WORDS AND THE PERSON OF YOU One afternoon in the early 2000s, in the place called zvikomo zvekuCocacola in Harare, I lay on my back on a rock facing the sky. I had gone for prayer and had said all the words I knew before God and was now in a mood of meditation. The whole place had all sorts of people seeking God. Someone from a certain sect was praying loudly or so loudly that he needed God to hear him desperately. Although I did not get all what he was saying and had never really bothered about it, today I am trying to see why he was making such a desperate prayer. The dominant words dominant words in his prayer were, “Tenzi Mambo, mweya yemadzinza neyamarudzi naivo vavengi vangu ngazvishaye samba paupenyu hwangu... blah blah) (Master King, let demons and my enemies be paralysed if they try interfering with my life). Today as I reflect on this prayer, the desperate prayer for seeking rescue and protection from the Lord, I see that there is much beyond saying words before God. This is about what we saying when we are just saying things. So many of us get to a place of prayer and we are busy trying to impress God with words when in fact we have not done our homework. We are like that woman, who was dancing before a pastor saying “Honaiwo, Honaiwo, Honawo....” (See, see, see it please.” The woman was trying to dance like anyone else to a song begging someone to see the goodness of God when in fact she had not realised that when she put her child on the back before she stood to dance, the mbereko (sawn cloth for binding the baby on the back), had mistakenly also bound part of her skirts and the entire lower back of hers was almost naked. The song was a good song but the actions before the pastor gave it a contrary meaning. The pastor could not help it but try as much not to look at the nakedness of a jubilant woman dancing to a song full of great meaning! What we say especially about ourselves matter a lot. Sometimes we say bad words about ourselves because we want to show that we are really angry. We transfer big and toxic words to others to make them feel the pinch. In the process, we harm ourselves. Words are like pigeons (hangaiwa/zvikwirimba). They go but they always come back home. In our church we value so much white wedding. Any serious youth member of our church desires to do one in his or her life. It is a matter of ‘coronation’ and celebration. One of our youth member was going to have a wedding the next Saturday. Some members of the church had pledged to help in bringing certain items to help the occasion go well. My wife and I decided to pass via a place of a certain woman was staying because she had pledged and we wanted to remind her, the thing she had pledged was now wanted seriously. The woman was bitter with other things and just wanted us the leaders to know. Her simple message was supposed to be, “When you take this item can you bring it back after the wedding event because last time, I was not happy with some of my items which went missing, [full stop].” No she didn’t do that. She shouted at us, “You church people are not good at all! Last time, my plates went missing after a wedding. So was my jug! If it’s about weddings, I don’t care anymore, yes I don’t care. My children are not going to wed anyway. Yes, they are not. If you think weddings are important, my children are not going to wed!” She was angry and she kept pouring the venom. She really wanted us to feel the pinch. We looked at each other’s face with my wife, saying, “Let’s go” and we left, shaking our words. Come prayer, you find someone than praying, all night or all day, “Master King, let demons and my enemies be paralysed if they try interfering with my life!” Most of the time, it is not about spirits or our enemies. It is of the words that we say when we want to stress a point! Words count. They are like a message on whatsaapp, easy to enter but difficult to delete after. You have to sent a follow-up message and say, “sorry those words were not meant for you”. Half the time we are point to wrong forces, when the actual force is what you said with your own mouth. Jesus in Matthew 12:35-37 says, “The good man brings out of his good treasure what is good; and the evil man brings out of his evil treasure what is evil. But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned. Do we weigh words that we speak or we just unleash them.” Kuita kusakadzira mashoko sekusakadzira mbwa (Just unleashing word as we would do dogs to elements we do not want around us). I repeat, normally this happens in an atmosphere of anger or when we feel, “yes-they-must-also-feel-the-pinch-of-it”. Sometimes we get in trouble because we want to impress friends. For example, yesterday I was making a 20-minute presentation is part of the mid-programme requirement of the programme I am doing here in South Africa. I had slept at 1:30am preparing my presentation and I knew I was really prepared. I met this guy who was saying, “I am not even sure of what I am going to present. I am not adequately prepared.” To make him feel better I also said, “So I am!” Unlike all the other presenters, halfway in my presentation, the electronic system just froze, tainting my whole good presentation with a big disruption of the flow. Although, I the convenor tried to comfort me and understand me, deep inside me a bell just rang, “your words, remember!!!” It was embarrassing. By the way, I had prayed for it and said, God be with me! (kkkkk). Proverbs 6:1-2 says, “My son, if thou be surety for thy friend, if thou hast stricken thy hand with a stranger, Thou art snared with the words of thy mouth, thou art taken with the words of thy mouth.” We normally do jemanewadya so that our friends feel comfortable with us. In the process, we ensnare ourselves with our words. Words are like a prisoner officer. One he/she locks you behinds the bars, it takes them again to come with their keys to unlock you out. If we see you out of prison without the officer having you out then you are still an illegal entity out of custody pretending to be free. Right inside, you know, you are a prisoner. How many people are trying to pretend to be free when they have a whole gamut of unfinished business because of the words they uttered previously: “I will not make it. It’s not meant for me. It’s not for some of us...” Sometimes we try to make it royal by referring to plurality: us, we, ours!!! Shame! Shame! I think Elijah was a very powerful prophet. He could stop rain and unlock it by his mouth. He could call fire down all by his mouth! James says that but, he was just a man like us. When we are introduced to this giant of faith we see him in a declaratory mood! The bible records, “And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.” Powerful words... “there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word”! He didn’t mince his words. He was direct “according to my word”. And it came to pass just as he had said it. What are you saying according to your word! Words have creative power! Words are legally binding in heaven. Whether we say them in joke, play or formally, words matter! Someone needs to rub out the idea that they have enemies around or that there are spirits hindering their success. They need to sit back and take a journey to yesterday, yesteryear and back, and reflect on what they have said even from childhood play. They need have a full stocktaking of the words they have said in life and where possible write them one down, one by one, and put it before God. And say, “Lord God, just behold how I have been shooting myself in the feet, how I have shot down my life, how I have shot down the life of my posterity because I was reckless. Lord God, in Jesus Name, forgive me. I repent of all these bad words and I want to start on a new page. I thought it was just a joke, just a statement, just some assertion. But today, grant me another chapter and I want to start it now! As I stand before you, let the words I speak from now have a positive meaning and impact to my life! In Jesus Name!!!!”
Posted on: Thu, 16 Jan 2014 06:08:53 +0000
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