"Your words have power"

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ChristMySavior

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Hi all,

I am always around Pentecostals (being that my girlfriend’s family is) and they are ALWAYS saying how “your words have power” and “don’t say that over me.” They say that if you say over someone that for example: they are disorganized and you say it so much that your words have power and therefore can make it a reality. I hope I’m articulating this as best I can. Her sister used a verse from scripture when I told her that the whole “your words have power” thing sounded a bit hokey and new agey but I can’t remember which verse she used. The only thing I have been able to find is:

[BIBLEDRB]Proverbs 18:21[/BIBLEDRB]

I’m not sure this is what she quoted but it could be. Could anyone please provide me with other scripture passages where she could be getting this from. Also, I think I’ve heard Tim Staples refute this on CAL but I’m not sure and I know this isn’t part of Catholic teaching. Could anyone just help me find out more about this and possibly give me a good argument to refute this. Thanks!
 
Words are powerful. They are the means by which we communicate ideas. You can use them to destroy someone’s reputation; you can use them to guide someone to the Church. I don’t think it’s necessary to look for some magic power in words beside the incredible power they already contain.
 
Non_sum_dignus said:
Words are powerful. They are the means by which we communicate ideas. You can use them to destroy someone’s reputation; you can use them to guide someone to the Church. I don’t think it’s necessary to look for some magic power in words beside the incredible power they already contain.
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Agreed, and to this degree, words absolutely have power. However, my Protestant friends are portraying this to be something like if I were to overly say that my brother is a menace over and over, it would make him one because I was “saying it over him.”
 
They are believers in the “name it and claim it” n-C community then. (a variant of the health and wealth prosperity gospel) They essentially believe that whatever they “profess with their mouth” they get. It’s a kind of silly superstition that I saw among Pentecostals in particular when I was among them.

If you walked in the door and yelled, " I see that the Lord God has not yet taken away all your comforts so that you must rely completely upon Him." they would flip totally out, I assure you because that supposedly has power.

It’s also tied into that Prayer of Jabez thing.

You could ask them why the early church suffered so much for the first 3 1/2 centuries or so, even though they were easily as faithful to our Lord as anyone today and more so?

I suspect they will not have a good answer for that anymore than they will be able to respond to Our Lord’s own words to us all when He said,

Matt.10


  1. *][38] and he who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.

    Matt.16

    1. *][24] Then Jesus told his disciples, "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

      Mark.8

      1. *][34] And he called to him the multitude with his disciples, and said to them, "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

        Luke.9

        1. *][23] And he said to all, "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.
 
I think that in these situations, we have to do what Christ commanded us to do and that is to love our neighbor as ourselves. If we are truly following Christ’s example, we want to get to a place where we are only speaking words of truth, words of faith.
I am not sure anyone can really say for sure what happens in the spiritual realm by the words we speak, but if you just look at the time that Jesus spent in the desert when He was tempted by Satan, what Got Him through was the “Word”. He is the Word Incarnate. He spoke truth into every lie that was said to Him. In this world that is our best weapon, our sword…the Word of God.
We should all strive to speak words of life into every situation…it is powerful because it is inspired by love and love never fails!
 
Catholic2core said:
I think that in these situations, we have to do what Christ commanded us to do and that is to love our neighbor as ourselves. If we are truly following Christ’s example, we want to get to a place where we are only speaking words of truth, words of faith.
I am not sure anyone can really say for sure what happens in the spiritual realm by the words we speak, but if you just look at the time that Jesus spent in the desert when He was tempted by Satan, what Got Him through was the “Word”. He is the Word Incarnate. He spoke truth into every lie that was said to Him. In this world that is our best weapon, our sword…the Word of God.
We should all strive to speak words of life into every situation…it is powerful because it is inspired by love and love never fails!
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This has no issue at all with Sacred Scripture. What Jesus quoted in the desert was indeed the written word - Sacred Scripture. What they are talking about when saying that “words have power” is any little spoken arbitrary word. Yet again, if I say to my brother constantly that he is a bad influence, then he will be. This is what they speak of and teach. This idea is not biblical (at least not what I have seen in SS) and very New Age. I am trying to further understand where they are getting this idea from and what they mean by it.
 
ChristMySavior said:
Hi all,

I am always around Pentecostals (being that my girlfriend’s family is) and they are ALWAYS saying how “your words have power” and “don’t say that over me.” They say that if you say over someone that for example: they are disorganized and you say it so much that your words have power and therefore can make it a reality. I hope I’m articulating this as best I can. Her sister used a verse from scripture when I told her that the whole “your words have power” thing sounded a bit hokey and new agey but I can’t remember which verse she used. The only thing I have been able to find is:

[BIBLEDRB]Proverbs 18:21[/BIBLEDRB]

I’m not sure this is what she quoted but it could be. Could anyone please provide me with other scripture passages where she could be getting this from. Also, I think I’ve heard Tim Staples refute this on CAL but I’m not sure and I know this isn’t part of Catholic teaching. Could anyone just help me find out more about this and possibly give me a good argument to refute this. Thanks!
Click to expand...
Although I have no passage from scripture, as you are seeking, I would like to comment on the wider question of the power of words.

By power, we mean influence, do we not?

Words influence.

They influence by their meaning, and their presence, and their interpretation, and their acceptance.

Ask yourself, if no words came to you and you were unable to send any, what effect would that have?

Yes, words can be extremely powerful on minds and hearts, with an influence that requires a prudent and vigilant awareness.

Your Pentecostal family and friends are suggesting wisdom to you worthy of heeding.

After all, John 1:1.

🙂
 
I am always around Pentecostals (being that my girlfriend’s family is) and they are ALWAYS saying how “your words have power” and “don’t say that over me.” They say that if you say over someone that for example: they are disorganized and you say it so much that your words have power and therefore can make it a reality.
Click to expand...
I remember a time when I was in my teen years and my father was a big Kenneth Copeland fan. If I were to say ‘I have a headache’ he would come back and say ‘Don’t confess that!’ as if I just ignored the headache it wouldn’t exist. Is that what your girlfriend’s family means?

(Thankfully my father didn’t stay a fan for long with the ‘name it-claim it’ Christianity)
 
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