The power of our words

Prepare your heart now to receive an impartation of God's life through words specifically, I want to talk about that, the power of our words, the power of the mouth, the power of words to bless or curse, to delay or to advance our journeys, our spiritual trajectories, the power of words, amen?

This is in line with this series of meditations that we have been doing lately. As you remember, I have restarted that series that we postponed for a while on emotional health and spiritual emotional healing, how to live healthy healthy lives, how to be healthy healers because many times in the Kingdom of God we want to bless others, evangelize them, speak to them about the Word of God but we ourselves have areas that we have not dealt with without sometimes realizing or not knowing how we can get out of the quagmire in which we find ourselves and the Word of the Lord has great advice for all of us about how to live victorious lives, how to live lives healthy, and how to heal ourselves from the inevitable distortions of this fallen world.

We are all going to go through tribulations, anguish in our childhood, in our past, we have experienced wounds that have deformed us, sometimes we enter the Kingdom of God and we come with deformations from the past, from our childhood, our home family formation, pains that we suffered in our youth, disappointments that life has given us, habits and defenses that we have acquired because we have lived in a hostile environment, physical abuse that some sisters have suffered in their marriages, I say sisters although there are also women who physically abuse men but are less, or emotional abuse, manipulation, other things and sometimes we have developed defenses against those things that are perhaps good for surviving and resisting a hostile environment but that in the normal world of normal coexistence are not good.

Imagine that you are aiming a revolver all the time pointing there, that is good if you are in a war environment but if you are in a street they are going to arrest you, right? so that's important. How can we master those areas, how can we gain mastery over the compulsive things, the things that enslave us that sometimes we are not even aware of, right? How to live that abundant life that the Lord wants for us? The Bible is full of sound advice, principles for that kind of abundant life that God wants.

And we've talked lately about that idea, haven't we? of believing that we can do everything through Christ who strengthens us, that was I think last Sunday, before that we talked about many other principles, the fact that yes, that in the world we are going to find affliction and that suffering comes to the life of the believer, and that knowing that and accepting it is something already very, very powerful, and many other things like that; the power of prayer, the power of spiritual warfare, the power of forgiveness and all of these things are very valuable, persistence, patience that we discussed two Sundays ago, all of these things are important that they are like pieces of a much more older right?

Patience and persistence are important because many times the transformation and changes that we need in our lives take time. Believing that God is with us and that His Power lives within us is important because if we know that we are not alone and that we have a supernatural power in our favor that helps us in our struggles, that will encourage us to move forward, yes or No? If you think that you are going to be defeated, it is quite possible that you are not going to fight, then these are important principles for personal transformation, change in our lives.

And this concept that I want to isolate now, although they are all intertwined with each other, they are all interspersed and sometimes it is impossible to separate one from the other, and many times there are even processes and texts in Scripture that involve different principles simultaneously, and when exegeting Isaiah of those passages we see this one, we see the other and we are like a scientist who picks up one piece and picks up the other and examines it in isolation, that is what I want to do this morning with the power of words, it is a principle that we we can use in the process of personal transformation.

For example, look at what Proverbs says, I want to use that text as a starting point, Proverbs 18:20, you have heard that Word before, it says: "From the fruit of the mouth" in other words the tongue, the words, " his belly will be filled with the fruit of man's mouth, he will be satisfied with the product of his lips" politicians know that very well even though Donald Trump says no, he is not lip-smacking but I don't want to get into politics so I don't want to step on corns no one here or anything, I'm going to shut up, Lord may my words be constructive this morning.

But certainly there are many people who live from words: teachers, university professors, philosophers, and what the writer is saying here is that yes, the way a person expresses himself, at the university they teach us how to use words. words correctly in a composition, in a report, in an oral, verbal presentation, words are very powerful and a person can fill his belly, in other words earn his salary, earn his experience and his support from his words, and according to one person speak and express themselves there are people who have a grace to speak who go to an interview and receive the job even though they are not qualified but impress a potential employer with their grace, so what the writer of Proverbs is saying is that from the fruit of the mouth of man fills his belly and he will be satisfied with the product of his lips.

