Day 9

It's amazing how much power there is in giving your word to something.  We really do create reality with our words--not in a superstitious, "name-it-claim-it" way, but along the lines of the way God created with His word--"Let there be light . . . and there was light."  When we really give our word to something and add our intention to it, so that "Never mind" is not an option, it changes what we do, which changes how we live, which changes the future.

We can give our word to evil--"I will get revenge if it's the last thing I do."  But it seems we're almost compelled to give our word to the good God calls us to . . . until another voice tells us we can't do that, we can't be that.   But nothing significant ever happens without that combination of our word and our intention.

I'm thinking about this right now because 9 days ago, I gave my word to writing every day for 21 days.  That is the only reason I would still be up and on my computer at this hour, before a really demanding day tomorrow.  In June, I gave my word to running a 5K.  On Saturday, I picked the event I'm going to run in.  Slowly but surely, I'm making progress toward making both of those a reality, whether I feel like it or not.

I've learned a lot about this from my friend JTH and also from Dallas Willard, in conversations and lectures and writing on how people change.  I've experimented with it in my own life and it really is powerful, not as a technique but as a way of lining up my life with God's calling.  I help to teach it in Faithwalking and elsewhere and I've seen the power of it in the lives of others.  Giving our word, keeping our word, honoring our word . . . in line with God's word . . . really does change things.