“In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.” James 2:17

Faith Without “Words”

“Oops! Did I say that out loud?”

I was driving along, minding my own business, when a car moved sharply into my lane, barely clearing my front bumper. I hit my brakes and responded, “STUPID, STUPID, STUPID!” Before I could blink, from the car seat behind me came the tiny voice of my grandson: “Stupid, stupid, stupid!” He had just learned a new word, thanks to Grandma.

When he was a little older and little brother was a toddler, they were excited to go with me through the car wash. Calamity followed when he said to his little brother, “Let’s put our windows down!” Before I could say “NOOOOOOO”, they were both covered with suds looking quite astonished! Ok, it is funny now, but it’s another example of words with consequences.

Although today’s Scripture refers to works such as good deeds, words also have the power of action. Will my words bring blessing or consequence?

We all too often speak words of unbelief before we think. Our words should back up our beliefs. We say that we believe that God is in control, and we supposedly place our problems in His hands, but all the while we expect the worst. I know, we don’t want to be “disappointed” if God doesn’t come through, right? If we are confessing negative thoughts, perhaps we do not believe what we think we believe. Isaiah 55:11 says: “So shall My word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to Me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” Do our words say what we hope to achieve?

Let’s start memorizing some Scriptures of faith and speak them out loud. Turn them over and over again in our minds until they get deep into our hearts, the hub of our belief system. It’s time for our mouths to speak what we say we believe until we truly believe it. I want my heart to be such that it never sends a bad message to my mouth. Psalm 19:14: “Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in Your sight O LORD, my strength and my redeemer.”

“May Your Word make a difference in our lives, oh Lord, as we attempt to replace our negative phrases with Your words. May Your Holy Spirit tap us on the shoulder when we use a negative phrase or word so we can be more aware of the change that needs to be made in our hearts, so better words can come forth from our mouth. May our faith be seen in our words.”