A good man out of the good treasure 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. Luke 6:45
It says a good man out of the good treasure of his heart. What’s the treasure? The treasure is the Word of God. If you put the good stuff in, you’ll get the good stuff out. Therefore, I encourage you to put the Word of God in your heart, and it will come out in your speech.
Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You. Psalm 119:11
The Psalmist understood that if an enemy conquered the land and burned all the books, he would still have the Word of God hidden in his heart. We know that anything highly valuable is often hidden. This is why people hide their money in a safe place.
You rarely see anything that’s highly valuable just casually laying out in the open for anybody to walk by and take it. This is why we lock the doors to our cars and homes. The point is that we secure what we deem to be valuable.
How much more valuable is the Word of God to you over material possessions? The Psalmist says, I have hidden your Word in my heart.
Mysteries of the Kingdom
It’s interested that Jesus even hides the mysteries of the kingdom to outsiders (those without the Spirit; 1 Cor 2:14). In case you were wondering, this is why the world can’t understand the Bible.
An unregenerate person must become regenerated by receiving salvation through Jesus Christ. Once a person accepts Jesus Christ into their heart, they become reborn of the Spirit and can begin to understand the ways of the kingdom.
One of Jesus disciples asked Him a question. He said, “Lord, why do you speak in parables? The Lord replied, “because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given”; Matt 13:11.
This tells us that the Lord wants people’s hearts before He reveals the mysteries of the kingdom! In Proverbs 9:10, it says that the fear of the Lord is wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
Christ holds the key to unlocking wisdom and understanding in the hearts of man. Therefore, the more you embrace the Word of God, the more God will increase your understanding.
We’re still on the topic of the power of spoken words, but first I had to draw a connection between what we speak in relation to what’s in our hearts. And since mankind was born in sin, every person needs to receive a new heart.
Spiritual Laws
The kingdom operates on spiritual laws just as we have natural laws that exist. We know that if we violate the law of electricity, the result can be detrimental. Likewise, your words are either working for you or against you. Let’s look at Proverbs 18:21.
Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it and indulge it will eat its fruit and bear the consequences of their words. Proverbs 18:21
When the Bible mentions the word fruit in this passage of Scripture, it’s referring to the experiences you have in life based on how well you make use of your tongue to speak life. Having said that, you should avoid using words that are counterproductive to your faith.
Let me give you an illustration: Before a soldier goes out to battle, he or she must become knowledgeable and proficient in the use of their weapons. We’ve all heard of people who’ve shot themselves in the foot by accident due to the careless handling of a firearm.
The Bible says that a foolish person is snared by their own words; Proverbs 6:2. In other words, they become caught in a trap in their own soul but unable to identify why they can’t move beyond a stuck place.
As believers, we learn through the power of the Spirit, how to filter every thought that comes to mind with the Word of God. The Spirit empowers us to hold back words that could potentially cause damage in split moments of doubt, anger, or uncertainty. Let’s look at Proverbs 16:23.
Prudent in Speech
The heart of the wise teaches his mouth, and adds learning to his lips. Proverbs 16:23
Understand that your words can have a lasting effect on people. For those of us who are married, we’ve seen this playout at least once or twice. Now, if you said something to an individual that you later regretted, it’s never too late to go back to that person and apologize.
Once you become wiser on how to use words more skillfully, you’ll win more people over, and others will start to take notice!
Let’s look at 1 Samuel 16:17-18. We’ll read that Saul was being troubled by evil spirits. Notice how his servants responded.
So Saul said to his servants, “Provide me now a man who can play well, and bring him to me.” Then one of the servants answered and said, “Look, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, who is skillful in playing, a mighty man of valor, a man of war, prudent in speech, and a handsome person; and the Lord is with him.” 1 Samuel 16:17-18
We see in Scripture that David was promoted based on his reputation. The focus here is that David had a list of qualifications, and the one I want to highlight is that he was prudent in speech.
Three Areas of Focus
The wise use their words to win or succeed. This can apply to relationships, prayer, and faith declarations as outlined below.
Building Relationships
The Bible says to exhort one another daily; Hebrews 3:13. The way I see it, words are like stones which can be used constructively or destructively. We’ve seen how people use words to stone others through verbal abuse. Our job is to use words to build people up by esteeming others, to bring comfort or encouragement to others.
Words can be bitter or sweet to the soul. As people of God, our words should bring comfort to a weary soul.
God instructs us to be quick to hear and slow to speak; James 1:19. This becomes easier when you learn how to filter every human interaction you encounter through God’s Word on a daily basis. It’s hard to win people over until you become a good listener.
Prayer
God tells us to pray without ceasing; 1 Thess. 5:16-18. Why? Because his Word becomes activated when you speak it in faith. This is a kingdom law or principle. God will back up His Word when you approach Him based on His Word.
Moreover, God needs our prayers in order for His angels to move on our behalf. Somebody said, well how’s that? The short of it is that God gave man dominion over the earth; Genesis 1:26.
In the O.T, before God demonstrated His power in the earth, he often used a prophet to prophesy a blessing or a judgement over a nation.
In the N.T, Jesus said I give you keys that whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven. Whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven; Matt 16:19.
During times of warfare prayer, we use the Holy Scriptures as our spiritual weapon, which is called the sword of the Spirit; Ephesians 6:17.
Declarations of Faith
As it pertains to things we desire to see a change take place, we should call things that are not as though they are provided that it doesn’t violate God’s Word, according to the principles of faith; Romans 4:17. Moreover, we should be speaking words that align with our destiny.
I heard a lady in the faith give her testimony on how she did an experiment to prove whether she had power in her words. So, she took two plants. One she blessed each day and the other one she cursed. One plant she spoke life and the other she spoke death by saying to it that it would never amount to anything. The result was that one plant flourished while the other one looked hideous and didn’t grow.
Concerning problems that seem insurmountable, we should pray against it by praying that the problem be canceled or removed; Mark 11:23.
Conclusion
In summary, learning how to master the tongue is crucial to you living a life of victory! Mastering the Tongue takes practice. I heard a wise person say that consistency is the mother of mastery. Mastery is what happens when you steadily work towards a particular discipline for a long period of time.
If we truly value the Word of God, then we will put the Word of God in our hearts. Therefore, let’s esteem the Word of God above all other things that pertain to this world.