Charting life’s direction…

Last Sunday, the message at church was a great reminder about the power in the tongue. Something I have sat with often and reflected upon. I needed this reminder. And I needed it now. So often, I have heard ‘words are just words’ from others. When I hear someone make that statement, all I hear is ‘danger, danger….do not be deceived.’

Before I knew The Lord, I most likely had a similar thought process and no understanding. But not anymore. I have seen too much. Heard too much. Received too much. Learned too much. I have been on both sides; the giving (speaking) and receiving of both blessing and cursing.

The Scripture used for Sunday’s message was James 3:8, “but the tongue no one can tame-it is an unstable and evil thing, full of death-dealing poison.” CJB Seems to be abundantly clear that our words either speak life or death. (Prov. 18:21) It doesn’t sound to me like any of our words are neutral, but contain powerful consequences. The Book of Proverbs is one of the best sources on the study of our words and the power of our tongue. The majority of it is written by Solomon, the man God richly blessed with wisdom and understanding. Yet, Solomon, who wrote such words of wisdom, later walked away from them and didn’t live by them. Makes me shudder to think we can gain all the wisdom and still lose our way. A great and powerful reminder to remain humble and never think of oneself more highly than one ought (Romans 12:3).

That verse makes me think of a man I knew. A man I grew to love. A man I miss. A humble man that lived out that verse…..my father-in-law, who truly became my father-in-love, Jay S. Witmoyer.

When considering our words, let’s first take a look at the words spoken by The One in whom our image is created. We are created in His image according to Genesis 1:27. And what else do we read about in the beginning? Throughout Genesis 1, we read the Creation story. And how did the Creation come about? “God said, Let there be….” (verses 3, 6, 9, 11, 14, 20, and 24). He simply spoke and there was. His words created!! His words brought forth life! Think about the universe, today. Or as Scripture refers to it, heaven.

The expanse keeps expanding! Isn’t science even proving this today? David wrote about it in Psalm 19, verse 1…”The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.” [NASB] Since we are created in His image and His words have such power to create, wouldn’t ours? Maybe that is why it is written in Proverbs 18:21 that ours words speak life or death! And maybe this is why it is written in Matthew 12:36-37 that we will give account for every word spoken. We must pause and contemplate the weight of our words, asking ourselves, “what are my words creating?” The pastor giving the message actually asked us “what worlds are your words creating?”

In Joshua 21:45, we read that “not one of the good promises which The Lord had made to the house of Israel failed; all came to pass.” In the original language, the word ‘dabar‘ in Hebrew can mean promise, but it means so much more. It means to speak, declare, command, converse, warn, threaten and/or sing. All things our mouth and tongue do in coordination. Also, in Luke chapter 1, the events of Gabriel coming to Mary to inform her that she will carry the holy Child, it is written that “nothing will be impossible with God.” Her response….”may it be done to me according to your word.”

There is no one off verse that points to this truth. It is weaved throughout the whole of Scripture like a thread woven throughout a tapestry. Isaiah even shares this truth when he wrote in chapter 55 that the word of God which goes forth will not return void or empty, but it will accomplish the the desire and will of God. Again, since we are created in His image as a three part being like the Father (soul), Son (body), and Holy Spirit (spirit), do we recognize the power in our tongue?

But, now, at this point, I need to ask another question? WHY?? Why do we speak the words that we do? Why do words that do not bring life come pouring out of our mouths? Why is it that the tongue is unstable? Why is it that even when we have accepted Jesus as The Christ, The Messiah, and claim Him as Savior that we can still have both blessing and cursing come forth?

I ask this because, personally, there was a point in my life that I understood all of the above and knew I needed to speak words of life. To be uplifting and encouraging. To speak the truth in love. Truthfully, I could not do it on my own. I began to realize that I was ‘doing a work’, but in the wrong order. I could not train my tongue with out asking myself the question(s) of why. I needed to go deeper to find out the reason my words could be so vile and evil. That is when I felt the Lord lead me to Proverbs, especially, Chapter 4 verses 23 and 24. It is written, “Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life. Put away from you a deceitful mouth and put devious speech far from you.” Oh, I had heard this verse multiple times, read it multiple times. But it was not until I read it in multiple versions and studied it that I began to have understanding. In the Complete Jewish Bible, it reads, “Above everything else, guard your heart; for it is the source of life’s consequences. Keep crooked speech out of your mouth, banish deceit from your lips.” Our words actually betray us by revealing what is in our heart or soul. It is a heart issue. Just changing our words isn’t going to get to the root of the matter.

