Lynne Little Ministries - Higher Realm

The Power of Speech - Part 3 - Words That Win Battles

• Lynne Little

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What if your words are not commentary but commands on a battlefield you can’t see? We dive into the power of speech in spiritual warfare and show how thought, language, and brain patterns work together to shape peace, courage, and daily resilience. Starting with a clear definition of spiritual warfare and a sober acknowledgment of dark forces, we shift the lens to God’s unmatched power and the authority believers carry through the Spirit who raised Jesus. Fear loses oxygen when we remember the Creator always outranks anything created.

From there, we get practical with a framework you can use right away: thought → speech → pattern. You act as air traffic control for thousands of thoughts a day—some land, some don’t. We teach a three-step tactic to handle intrusive, accusatory, or despairing thoughts: identify the statement, locate the source by measuring it against Scripture, and eradicate it by speaking God’s Word or declaring the exact opposite of the lie. Jesus models this brilliantly in the wilderness by answering every temptation with “It is written,” refusing to argue, and shutting down the “if” meant to stir anxiety.

We also unpack why silence is not neutral. Bank balances, symptoms, and odds all “talk,” and unanswered messages become adopted beliefs. Your words reach multiple audiences—God, your own heart, people around you, and unseen listeners. Demonic forces watch reactions; angels are sent to minister to heirs of salvation. Careless phrases of death and doom train the wrong team, while words of life align you with God’s promises and begin to repattern the brain. Keep answering as long as the lie speaks, and watch peace return faster as new neural grooves form.

If this resonates, share it with a friend who needs a clear, biblical way to push back against fear. Subscribe for more on healing, hope, and the power of words, and leave a review to help others find the show.

Lynne:

