Power of Our Words

Throughout my personal Christian journey, Holy Spirit has consistently highlighted scriptures about words, the tongue and mouth. Of course, managing my tongue by sheer willpower failed, just as the scripture says; “ But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the image of God. Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so. “(James 3:8-10 NKJV) My work environment as a nurse was always very stressful. In my anxiety and frustration, my cries for help came out in the form of complaining, along with the sin of slander. Daily, I would quote the scripture “ Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer,”( Psalm 19:14 NKJV) I had a strong desire to manifest the character of Christ to my co-workers and felt frustrated by my lack of ability to show love, peace and joy. Luke 6:45 says “ A good man out of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.( NKJV) I realized that I needed to focus on what I allowed in my heart as there was a volcano of anger and pain in there. Proverbs 4:23 says “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”( NIV) The heart holds negative emotions if we don’t deal with the root causes. Ephesians 4:31 says “Get rid of all bitterness, rage, and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice . Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. Dealing with the issues of the heart and mind have continued to be a lifelong journey. But God is faithful. His strength has been made perfect in my weakness as I learn to depend on Him more and feed on the truth of His Word. My mind continues to need renewing. Romans 12:2 states that we are not to be confirmed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of our minds, that we may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. I cannot afford to allow destructive, critical, complaining or judgemental thoughts to occupy my mind. We all must take them captive and make them obedient to Christ.( 2 Cor. 10:5) As I grew in my relationship with Jesus, I have experienced the unconditional love of the Father, His amazing grace and encouragement. Holy Spirit is always there to help us as He is working to create in us the Christ like character we need to be His image bearers. Because of the Father’s great love for us, He desires to remove and keep us from anything that would tarnish our relationship with Him. Philippians 4:8 says, “ Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-if anything is excellent or praiseworthy- think about such things.”( NIV) Making a habit of thanking God often for all our blessings isn’t just a nice sentimental saying; it is essential to our wellbeing. We need to consciously choose to meditate on and speak out the positive to rise above all the voices that are clamouring for our attention. Our minds and hearts need to be intentionally filled with God thoughts and truth so that the muddy negative ones don’t occupy the space. If we hear negative stories, do we filter it through the Holy Spirit, asking Him if it is true? Nevertheless, our first response is to pray for the situation and ask for resolution, grace, favour, blessing or whatever we are sensing. Forgiving and blessing others is always necessary and to keep ourselves from being defiled. The enemy is constantly seeking to bring offences. Let’s not be easy targets. Before sharing with others, ask yourself; is this information necessary? Is it kind? Is it helpful? Is it true? Is it inspiring? Daily asking the Holy Spirit to guide us is essential. The Lord has placed me in positions of authority in my latter years. More is required of me, especially in the area of confidentiality. I found it increasingly easy to keep private all information shared with me in personal inner healing sessions( sozos), but more recently, it seems the bar has been raised.

God will continue to give us opportunities to grow in all areas of our spiritual lives. Like Paul said in Philippians 3:12 “Not that I have already attained or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.”( NKJV) I am still on my journey and have a long way to go, but trust that Holy Spirit who began a good work in me, will continue it until Jesus returns ( paraphrase of Philippians 1:6)

The words we speak also reflect our character. More is required of those in authority. Proverbs 22:1 says, “A good name is more desirable rather than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold.” (NIV) I highly respect those Christian leaders who seemingly have such a reverent fear of the Lord and an intimate relationship with Him, that they do not allow words that would dishonour Him to leave their mouths.

We need to choose as friends, those who are growing in spiritual integrity. As Psalm 1:1-2 says, “ Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night.”(NKJV) Let’s invite our friends to be accountability partners and have them interrupt conversations that may involve gossip, judgements, criticism and such.

Everyone one needs encouragement. Look for ways you can give a compliment to bless someone daily. We have heard the saying, “Anyone can see the dirt in someone, but let’s look for the gold.” As well, since our world is “ problem focused”, let’s become a people known for our kindness, joy and praise. Laughter is a powerful weapon in the times of chaos and fear.

Blessings, Wendy Arelis