12/28/11

Feeling a little nostalgic!

I remember growing up my mother never let us use the word "stupid." "Dumb" was also forbidden in our house and God, Himself had to help us if we uttered the unmentionable words that would get our mouths washed out with soap. My mother used to speak to us with words of encouragement and affection. She told us, "I love you." She also mentioned, "You are beautiful." I remember her and my dad telling us, "You are so smart and you can do anything you set your mind to." The result was I grew up believing I was who they told me I was. My name is Lisa Nichole. My mother told me my name "Lisa" means consecrated to God and then she told what it meant that I am consecrated to God. She also told me "Nichole" means victory for the people and she declared to me that in Christ I was victorious and could do anything.

Today I hear a new generation of speakers. They call each other "phat" and mean something good by it. They tell each other they look "sic" and it is a compliment. They jestingly use the word "rape" when they talk about the lust they have for someone of the opposite sex. I remember when my youngest daughter came home and proudly proclaimed to me that her and her best friend were wifies and the "cool losers." I hate the way people talk today, once upon a time if I wrote I was "gay" it meant I was happy. Today words have lost a great deal of their meaning and change depending upon who is talking and who is listening. Isaiah cautions that this a big deal! "What sorrow for those who say that evil is good and good is evil, that dark is light and light is dark, that bitter is sweet and sweet is bitter." (5:20) Barnes writes that this is a reprobate sin that perverts and confounds things, particularly the distinctions of morality and religion. Is it any wonder we find ourselves in the position we are in where our young people have so little reverence for the Word of God itself? Words hold no authoritative or valuable meaning to them. They have been influenced by the reprobate sin that has overtaken our nation.

I remember years ago coming to the conclusion I must do something to change the relationship dynamics I had with my oldest daughter. The Lord told me to begin to make restitution to her and to the generation coming up with her and behind her. He told me to learn to speak to her in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, not to preach at her or others, but to declare to them who He has declared them to be. I began calling her "beautiful" when she was angriest and I felt the most like choking her, as I did I watched her countenance melt and her body language change. It was if she became a different person. I began speaking to her that she was "lovely," "smart," "amazing," "incredible," "glorious," "irreplaceable," and so much more! I quit assuming she knew these things about herself and began to speak them aloud to fight against what the world and the darkness was attempting to tell her. It not only changed her, it changed me, and has been a powerful tool that I have used to minister and encourage those most dear to me. Learn a new word and then declare it boldly to the one in front of you. Do you see that young man on the street corner? Maybe no one else believes he is "a mighty man of valor," but God has declared him to be one and knows what the outcome will be in time. Won't you take a chance and prophesy it? All that prophesy is, is to do what my mother did over me, declare the word of God!