Luke 4:32 And they were astonished at his doctrine: for his word was with power.

Yesterday I ended that devotional with an insinuation that words have power. It is but an insinuation. Yesterday I was talking about catch phrases, enticements, also known as lures, bait. You might not know you are being baited until the hook is set.

This practice has gone on for as long as writing has existed. Those who create those catch phrases, words of enticement know their prey. They know how to bait the hook. They understand human nature. In some cases it is rather simple and obvious. Those baits take on the words like sale, new, improved, better, faster, and you know exactly what to expect.

Other words are misleading and it is done with devious intent. Limited time offer, only 15 minutes remaining, sale ends soon and the intent is to create a sense of urgency which does not exist.

What are your power words?

Recently facebook showed me a montage of my most often used words. They were sized by usage, the bigger the word, the more I had used them. They were God, Jesus, Love, Faith, Relationship and lesser used words all related to my bible readings. Those might be my power words, but are they an effective lure? Do I hook my intended audience?

I realized that those words draw people who have fellowship with my Lord. They do not draw the lost because I refuse to use their power words. I find those words inappropriate and I do not wish to be associated with those words, no matter how acquainted I was with them before I came to Christ. I can use them in a face to face encounter where an exchange of ideas, experiences and solutions can be pondered. When it comes to this written word on a screen, I do not want those words to be used against my Lord. There is little if any time to correct misunderstandings. Clarity and simplicity is required in the written word.

Esther 8:5 (partial) If it please the king, and if I have favour in his sight, and the thing seem right before the king, and I be pleasing in his eyes,

Who is your target audience? There is at this time a reduction in the number of millennials participating on social media. Why that is happening is undetermined. I can guess and it might have something to do with being targeted. This younger crowd prides themselves as being free thinkers, innovative, social trend setters and not followers. They are more likely to break from routine just because it has become routine.

It is complicated and I do not offer an easy answer. What I will tell you is what I have observed on the edges of my social media screen. There is a flurry of pictures and words used to entice viewers away from the social page to special interests. There those pages are bombarded with advertising and even more opportunity for exploring more varied interests.

All of those pages contain popup ads which if you do not have effective popups blockers, will dominate your viewing, throwing distracting content which is running you into a rabbit hole you did not choose to follow.

As one millennial put it, “They are wasting my time.” The facts are clear, those who create those eye catching adventures are searching for an audience who fits their financial plan. No one goes through this much trouble without the expectation of return on investment. So who gets caught in this vortex of advertising? As expected, those with disposable income. That is not the millennial generation.

The more I observe this tendency the more I pay attention to catch words and photos. If you click on any one of these links, the next time you are on line, the photo will change but the catch words remain the same.

Words are just that powerful.