The Power Of Words

Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.  Colossians 4:6

Welcome friends.  Today I want us to consider the power of our words.  The words we speak have the power to encourage and they also have the power to discourage.  Reflect on your words.  Are you a person who speaks words of encouragement or words of discouragement?  I pray today that you will make a choice to be a person that speaks words of encouragement into others’ lives.  Choose to speak words that encourage, edify, and give confidence. 

The words we speak go directly to the soul of those we are speaking.  Depending on the words we speak, they can offer joy or sadness, or they can offer peace or upset.  Proverbs 15:4 – The soothing tongue is a tree of life, but a perverse tongue crushes the spirit.  As Christians, our intention should never be to crush the spirit of others.  Proverbs 18:21 – The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.  I encourage you today to choose to speak life into those you meet each day.  We never know the situation or circumstances those we come in contact with are facing.  Offer the gift of gracious words that have the ability to lift another’s spirit.  God may place someone in your path today that needs a word of kindness.  These few words of kindness, sincerely spoken, can be life changing. 

Sam Walton stated, “Nothing else can quite substitute for a few well-chosen, well-timed, sincere words of praise.  They’re absolutely free and worth a fortune.”  Many people we come in contact with each day have no relationship with Jesus Christ and are facing painful circumstances.  Allow the Holy Spirit to guide you as you speak words of comfort and encouragement.  Our words and actions should point those we encounter to our Savior and LORD.  Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouth, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen – Ephesians 4:29.  Pray each morning for spiritual discernment so you will be aware of those you meet each day that may need a well-spoken, gracious word.

Friends, God reveals to us that what we harbor in our hearts come out in our words.  Examine your heart.  Is it possible you need to allow the Holy Spirit to change your attitudes and motives?  If your speech is filled with critical words and negatively, pray and ask Jesus for help and guidance in changing your heart.  But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them – Matthew 15:18.  In Luke 6:45, Jesus reveals to us that our speech and actions demonstrate our true beliefs, attitudes, and motivations.  A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart.  For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.  Examine your speech and actions.  Does your speech reveal that you have good in your heart? 

Be mindful that not only will our actions be judged but also our speech.  In Matthew 12:36, Jesus reveals to us – But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken. When you stand before Jesus, what will He say about the words you have spoken to others and how they have been affected by them?

Just as David did in Psalm 19:14, ask God each day to guide you in the words you speak.  May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.  Just as David asked God to set a guard over his mouth, we should do the same.  Set a guard over my mouth, LORD; keep watch over the door of my lips – Psalm 141:3

Friend, choose today to offer words of encouragement to others.  Words are powerful.  1 Thessalonians 5:11 – Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing. 

Dear Heavenly Father, I pray that You will help us to be people that speak words of encouragement to others.  LORD if we are harboring wrong attitudes and motives, reveal this to us so we can come to Your throne of grace and ask for forgiveness.  Help us be obedient to Your Word.  In Jesus Precious Name I Pray…..Amen.