What’s Blocking My Blessings? (Pt.4) (316) - September 20 2025

This week we are speaking about spoken words and actions, the power of words, word programming and agreement with words.

Proverbs 18 verse 21, says "Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and they who indulge in it shall eat the fruit of it [for death or life]."

We learn how important it is to become aware and sensitive to what we are speaking and what is being spoken to us.

This program covers the following Scriptures from the Amplified Classic version (AMPC): Proverbs 18:20-21, Joshua 24:15, Proverbs 4:23, John 6:67-68, Isaiah 55:11, Hebrews 11:3, Proverbs 23:12, Proverbs 10:31-32, 1 John 1:9.

Transcript

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(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) And welcome back to another episode of Touch of God. This is Catrice. I'll be bringing the message to you. This week, we will be talking about What's Blocking My Blessing, Part 4. And for those of you who want to follow along, in the Bible, we use the Amplified Classic. Last week, we talked about What's Blocking My Blessing, Part 3. And in that episode, we talked about self-worth. We learned that knowing who you are in Christ can help someone avoid being taken advantage of. This week, in What's Blocking My Blessing, Part 4, we will be talking about the power of spoken words, actions you take, agreements you make. How can speaking words have power? How can words bring life or death? How can words produce death in a person's life? How can we become programmed by words? How can there be power in agreeing with what someone speaks? The power of biblical words and actions? How is there power in agreeing with what someone speaks or does? Who has the words of life? The words of Jesus can bring life. The power of biblical words? What must we do to have more words that have life and speaking life and death? These will be the areas that we'll be talking about under the power of words. So how can there be power in words? The Bible says in Proverbs 18, verse 20 to 21, a man's moral self shall be filled with the fruit of his mouth, and with the consequence of his words, he must be satisfied, whether good or evil. Verse 21, death and life are in the power of the tongue, and they who indulge in it shall eat the fruit of it for death or life. How can words bring life or death like it's saying in Proverbs 18, 20 to 21? To understand this verse, let's start looking at the first part of the verse that says a man's moral self shall be filled with the fruit of his mouth. Where does the fruit of a man's mouth come from? In Joshua 24, verse 15, it says, out of the abundance of his heart, his mouth speaks. We can see from Proverbs 18, 20 to 21 that a man's moral self shall be filled with the fruit of his mouth. The fruit of his mouth comes from what's in his heart. And we just read in Joshua 24, 15, out of the abundance of his heart, his mouth speaks. So what is in the heart? Let's look at Proverbs 4, 23, verse 23 says, keep and guard your heart with all vigilance and above all that you guard for out of it flow the springs of life. So your heart needs to be guarded because out of it can flow things pertaining to life. Let's continue to look at Proverbs 18, 21, where it says death and life are in the power of the tongue. So we just finished talking about what's in the heart and out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. And so whatever your mouth is speaking, you have two choices. You have death that you can speak, or you have life that you can speak. And the tongue has been empowered that you can choose to speak both. And then to continue in the Proverbs 18, verse 21, it says, and they who indulge in it shall eat the fruit of it for death or life. If you indulge in something, that means that you are doing that thing, but you're not only doing that particular choice, whether you're choosing death or life, but to indulge in it means you're just diving head in to what you're doing, right? You're fully involved. If you're indulging in speaking death, then it says, you shall eat the fruit of it. And if you're indulging in speaking life, you eat the fruit of life. So clearly we have to choose, right? So how can these words produce death in a person's life where it's saying that there's life and death in the power of the tongue, but exactly how does that work? Well, Proverbs 18, 20, this verse starts by saying a man's moral self shall be filled with the fruit of his mouth. What are some people being filled with these days that produces the fruit of their mouth, meaning what is filling their thoughts, ideas that are producing their lifestyles, beliefs, actions. The verse mentions fruit. What does fruit mean to those of us that don't know what fruit is? So when you just simply look up the definition of fruit as a noun, it says result, outcome, the fruit of their labor. I'm going to go ahead and I'm going to tell you guys a story so that we can get better understanding. A boy grew up in a family where he was always told, you will amount to nothing. You're so stupid. You're good for nothing. These words were so commonly spoken to him in his house that he just thought this was normal. One day, one of his friends won a trophy for being the best in soccer. The boy joined the