Your Words Matter: The Power of a Christian Woman’s Voice
Words Matter
Words matter because they carry power and influence. As a Christian woman, the words you speak shape the lives of those around you everyday.
I will never forget seeing my granddaughter’s power to influence with just one word at two years old. My husband held her in his arms, but she wanted him to do something for her. So, she took her tiny hands, placed them on each of his cheeks, and turned his face toward her. She looked him in the eyes, holding his face, and said with the sweetest, softest, most powerful voice, “Pop.”
He melted. I watched him. I saw her impact.
Then he said, “What is it that you want baby?”
She could have had anything she wanted in that moment—not a doubt in my mind.
That moment showed me something I will never forget: her influence came through her words—even when she only spoke one.
God put that ability to influence within her, and He placed that same ability in each and every woman from the beginning of women’s existence. If you want to understand that foundation more deeply, I shared it in a previous post, Influence Is Power And You Were Created To Be A Powerful Influencer.
Your Words Carry Influence
If we go back to the Garden of Eden in Genesis 3:1, we see the woman for the first time after her creation. We also see the serpent for the first time and he’s talking to the woman. The fact that the serpent was identified as the most cunning creature cannot be overlooked.
It points out the fact that he spoke with the woman with intention. He knew what he was doing. He had a plan and she was part of it. Why? Because he understood her power to influence and he knew her words mattered to her husband. He knew, to get to the man, he needed to get to the woman. He knew the power of her voice — especially with her husband.
Proverbs 14:1 shows the power of our influence as women. It shows us that the words we, as women, speak to, in, over, about our life, home, and family matter. We have a choice. Our words matter because our words can build up or tear down. Deuteronomy 30:19 and Proverbs 18:21 shows us a similar message.
I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live. Deuteronomy 30:19
Death and life are in the power of the tongue and those who love it will eat its fruit. Proverbs 18:21
What have you been eating lately?
What are you producing with your voice — with the words of your mouth?
Your words matter. Will you use your voice and influence to build up or tear down, to bless or curse, to bring life or death?
Your Words Produce Fruit
Step back into the garden and let’s bring John 10:10 into the conversation.
The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. John 10:10
In the garden, life was already given. The serpent spoke to the woman for one reason — “to steal, and to kill, and to destroy.” She had a choice — death or life, blessing or curse, to build her house or tear it down. What would she do with her words?
We know that her influence resulted in mankind’s fall from grace and separation from God.
The danger of producing bad fruit is the same for us today. No matter what, our words produce something and influence others. The enemy seeks to steal, kill, and destroy, and through deception, he can distort our words or silence our voices.
In Exodus 34:14-16, God speaks to Moses about the danger of women who worshiped other gods marrying into His set apart nation because they would influence them to worship other gods. That is a picture of how the devil seeks to distort our words. For me personally, a lived experience has been the enemy seeking to silence my voice, especially being a woman called into ministry.
But—here is what I know. First Thessalonians 2:4 tells me that I have been approved by God, entrusted with his gospel message, therefore I speak, not as pleasing men, but God who tests my heart. In other words, I know my voice and my words matter. Therefore, I can’t be silent and neither can you.
The Process of Our Words
Last month I attended the Blue Lake Christian Writer’s Conference and met with some Christian publishers. Two of them took a manuscript that my daughter and I wrote together. She is a Christian counselor and marriage and family therapist. The book is called Words Matter based on Proverbs 18:21.
Not only do we talk about the fruit produced by our words, but we also talk about the process of our words. Our words begin in the heart, and we carry them in our thoughts. Then those words will ultimately make it out of our mouth. And when they do, fruit that aligns with those words is produced.
Our words don’t begin in our mouth—they begin in our heart.
Your voice and words matter because God created them to carry powerful influence. And if your words begin in your heart and thoughts, something is influencing you as well. Therefore, I encourage you to take a moment and think through these questions:
What words are you listening to?
What are you allowing into your heart and mind that are influencing who you are and how you think?
The Word That Transforms Your Words
No wonder God said in Joshua 1:8 to meditate on His word day and night. And even gave us the fruit — “Then you will make your way prosperous.” No wonder God’s word tells us,
“Finally brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if anything is praiseworthy, meditate on these things.” Philippians 4:8
God’s word is true, noble, just, pure, lovely, of good report, virtuous, and praiseworthy. God’s word transforms us from the inside out. It transforms our heart, our thoughts, our words, which also transforms our words and our influence.
We started with the first woman’s encounter with the devil which brought about spiritual death. The counter perspective is another woman’s encounter with Jesus in John 4. This spiritually thirsty, broken woman with a messy life and bad reputation met Jesus who offered her everlasting life. She then went back into the city and used her powerfully influential voice and words to tell the men of that city about Jesus.
John 4:39 says, “And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because the word of the woman who testified, “He told me everything I ever did.” Ultimately the men came back to her and told her they now believed because they heard Him for themselves. But those men would have never heard the Gospel and experienced the life Jesus offered if that Samaritan woman had not used her words to tell them about Jesus.
Dear Sister in Christ, your words matter. Your voice matters. You are influencing someone every day. So the question is—what are your words producing?
Fill up on His Word, and pour life into others.
If you want to go deeper into understanding the full scope of influence God has given you as a woman, I encourage you to read Influence Is Power And You Were Created To Be A Powerful Influencer where I walk through the foundation of biblical influence and how we use it wisely.
