Proverbs
The book of Proverbs has much to say about the importance of words and the power of the tongue. They have a common theme: the words you speak will bring either blessing or cursing to your life or others’.
Proverbs 10:19-20 19 In the multitude of words sin is not lacking, But he who restrains his lips is wise.
20 The tongue of the righteous is choice silver; The heart of the wicked is worth little.
Proverbs 11:9 9 The hypocrite with his mouth destroys his neighbor, But through knowledge the righteous will be delivered.
Proverbs 11:11 11 By the blessing of the upright the city is exalted, But it is overthrown by the mouth of the wicked.
Proverbs 12:6 6 The words of the wicked are, “Lie in wait for blood,” But the mouth of the upright will deliver them.
Proverbs 12:13-14 13 The wicked is ensnared by the transgression of his lips, But the righteous will come through trouble.
14 A man will be satisfied with good by the fruit of his mouth, And the recompense of a man’s hands will be rendered to him.
Proverbs 12:18 18 There is one who speaks like the piercings of a sword, But the tongue of the wise promotes health.
Remember the childhood saying “Sticks and stones will break my bones, but names will never harm me”? It’s a lie. Bones will heal. Words can cause wounds that can cripple a person for a lifetime.
Proverbs 13:2-3 2 A man shall eat well by the fruit of his mouth, But the soul of the unfaithful feeds on violence.
3 He who guards his mouth preserves his life, But he who opens wide his lips shall have destruction.
Proverbs 14:3 NASB In the mouth of the foolish is a rod for his back, But the lips of the wise will protect them.
Proverbs 18:7 7 A fool’s mouth is his destruction, And his lips are the snare of his soul.
Proverbs 21:23 23 Whoever guards his mouth and tongue keeps his soul from troubles.
They culminate in this verse:
Proverbs 18:20-21 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.
Proverbs 18:21 MSG Words kill, words give life; they’re either poison or fruit—you choose.
That is pretty strong language. Solomon talks of the power of the tongue. Your words contain power when you speak them. The power to produce death, or power to produce life.
Then Moses gives us a hint:
Deuteronomy 30:19 I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live;
Choose life!
Control Your Tongue
James 3:2-12 2 For we all stumble in many things. If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body.
3 Indeed, we put bits in horses’ mouths that they may obey us, and we turn their whole body.
4 Look also at ships: although they are so large and are driven by fierce winds, they are turned by a very small rudder wherever the pilot desires.
5 Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. See how great a forest a little fire kindles!
6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell.
7 For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and creature of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by mankind.
8 But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.
9 With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God.
10 Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so.
11 Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening?
12 Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Thus no spring yields both salt water and fresh.
There are two things that need to be addressed when we talk about our words. First, is to eliminate the negative – the words of death and cursing. Second, is to start using words positively – words of life and blessing.
First, James makes the statement that if you can control your tongue, you can control your whole body (vs. 2). Most people take that to mean that the tongue is the hardest thing to control, so if you get hold of it, the rest is easy. But there is more to it than that.
Look at vs. 10 again:
10 Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so.
Most people read this and think that sometimes we say good things about people, and sometimes we say bad things about people. That is involved, yes. But James had just talked about how the tongue can control your direction, your course, your destiny. There are many more verses from Proverbs than we listed that also show that your words influence how your life goes. Death and life are in the power of the tongue.
James is not just saying that sometimes we say good things and sometimes we say bad things, but by the words of our mouth we can produce blessing in our lives and others’, or a curse.
One of the main reasons some people have so much trouble in their lives is because they have cursed themselves with their own mouth.
James 1:26 26 If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless.
What is the purpose of religion, in general (i.e., Christianity or other religions)? It is to get close to God as they see Him, and to become worthy of His blessing. This is true of the monotheistic religions (Christianity, Judaism, Islam), as well as the impersonal religions (becoming “one with the cosmos”), or the primitive man making sacrifices to an idol of the sun god.
James says that if you think yourself to be religious – you are actively seeking to become closer to God that you may incur His favor and blessing – but don’t control your tongue, your religious efforts will be useless. The word means vain, pointless, worthless, profitless. Your tongue will counteract what you are trying to do with your behavior.
