I’m sure you’ve heard of Spoofs, that inconspicuous kiosk inside the malls that sell shirts which lampoon products, brands, and logos.
For readers who are not familiar with Spoofs, let me walk you through.
If you had long wanted to get that Swiss luxury watch, Tag Heuer, but can afford only the time pieces sold beside pirated DVDs, there’s a shirt that matches your financial state. It says, “Tag HIRAP.”
For those who drive the Ford Expedition around town, but find the gas-guzzler to be too chummy with the gas station, complete your driving experience with that “Can’t afFORD lately” shirt.
No money? No fear. Let your deprived wallet be consistent with a shirt that shouts out: “No FERA.”
If you are into dieting, the results of which barely show, the local version of that Tommy Hilfiger wardrobe will fit you to a T — “Tommy ILL-figure.”
Fitness buffs gone pfft, there’s one for you, too. “FATness First.”
If you want to send out a sexy aura, don’t go the Van Heusen store. Visit Spoofs instead and get the “Vas Teusen” print.
Computer geeks, take heart. Spoofs has specially designed a shirt for you: “INUTEL Inside.”
Finally, if you are an employee of Fed Ex, but have a cranky boss who gets into your nerves, grab that shirt that will get your message across: “Fed UP.”
I’m sure these shirts have provided comic relief to people. However, there is a scary part that I wish to warn you about. Here it is: There is power in the word. What we confess, we possess. Even as early as the Old Testament times, the writer of Proverbs already confirmed the power of the spoken word. He said, “The tongue can bring death or life” (Proverbs 18:21, AB). In other words, our words are capable of bringing about great good or causing incalculable harm.
I’ve also read somewhere that no child who was repeatedly branded as “Bobo” (stupid) by his parents ever grew up smart. That’s because words affect our thinking and emotions. When words are repeated again and again, we tend to believe them.
Well-known motivational author Zig Ziglar, in his book “Better Than Good,” has a convincing way of explaining how our words eventually become fulfilled prophecies. He says: Be careful with your words, they become your actions. Be careful with your actions, they become your habits. Be careful with your habits, they become your character. Be careful with your character, they become you!
Imagine what negative words can make of us… words like Tag HIRAP or Can’t afFORD lately or that I have No FERA? How about Ill-figure and Fatness First? Imagine, too, how you are telling men to treat you if you are a woman who wears a shirt that says, Vas Teusen (as in Bastusin)?
Let me cite other negative statements that are closer to home.
“Getting married was the biggest mistake I’ve made.”
“I will never get out of debt.”
“I feel so old.”
“Why is life so unkind to me?”
Really now, how many times have we said one or two of those statements, and believed them to be true, albeit unconsciously?
Let me make a wild guess. If you said, “Getting married was the biggest mistake I’ve made,” you are probably still regretting that marriage gone awry up to now.
If you uttered, “I will never get out of debt,” you are perhaps neck-deep in your obligations.
If you confessed with your lips that you are old, you may have been surprised with the wrinkles on your face that recently made their special appearance.
If, until now, you are saying that life is so unkind to you, most likely you are correct.
Christian author Joel Osteen explains this subject in a rather jolting way. He says: “What you say in the midst of your difficulties will have a great impact on how long you stay in those situations.”
Yesterday, while window-shopping, I chanced upon a mannequin that donned a shirt that caught my eye. The print on the shirt says: TOO BLESSED TO BE STRESSED. Those are powerful, positive words to unleash! The focus was not on the stress, but on the blessing. Reminds me of the late bible scholar, Henry Matthew, who was accosted by thieves and robbed of his purse. Writing about his experience, he entered the following entry in his diary: “Let me be thankful first, because I was never robbed before; second, because, although they took my purse, they did not take my life; third, although they took my all, it was not much; and, fourthly, because it was I who was robbed, not I who robbed.”
I don’t know about you, folks, but I feel like gargling with holy water.
You can predict your future.
How? All you have to do is listen to your words.
By examining the words that come out of your mouth, you’ll know your future. Guaranteed.
The Bible says that your tongue is like a rudder of a big ship. Like a rudder, your tongue directs your life.
So let me ask you: What kind of future do you want to have?
Don’t use your words to describe your reality. Use your words to create your desired reality.
Another way of putting it: Don’t just talk about where you are. Talk about where you want to go.
Why Faith Words Work
I can explain it in many ways:
• Faith Words affect your emotions in a positive way.
• Faith Words—repeated again and again—create new neural pathways in your brain.
• Faith Words also train your Reticular Activating System (RAS) to be attentive to see the blessings you desire.
But here’s my favorite explanation: Faith Words aren’t just mere positive affirmations; They open your life up to the supernatural power of God.
In Biblical thinking, words aren’t just sounds or noise.
Words are imbued with God’s creative power.
In Genesis, God created the world by His words. He didn’t create light by mixing up stuff with His hands. He simply said, “Let there be light” and there was light.
The Bible also says that death and life are in the power of our tongue. Pretty awesome, right?
Here’s my message: There’s a connection between what you say and what will happen.
You have a choice: You can say, “There’s not a cloud in the sky” or you can say, “I hear the sound of heavy rain.”
Perhaps today, you don’t see the healing happening yet in your body. But you can confess, “I’m being healed by God right now. Health and healing are flowing into my body. I’m getting better and better everyday.”
Here’s why. In Mark 11:23, Jesus said something incredible. He said, I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him.
Friend, what is your mountain?
It may be sickness. It may be a troublesome relationship. It may be a lack of money.
