“A Prophetic Word” Day 8: Don’t let your mouth cause you to sin.
“You brood of snakes! How could evil men like you speak what is good and right? For whatever is in your heart determines what you say. A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. And I tell you this, you must give an account on judgment day for every idle word you speak. The words you say will either acquit you or condemn you.””
Matthew 12:34-37 NLT
It’s perplexing to observe that some of the same people who are very meticulous about the way they dress, or who are obsessed about order in their home, or value organization among their things, are very sloppy with their speech, careless about what comes out of their mouth.
The word of God reminds us repeatedly concerning the power in what we speak out of our mouth.
The Psalmist asked the Lord to help him to speak only what is pleasing to Him.
“May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.”
Psalms 19:14 NLT
Proverbs warns that watching our mouth can keep us out of trouble:
“Watch your tongue and keep your mouth shut, and you will stay out of trouble.”
Proverbs 21:23 NLT
Proverbs also makes a distinction between the speech habits of the righteous versus the speech of the wicked:
“The heart of the righteous thinks carefully about how to answer [in a wise and appropriate and timely way], But the [babbling] mouth of the wicked pours out malevolent things.”
Proverbs 15:28 AMP
As we see in our opening scripture, Jesus warned that our words will be used in judgment, either for us, or against us.
Remember: We are made in the image of God, made in the image of He Who spoke everything into existence; and as such, our words can be powerful. Indeed, this power can be used for good or for evil. As children of God, let us redouble our efforts to make sure that what comes out of our mouth is consistent with what He has spoken.
If you’re not sure about what to say in a situation, or even when to say something, or to hold your peace, take a moment to ask the Lord to guide your speech. The Holy Spirit is, after all, the best speech coach, speaking only what He hears from the Lord.
“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future. He will bring me glory by telling you whatever he receives from me. All that belongs to the Father is mine; this is why I said, ‘The Spirit will tell you whatever he receives from me.’”
John 16:13-15 NLT
Don’t let your tongue do the devil’s work or allow the devil to keep you from doing God’s work with your mouth.