If we learn to speak with thanks as the Bible says: "Every word seasoned with salt" happy, pleasant, accurate, sober words. If our conversation projects emotional healing it can affect our work life, our personal relationships and a number of other things. What he is specifically saying here is that the words from the mouth of the man, from the woman can affect a lot and that is why it is so important that we learn the power of words, that we modulate words, sometimes something as simple as a modular one. their conversations. What does modular mean?

Sometimes one speaks in a mono-tone, right? so so very boring, no, one must vary the tone and learn until it becomes automatic that we do it without realizing it but that has power, they have an effect, put emphasis on a specific word, speak more slowly when we speak, that our words, enunciate them. Sometimes we get used to the fact that: people will take care of deciphering what I say, don't worry, and we say 17 things in a second and they will take care of knowing what I'm saying. No, let's talk slowly.

The gestures we use when we speak, if we look people in the eye. All these things have a tremendous influence and affect the message we want to give. So you don't have to be a broadcaster to learn to modulate your words, speak more slowly and learn the use of different communication techniques that help in all aspects of life and that can determine your prosperity or not, so that's why it's that the writer says: "From the fruit of a man's mouth his belly will be filled and he will be satisfied with the produce of his lips." It seems very mechanical doesn't it? very physical, the belly will be full, but he is talking about the prosperity that comes from acquiring a good command of words.

But then here is the most important text of all, verse 21 says: "Death and life are in the power of the tongue" wow, "and whoever loves it will eat its fruit." Death and life are in the power of the tongue. How many people are 6 feet underground today because they spoke badly in a bar or insulted someone, or addressed a police officer in a disrespectful way and that triggered.

Not long ago we were seeing one of these terrible cases of police abuse that have occurred lately, accusations of police abuse that clearly shows me that one of the problems is sometimes that, if a police officer, a patrol car stops you on a highway, that police officer He is trained to come with all his defenses up, he even approaches sometimes with his hand on his revolver because they are trained that way, he does not know who is inside the car, if that person is going, and if you are talking about a disrespectful or aggressive way and from there began a deterioration in that relationship. It may be that what you said is perfectly normal or let's say acceptable, that it doesn't violate any law but you are already setting the stage for a possible unnecessary confrontation instead of letting your guard down right away with a disrespectful word: "good morning officer, what I can serve you?" or whatever, right? "I didn't know you were here, what happened, do you want to say hello, do you want to give me a coffee?"

But you have to be respectful, you have to respect the law. There is a text that says: "Meek words soften anger" or something like that. A person comes full of anger and things and you give him a soft word listen to me, and he deflates, you can almost see the body completely relax like that, go mongo, I didn't expect that; now if you answer him with another word.

It's like that in marriage too, isn't it? sometimes she, it's usually her (laughs), she's in a bad mood or whatever and she tells you something and you, it's like when you beat them, right? Boys, who's going to hit first? and they throw the bat, they grab her here and the other puts his hand here and the other here, when he comes to see there's nothing left to grab, and sometimes she says something or he says something, you say something a little hotter, he says something a little hotter and when they come to see they are both burning and the whole house too because of a word that should have been.

Sometimes terrible situations can be disarmed, the fuse can be removed from a bomb in an instant with a wise word, words are powerful. That's why I think the writer says here: "Death and life are in the power of the tongue," definitely.

The writer of James, James the Apostle, talks about the tongue and his words even though they are very negative, I don't want to just talk about the negative, I really didn't even want to spend a lot of time on that text but it's wonderful, the text about the tongue in chapter 3 of James, read it later in due time, but he says that the tongue is a very small member, although for some brothers and sisters it is bigger (laughs), it doesn't weigh more than half a pound; in some, it is definitely more substantial.

But the apostle Santiago says that the tongue "is a very small member but it boasts of great things", he says: "behold how great a forest kindles a small fire" and it is true. A single word can unleash a world conflagration and says: the language is set between our members and it is true. Note that it is placed as between our brain and the body there as directing everything, right? and the tongue is in the center of our members "and it contaminates the whole body and inflames the wheel of creation" Santiago became very poetic there, he inflames the wheel of creation, I can almost imagine that image that he gives here, right?