Corrupt Communication
Ephesians 4:29 KJV Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.
Definition of corrupt
- guilty of dishonest practices, as bribery; lacking integrity; crooked: a corrupt judge.
- debased in character; depraved; perverted; wicked; evil: a corrupt society.
- made inferior by errors or alterations, as a text.
- infected; tainted.
- decayed; putrid.
Satan works hard at corrupting the communication of the human race; it is one of the major tactics that he uses to control people. Even in seemingly innocent things; for example, take slang words that are supposed to mean that something is good and you like it.
I looked up slang words for “good”, and came up with a site that had 340 slang words that meant good, likeable, in a positive sense. Many of them, if you took the non-slang meaning, really mean the opposite of good. Such as:
Bad, wicked, sick, disgusting, beast, bitchin’, bomb (or “da bomb”), fat or phat, horrorshow, gangster or gangsta, ghetto (this word could mean good or bad, depending on the context), hellacious, ill (see “sick”), kick-in-the-pants, killer, mean, nasty, out of sight, rancid, ridiculous, savage, smack, smashing, to die for, unreal.
“Dude, that’s one bad set of wheels you got there!”
“Bad? The tires are new and I like the alloy rims.”
“No, I mean your car, man! It’s sick!”
“I don’t know why you would say that. It runs really well.”
“Naw, I mean it’s killer! Really wicked!”
“I’ll have you know I have never used it for evil purposes. I’ve certainly never killed anybody with it.”
“It’s like the goose? Off the heezy fo’ sheezie? Redonkulus? Rankin’? Fletch? Fizzy?”
“What language are you speaking?”
“Hmm… lemme try sumthin’ else. How ‘bout Cool? Stellar? Bodacious? Righteous? Groovy? Boss? Sweet? Peachy?”
“Ah, you like it! Me too.”
Isaiah 5:20 Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
“Ah, you’re getting extreme now. They’re just words.”
That is exactly the devil’s agenda. To make you think that they are “just words”, that the words you speak are of little importance and don’t mean much. If he can make you think that words don’t mean much, he can get you to say almost anything. And then he has a tool he can use against you and against other people.
What does God think about “they’re just words”?
Matthew 12:31-37 31 “Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men.
32 Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.
33 “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit.
34 Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
35 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things.
36 But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment.
37 For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”
Notice how the devil has gotten the world to turn the name of God or Jesus or Christ into curse words. The Name above every Name, the Name at which every knee shall bow, has become little more than an exclamation in some people’s lips. Kee-rist. OMG.
Taking the Lord’s name in vain is one of the prohibitions in the ten commandments. The Jews believed that the name of God (Yahweh) was so holy they only spoke it under very special conditions.
Most people would recognize saying “God damn it” as taking the Lord’s name in vain. However, “in vain” means without purpose, empty. I would say using OMG as an exclamation fulfills that.
And how about the word “damn”? To damn means to doom to destruction. It is a curse. Some have twisted the meaning to mean something good, like they have bad or wicked. “Day-um! That was one exciting game!”
Out of the same mouth comes both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things should not be so.
Do you really want to doom things to destruction? If your car breaks down, do you really want to say “This damn car! It’s always breaking down!” You’ve just given the devil permission to give you car problems.
Complaining is one of the tools the devil uses to gain the authority to work in people’s lives.
Controlling the course of your life
Look at James 3 again:
James 3:2-5 2 For we all stumble in many things. If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body.
3 Indeed, we put bits in horses’ mouths that they may obey us, and we turn their whole body.
4 Look also at ships: although they are so large and are driven by fierce winds, they are turned by a very small rudder wherever the pilot desires.
5 Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. See how great a forest a little fire kindles!
What is James saying here? Well, what is the purpose of the bit in the horse’s mouth, or the rudder on a ship? They control the direction, or course, that you are going in. If James were writing today he might make the analogy of the steering wheel on a car.
Your mouth controls the direction you are going in. That is the ultimate power of words in our life, and most Christians don’t have a clue about it.
