Words and declarations have more power than you can ever imagine. So much of history and so much of your personal life is affected and determined by the words that have been spoken to you. "Death and life are in the power of the tongue," as Proverbs 18:21a says (ESV).

Most often people will be careless with words spoken to you and won't always use words to declare good upon your life. Because of all the hurt and pain that has been thrown around, sometimes even the closest and dearest people in your life can say hurtful and painful things that can scar you for decades.

In a groundbreaking study by Betty Hart and Todd Risley, "The Early Catastrophe," it showed the power behind the words we speak to children from birth to until they're four years old. The study showed that the more encouraging things we speak to a child at an early age, the fewer problems they're going to have with identity and purpose. There is power behind words; they affect the labels and declarations we attach to ourselves.

The question we need to ask ourselves is, "What kind of declarations am I making or allowing to enter into my system? Do I listen to the lies of the enemy, of this world or of people who have hurtfully (although also maybe unintentionally) affected me?" We can listen to the painful declarations that speak death upon us, or we can listen instead to the powerful declarations God has made over us.

God's Word speaks life into us. You may have received a barrage of terrible discouragements, but whatever destructive lie you listen to, God always has a counter-declaration you can make. When someone calls you useless, declare that God has a purpose for you. When someone calls you undesired, declare that Jesus desired you so much that He died for you. When someone calls you a hopeless case, declare that Jesus has brought you hope when He imputed His righteousness upon you.

There is power in declarations. Even Gideon, who was hiding in the winepress, was forever changed when the angel of God declared to Him "The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor" (ESV, Judges 6:12b). What are you declaring upon yourself today?

There is no word more powerful than God's. With His spoken word, He formed the universe. It was Jesus—the Word—that came into this broken world to redeem it from all the devastations of sin. The power of death might be in the tongue, but in God's tongue is the immensely unconquerable power of life.