But then he talks about that, the importance, that a curse and a blessing cannot come out of the mouth of a Christian. He says: how can a fountain pour sweet water and bitter water, poisonous water and drinkable water? no, you can't, it must be one or the other, we must be very careful with words, it is difficult but we have to learn the importance.

I believe that the first moment of this meditation is to make us aware that words are not neutral, words are not harmless in themselves, no, words are weapons, they are instruments that can operate or kill, can heal or make people sick, words have great power.

There is a direct connection between the quality of our life, our feelings, our inner space and the words that circulate around us that we continually hear and that we pronounce in our conversation. Remember that everything you hear and say, the words that resonate around you at work, at home impact your life.

One of the things that I resent the most, my brothers in modern life, is that today there are very few spaces where you can have silence. Know what? one of my favorite complaints is that when i go to airports there is noise everywhere, you are sitting and there is a horn directly above you and a screen showing you the latest terrorist attack and you are going to get on a plane, imagine. I am grateful, in Europe it is different, it has not yet invaded, there the airports are normally quite silent.

Here in the United States you go to a restaurant and you can't find a table where you're not looking at a blessed screen, brother. Sometimes I want to put myself on a wall and on the wall itself there is the screen, and you go to restaurants nowadays and there are 17 screens with 14 games and the last 3 soap operas on television, and screens wherever you want, movement , noise and that affects human beings, one needs silence, one also needs stillness, and all these things are affecting. So the environments and the words that we circulate and process affect the spiritual state, what we speak, what we say, our conversation, that is important for us to understand. Our words and our silences matter, that's why we have to measure our words as a precious resource, sometimes we forget this and waste energy.

I sometimes measure a person's wisdom by how many words he consumes and produces in ten minutes. There are people that you sit down and you don't have to say a single word, you just press a button and they speak for you, you don't have to say anything and from time to time you say "uh hum" and they have the strength to carry on twenty more minutes talking (laughs). Sometimes that's a tremendous advantage, isn't it? because you just sit there and think about the weather and other things and every once in a while you remember and say "uh um" and they keep talking, and you don't have to do anything in the conversation.

But you know what? The Bible says that the wise are silent. He says that in many words there is foolishness. By the way, as a Pastor, I have the bad thing that I have to talk all the time because one is always going to say, some nonsense is going to slip away, imagine speaking for forty minutes, something that is going to offend or what is not going to slip away. then one says: listen to me; At the end of the day my wife is always in charge of telling me the things I didn't say correctly, I have a faithful, faithful interpreter there (laughs), no, I'm playing, it's not true.

But certainly in the many words there is foolishness and one of the things we have to learn is that, that your words are measured, that they be weighed and that people get used to knowing that if you say something they can go to the bank with it. You don't have to swear: (kisses hand) I swear to God that such and such usually means you don't trust yourself, you know? and thinks he has to shout to be believed. People who go around swearing all the time, that means they have a guilty conscience, right?

Now the person who speaks seriously and whose words carry weight, people know that they don't have to be saying: I can't assure you that, I swear to you, by my mother what do I know that, no, people know. If he says that or she says that, don't worry. Learn to under-promise and over-deliver instead of the opposite. People who promise you heaven and earth, they are titans, giants, they eat children raw and then when the time comes to give everything they disappear, no. Give more than you promise, be more than you seem, do more than you speak and guard your words and measure them carefully because they are energy, words are energy. If you spend your energy, words are like money, if you spend it handful you have nothing at the end.

You keep the words inside and they are energy that circulates and gives tension to your boat, wow how nice that came out, and when you shoot you shoot with force and effectiveness, and the words hit their target. The more one keeps silence, the more internal pressure accumulates and the more strength one has in life, that is why the wise always associate themselves with silence, because they know the value of silence and of words as well.