There is a progression here. We need to look after our heart first! For out of it comes the words that we speak. When you look back to the original Hebrew language, we learn that the word for heart is “leb or lev”. It means inner man or soul! The part of us that is our mind (intellect), will and emotions. Our THOUGHT LIFE! Of course, our words are formed by our thoughts. So setting a guard over our mouths is not as easy as just watching what we say. And yes, we need to pause first and think about what we are going to say. There’s suggestion out there about a checklist to go through before you speak that goes something like is it true, necessary, and kind. Stuff like that and yeah, I am probably missing some things. However, is that really what we need? Another checklist? Another check this box and that box before we do or say anything? Isn’t there more to this?? I believe that answer is yes, absolutely!

Let me say this first, I don’t think a checklist is horrible. It may be used as tool to begin a good habit. But we cannot stop there.

Apparently, our thought life is crucial to the words we speak bringing life or death. Again, let’s ask the question, “why?” Why would our thoughts bring forth such words when we are made in the image of God? Here, we have to go to where our thoughts originate, which Proverbs describes as our souls. What is our soul? And what could have occurred that it would have thoughts that are not life-giving?

Life happens, right? Life with all of it’s ups and downs, victories and defeats, successes and failures, and so much more. Trials, tribulations, and traumas. Milestones. Dreams. Not one of us is exempt. We live in a fallen world. It is not a utopia. All those things in life have a deep affect on who we are, who we have become. Our life experiences are as different as our fingerprint. No one the same. All of this has affected our soul. Our mind. Our will. Our emotions. Therefore our beliefs!! Oh, but God and His mercy. We are not the sum total of our past, but it has certainly impacted us one way or another. However, we do not need to stay there. If words have created negative or unhealthy ‘worlds’ in our minds, God can change that for us. How? How do we go about changing this? How do we change our beliefs, therefore our thoughts and in turn our words?

Remember in John 2, John writes that God knows what is in our hearts (vs. 24-35). He sees. He knows. Because He has been with us from the beginning. He has been with us through it all. He came to set us free. Freedom from all that binds us. You may have heard the phrase, ‘hurt (adjective) people hurt (verb) people’. Our soul needs changing…. healing….FREEDOM! Our “inner man” needs healing. Needs to be touched by God and the truth that He speaks. We need to let Him speak to us. We need to let Him in so He can bring forth the necessary change of ‘heart’. We need His words to cancel all those negative words or curses spoken over us by overs and ourselves. We need to come out of agreement with words that are not what He says about us. We need to believe that we are truly His son/daughter having accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. Not just think it or say it, but believe it. Deep down inside, believe it. Our beliefs are what keep us anchored when life gets tumultuous and the waves of life want to toss us to and fro. If we continue on with life, hearing and listening to the negative words spoken to us and over us throughout our lives and continue to believe those words, we end up aligning our souls with very thing. Then our thoughts and beliefs are not aligned with God’s thoughts toward us.

My challenge would be to go and dig in. Dig into The Word of God and see what can be found about what He says about you. Search for what He has done for you that allows for you to be called His son or daughter. Start writing out a list that helps you develop a firm foundation of your beliefs in who He says you are! Commit them to heart and watch the change over time of your beliefs, your thoughts and your words. And let Him have the last word over your life, over your soul. Where there has been deep soul wounds created by words, let Holy Spirit be the healing balm, speaking life into those areas that have only brought death or destruction.

You will start to see the miraculous transformation from slavery to sonship. This lifelong process will not only steady you in the storms of life, but also bring you closer and deeper into an intimate relationship with your Creator and all that He has for you.

“Therefore thus says the Lord: “If you return, I will restore you, and you shall stand before me. If you utter what is precious, and not what is worthless, you shall be as my mouth. They shall turn to you, but you shall not turn to them. And I will make you to this people a fortified wall of bronze; they will fight against you, but they shall not prevail over you, for I am with you to save you and deliver you, declares the Lord. I will deliver you out of the hand of the wicked, and redeem you from the grasp of the ruthless.” Jeremiah 15:19-21