I’ve written a couple of posts in the past about whether or not Christians should be declaring or decreeing things over their lives. In summary, if we are only declaring things that the Bible already says are true, then it can be okay. Nevertheless, if these things are already true, then we don’t really need to declare them—we can just thank God for them.

Change Your Words, Change Your Destiny

At the same time, I’m concerned that many Christians are decreeing and declaring things that the Bible never promises and that they only wish for. Moreover, many think their decrees and declarations actually change their “destiny.” This I do not see in Scripture.

One might argue that the words that we speak about ourselves impact us, and, therefore, shape our destiny. This is very true. And I agree that we should be careful what we say about ourselves, both out loud and in our minds, because our self-talk does influence our actions, and therefore our words do affect our futures.

And yet, I don’t need the Bible to tell me this. Recognizing the impact of positive self-talk is simple psychology. And it is a far cry from saying that when we declare and decree things that we want to happen, they will happen (or at least should happen).

This doesn’t sound like something from the Bible, but more like something out of The Secret, a book that Oprah Winfrey was promoting in the early 2000s.

“ Recognizing the impact of positive self-talk is simple psychology.

Speak Things into Being

When I point out that there is no verse in the Bible where anyone ever says, “I decree and declare X over my life,” one question Christians sometimes raise is, “But don’t you believe the Bible when it says there is power in the tongue?”

Yes, I do. But we have to ask, what does the Bible mean when it refers to the power of the tongue?

Some Christians claim that because we are created in the image of God, we, like God, have the power in our tongues to speak things into being.

This is poor reasoning. God spoke the world into being literally out of nothing. No human has ever done that. And this is why no theologian in church history has ever suggested that being created in the image of God means that human words have creative power. Well…this, plus the fact that this idea has no biblical support.

“ No theologian has ever suggested that being created in the image of God means that human words have creative power.

Another thing—if we have the ability to speak things into being simply because we are created in the image of God, then any human being can do this, not just Christians, because every person is made in the image of God.

So the comparison of the power of God’s words and our words is not really helpful in this discussion. But the tongue is still powerful.

Power in the Tongue

There are indeed a number of verses in the Bible that talk about the significance of the “tongue,” that is, the power of our words.

The one I usually see cited says this:

The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit” (Proverbs 18:21, NIV).

What does “power” mean here?

If you look at this chapter, you will see that verse 21 is surrounded by verses that are all about how we treat other people. So when verse 21 says “the tongue has the power of life and death,” it means that we can hurt or encourage others by how we speak.

The second part of this verse says “And those who love it [the tongue] will eat its fruit.” Other Bible translations bring clarity to the meaning of this statement. For example, the CEV translates this, “Talk too much, and you will eat everything you say.” And the NLT translates this, “those who love to talk will reap the consequences.” Or if you prefer the KJV, “they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.”

Biblical Truth

So, overall, Proverbs 18:21 is not talking about Christians speaking things over their own lives, but about being careful about how we talk to other people.

The Bible is right.

Our tongues are powerful. Our words have great influence on others. So be careful what you say, because your tongue can tear a person down, or build them up.

You might also be interested in these posts:

• 10 Bible Verses You Can Legitimately Declare Over Your Life
• Is God For You…Not Against You?
• Should Christians Declare or Decree Things over Their Lives?

Andrew K. Gabriel, Ph.D., is the author of Simply Spirit-Filled: Experiencing God in the Presence and Power of the Holy Spirit as well as three academic books, including The Lord is the Spirit. He is a theology professor at Horizon College and Seminary and serves on the Theological Study Commission for the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada. You can follow him on Facebook or on Twitter.