The Bible speaks of idle words of passage. For me, idle words are those words that we have not measured, we have not meditated on, they simply come out automatically out of inertia, like we turned on the button to the subconscious and the words came out and we did not meditate on them before.

The Lord Jesus Christ says, look at this how interesting, in Matthew chapter 12 he says: "Make the good tree and its fruit good, or the bad tree and its fruit bad, because the tree is known by its fruit" and then he says: "You generation of vipers, how can you speak good while being evil?" generation of vipers". Sometimes people hear me and say: Pastor Miranda it seems that you are in a bad mood but look how the Lord Jesus Christ spoke, "generation of vipers", if I spoke like that they would kick me out of here .

"How can you speak good while being bad? Because out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks" you know what is in the heart of a person by the quality of his words of his conversation. "The good man from the good treasure of the heart brings out good things, and the bad man from the bad treasure brings out bad things" and this for me is a very strong sentence: "But I tell you that from every idle word that men speak, from They will give an account on the day of judgment, because by your words you will be justified and by your words you will be condemned" wow. I could just use that for the rest of the sermon but I have so many things I want to share with you, but think about that. Go home, write down that text, ask the Lord to give you wisdom.

Wow, there are things that on Judgment Day, how many times have we damaged the heart of a child because of a word that we said to him and it stayed there circulating in his spirit, and when he was old he still hasn't forgotten that condemnatory word that was passed to him? gave? hmm? How many times have we hurt a husband or a wife because of a terrible word that we have given them? It has remained a shadowy, sinister presence in his heart and I think so, one day we are going to have to give an account of these things because we created a bitter and even violent being who did harm to others, so that word multiplied on that person and did great damage. That is why the Lord says that we will have to give an account for those idle words that we have spoken.

To change depressive habits, the positive of words also enters here, to change depressive and defeatist habits, for example, and change negative attitudes in ourselves, we have to change the words that we continually pronounce and hear.

If you want to have a healthy life, if you want to change a negative, defeatist, depressive attitude in your life, sometimes even anxieties and other things one of the ways. Sometimes you are not going to be able to heal anxiety overnight, you are not going to be able to directly affect depression in your life, but you can start by changing the way you speak because it is so easy, and this is important. . Sometimes we have to speak by faith even if we don't feel it, knowing that when we speak by faith and speak positively that will have an impact on our inner state, and little by little our attitude will change.

You may not be able to change your attitude but you can change the way you talk, right? once in a while say something that is positive, something that reflects hope. If you suffer from depression or negativity, say: no, I can do this and I think it will work out, I'm not sure and it seems the opposite but I believe that somehow He will, if I don't take the job God will to get something better, say it even if you don't believe it but say it positively and that will gradually change the way you think.

If you move, and let me plug that in a little more, right? what we pronounce, what we say can change, in other words, our feelings, our space. If you, for example, are always consuming negative words, negative sounds, that affects your inner space. That is why if you work in a place where people are picky, conflictive, gossip about each other, there are places like that and where people are negative because a negativity is created in the air and that often has to do with the values of an institution, the bosses who are in the institution and many other things but sometimes we live in that environment and of course, we ourselves are going to express that in our attitude.

It is as if you work in a place where everyone smokes, forget that when you leave there you will smell like a cheap hotel lobby because your skin and the fabric of your suit will smell, and so it happens with the words we consume also not?

George Orwell, a very famous writer, said the following: "If thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought." In other words: certainly the way you think determines the way you speak and if a negative way of thinking gives birth to a negative language, in the same way if you change your language and change your words little by little that language. positive that you start talking is going to have an impact on the way you think.

I think the key is in the way the brain works. Today the studies that have been done on human neurology, on the brain have given us a lot of understanding of how we can operate on our electronic configuration to change our attitudes and things. There is a very great equivalence between the physical wiring of the brain, the brain is a terribly complex thing, and the behavior and feelings of the person. So that gives us an idea of why it is important to speak positively, because what we speak continuously becomes a physical presence in the neurology of the brain, because the brain develops connections and associations, so the brain creates memories and creates feelings and attitudes, and character, and all these things, he's shooting chemical lines that become biochemical presences in this wonderful thing called the human brain.