soccer team to see if he would be good too. No matter how hard he tried, something in his mind was telling him that he couldn't do it. He literally heard a voice telling him, you will amount to nothing. You're so stupid and good for nothing. The voice was so familiar that he just ignored it and went on his way. He believed the voice was his voice. The boy grew up and became frustrated because it seemed that whatever he tried, he failed or it didn't work out. He tried and tried and tried. One day he stopped trying because he felt defeated because before he even began, he already was having those feelings and those thoughts. He just wanted to figure out why it seemed he was not able to complete any task or he felt incapable of achieving his goals, getting a job and starting a successful career. He also noticed that the same self-defeating words kept occurring in his mind. He longed to know where these words were coming from. It was like the repeated words he listened to programmed him unknowingly. This boy was trying to figure out his life. He went through a pattern. These words are being repeated to him. Let's take a look at how can we become programmed by words. In the story you just heard, the boy never understood why he was not able to accomplish certain achievements in his life. He was not aware that he was literally programmed from a young age to think these things of himself. What does it mean to be programmed? The definition of programmed is a sequence of coded instructions that can be inserted into a mechanism such as a computer. In the story about the boy, there was an idea repeated that said, you will amount to nothing. You're so stupid and you're good for nothing. These words said once or twice don't form a constant repeated pattern, but when said hundreds of times, it can cause a person to remember the idea that you will amount to nothing. You're so stupid and you're good for nothing. This was the repeated sequence played repeatedly to the boy. It is like the definition of programming for a computer, only it's programming for a person, a sequence of coded instructions that can be inserted into a mechanism. When a person studies to learn something, they need to memorize the details so they can obtain them for later. In order to memorize something, it needs to be repeated over and over. This can be done by speaking, hearing, writing a sequence of information. When learning to play an instrument, you have to play the notes over and over. This requires learning and memorizing the notes and then playing the notes in the right sequence over and over to produce the intended outcome. In the story told about the boy, in a way he was programmed unknowingly. He was told the same words over and over again. In this case, were the family programming him? No. However, we can see that whether the parents meant to program the boy or not, they did. By repeating words to the boy, he became programmed to an idea. The boy in the story thought that because the negative words were repeated often to him, he received the words as a normal thought. They became a normal part of his life. This is how there's life and death in the power of the tongue. Because you can speak life, which can uplift the boy, which can give him an identity in himself and make him feel like he can achieve something. Or you can speak the words that they spoke, which caused the boy to listen to those words over and over again. And those thoughts, those words began to interfere in the things that he was trying to do. What happens when you speak life or death, since that's what's in the power of the tongue? Well, let's go to Proverbs 10, verse 31 and 32. Verse 31, the mouth of the righteous, those harmonious with God bring forth skillful and godly wisdom, but the perverse tongue shall be cut down like a barren and rotten tree. Verse 32, the lips of the uncompromisingly righteous know and therefore utter what is acceptable, but the mouth of the wicked knows and therefore speaks only what is obstinately willful and contrary. And so death, when you're speaking that, you're causing something to stop, to cease, to desist. And those words that were applied to him day in and day out and repeated about his self-worth caused him to stop what he was doing and feel like that he couldn't do it. He would never amount to anything like what was repeated to him. So this same thing can happen when we listen to negative social media, negative people, negative music repeatedly by receiving negative thoughts or ideas over and over again. For example, with music, the repeated phrases can form an idea that certain behavior is okay. Just like the boy in the story, a person hears it so often they think it is normal. Why? Because they hear and see the behavior as a normal idea in life in the music they hear over and over or the shows they watch over and over. Another example are video games, watching video games that throw bombs and shoot people repeatedly can possibly make that individual think the idea that this is normal. The good news is that every word said to a person does not have to be negative and produce negative things. Jesus came to bring life, life abundantly. When we are believers, we can choose Jesus who brings life to our lives. In Joshua 24 verse 15, it says, And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your