Day 80
Numbers 32:1‐33:39; Luke 4:31‐5:11; Psalm 64:1‐10; Proverbs 11:22
The Power of Your Words
“Let there be light,” and there was light. Do words have power? Do your words have power? Consider the Psalm. In the first verse, the psalmist gives voice to his complaint; he prays telling God his struggles. Is his prayer—is your prayer—simply a way of getting things off his chest? Or is there more to it? In verse 7, God answers that prayer and defends the psalmist from danger. The result is that, “Then all mankind fears; they tell what God has brought about and ponder what he has done.” God has acted, and the people speak about it. Your words in prayer have power in that God responds to your prayer. But even more so, your words of thanksgiving and testimony have power, too. In verse 10, the psalmist encourages the righteous to rejoice and to take refuge in God. That verse is spoken not as a prayer to God but as a word to a fellow believer. The testimony of answered prayer in verses 1-9 is the occasion to encourage another believer. Your testimony of God’s actions has the power to inspire and strengthen another to likewise turn to the Lord in joy and for refuge. Today, share an answered prayer with someone; tell someone about what God has done in your life. Know that as you do so, your words have power to encourage and inspire. Ask the Holy Spirit to work through you in that conversation, and then rejoice as God answers yet another prayer.
The Rev. Loren Fox