You are listening to Higher Realm with Lynne Little. Our program highlights biblical strategies for moving through life's difficulties and finding your path to healing. We tackle issues particular to those who have experienced painful loss in any form. Lynne is the founder and president of Lynne Little Ministries and the author of Missing Lisa, A Parent Grieves, and Finding God in Death and Life, A Passage Through Grief. Now, here's Lynne. Hello, and welcome to the third episode in our series on the power of speech. In the last two episodes, we laid the groundwork for the subject by discussing the role of the brain in speech patterning and the importance of intentionality in speech. We talked about God's view of speech, the reality of judgment for ill-spoken words, and the rationale behind the need to watch our words. Today we're going to discuss the role of speech in spiritual warfare. So let's first define what we mean by spiritual warfare. According to Christian belief, spiritual warfare is the concept of fighting against the work of preternatural, evil forces. It is based on the understanding that evil spirits or demons interfere in human affairs in various ways. As scripture clearly specifies, these entities do exist. And it is every believer's responsibility to resist them. Ephesians 6: 12 states it clearly. "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, contending only with physical opponents, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly, supernatural places." To clarify, the heavenly realms denoted here are more accurately translated the atmospheric heavens. We do not war against God's heaven, but rather against Satan, who is referred to as the Prince of the Power of the Air, according to Ephesians 2: 1 and 2. The world is giving evidence of encroaching darkness and the advancing evil through villainous agents, both natural and supernatural. We ignore this to our peril. And believers are not the only victims. Demonic entities can attack both believers and unbelievers alike through many avenues. The assaults are relentless, pervasive, and involve forces that cannot be seen. These forces are eternal beings who war effectively against us unless they are stopped. Their influence can be felt certainly spiritually, but also emotionally, mentally, and sometimes physically. They also present external challenges by influencing relationships and circumstances. We could write volumes on the subject, and many have. But today we will concern ourselves specifically with words that wage war against our minds and how to use words to counteract them. An insightful quote by C.S. Lewis is worth mentioning here, just for the sake of establishing a sense of balance. "There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence, the other is to believe and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them." We, of course, cannot attribute all of our challenges to the work of evil spirits. Our minds and bodies are subjected to numerous influences because we exist in a physical world. However, the primary battleground where war is waged daily is in our minds. We can trace patterns of thought to influence that are purely, well, devilish. We recall Jesus' description of the work of Satan found in John 10:10. "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come that they may have life and have it to the full." Intrusive thoughts are frequently used in ways that undermine our peace, happiness, health, well-being, and self-image. The polar opposite of the abundant life promised to us by God. The intent of such assaults is to ultimately destroy. The enemy can target our finances, impair relationships, divide and isolate us, and, if given free reign, take our very lives. Before we proceed, however, we need to make one thing crystal clear. It's regarding our perspective of who actually holds the power. Believers all have the Lord Jesus living on the inside of them, and the power that comes through him is more than a match for anything the devil and his imps would throw at us. The word tells us that "if the same spirit that raised Christ from the dead dwells in you, he shall quicken your mortal bodies by the spirit that dwells in you." We have within us the same spirit that dynamically pulled the Lord Jesus Christ out of the grave. Did you know that the Spirit of God exerted such a strong force in the resurrection that other people came out of their graves at the same time? They walked around Jerusalem and appeared to many. This account is given in Matthew 27, verses 52 and 53. "The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs after Jesus' resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared to many people." Can you imagine? Now that's power. To put this into perspective, all the powers of hell, every demon and creature of the dark domain did everything within their power to prevent the resurrection. Did it work? No. And here is more food for thought. The power of a Creator will always far and above eclipse that of a created being. The enemy and his legions were created. They did not self-create. But by contrast, all believers have the power of the Creator living inside of us. Second Corinthians 2:14 tells us, "now thanks be unto God, who always causes us to triumph in Christ." The word triumph means to be victorious and successful, to win. It also carries with it the idea of rejoicing and exalting over a success or victory. We are to celebrate a victory that has already occurred. There is no doubt that we win this battle to the extent that we exercise our authority through Christ. Knowing this, any thought of fear or defeat should be banished. So, that said, let's discuss some of the specifics of this type of spiritual warfare as it pertains to our thoughts, our brain, and our speech. We've already established that the brain is patterned through our words, but it's very important to remember that thought always comes before speech. The order is typically thought, speech, pattern. Our minds resemble air traffic control at an airport. Thoughts come flying in up to six thousand a day, as some studies suggest. Like aircraft, some thoughts land, some do not. Who decides? The air traffic controllers, of course. And that's us. We can control which thoughts land. Where do these thoughts come from? They originate from different sources, but it's a mistake to assume that we're thinking everything up all by ourselves. We forget that there is an enemy arrayed against us who works from without in order to get within. If you know the Lord, negative thoughts, such as those of death and destruction, do not come from your recreated spirit within. Because the word tells us in 1 Corinthians :6 17 that "he that is joined to the Lord is one spirit." Terrible thoughts never come from God. He will never speak such things to us. So, if such thoughts do not emanate from our human spirits, who are alive unto God, and they are certainly not coming from God, where are they coming from? One of our pastors used this phrase as the ultimate test. We are to identify, locate, and eradicate. First, identify what was said. Second, locate the source from which it came. God or the enemy. And you can usually tell by the effect it has on you which side it came from. And finally, we are to eradicate or vaporize the thought. We don't have to entertain any thought that brings us trauma or pain. We'll discuss how to do this in a minute. Now remember our assertion in a prior episode that we are being listened to? And who is doing the listening? God, us, those around us, and angels and demons. This is a huge audience. And a significant segment are demons. These entities are familiar with us. How do they become familiar with us? They watch us and they listen. The enemy cannot read our minds, but you bet your life they're trying to find out which thoughts that they suggest will stick. The enemy, through his minions, watches our reactions and looks for an avenue. The thoughts cannot come in unless someone lets them in. And lest we forget, Satan is the ultimate liar. Jesus called him out in John 8:44." He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there's no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies." Jesus' viewpoint regarding thoughts and how we take them is found in the Sermon on the Mount. In Matthew 6.31, Jesus is reassuring his listeners that God is going to take care of them. He keeps repeating a similar phrase. Take no thought.We take a thought when we say it. Once we say it, we've bought it. And the pressure to get us to say it, often repeatedly, is relentless. Here's an example. We have a need that doesn't look as if it's going to be met. Along comes old El Diablo's minions telling us it's going to get worse and inundating our minds with every ghastly outcome and what if, complete with snapshots in Tecticolor. Our reaction under this type of pressure is to verbalize it. But if we're not going to rehearse Satan's lies by repeating them and thereby owning them, what are we going to do? Suffer in silence? The short answer is we're going to address it. We're going to eradicate it. Just a recap, identify what was said, locate who said it, and then eradicate. Jesus modeled this for us perfectly. In Matthew chapter 4