So when you speak, if you continuously speak negatively, those negative words are becoming, the brain is making neurological chemical deposits in itself, and that is then becoming a physical presence, no longer merely words, it becomes a presence physical. I think that one of the problems when we don't understand how complicated it is is not understanding that what we say has a physical equivalent in the brain, and that's why we have to be very careful in the habits we cultivate too, because if you also cultivate a bad habit, be it physical, whatever it is, it establishes a presence in your neurology, and then breaking it requires almost a physical healing.

People don't understand that but I don't want to talk too much because I don't want to bore them with it. But it is important that we understand that the way we speak becomes a neurological presence and that affects our behavior and the way we see the world and the feelings we hold. Over time words become a physical presence and live, literally inhabit within us.

Another thing that helps us understand is that God creates and God created through words. God said: "Let there be light" and there was light. Do you know that God is so cheap that he doesn't have to go there to make light or make light atoms? No. He simply says: Be the light and boom, it's the light, birds appear to populate the air and for the moment poof, I would like to have that power, what do you think? a million dollars sir now here boom a year old lexus But God creates through His Word and God says things, He doesn't have to be fighting with anyone or anything, He just gives an order and that order just becomes an eternal presence that no one can undo. God creates and acts through His Word and knows that we who have been made in the image and likeness of God have that creative power to a lesser degree.

That is why novelists and poets can create wonderful things, universes that one can inhabit in a novel, for example a song, a poem, because words have great power. And you know what? that when we enter the ways of the Lord, words become more powerful. What we say, what we prophesy, the prophetic power of the son of God, what you speak.

Sometimes without realizing what you say to your children: "I see you in jail in ten years if you don't change your behavior" that has a terrible prophetic power, "boy you are going to end up dead in a car on a road yes" right? all those things, be careful. "You are useless, you are always, you are useless" we have to banish those words because he knows that he is not only affecting his son psychologically, emotionally but that he is throwing death on his spirit and is fanning terrible things in his life and declaring Negative things about the life of a child or a spouse, or a friend. So know that we have a mysterious power that we have inherited from our creator and especially when we are in the Kingdom of God that prophetic power that we have has been activated, the way we speak, the way we confess with our mouths has power very big and therefore let's understand, wow.

At the moment when you are a child of God you have gained weight and you can no longer walk around like one of those jerks, like a scoundrel, no, you are a child of God and your words weigh heavily. If Obama says he has a headache on television, forget that Wall Street is shaking and stocks are falling because Obama said he had a headache, because there is power. If the Pope says something even simple, "I have doubts about my salvation" immediately 500,000 Catholics commit suicide, right? that is to say: you have to be careful because the more you occupy, and that could be an idle word on my part, forgive me (laughs), is what I tell you that talking too much is a terrible danger brothers; one falls in love with his own rhetoric and begins to speak nonsense, and when he comes to see: Pastor Miranda come down from there! (laughs), I'm going through the air over there.

But the more spiritual importance you have, the more careful you have to be with your words, the more influence you exert in an environment, the more careful you have to be. If you're counseling, teaching a discipleship class, whatever, counseling in such an intimate moment with a partner, watch your words, a lot. If you are counseling a child or whatever, wow my words matter, Lord give me wisdom, immediately cover yourself with the blood of Christ. Someone comes and says: I want to share something with you that is me, at that moment: Lord give me wisdom to advise this person, commend yourself because it is a sacred moment and you have power at that moment to build something constructive or something that confuses and creates more anxiety than there was initially.

So we have that power because God has it and has bequeathed it to us. Remember that God told Moses: Speak to the rock, he did not say: take a drill and put a hole in there so that water comes out of it, no, he said: Speak to the rock, because it was God who was giving him the authority to say things, to utter, and what Moses did was that he took a stick and hit the rock, and lost the opportunity to even enter the Promised Land. God told him: Talk to her, you don't have to hit her, it's because there is incredible power in the son of God, he can open paths where it seems there are none.

