crises passed and the people reconsidered. They decided Moses was right. They said, “we have sinned. We will go do what God wanted us to do. God will be with us.” Moses told them they were too late. That route had just been closed (or something like that). So they took off anyway preparing to fight and win through the mighty hand of God.

The end of the story is that they got whipped up on. The Amalekites and Canaanites chased them all back home except, presumably, the ones who lay dead on the route.

Lesson learned. Speaking the right words at the wrong time did no good. Right words help out greatly when one is obeying. Even when walking blindly, but obeying. That’s the time for “I can do all things through Christ within.”

Consider this verse from Psalms 12:3,4. “May the Lord cut off all flattering lips and every boastful tongue that says, “We will triumph with our tongue, we own our lips, who is our master.”

My advice. When the Holy Spirit says move, move and speak all the motivating words necessary to fuel your engine for the journey.