Day 10 – JANUARY 15, 2019
What Did You Say?
Scripture:
Proverbs 18:21 “Death and life are in the power of the tongue”
Ephesians 3:29 Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.
Thought for Today: Words are powerful! The ability to express one’s self through speech is a gift from God that many people do not value and some take for granted. From the moment we are born, our speech patterns are formed by listening to our parents and family members as well as through internet/social media, television, radio and reading. What you take in is deposited in your mind and heart and affects what you say and do. Therefore, it is critically important to understand the power of our words. What you say, how you say things, and when you say things determines the impact our words will have on the people in your life.
Professional and motivational spend many hours crafting messages that inform, inspire and influence their audiences to embrace their ideas and support their agendas. Pastors and ministers spend hours in prayer and the study of the Word of God to prepare messages that will save souls, increase faith, build godly lives and expand God’s kingdom on earth. Words have power to build up and power to destroy. Proverbs 18:21 teaches that the very power of death and life is in the words we speak. One statement that you make can inflict a deep wound, yet another statement can produce healing and reconciliation. One set of spoken words can destroy dreams yet another set of spoken words can inspire destinies. Spoken words can produce poverty yet words fitly spoken can produce prosperity and abundance.
When you ponder your life, you can identify the powerful impact that words spoken by others have had on you. In some instances, they have shaped your life. In turn, you have spoken words of others that have deeply impacted their lives. When angry, you can say things that inflict damage and hurt on the people who we love most. Apostle Paul cautioned “Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.” (Ephesians 4:29). As Christ’s disciple, you represent Him in every relationship and cannot engage in profane language, gossip, hateful, hostile and hurtful attacks on others. Therefore, the words that you and I speak require a choice. The condition of your heart determines that choice. Jesus spoke “for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. (Matthew 12:34). The words and expressions that you speak and the motive behind those words flow from the condition of your heart. A key to cleaning up your speech is to go before God and confess and repent of your harsh, hateful and even hostile words and ask Him to give you a clean heart and a clean tongue. The next step is to go to the person(s) whom you spoke hurtful words to and apologize and ask for forgiveness. Then, make a decision to “speak life”! What did you say? Going forward, will you speak death or life? The choice is up to you.
It’s Time to Pray: Heavenly Father, forgive me for the hurtful, hateful and harmful words that I have spoken to people in my life. I confess and repent of my sinful words and actions that have hurt people. Holy Spirit speak to my heart and give me a clean heart that I may follow thee. I choose to speak life to myself and others from this moment forward…
Amen. I choose to SPEAK LIFE!
I want to stay aware of the words I say and the spirit behind those words.
Father,may my words build others up.
Let our words ,thoughts, and deeds be driven by love, peace, compassion and shaped upon the truth of love, grace and mercy. We gain all of these characteristics from and in the word of God and as we feed ourselves these, our words do the same to others.Amen