father served on the other side of the river or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. So we can choose whom we serve and we can choose to speak life in death because it's in the power of the tongue. So in Proverbs 18 verses 20 to 21, we understand where a man's morals come from. So when he begins to speak, the fruit of his mouth is based on the morals that have been put into him that he's learned. And the consequences of what's in his heart comes out of the abundance of his mouth. And we just looked at that and we learned that. Let's take some time to think about what we're learning. If we are speaking negative words to ourselves or others repeatedly, are we listening to negative music repeatedly? Are we watching negative social media repeatedly? Are we playing negative video games repeatedly? Now, let's think about what behavior or ideas were formed from listening to speaking, watching or doing these things. Because there's power in the words that are coming through what you were watching and what you were listening to. These words are being spoken and repeated over and over again, just like in the story that we told you about the boy. So what words are you listening to over and over again? And what behaviors or ideas did you learn from those things that you exposed yourself to by listening to that music or watching that show or being around certain people that are speaking this way, right? Because they're all speaking words. And we just learned that either life can come from those words or death can come from those words. So what are you listening to? What kinds of behavior or ideas can come from negative music? What have you unknowingly come into agreement with? What kinds of behavior or ideas can come from negative social media? What have you unknowingly come into agreement with? What kinds of behavior or ideas can come from negative video games? What have you unknowingly come into agreement with? How can there be power in agreeing with what someone speaks or does? We can see from the previous examples that some words, actions, music, and videos are bringing constant ideas. Do you see that by continuing to listen to these ideas, behaviors, words, and actions, you are coming into agreement with them? Just like in the story of the boy, the boy was only hearing these words repeatedly. Then, when he got older, he actually believed what the repeated words said because it was like the repeated words had become a part of him. When we continue to decide to listen to, watch, and do repeated behaviors, we are agreeing because we are not disagreeing. This means by not turning away from those words, the music, videos, games, behaviors, actions, the agreement is the continuation of that behavior. By going to an ungodly concert as a believer, we are supporting the ungodly music. By buying tickets, attending, or even watching on social media or purchasing the music, this reinforces the ideas that that music produces. If that music is not bringing life, life-giving biblical words, it is bringing death through its ideas, actions, behaviors, and words. Did you know in some courts of law, a person can be found guilty by association? This means a person might not have committed the crime, but if they are in the car with the drugs, driving the getaway car from a robbery, or if they overheard the person saying they want to commit the crime, they can be found to be accessories to that crime. This means they have helped the crime take place. They must choose to report that person to the authorities or be an accessory to the crime. In today's world, we hear things happening all around us. We must decide to either participate or not participate in that thing. In some cases, we are not committing the crime itself, however, we hear about it or repeat that behavior or talk about the behavior supporting its existence. So how can we get more life into our lives through the words and actions and deeds that we're speaking and that we're doing? Who has the words of life? The words of Jesus bring life. Let's take a look at John 6, 67 to 68. Jesus said to the 12 disciples, will you also go away and do you too desire to leave me? Simon Peter answered, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words, the message of eternal life. If you are looking for the words that bring life, read the Bible. The words of God, the words of Jesus bring life because we just read where else can we go when Jesus has the words of life. So what's so special about these words of life? Let's take a look at Isaiah 55, 11. So shall my word be that goes forth. So this is the Lord speaking and he's saying, so shall my word be that goes forth out of my mouth. It shall not return to me void without producing any effect, but it shall accomplish that which I please and purpose and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it. We see that when we speak God's words, the words from the Bible, God's words go forth and it accomplish what the Lord pleases. Let's take a look at Hebrews 11, three verse three by faith. We understand that the worlds during the successive ages were framed, fashioned, put in order and equipped for their intended purpose by the word of God so that what we see was not made out of things which are visible. The words of God helped