MORE THAN JUST SAYING
PROVERBS 18:20-21
PROVERBS 18:20-21 NKJV
20 A man's stomach shall be satisfied from the fruit of his mouth;
From the produce of his lips he shall be filled.
21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue,
And those who love it will eat its fruit.
OBSERVATION:
Just sayin'. Talk is cheap. Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.
Over the years, the enemy has worked these phrases into our thinking and vocabulary. And there is a strategy behind this. It is to devalue the importance of our words.
If our words don't matter, then what we say loses power in our life. But the problem there is when our words are devalued, the negatives tend to dominate. And this passage for today says that death, as well as life, are in the power of the tongue.
By allowing just anything to come out of our mouths, we have been unaware of the spiritual laws we now have working against us.
Relationships can be built or destroyed with words. Marriages can get stronger or weaker because of words. Opportunities can wither or flourish, health can be impacted, and the quality of our lives is greatly influenced by the words of our mouth.
If this seems far-fetched to you, it is because we have all been surrounded by teaching and philosophy that is far from what the Bible teaches. But the book of Proverbs is full of wisdom relating to our words, and in God's mind, our words are vital.
APPLICATION:
I encourage you to take some time and do a study on words, mouth, tongue, and lips. You can start with Proverbs but then move on to what Jesus said and what the New Testament writers instructed the church to do.
Words are important.
Years ago, Joy and I were exposed to Biblical teachings regarding the power of words. We realized we could speak death or life regarding our marriage, children, ministry, finances, health, and every area. We both will tell you we have not spoken enough life, but we did stop speaking death.
You cannot get us to speak words of doom and gloom over our lives and the future of the Church. We don't talk old. We don't talk bad health, and we don't talk losing our minds.
We do often speak of God's help and mercy and of His goodness.
At the very least, stop speaking death about your life. And ask God to help you change your words to words of life.