SPEAK LIFE
Proverbs 18:21 nkj
Death and life are in the power of the tongue,
And those who love it will eat its fruit.
I really tried. I tried to come up with a devotional for Revelation Chapter 8, but when those trumpets started blowing, things got rough. And the last angel was saying with a loud voice, not whispering, woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth because another three trumpets were about to sound. And they are going to be worse than the first four. So my devotional would have been along the lines of I hope I miss this. When struggling with a chapter or a passage, go to another reading. Proverbs and Psalms are full of wisdom and not nearly as much woe. I will still continue to read Revelation every year, but I will always have additional readings as back up.
Proverbs 18:21 has been a passage that has been a part of my and Joy’s lives since the beginning days of our marriage. I wish I could say that we always practiced it. I can say we have grown in our application of this verse. One of the biggest lessons we learned from this verse was not speaking death. We took great pains to not speak death over our marriage, children, and ministry. We became very conscious that negative, fear-filled words were not going to help us. We almost never mentioned the word 'divorce.' We rarely ever said our children were going to turn out bad. We did not say the church was not going to make it. Oh, we certainly said some negative things, but we got back on track as soon as possible.
But here is what we did not do enough of. We did not speak life enough. We eliminated most negatives, but we did not add enough words of life. We could have spoken what we believed our marriage would be one day. We could have spoken what we believed God was doing in our kids, even when it did not appear that way. We would not say negatives, but we could have done much more speaking words of life.
A great question to ask yourself: What words of life am I speaking today about the different areas of my life? You may have trained yourself to not go negative, but what are you saying? Where are you agreeing with God about the different areas? What are you saying about your kids, your finances, your health, yourself? Are you speaking blessings? Or are you simply quiet? There is power in the tongue for death or life. How are you using that power?
Don’t feel bad if you realize you have been using the power of your words in the wrong direction. Most of us have been trained in spiritual darkness, and speaking words of life is new and may be a bit awkward. But if you love life, speak life. Agree with God and what He says about you. One of the key ways we, as believers, can stand apart from the dark world we live in is how we use our words. Speak love instead of hate. Strength instead of weakness. Joy instead of despair. Hope instead of despondency. Faith instead of fear. You won’t get there overnight, but you can sure start. See what I just did? I spoke life to your situation. We have a choice as to what we can do with our words. Choose to speak life!