form this earth by faith. That's the power of speaking the word of God. It literally brings life. So what must we do to have more words that have life? Let's take a look at Proverbs 23, verse 12, verse 12, apply your mind to instruction and correction and your ears to words of knowledge. Proverbs four, verse 20 to 27, my son attend to my words, consent and submit to my sayings. Let them not depart from your sight. Keep them in the center of your heart. Verse 22 for they are life to those who find them healing and health to all their flesh. So God is telling us that when we keep his words, it's life to all who hear it and healing and health to all their flesh. Let's continue in Proverbs four, verse 23, keep and guard your heart with all vigilance and above all that you guard for out of it flow the springs of life. Put away from you false and dishonest speech and willful and contrary talk. Put far from you. Verse 25 let your eyes look right on with fixed purpose and let your gaze be straight before you consider well the path of your feet and let all your ways be established and ordered a right turn not aside to the right hand or to the left. Remove your foot from evil. So we're learning about speaking life and death over every situation that there is life and death and the power of the tongue when we choose to speak what we're hearing, which might be negative or we can choose to speak life giving words like the words that Jesus has in the Bible. Start speaking life to everything, every person decision happening around you. If someone is speaking negative over you, speaking God's word in place of what they say will speak more life into you, into your life and into your atmosphere. It takes 21 days to replace a habit by doing the replacement habit consistently. The more you renew your mind to the word of God, the more ungodly lifestyles and behaviors, ideas, actions, and characteristics will leave from you and all around you. Some things that you can look at when you're trying to remove these things from your life. Get up early in the morning before the sun rises and speak over your day. Don't just allow your day to happen to you. Command life over your day and you command life by speaking literally God's word over your day before it happens. An example, I have a glad heart and a glad mind. I have peace that surpasses all understanding. I can do all things through Jesus Christ who strengthens me. The Bible says that God goes before us. He's also our rear guard and he goes behind us. Goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life as I dwell in the house of the Lord. Everything that my hands touch is blessed. Every place my foot treads is blessed. We want to speak these things over our day because remember in Isaiah 55, 11, when we speak God's word, it goes forward and it accomplishes. Think about that. When we speak what we're choosing to speak or we're speaking some things that maybe we heard from a concert or something, those words don't go forward and accomplish what's supposed to happen. But when we speak God's word, his word goes forward and accomplishes because there's power in God's word. So we have to choose this day whom we serve. We have to make a conscious effort to be aware of what we're saying. Every day in order to nurture this habit of speaking life to you, your family, your environment, your coworkers, read the Bible and pray daily, cleanse your home of ungodly things, statues, music, video games, movies, social media accounts, right? Anything that you've come into agreement with by listening to something that's been repeated over and over again, or even having something in your home that's ungodly, you're coming into agreement with that thing by keeping it there and not getting rid of it. You're saying that it's okay to be in my house and it's okay that it doesn't represent what God represents. So we have to choose. We can't be one foot on one side and one foot on the other. We have to be completely serving the Lord. Take time to pray about the things in the past that you might have come in agreement with. We want to break agreement with anything that you know that maybe you came in agreement with in the past and you weren't aware of it. God is so merciful that there's always an opportunity to come to him and to repent and he's faithful to forgive you. And that's in first John one nine. Amen. God, we just thank you for the information that you've given us this week, Lord. We just thank you for helping us to be more sensitive to what we speak and what spoken to us. Thank you, God, that we're more sensitive to what we're coming into agreement with by whatever it is we're doing, whatever it is we're watching, Lord, help us to break agreement with these things that we perhaps unknowingly entered into agreement with or words spoken over us repeatedly. We break those chains off of our lives right now in the mighty name of Jesus Christ, Lord. We just praise you, Lord, because once again, Lord, you've given us an opportunity to grow. You've given us an opportunity to learn. You've given us an opportunity to discern our environment and the things that are happening around us. Thank you, Lord, that your word is going forth and it is accomplishing what you please in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen. Amen. Amen.