Precision Speak
Day 1 | The Power of Words
A Scripture-centered reading from the Precision Prayer devotional collection.
“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me” is so wrong.
As a teenager, someone once told me after church that I was obnoxious.
I did not fully understand the word, but I understood the tone behind it.
When I was young and dumb, I had the ability to cut to the bone for the sake of a laugh. I wanted attention. I wanted people to laugh, even if it came at someone else’s expense. I was not trying to hurt people, but many times I did.
It was a wake-up call.
I’m joking around one moment, and the next I’m being told I’m:
- Unpleasant
- Unbearable
- Intolerable
Oddly enough, he used his words to attack me for the very thing I had done to others.
To hurt.
To cut deep.
I was trying to be funny.
He was being cruel.
Ouch.
Neither was right, but both carried power.
You can say, “I’m sorry,” but that does not always erase the impact words leave behind.
My wife has told me before that she does not just want to hear “I’m sorry.” She wants to see change. That stuck with me. Words matter, but they mean very little if our actions never follow.
Think about it this way.
Imagine throwing something heavy into a pond. You immediately see the splash but then come the ripples. They keep moving long after the object disappears beneath the surface.
Words work the same way.
They can wound, encourage, build, or destroy, often far beneath the surface.
Your words also carry power over your own life.
When the twelve spies were sent to scout the promised land, two brought back a good report while ten brought back fear and doubt. Both groups saw the same land, the same giants, and the same obstacles.
They even carried back fruit from the land, proof of God’s promise. Yet it was their words that caused an entire nation to wander in the wilderness for forty years.
That’s a big four-zero.
But this statement in Numbers is key:
“We were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were.”
They saw themselves as defeated before the battle even began.
If we are honest, we often do the same thing.
You’ve heard the saying, “You are what you eat.” In many ways, you are also what you continually say.
Life and death are spoken by the tongue.
In prayer, we ask God to move but then follow it with statements like:
“Nothing will ever change.”
“God probably will not answer.”
“I guess this is just how it is.”
We must learn to speak life instead of defeat.
I often call this the “But God” principle.
The doctor said… but God.
The situation looks impossible… but God.
The finances are tight… but God.
Faith does not ignore reality, but it refuses to give fear the final word.
Today we look at the power of words and how to become more intentional with what we speak in conversation, in conflict, and especially in prayer.
Precision Practice
Today, pay attention to your words in conversation and in prayer.
Speak life.
Encourage someone.
Pray with faith.
My words have power.
Precision Passages
Proverbs 18:20-21 NKJV
(20) A man’s stomach shall be satisfied from the fruit of his mouth; From the produce of his lips he shall be filled.
(21) Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit.
Numbers 13:33 NKJV
(33) There we saw the giants (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.”
Proverbs 12:18 NKJV
(18) There is one who speaks like the piercings of a sword, But the tongue of the wise promotes health.