The Evangelist Speaks

by Evangelist Carolyn Griffin

The Power of the Tongue

We often quote Proverbs 18:21. Solomon’s wisdom teaches us that “Death and Life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof”. Verse 20 also offers great insight. “A man’s belly shall be satisfied with the fruit of his mouth; and with the increase of his lips shall he be filled”. When we give wise answers, and think before we speak, we are inwardly satisfied and our fortune, (blessings) are determined by what we say. Whether we believe it or not, there is power of life and death resident in what we speak from our mouth. Everything that we have said this week has either been life-giving or death-dealing, and there is no in between. The tongue has the incredible power to kill, to destroy, to hurt and to tear down; or it can bless, encourage, lift up and minister grace. We have a choice over what we speak. What are you speaking?

When we make quality decisions to speak life to others and to our circumstances and situations, we will see positive results. We can speak life because we are like Christ. God made us in His image and likeness. God spoke and all things were created. He gave us dominion over those things. We must speak life just like Jesus did. He teaches us in Matthew 12:34b that out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. We must have the heart of God to speak life. James 3:9-11 tells us that bitter and sweet can not flow out of the same fountain. We can not speak blessings to ourselves and those that we love, while we speak curses to others, with the same mouth. It is important that we speak life to and about ourselves, but it is equally important that we do the same when it comes to others. As we speak blessings, appreciation and encouragement; wonders will happen in our lives, in our relationships, in our homes, schools, churches, communities, businesses, and nation. Surely we want to see our relationships better, our marriages healthy, our finances improved, our economy strong, our children well behaved and excelling in school and life, our bodies healed, our churches filled, our nation “United under God”, and the Body of Christ advancing God’s Kingdom. The choice is yours. What are you speaking?

A careless word can kindle strife,
A bitter word can hate instill,
A brutal word can smite and kill.
A gracious word can soothe the way,
A joyous word can light the day.
A timely word can lessen stress,
A loving word can heal and bless.