The other day while I was at work, a casual conversation arose and the popular philosophical question came up, “If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?” My response seemed somewhat rhetorical at the time to my co-workers, but it was actually meant to take a deeper dive into theistic and supernatural thought. I said, “If you are stranded alone on a deserted island and you shout for help, does anyone hear you?” The first reply was, “You did say the island was deserted, right?” Another question followed, “Is there cell service?” We chuckled and the conversation switched gears. However, while I was the one trying to plant and provoke some theological thought into my co-workers, I was left contemplating my own question.
I wondered, how often do we as Christians merely default to the natural way of thinking rather than the supernatural? Particularly when things are intangible, or when we do not readily see or hear God working in a situation. What is our default? When we are faced with a difficult situation in life: a disease, illness, troubled relationship, betrayal, a natural disaster, etc. Do we position ourselves in that situation as one who is merely connected to the laws of the natural realm, or do we operate in the same realm in which God does—the supernatural realm? This realm is called super-natural for a reason…and it is a realm of super-power in which we have been given access to through our relationship with Jesus Christ. This is amazingly awesome!
In fact, we have been given the power to speak things into existence from the supernatural realm into the natural realm. God tells us in Scripture that “The power of life and death are in the tongue.” (see Prov 18:12,21) In the what? The tongue…it’s what we speak…what we believe…what we broadcast into the atmosphere. Even when we think nobody is around to hear or listen, the things we speak have power. You see, a tree falling in the forest merely has the capacity to make noise, but you are a created being and you have the capacity to speak supernatural power. There is a spiritual realm of which we do not normally see with our natural eyes. The fact that we do not see this realm, does not mean it doesn’t exist. No, Scripture is very clear on this (see Mark 11:23, Prov 16:24, Isaiah 55:11) God’s Word tells us that when we speak, our words have the power to attach to something or someone in either one of two ways: they either speak life or death. Those are the only two options.
Intentionally Speaking Blessings
Severe years ago, my eyes were opened to the powerful kingdom principle of speaking a blessing, while we lived in Florida during the historical Brownsville Revival. Our pastor John Kilpatrick did a thorough Biblical teaching on the subject. At the close of each of his weekly messages, he would speak a powerful blessing over the congregation. These spoken blessings became so popular that in the following weeks and months, for whatever reason he forgot to do the blessing after his message, someone would inevitably shout-out “Pastor, the blessing…you forgot the blessing!” You see, our pastor understood the power of speaking a blessing over his congregation, and the people had in fact been experiencing blessing. It’s simply following a kingdom principle. I like how our current pastor, Nate Ruch, puts it when he is about to speak a blessing to us. He says, “Go ahead and stick your hands out in front of you like you are about to receive a something like a gift.” I love that!
These of course are specific situations and historical Biblical practices where people recognize positions of spiritual authority. Parents, grandparents, spouses, leaders, etc. should recognize this same responsibly–to regularly speak specific blessings over those who have been entrusted to them. In fact, let’s all try to take it a step further: Each time we hear something negative spoken about something or someone, or maybe it’s a difficult situation or struggle in our own life…let’s try to use those times as opportunities to speak a blessing over that situation or individual. Let’s not forget the power that each of us have over every one of our words that we speak each and every day.
God Wants to Bless You
Listen, God’s desire is to bless us. Don’t believe the lie that God would ever want to punish you. This is absolutely not Scriptural. His desire is that you be blessed. (Jer 29:11, Phil 4:19, Ps 37:4,1 Peter 5:7, James 1:17, Math 7:9-11). Do we still experience hardships from time to time? Absolutely. In fact, the Bible says there will be many trials in our lives (John 16:33), but these can also be times of mammoth spiritual growth. Especially (here’s the key) when we continue to recognize and speak blessings through those trials.
I want to encourage you today to be intentional about speaking out blessings. When you pray for others, ask God to bless them. When you speak to others, speak blessings over them. Be intentional about being the conduit of God’s love…an agent of change…an ambassador of Christ. Jesus spoke blessings into people wherever he went. Including those to whom were primarily the recipients of cursing’s in society. I challenge you today, be that agent of change. And watch how you yourselves are the recipients of Gods amazing love being poured out into you, your family, and into the world around you. Honestly, what in life could be better?
Incidentally, if you haven’t already, I want to encourage you to get a copy of my book The River. It is subtitled “Revealing the Heart of God and His Desire to Bless You.” Additionally, one of cover bullets is this: “In a vision, God showed me His River of blessing, and guess what? He is not holding these blessings back…we are.” Hopefully that sparks your interest a little bit 😊
As always, I truly hope that you are encouraged and blessed by these words today.
May The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Numbers 6:24-26
Blessed by The Best,
Mark
See You in the River 