What if you don’t like the direction your life is going in? You need to turn the wheel!
“I’m going in this direction. I don’t want to go in this direction!”
“Turn the wheel.”
“But I’m going in this direction. I really, really, don’t want to go this way!”
“Turn the wheel!”
“But you don’t understand, I’m going this way! I don’t want to go this way!”
So how do you turn the wheel on the course for your life? You start speaking the direction you want to go in. Don’t worry about the fact that you’re not heading that way yet. You turn the wheel first, then the car follows.
Speak Life
So we’ve looked at the aspect of negative words, and how they can undermine our lives. But Deuteronomy 30:19 doesn’t just say that death is in the power of the tongue. It also says that life is in the power of the tongue.
“Eliminating negative words alone does not create life, but life is released by right words that are in agreement with God.”
Steve Backlund, You’re Crazy if you don’t Talk to Yourself
Remember that James said that the tongue was like a rudder on a ship; our words are a rudder that will point us in the direction of what we speak.
Lately there have been tremendous strides in discovering how the brain works. And one thing that scientists are finding out is that your brain will work to find ways to produce the words that are coming out of your mouth. So if you look at yourself and say, “What a tub of lard! You are so fat!” your brain is actually going to go to work to make you fat.
So we need to start speaking where we want to go, not where we are. Turn the steering wheel to change your direction!
We all have a constant dialog of self talk going inside us all the time. Most of that self talk is negative. We need to start speaking positive things, out loud, on purpose, to counteract this.
Another Steve Backlund quote: “Our thought patterns will change when we speak something different than what we are thinking.”
“But if I say things that aren’t true yet, wouldn’t that be lying?”
I think we can take our example from God Himself.
Romans 4:16-17 16 Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all
17 (as it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations”) in the presence of Him whom he believed–God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did;
God calls those things that do not yet exist as if they already did. The example is when God changed Abram’s name to Abraham, which means Father of a Multitude. And the words that God spoke came to pass.
“Well, that’s God. Of course what He says would come to pass. But we can’t expect that kind of results.”
Oh, really? Actually, the Bible says you can.
A little background on this next verse. In Mark 11, Jesus and the disciples were staying in Bethany (at Mary, Martha, and Lazarus’ house) and in the morning they would trek into Jerusalem, which was only a couple of miles away. One morning on that trip Jesus is hungry, sees a fig tree, but it has leaves but no fruit. So he speaks words to it, aloud, that no one would eat fruit from that tree ever again.
They spend the day in Jerusalem, return to Bethany in the evening, and the next morning they are going back. Peter sees the fig tree, withered from the roots, and calls attention to it. And here is Jesus’ explanation.
Mark 11:22-24 22 So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God.
23 For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.
24 Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.
Jesus tells the disciples that if they believe in their heart that the things they say will come to pass, they will have whatever they say. And it wasn’t just for the disciples/apostles – notice He said whoever. Or, in the King James whosoever. And “whosoever meaneth me!”
What Should I Say?
I am in control of my appetites, my appetites are not in control of me!
Speak scripture over yourself. Psalm 103:1-5 is great. Verse 5 has become more significant to me as I got older.
Psalms 103:1-5 1 A Psalm of David. Bless the Lord, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name!
2 Bless the Lord, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits:
3 Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases,
4 Who redeems your life from destruction, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies,
5 Who satisfies your mouth with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
My Dad developed Alzheimer’s in his old age. Here’s a scripture I found when the thoughts come that it runs in the family:
Proverbs 10:7 The memory of the righteous is blessed, But the name of the wicked will rot.
Tell yourself that you are an overcomer and a world changer.
“I don’t feel like I’m an overcomer and a world changer”. That doesn’t matter! You’re turning the wheel and changing your direction!
Joel 3:10 Beat your plowshares into swords And your pruning hooks into spears; Let the weak say, ‘I am strong.’ “
FAVOR!
I live continually in a state of God’s favor. It surrounds me like a shield, and follows me all the days of my life, and is manifest in some way every day.
Speak life over yourself, your family, your circumstances. Because life is in the power of your tongue.