Lynne:

1 through 11, we find this account. "Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread." Jesus answered, Now let's stop here for just a minute and ask, what did he answer? He answered the accusation. He addressed the lie. Now here is Jesus' answer. "It is written, man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God." Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. "If you are the Son of God, he said, throw yourself down, for it is written, He'll command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you won't strike your foot against a stone." Did the devil just quote Scripture to Jesus? Did he actually think he could beat him in his own game? So Jesus answered him. "Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in their splendor. All this I will give you, he said, if you will bow down and worship me." And Jesus said to him, "Away from me, Satan, for it is written. Worship the Lord your God and serve him only. Then the devil left him, and the angels came and attended him." Jesus answered every temptation, every accusation with the Word of God. Keep in mind, every single thing that the Lord Jesus went through, he did for our benefit. He knew that we would need a model for how to deal with the enemy and his attacks. Notice what he didn't do. He didn't argue with Satan, he didn't engage with him in debate, he ignored the insult regarding the ridiculous use of the word "if," if you're the son of God, if as if Satan didn't know who he was. No. Instead, he modeled for us what we're supposed to do, friends. He answered with the Word. And it's not just the enemy who's talking to us. Every type of accusation, fear, doubt, worry, unbelief, every symptom in our bodies, every lying figure in our bank account is talking to us. Talking to us. What are we answering? Are we allowing words to just wash over us, torture us, repeat them? No. The best method is to answer them with the Word. The second best method is to answer in the opposite. Last week we discussed the fig tree incident. Jesus answered the fig tree. It talked to Jesus and said, No figs for you, and Jesus answered it. The wind and the waves set out to kill him. Jesus answered them. He told us to speak to the mountain. And although the mountain is an inanimate object, whatever mountain we're facing is talking to us. Answer it with the word. Answer it with the opposite. How often? As long as it's talking to us and until it shuts up, or the answers come. Such thoughts must be annihilated before they take root. Second Corinthians 10: 5 tells us "casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ." Every thought or any thought that is in disobedience to Christ. Measure everything with a benchmark of God's Word. So to recap, identify what was said, locate the source, who said it, measuring it against the Word. If it's not the truth, eradicate it by doing one of two things. Challenging it with the Word, speaking the very opposite of the intent. So what are we accomplishing with this new way of thinking? We are considering our audience. We are reprogramming our brains, and we are pleasing God. There is one more category of listener worth mentioning. Angels are listening. The Word of God tells us in Hebrews 1: 14, are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation? What would happen if we kept speaking death to these listeners? Their job is to protect us. The Bible said they minister to those who are heirs of salvation. That's us. If we keep saying things such as, "I wish I was dead, or oh, that scared me to death, or don't go across the street, you're going to get killed." Do we really want our guardian angels to take that type of speech seriously? No. Let's correct our speech, beloved. When we do, it will soon become second nature to speak words of life into our situations, into our bodies, into our psyches. The Word is life-giving, and spoken frequently enough, will repattern our brains with thoughts that are pleasing to God. Speaking of pleasing God, have you received his free gift of salvation through Jesus? He sent his son to die on the cross and pay the penalty for our sins. The Word tells us that God made him to be sin, who knew no sin, that we might become the righteousness of God in Christ. Pray with me to receive this wonderful gift of salvation. "Heavenly Father, thank you for sending Jesus to die on the cross and pay the price for my sin. Lord Jesus, come into my life, forgive my sins, and make me brand new. I receive you as my Lord and Savior. Amen." If you prayed that prayer, contact us at Lynnelittle Ministries @ gmail.com. Have a great week. Thank you so much for listening. Lynnelittle Ministries is a 501c3 whose mission is to assist those who have suffered loss and to help them discover hope, peace, and restoration. For books, resources, or to make a tax deductible donation, go to lynnelittle.org.