Words have power.
How did God create the heavens and the earth? By speaking. (Genesis 1)
How did Jesus work miracles? By speaking and rebuking. (Matthew 9:1-8, Mark 4:39-41, Luke 8:26-33, John 5:5-17)
What does The Gospel mean? The Good news! And how will it reach the ends of the earth? By speaking. (Mark 16:15)
How does faith come by hearing? By believers speaking. (Romans 10:17)
Proverbs 18:21 best sums it up, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue.”
Scripture is pretty straightforward. Words either bring life or death. How are we using them?
Not just the actual words, but how we speak, even tonality, is vital.
“A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. The tongue of the wise commends knowledge, but the mouths of fools pour out folly… a gentle tongue is a tree of life.” (Proverbs 15:1,2,4,7)
Not only is watching what we say important, but also withholding words of life can bring death. We must speak up. And only speak life!
Silence could be withholding life.
Furthermore, the tongue is telling of the posture of our heart. Luke 6:45 proclaims, “For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.” We must fill our heart, mind, and soul with truth so that your words are a mere overflow.
“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and redeemer.” (Psalm 19:14)
We must keep watch over our thoughts so they don’t become reality with our words. Romans 8:6 explains, “For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.”
This is especially applicable in today’s cyber era. Romans 12 says, “Do not conform to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” The world loves garbage. It loves entitlement, gossip, and complaining. Social media reeks of this. Do not stoop to the level of the world, we are called higher. Let our words on statuses, comments, tweets, and captions be done to the glory of God.
Okay, so how do we practically determine what to speak and not to speak? If it brings life and peace, then it’s from the Spirit. Speak it out! If it brings death, don’t speak. This is a simple accountability check before we even open our mouths.
Ephesians 4:29 commands, “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fitting the occasion, that it may give GRACE to those who hear.” Then 5:4 continues, “Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving.”
Oh thanksgiving! Let’s have a heart of gratitude over negativity and complaining. Seek out the joy in situations instead of dwelling on the hardships.
And for those who are “talkers” (yeah we can be guilty of this) watch our plethora of words! Speak simply, speak with humility, and speak only what He is asking us to say. The enemy loves to distract and confuse. Don’t be a vessel for this. Proverbs 12:18 proclaims, “The words of the reckless pierce like swords, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.”
So, how do we know if our words bring life? Simply ask ourselves if it produces…
-life
-peace
-grace
-thanksgiving
-healing
-wisdom
-fruitfulness
Let psalm 141:3 be our anthem: “Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips!”
As my team G-WOP spent our month in Indonesia, we experienced the value of speaking life. It was a daily practice to keep guard over our tongue since we lived in community 24/7. We saw much fruit from feedback when we spoke life, even the hard truths, over each other.
Moreover, we saw the power of words by sharing The Good News with an unreached people group in a Balinese village. This was the first time they had even heard the name of Jesus Christ! Many relationships were built through praying for healing and declaring Holy Spirit to move. We held tightly to Matthew 10:19-20 when Jesus sends out his disciples to bear witness: “…do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.”
Yes and Amen!
