What you say matters.
I've been called hopelessly optimistic, Pollyanna and lots of other things I could always find the bright side of. But the truth is, your words shape your reality. The words you drape around your circumstances shape what you believe, how you interact, and your personal reality.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying all circumstances are pretty or should be made light of. But what if we spoke Light into them?
Jesus saw it all. And He encountered a worse circumstance than any of us ever will. And he always spoke Truth.
He came here to become like us - light walking into darkness and changing everything with his words. He came looking for the dark so He could shine his light.
Jesus didn't accept resumes or interview for "most qualified disciple". He chose everyday guys. He even chose the slimiest, grimiest, vilest "legal" criminal of the time - a tax collector - to be one of his main men. When the holy-rolling, rule-following Pharisees of the time heard about Jesus having dinner at the tax collector, Matthew's house with a bunch of his low-life, schmoozing, sinful buddies, they did not have the most pleasant things to say. Jesus spoke Truth in response. Only Truth. "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick... For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." (Matthew 9:12,14) He didn't slam the Pharisees. He didn't go sterilize his hands in the bathroom after eating a meal saturated by sinful company. He spoke Truth. No one could doubt he loved all the way. And he couldn't help but love both Pharisees and tax-collectors when he was speaking life into
One time, he encountered a Samaritan woman drawing water from a well and asked for a drink. First of all, it was out of line for a man to speak to a woman in public and for a Jew to speak to a Samaritan. (Those legalistic, black-and-white lines are so Old Testament anyway.) Samaritans were social outcasts. This one in particular was stained with a shoddy love life and was not the kind of gal you might think you'd want your savior hanging out with. She didn't have to say anything about it. He knew it all. (John 4:17-18) She tries to give him an out like any decent social outcast would, and Jesus responds, again, with Truth, love and an invitation to salvation. "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water." (John 4:10)
What you say matters.
Right now, Ten Thousand Homes is working on building two houses in Mbonisweni, as well as bringing hope and a sense of home to the houses through relationship-building. I hope to have more of a story and photos to share with you soon, but one of the house is for five orphaned teenage boys. They are scared, living unprotected and exposed in a mud house that disappears a little with each heavy rain. They are clinging to ancestral beliefs in witchcraft because they don't know anything else and because they are longing for a sense of power and protection. They believe the spirit of a sangoma, or a witchdoctor, lives in the body of the 17 year-old and practice rituals to please the sangoma.
I've found that when we are talking about the sites in Mbonisweni, we use key words to distinguish between the houses. I find myself saying the "orphan house" or the "sangoma house" when talking about this construction site.
Today I started thinking about how important words are to God. He spoke and creation was formed. Names too. When God spoke Truth, He often attached a name.
"As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations... "As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah. I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her." (Genesis 17:4-5, 15-16)
Every time Sarah called Abraham in for dinner, she was proclaiming him to be the "father or many". Speaking out Truth shapes our reality from one of what we can see to one that turns to our faith in the unseen. (Hebrews 11:1)
I don't want to speak out over this new HOME we are creating that this is a place for orphans or for witchcraft. I want to speak promises - that these five young men were created to be sons in the Family of God. That they are not orphans and they belong to a Father who loves them perfectly. I want to speak of the REAL power surrounding them and the REAL security they have.
As you watch this slideshow of the construction site today, pray for a seal of Truth, hope and promise on this house. Pray for God's presence to break through and change this house into a Home. Pray for a name for this house so that we can speak God's Promise out every time we reference a job site, a load of cement or introduce a new team into the hands and feet part.
I've been called hopelessly optimistic, Pollyanna and lots of other things I could always find the bright side of. But the truth is, your words shape your reality. The words you drape around your circumstances shape what you believe, how you interact, and your personal reality.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying all circumstances are pretty or should be made light of. But what if we spoke Light into them?
Jesus saw it all. And He encountered a worse circumstance than any of us ever will. And he always spoke Truth.
He came here to become like us - light walking into darkness and changing everything with his words. He came looking for the dark so He could shine his light.
Jesus didn't accept resumes or interview for "most qualified disciple". He chose everyday guys. He even chose the slimiest, grimiest, vilest "legal" criminal of the time - a tax collector - to be one of his main men. When the holy-rolling, rule-following Pharisees of the time heard about Jesus having dinner at the tax collector, Matthew's house with a bunch of his low-life, schmoozing, sinful buddies, they did not have the most pleasant things to say. Jesus spoke Truth in response. Only Truth. "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick... For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." (Matthew 9:12,14) He didn't slam the Pharisees. He didn't go sterilize his hands in the bathroom after eating a meal saturated by sinful company. He spoke Truth. No one could doubt he loved all the way. And he couldn't help but love both Pharisees and tax-collectors when he was speaking life into
One time, he encountered a Samaritan woman drawing water from a well and asked for a drink. First of all, it was out of line for a man to speak to a woman in public and for a Jew to speak to a Samaritan. (Those legalistic, black-and-white lines are so Old Testament anyway.) Samaritans were social outcasts. This one in particular was stained with a shoddy love life and was not the kind of gal you might think you'd want your savior hanging out with. She didn't have to say anything about it. He knew it all. (John 4:17-18) She tries to give him an out like any decent social outcast would, and Jesus responds, again, with Truth, love and an invitation to salvation. "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water." (John 4:10)
What you say matters.
Right now, Ten Thousand Homes is working on building two houses in Mbonisweni, as well as bringing hope and a sense of home to the houses through relationship-building. I hope to have more of a story and photos to share with you soon, but one of the house is for five orphaned teenage boys. They are scared, living unprotected and exposed in a mud house that disappears a little with each heavy rain. They are clinging to ancestral beliefs in witchcraft because they don't know anything else and because they are longing for a sense of power and protection. They believe the spirit of a sangoma, or a witchdoctor, lives in the body of the 17 year-old and practice rituals to please the sangoma.
I've found that when we are talking about the sites in Mbonisweni, we use key words to distinguish between the houses. I find myself saying the "orphan house" or the "sangoma house" when talking about this construction site.
Today I started thinking about how important words are to God. He spoke and creation was formed. Names too. When God spoke Truth, He often attached a name.
"As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations... "As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah. I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her." (Genesis 17:4-5, 15-16)
Every time Sarah called Abraham in for dinner, she was proclaiming him to be the "father or many". Speaking out Truth shapes our reality from one of what we can see to one that turns to our faith in the unseen. (Hebrews 11:1)
I don't want to speak out over this new HOME we are creating that this is a place for orphans or for witchcraft. I want to speak promises - that these five young men were created to be sons in the Family of God. That they are not orphans and they belong to a Father who loves them perfectly. I want to speak of the REAL power surrounding them and the REAL security they have.
As you watch this slideshow of the construction site today, pray for a seal of Truth, hope and promise on this house. Pray for God's presence to break through and change this house into a Home. Pray for a name for this house so that we can speak God's Promise out every time we reference a job site, a load of cement or introduce a new team into the hands and feet part.
Kacy, you DID read the book, didn't you?? It's an amazing thing, isn't it? I have been guilty of speaking death into things and people over and over again. But no more! I want my words to give LIFE!!! I see in the pics the Switzerland team. I'm really glad we got to spend some time with them!
ReplyDelete