Blessing or Cursing?

 19 I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: 20 That thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them. Deuteronomy 30:19-20 (KJV)

Wow, God is really saying a lot in these two verses, and we need to listen up. In Hebrew, the word bless means empower to succeed, and curse means empower to fail. In Greek, the word bless means to speak well of and curse means to speak evil of. Cursing does not just refer to using foul language, but it includes negative speech of any kind. By “speaking well of” we can “empower ourselves and others to succeed.” By “speaking evil of” we can “empower ourselves and others to fail.”

Verse 19 says that God calls heaven and earth to record. What record is he speaking of? Heaven is a court and it has books, or records. God records our life; how He wants it to be. However, we must speak correctly to see heaven’s will fulfilled in our lives. God is saying that the words we choose will determine the course of our lives: good or bad, blessing or cursing. He is telling us to speak the right words to have the right life.

Our words determine the outcome in our spirits, souls, bodies, relationships, finances, jobs, ministries, etc. We cannot curse everything and everybody and have a blessed life. By using negative words we can curse the very thing that God wants to bless. We can ruin our lives with the wrong words.

According to verse 20, our choice of words reflect whether we love God or not; whether we will obey Him or not; whether we will cleave to God or not. Our words will even impact whether we will live out our days, and whether we will receive the promised land that God has offered.

We need to speak words of blessing; words that will empower us and others to succeed. Our words need to promote good health and not sickness. Our words must support wholeness in every area of our lives. The words we sow will determine the harvest we reap, so we need to choose to speak God’s Word to receive what He has planned for us- lives of blessing.