When we come to understand the power of words it can revolutionize our lives. If there is one thing I can achieve in this meditation, it is to send you with that sense of astonishment and utmost respect for that organ that you have there of the tongue and your mouth, and the products that it produces, and that we walk with great respect, it can revolutionize our lives. Words are a very powerful instrument for creation or destruction. If we recognize their inherent value, they can become a powerful instrument for our personal progress.

One of the ways to change our attitudes and behaviors, therefore, is by changing the way we speak and I have already told you that we must speak positively even if our words do not reflect what we truly feel. For example, a person says: I can't forgive because I'm going to forgive you when I feel it, and right now I don't feel it and I don't want to be a hypocrite, so you stay there flattened with resentment.

Know what? forgive simply in obedience. Even if you want to hang him if you see him say: I forgive him, I forgive him, and say that as a prayer of faith to the Lord and to the devil himself, say: I forgive in Jesus' Name. And even if you haven't felt that yet, it's in your emotions, the fact that you utter that word of forgiveness is going to break something in you, you know? start simply by a leap of faith. Forgiveness is an act of obedience, forgiveness is not necessarily something emotional, you are simply using your words to declare, just as there is a sentence that is declared verbally, there is also a declaration of forgiveness and grace that is given through the words and then little by little the emotional part will come, and the feelings will join the words.

Let me finish and if you want to go up so that they have hope, Omar, come up here for a little while and join me there, I still have 20 minutes left just in case, 19 with 25, 24, 23 seconds, 22, 21. Some practical applications about words . One: I already pointed out the importance of blessing our children instead of speaking negative things about them or about them, remember: always bless your children. My wife always read or pronounced Aaron's words to our two daughters: Jehovah bless you and keep you, Jehovah make His face shine upon you and have mercy on you. Jehovah lift up His Face upon you and give you peace, and they said: peace! I know those words are there swimming in their spirit even when they are adults.

The words of blessing are tremendous and we must bless our children, we must make them believe that they can and tell them: you are a winner, you are going to do great things, I am proud of you, you are good, that drawing is very beautiful even if it is horrible but how beautiful it turned out, speak by faith, who knows if one day you will become a Michelangelo, it is possible but bless and affirm, right?

Another, the importance of speaking positively about others instead of continually uttering critical words about them. Speak well of people even if they are scoundrels, speak well of your brothers, get used to speaking positively. There are people who are always criticizing, always saying the bad things about people. Don't you think that this is going to affect your inner outlook?

Get used to saying something good, if there is something good in that person tell him: look how cute that button on your suit is even if the suit is horrible, but the button, focus on the button at least. Wow what an interesting nose you have, whatever but speak, speak positive things, affirm the positive things in the person, let's not be critical, let's not gossip, let's speak positively about others, right?

It's important to affirm people too, isn't it? people need a word of affirmation from time to time. Look for some excuse, some reason to say something positive to that person and encourage him to continue in that effort that he is making instead of only pointing out his faults. It is also important to talk about the projects that we undertake, to speak with hope, to speak with the expectation that we are going to be successful, expressing words that we expect good results from what we are undertaking.

When David faces Goliath and Goliath says: you are a tadpole how dare you come before me? instead of tucking his tail between his legs and leaving defeated and sad, look how David says to Goliath, he says: "Then David says to the Philistine: you come to me with a sword, and a spear, and a javelin, but I come to you in the Name of Jehovah of Hosts, the God of the squadrons of Israel whom you have provoked. And look how David prophesies about that moment and that he did not know how to say, everything indicated that the result was going to be disastrous: an obese little boy inexperienced in war against a giant experienced in war armed to the teeth and him with only a javelin there and a stick.

But look how David says, says, "The Lord will deliver you into my hand today, and I will overcome you, and I will cut off your head, and I will give the carcasses of the Philistines today to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the earth, and to all the The earth will know that there is a God in Israel, and all this congregation will know that the Lord saves us with the sword and with the spear, because the battle belongs to the Lord, and He will deliver you into our hands." Wow, glory to the Name of the Lord.

