STICKS AND STONES...

Words wound and heal. A famous proverb reads, 'The tongue has the power of life and death...'
(Pr 18:21)
 
Words originate and formulate in the heart and mind - and far more than ever come out the mouth. Words - or thoughts and judgments - saturate the 'spirit waves' of our lives, relationships, generations. There is a 'report' over your life all the time by others, by spirit powers (Eph 6; Rev 12:10), by your own heart. (1 John 3:20)
 
I recently had a conversation with an upset man. Two things occurred to me while talking to him. First, anything I say will be heard as an affront, and will be used against me. Everything! It was a very upsetting experience.
 
Secondly, I saw - and felt - that I had been this person to others. Proverbs 27:4 says, 'Anger is cruel...' And I have been cruel through anger to many.
 
Scripture tells us of 2 very critical and powerful - and opposite - reports that are over our lives. Both are true. But one is truer. We lay claim to this truer report only through faith, and only justified to do so by the blood of Jesus.
 
The devil 'accuses' us of our sin, and he does this before God 24/7. (Rev 2:10) The devil is a liar, but he also is an accuser, laying claim to our wrongs and highlighting them. Such is the force of this kind of dark and incriminating 'truth'. The most powerful false reports, are ‘true’ reports that are void of love, and void of God's higher report. Your parent, or boyfriend, for example, may have spoken words to you that were 'true', but so false.

Let's consider how God speaks a truer report, than the 'truth' of our wrongdoing. First, it is important to understand that he 'bought' the right to do this, by becoming our 'wrong', becoming our 'sin', and dying with it on the cross. (2 Cor 5:21) Our wrongs are true, but have lost their power, because they are debts that have already been paid. This leaves us with a new report, a new start, a new name.
 
There are many and exciting scriptures that capture this 'gospel' message, but I want to fast forward and plumb deep to the 'individual' report that God speaks to just you.
 
Jesus tells us that his sheep know his voice (John 10:27), and Jesus himself speaks to the individual and says that if and when we persevere in our faith walk with him, he will give us a new and 'secret' name, that is known only to the individual and God. (Rev 2:17)
 
This name, therefore, is safe and untouchable by the accuser - and by any other mortal, and even by your own heart's 'condemnation'. (1 John 3:20)
 
I love this story in Scripture and leave you with this: Elijah, when waiting on the voice and word from God, he heard the rip and roar of winds that split rocks and mountains, but the Lord was not in the wind. He heard, saw and felt other powerful expressions of 'truth' and reality, but the Lord was not in them. Then he heard a whisper, and he knew this to be the voice of the Lord. (1 Kings 19:11-13)
 
Much of our walk in peace with God is to know his whisper - and to acknowledge the power and authority of this whisper - over the loud, powerful, persuasive other reports that simply are not the voice of God to you in this moment.