Don’t just pray about the mountain. Don’t just talk about the mountain. Instead, speak to the mountain.
For readers who are not familiar with Spoofs, let me walk you through.
If you had long wanted to get that Swiss luxury watch, Tag Heuer, but can afford only the time pieces sold beside pirated DVDs, there’s a shirt that matches your financial state. It says, “Tag HIRAP.”
For those who drive the Ford Expedition around town, but find the gas-guzzler to be too chummy with the gas station, complete your driving experience with that “Can’t afFORD lately” shirt.
No money? No fear. Let your deprived wallet be consistent with a shirt that shouts out: “No FERA.”
If you are into dieting, the results of which barely show, the local version of that Tommy Hilfiger wardrobe will fit you to a T — “Tommy ILL-figure.”
Fitness buffs gone pfft, there’s one for you, too. “FATness First.”
If you want to send out a sexy aura, don’t go the Van Heusen store. Visit Spoofs instead and get the “Vas Teusen” print.
Computer geeks, take heart. Spoofs has specially designed a shirt for you: “INUTEL Inside.”
Finally, if you are an employee of Fed Ex, but have a cranky boss who gets into your nerves, grab that shirt that will get your message across: “Fed UP.”
I’m sure these shirts have provided comic relief to people. However, there is a scary part that I wish to warn you about. Here it is: There is power in the word. What we confess, we possess. Even as early as the Old Testament times, the writer of Proverbs already confirmed the power of the spoken word. He said, “The tongue can bring death or life” (Proverbs 18:21, AB). In other words, our words are capable of bringing about great good or causing incalculable harm.
I’ve also read somewhere that no child who was repeatedly branded as “Bobo” (stupid) by his parents ever grew up smart. That’s because words affect our thinking and emotions. When words are repeated again and again, we tend to believe them.
Well-known motivational author Zig Ziglar, in his book “Better Than Good,” has a convincing way of explaining how our words eventually become fulfilled prophecies. He says: Be careful with your words, they become your actions. Be careful with your actions, they become your habits. Be careful with your habits, they become your character. Be careful with your character, they become you!
Imagine what negative words can make of us… words like Tag HIRAP or Can’t afFORD lately or that I have No FERA? How about Ill-figure and Fatness First? Imagine, too, how you are telling men to treat you if you are a woman who wears a shirt that says, Vas Teusen (as in Bastusin)?
Let me cite other negative statements that are closer to home.
“Getting married was the biggest mistake I’ve made.”
“I will never get out of debt.”
“I feel so old.”
“Why is life so unkind to me?”
Really now, how many times have we said one or two of those statements, and believed them to be true, albeit unconsciously?
Let me make a wild guess. If you said, “Getting married was the biggest mistake I’ve made,” you are probably still regretting that marriage gone awry up to now.
If you uttered, “I will never get out of debt,” you are perhaps neck-deep in your obligations.
If you confessed with your lips that you are old, you may have been surprised with the wrinkles on your face that recently made their special appearance.
If, until now, you are saying that life is so unkind to you, most likely you are correct.
Christian author Joel Osteen explains this subject in a rather jolting way. He says: “What you say in the midst of your difficulties will have a great impact on how long you stay in those situations.”
Yesterday, while window-shopping, I chanced upon a mannequin that donned a shirt that caught my eye. The print on the shirt says: TOO BLESSED TO BE STRESSED. Those are powerful, positive words to unleash! The focus was not on the stress, but on the blessing. Reminds me of the late bible scholar, Henry Matthew, who was accosted by thieves and robbed of his purse. Writing about his experience, he entered the following entry in his diary: “Let me be thankful first, because I was never robbed before; second, because, although they took my purse, they did not take my life; third, although they took my all, it was not much; and, fourthly, because it was I who was robbed, not I who robbed.”
I don’t know about you, folks, but I feel like gargling with holy water.
You can predict your future.
How? All you have to do is listen to your words.
By examining the words that come out of your mouth, you’ll know your future. Guaranteed.
The Bible says that your tongue is like a rudder of a big ship. Like a rudder, your tongue directs your life.
So let me ask you: What kind of future do you want to have?
Don’t use your words to describe your reality. Use your words to create your desired reality.
Another way of putting it: Don’t just talk about where you are. Talk about where you want to go.
Why Faith Words Work
I can explain it in many ways:
• Faith Words affect your emotions in a positive way.
• Faith Words—repeated again and again—create new neural pathways in your brain.
• Faith Words also train your Reticular Activating System (RAS) to be attentive to see the blessings you desire.
But here’s my favorite explanation: Faith Words aren’t just mere positive affirmations; They open your life up to the supernatural power of God.
In Biblical thinking, words aren’t just sounds or noise.
Words are imbued with God’s creative power.
In Genesis, God created the world by His words. He didn’t create light by mixing up stuff with His hands. He simply said, “Let there be light” and there was light.
The Bible also says that death and life are in the power of our tongue. Pretty awesome, right?
Here’s my message: There’s a connection between what you say and what will happen.
You have a choice: You can say, “There’s not a cloud in the sky” or you can say, “I hear the sound of heavy rain.”
Perhaps today, you don’t see the healing happening yet in your body. But you can confess, “I’m being healed by God right now. Health and healing are flowing into my body. I’m getting better and better everyday.”
Here’s why. In Mark 11:23, Jesus said something incredible. He said, I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him.
Friend, what is your mountain?
It may be sickness. It may be a troublesome relationship. It may be a lack of money.
Don’t just pray about the mountain. Don’t just talk about the mountain. Instead, speak to the mountain.