If I were a movie producer I would put David at that moment like every time he says something, he grows, he grows, he grows until he becomes a giant taller than Goliath himself. He is speaking those words because he believes. Maybe he didn't even believe, but he had to cheer up anyway. He's saying: I'm going to do this to you, I'm going to do that to you, and when he said that, his value grew even more, and that's how we have to talk.

When we undertake a difficult and unpromising project speak positively in the Name of the Lord, even if you feel afraid, get used to saying something positive. It does not mean that you do not understand the complexity and difficulty of what you are undertaking but you decide to bless instead of saying something that is defeatist, get used to talking about projects in your life in a way that reflects positive expectation.

The importance of expressing gratitude to God when we pray and pointing out the good things in our lives, this takes our eyes off the negative and what we don't have, and puts it on the good things that we do have in our lives. Never end a prayer without thanking God for something, for something you are waiting for. The apostle Paul says, right? "Do not be anxious for anything but let all your requests be known with all prayer and supplication with thanksgiving" why? because you are thanking God for what He is going to do.

That chorus goes, "I thank you for all you've done, all you do, and all you will do" wow, that's covering all the bases there. You have to, when you pray to the Lord, pray with gratitude, "Father: I thank you because I know that you are going to do this, you are going to do that, you are going to bless me, thank you because you have never left me in defeat, never you have left me ashamed.

If you pronounce gratitude, I believe that it becomes endorphins and other chemicals that inspire calm and peace in you, learn to express gratitude to the Lord and to others as well. If someone did something nice for you, thank them, send them a card, acknowledge what they have done. Gratitude is a tremendous healer and our inner landscape is also sweetened with expressions of gratitude.

Another thing: the importance of reading in our lives, of continually reading the Word of God. Jeremiah says: "I ate your words and they were sweet in my mouth." Continually read the Word of the Lord, read good books, read good novels, read good poems, you don't have to be Christians. There is a lot of poetry and secular literature with tremendously beautiful values, what's more: sometimes secular writers are better than evangelical writers many times, and then sanctify and Christianize them, but make good readings.

Watch good television programs instead of filling your head with cockroach wings there with which so-and-so married her brother and found out ten years later, and her mother threw herself, what good are you going to get out of that? control what you consume. A Christian must be using his time well and consuming the things that add to his personal growth, right?

Listen to quality music that affirms your spiritual values instead of filling your head with negative energies and desires, that's a problem I have, I love poetry. I recently discovered two wonderful singers, don't put them there because I already know them, but they are harmful to one's sensibility, Joaquín Sabina I don't know how many have, is there anyone who knows Joaquín Sabina? if someone raises their hand they are a genius, are you? I want to talk to you at the end of the service (laughs). It's exquisite Spanish, aha, you're confessing, this is like making an appeal, nobody wants to raise their hand but then everyone raises it.

No, I recently discovered him on the internet, his voice is great, his poetry, everything. René Pérez from Calle 13 in Puerto Rico I heard him listening to Mercedes Sosa recently, and I said: wow this guy is a poetic genius. But both, despite the fact that they have tremendous quality in their music, the spiritual values that they reflect and express, the type of attitudes that they embody in their music are not the values that I should cultivate as a Christian and above all as a Pastor. Why do I want to know about Sabina's romantic conquests in bed or whatever, what is that going to do to my mind brothers? I have enough with the demons that I have in my mind to add others.

So um, I have to take those things and put them aside and say: you know what Lord? I offer them as a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing, holy to You, they are not good things for my emotional health. Negative things, suicides, violence, criticism of authority, criticism of God, of Christianity, why do I want that even though it's great and interesting? that's why we have to be very careful of our children too, the music they consume.

Look if your teenager is already used to listening to rap and all that, and is going to provoke a nuclear war when you forbid it, but your little children do not let them enter into that crap against women. Violence against women, unbridled sexuality, criticism of the police, the government, the Church, why do you want that? it's not it's just beat and whatnot, how much! no, that is spiritual energy. Music is spiritual energy, that's why we worship God with music.

