I often joke that I want to be a shit-talking boxer when I grow up. And to be sure, all boxers are shit-talkers. In fact, I don’t think you can be a boxer without talking all kinds of shit, all the time, to everyone and everywhere. Watch any pre-fight interview and no matter which fighter it is, he will talk a river of complete and absolute bull shit into the mic about how he’s going to destroy his opponent in every which way but loose, or how insane the other guy is for even thinking he could beat him. Muhammad Ali notoriously said, ” if you even dream of beating me you better wake up and apologize.” Mike Tyson famously quipped, “I’m not much for talking. You know what I do. I put guys in body bags when I’m right.”
Look at any contemporary fighter’s social media (ahem, King Ryan) and you’ll see the same. And you know what? These guys are damn smart for talking that way. Because what they’re actually saying, in perhaps less than articulate phrasing, is that they are victorious as a rule of law. Some call it machismo and self-aggrandizement. Others view it as the power of positive thinking. We have the power to create our own outcomes by the narrative we tell. If you believe it, and speak it, and are confident in it, your success is highly likely. And boxers have to be confident and believe they will win every fight, lest they get killed in the ring. But there’s more to it than that. What lies beyond the veil, in the spiritual realm, is the true power and authority of words.
God created the entire universe by speaking words. He said, “let there be light” and there was light. Every word God spoke bore creation and life, and they became the truth, and the reality. Then He created mankind in His image. And since we are created in His image, that means we are to be like Him, as much as humanly possible. It means that our words also have some power and authority to create, and to influence outcomes on Earth. God created with words, and so can we. We create our destiny by the words we speak.
When God made His word flesh in the form of His Son, Jesus told his disciples very clearly: “whatever you bind on Earth will be bound in Heaven, and whatever you loose on Earth will be loosed in Heaven.” (Matthew 18:18). Meaning, what we permit and what we don’t permit – or what we accept and declare our reality vs what we forbid here, is what will be granted to us.
Proverbs 6:2 says, “You are snared by the words of your mouth.”
In the book of Ephesians, the word of God is called the sword of the Spirit, and we are told to use that sword to fight against darkness. In Hebrews 4:12 – perhaps one of my favorite verses of all – it says, “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”
There are many, many other examples throughout both the old and new testaments about the power and authority of words. Words are mentioned so often because God clearly wanted us to understand how impactful words are in our lives, and how much power they hold.
Think about it. If you are a boxer getting ready for a fight, and you know all of this deep down in your soul and spirit, then you know that professing your victory boldly and insistently may not cause you to win every time, but it sure as hell gives you a fighting chance. If you walk around speaking words of doubt, or failure, you usually will fail. You speak your reality into existence. Literally. If you speak out of your mouth, “I’m a loser,” well, then, you will be. Obviously.
I wouldn’t call most famous boxers the wisest men on the planet. I wouldn’t call them the most humble either. Or the nicest, or the funniest. In fact since I’m being candid, I wouldn’t call them the most admirable of men – or women. But they are 100% by far the greatest shit-talkers of all time, and they know, by instinct, that their words score them just as many points in the ring as their punches. One caveat, though – and this is a very huge thing to miss- is that their words can change their outcome, but only if their words are in alignment with the Big Guy’s word. Because it’s God’s words that hold all the true power.
For this reason, whenever I pray, I quote scriptures and give God’s words back to him. I wouldn’t say, “I’m gonna go in the ring and conquer this guy.” Nah. It’s much more effective to say, ” Father, your word says in 2 Corinthians you will always cause me to triumph.” So then I would.
Learning how to leverage scripture to help you in your life is similar to learning how to box. There is a method. Learned well and practiced over time, it becomes second nature. God wants us to learn about this, and He wants us to overcome, and to be masters of spiritual warfare. It’s what he made us to do here on Earth. That’s why Jesus told his disciples he had given them the authority to drive out demons in his name. (Mark 16:17). I happen to think driving out demons sounds a whole lot more exciting than boxing, but I also can’t say I’ve ever tried it. I’ll let you know if I ever get the chance.
But back to the shit-talkers. We must admit they’re entertaining. Take this showboating session between Jake Paul and Mike Tyson as one of my favorite examples:
You gotta love Mike. He’s relentless. “I don’t know if he’s in his prime, he’s fat. He should be lean and mean, he’s fat and funky.” Now that line has just got to go down in boxing history. And let’s not forget what the legendary Joe Frazier once said about his worthy opponent, Ali.
“His mouth made him feel like he was gonna win, not his hands. I had my hands, he had his lips.”
Yeah….well, Joe was almost right. But when it comes to fighting, in a boxing ring or otherwise, I’m thinking we need both.