Words are not just words (Part Two)
Easterine Kire
[dropcap]I[/dropcap] am currently reading a wonderful book by Don Gossett entitled, “What you say is what you get.” It is an old publication from the 70s. What is remarkable about this book is that the author had discovered long back that we determine our destinies by what we declare or speak over ourselves. The self defeating thoughts that we say fulfill themselves. If we honestly look back on our lives, the thought patterns that we have held in our whole lives about ourselves, come into play over and over again.
I want to mention another author writing in the last decade, Cindy Trimm. In her bestselling book, “Commanding your Morning” Trimm talks about the same principle as Gossett in a more practical way. The spoken word is all powerful. The spoken word is all authoritative. It creates. It brings to pass. When spoken in agreement with the word of God, it changes the direction of your life. Cindy Trimm’s book was written in 2007, 31 years after Don Gossett’s book was published in 1976. Obviously there is an abiding truth to this principle. Otherwise why would it engage two writers so thoroughly in two different ages? Isn’t it worth going further into?By way of illustrating what he wants to communicate, Gossett describes a woman who came to him with what he described as a bad case of I-can’t-it-is. The woman suffered from a bad case of asthma. She said, “I have had this asthma for years, but I can’t be healed of it. I have been prayed for many times. Others besides you have prayed, but I just can’t get healed. Some nights I have such a smothering attack of this asthma that I think I shall never be able to draw one more breath. The next day, after such an attack, I can’t even get out of bed. At other times, I am all right at the beginning of the day, but by noon the asthma will have started up again, and I simply can’t do anything. I work in an office, and many days I can’t finish my day’s work because of my hard breathing and wheezing. I have prayed. I have fasted; I have searched my heart. Why can’t I receive my healing?”
Gossett carefully pointed to her that her problem was not so much the asthma but the fact that every second sentence she said included the ‘can’t’ word. She was limiting herself by that word and by continuing to believe she could never be healed of asthma. A lifetime of believing that she could never be free of asthma had so shaped her attitude that she knew no other reality. After hours of counseling, the woman learned to change her words and consequently change her attitude. She was miraculously set free of asthma and months later when Gossett met her, she looked joyful and healthy.
According to Don Gossett, people stay poor because they declare with their mouths that they are poor. They confess that they lack, thereby they continue to lack. People continue to fear because they confess to fears. People are susceptible to weaknesses and defeat and doubts and sicknesses because they declare these things over themselves.
Don Gossett began to put into practice what he was preaching by writing a never again list of words he would refrain altogether from declaring about his circumstances. He would never again confess poverty, lack of faith, worries, disease, bondage, condemnation and fears.
Shortly after that making the list, he had personal experiences of health and wealth, spiritual wisdom and freedom. Gossett then made a second list of the things he declares he possesses based on bible verses. It is a list that declares possession of spiritual authority and power, forgiveness of sins and anointing, provision of health and wealth.
The principle of using the spoken word to get what you want is not limited to Christians. Amongst the Sami indigenous people, there are a category of healers who speak some secret words over sick people. The words can stop excess blood flow from a wound. They can be spoken over the telephone and healing is instantaneous. The Sami healers have divulged that these secret words are actually verses from the Bible and when they read it over their patients, they are healed. They read verses that talk about being healed in the authority of Jesus name. These indigenous healers are not Christians but they have discovered something about the power inherent in the word.
The spoken word has such great influence over our lives that it warrants much more attention than we give to it. If careless words can derail our lives, should we not be much more observant of our words? Both books are recommended reading if you want to discover the science of creation via declarations.