The devil, Lucifer was a tremendous musician, you know that? read the bible. When God created him as that perfect being he gave music to Lucifer, listen to me and how the devil uses music in these times, he is an exalted musician, you know? but it reflects his internal emotional space that is horrible, there is no grace or life in that music that he produces. So these are habits, they are very important things, there is a lot there that we can do.

I end simply with those practical suggestions about the power of words. I leave you with a text from Jeremiah chapter 1 verses 4 to 9, I would title this text: Do not say, do not say.

Jeremiah 1:4 to 9 says: "So the Word of the Lord came to me saying:" Jeremiah a young man, God calls him, has great things for his life, "the Word of the Lord came to me saying: Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I sanctified you, I gave you as a prophet to the nations." Look at the good intentions that God has with this young man.

He tells him: I sanctified you, I prepared you, I created you before the creation of the world, before you were born to be a prophet to the nations. And here is the key in verse 6, it says: "And I said" what Jeremiah says when God speaks to him about that great dream that he has for Him and that great purpose for which he has created him, Jeremiah says with his words: "Ah Lord Jehovah, behold, I do not know how to speak because I am a child" Lord, how is it possible that I have such great things? I don't even know how to speak, the same thing that Moses said to Jehovah in the desert, I have a stutter, I don't know how to speak.

The great vision that God has for him Jeremiah contradicts it with a negative confession, looking at the negative that is in him: he is a child, he does not know how to speak, he is inexperienced, but notice what is interesting about this passage, it is that this negative confession and that: I said, in verse 7 it says: "And the Lord said to me" the I said is opposed by the "the Lord said".

And Jehovah says to him: "Do not say I am a child because you will go to everything I send you and say everything I command you, do not fear before them because I am with you to deliver you says Jehovah; And Jehovah stretched out His Hand and touched" that? "my mouth" with my mouth, "and the Lord said to me: behold, I have put my words in your mouth. Behold, I have set you today above nations and kingdoms to uproot and to destroy, to ruin and to tear down, to build up and to plant."

Go with that Word this morning in the Name of the Lord. Do not say: I cannot, do not say: I do not have, do not say: I do not know, do not say: it is impossible because everything that God has told you is going to happen in your life will happen in the Name of Jesus. The good intentions that God has for you are going to be given, God has put in your mouth the power to create, build, ruin, plant, create, heal, bless, give life, all of that is in you by the power of your confession. Believe in the Name of the Lord and use your words constructively, use them for transformation, use them to bless this world, you are a prophet of God, use your words wisely and use that life of God that is within you.

Lower your head for a moment, receive God's call for your life this morning, we are going to change our way of speaking, we are going to change the confessions that come out of our mouths, I want the Lord to help me be more and more careful And sweeter in the way that I talk, I ask the Lord to start with me.

In what areas of your verbal life does God have to work? If God illuminates something for you right now, give it to the Lord and make yourself a promise that from now on you are going to use your mouth as the powerful instrument that it is. If you have criticized someone, if you have unnecessarily complained about something about God, promise yourself that you will speak positively, you will bless.

Father: we receive from You new strength for personal transformation. Thank you because you have made us incredibly powerful in the use of our words: We confess this morning that You have blessed us, you have enriched us with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places, that You have placed in our hands every good gift and every gift perfect, that you have forgiven us, that you are happy with us, that you have good plans for me and for our children, that we will not die but live, that no one will be able to face us all the days of our lives, that you have given us all the earth that treads on the soles of our feet, that we can fulfill and do everything in Christ Jesus who strengthens us, that You are our healer, the one who gives us life, the one who satisfies our mouths so that we rejuvenate like the eagle , the one who heals our ailments and who forgives our iniquities.

Help us to believe these things and speak them, and confess them, and be bearers of that redeeming Word of the Kingdom of God, thank you Father for your good purpose for us. I bless this Lord, let us leave here strengthened and inspired, in the Name of Jesus we pray, amen and amen, God bless you my beloved brothers.