Do our words have power in themselves to make things happen, for good or bad? That is basically what many people think these days as a result of a wrong doctrine called 'word of faith'. According to it, if we want something good to happen, we must speak it out by faith and then it will happen. Also, we must be careful to avoid speaking negative things because we will make them happen too. The key word for this teaching is Prov.18:21, "Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit." Taken literally, it says that our words have power. But do they?
When God created us, He gave us several abilities with which we can do many things. Anything more than these requires supernatural power. God is almighty and He does have supernatural powers. Angels and demons also can do some supernatural things. To speak and make something happen is not a natural ability we have. This is easy to see if we look at all the things people speak, most of which never happens. That proves that our words don't have that kind of natural power.
But the above verse seems to be saying that our words do have power of their own – without any reference to faith or God. So obviously, that verse is not to be taken literally. What it is saying is a warning to be careful with our words because they can have serious consequences. If it was referring to some natural power that words have, just imagine what chaos would be resulting from all the words people are actually saying!
If the power was in our words and things happen just because we speak, where is the place of God in this? Think of it. For New Age believers who consider god to be a mere force or essentially the same as us, it's not difficult to believe that words have power. They speak about faith also in a similar way, as if when we have 'faith' we can make things happen. Nowadays people talk of 'activating' our faith through words! Isn't it possible that it is the New Age philosophy mixing with Christian doctrine that has given rise to such wrong beliefs?
Power belongs to God absolutely (Ps.62:11). Without His permission nothing can happen. When He created us in His image, He has shared some powers with us with which we are able to do many things. But there is a limit to our powers, and beyond that we ought to lean on God entirely. This dependence on God is a part of true faith, and we must know that without Him we can do nothing, by words or faith. When we do speak according to His will, it's He who makes things happen, not our words.
Demons who have certain powers we don't have are also waiting to deceive us into thinking we can be like God (Ge.3:5). We need to be careful also because some people are using demonic powers and we shouldn't think such powers are from God!
Jesus and the apostles have warned us about deception increasing in the last days (Mt.24:11;1Ti.4:1). Let's not be gullible and believe all preachers or think too much of ourselves.