When a believer prays with the authority and power of Jesus Christ, our prayers have the ability to change the environment into which we are praying. Because we are God’s children we carry a creative familial voice that can replicate the sound of our Father’s voice.

On the day of Creation God spoke into the void, His voice was the assembly point for the elements to come and form the earth we walk upon. His Word gathers and gives form to what was previously formless.

For example, when we speak a prayer into the life of a child whose life is in disarray, our prayers provide an assembly point for God’s Truth to begin to work against the embedded lies of hell. Many parents fail to recognize that none of their prayers for their children pass through the child. Our prayers take up residence in a child’s life and begin to work in concert with the Holy Spirit.

Proverbs 18:21 says, “The tongue can bring death or life.” What we say or pray will gather the elements of a life or situation around it for either life or death. There are huge consequences to our words and prayers.

In one season of my life I was under tremendous pressure. This pressure was the kind that comes just before supernatural breakthrough. In these times our lives can feel extremely fragmented. Into this fragmentation God whispers truth that we have an opportunity to respond to.

In this particular time of testing I had began to speak words that contained no faith. I was speaking out of my pain and sorrow. I would have been embarrassed for anyone, other than my wife, to hear what I was saying. As this season went on I knew I needed to stand against the words that were coming out of my heart and finding expression through my mouth. I confessed my sin and my lack of faith then the Lord gave me a picture of what He was doing.

In this image I saw the Lord standing behind me. As I began to speak those lifeless words I saw Him swing a large shield around in front of me while He still stood behind me. The shield was placed between my mouth and my circumstance. The words coming out of my mouth struck the back of the Lord’s shield and could not go any farther.

While looking at this image I realized what was taking place. The Lord, by an act of great mercy and grace, was shielding my life from the words of death I had spoken. I learned that day that the shield of the Lord has two functions. He was protecting me until I understood fully what I was doing and He was also protecting my future. I realized that God would not do this forever. He was giving me a chance to go to the root of my pain and put it to death through confession and repentance. I thanked Him for His patience with me and began immediately to filter my words to resemble God’s heart, not my pain. My words had now become assembly points for the blessing of God instead of a self-created destiny of fear and death.