Words of Life
Speaking life giving words
Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit.
Proverbs 18:21
In many places God tells us that what we say has extreme consequences.
He tells us in this passage that there are two outcomes of our words:
LIFE or DEATH
He then tells us that which ever we love we will eat the fruit of it .. Life or Death.
Those we speak to will also eat of the fruit of our lips Life or Death.
The Apostle James seeks to press upon us how vital this area of our life is:
For we all stumble in many ways. If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body as well.
James 3:2
Now if we put the bits into the horses' mouths so that they will obey us, we direct their entire body as well.
James 3:3
Look at the ships also, though they are so great and are driven by strong winds, are still directed by a very small rudder wherever the inclination of the pilot desires. James 3:4
So also the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things. See how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire! James 3:5
And the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity; the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by hell. James 3:6
For every species of beasts and birds, of reptiles and creatures of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by the human race. James 3:7
But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison. James 3:8
With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God; James 3:9
from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way. James 3:10
Does a fountain send out from the same opening both fresh and bitter water? James 3:11
Can a fig tree, my brethren, produce olives, or a vine produce figs? Nor can salt water produce fresh. James 3:12
Can a fig tree, my brethren, produce olives, or a vine produce figs? Nor can salt water produce fresh. James 3:12
Jesus tells us clearly that what we say is vital to our relationship with him.
"Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit.
Matthew 12:33
. . . . the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart.
Matthew 12:34
"The good man brings out of his good treasure what is good; and the evil man brings out of his evil treasure what is evil.
Matthew 12:35
"But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment.
Matthew 12:36
"For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.
Matthew 12:37
It is clear that our words are one of the most important aspects of our lives to bring about good or evil.
And it is also clear that we must choose which force we will let our words be a part of Life or Death.
The rest of this talk is for those who desire to give life giving words.
Go, stand in the temple and speak all the words of this life. Acts 5:20 (K JS)
There are words that are specifically related to this life.
This life is the life of God being worked out within us, and in the World.
When we speak the words of this life we give opportunities to others to receive life.
I remember perfectly a moment over thirty four years ago when I was pulling out of a driveway at my sweetheart s home.
She spoke a few words that have made me a better driver ever since.
She had watched me pulling out and noticed me looking over my shoulder on both sides of the driveway.
She said, You just looked over your shoulder both ways before you pulled out. You are a good driver. I feel safe driving with you.
Those words made me want to be the best driver I could be for her.
While the things she said were true at that moment, her saying them made me want to make them true forever.
Since that day I have been a better driver. She spoke a life giving word into my heart that remained to build me into a more responsible person.
Life giving words have power.
Life giving words are filled with hope.
Life giving words change people for good.
When I first went to Oral Roberts University I was sure I could not ever finish my course because they required you to take and pass a Phys Ed class every semester.
They also required you to do enough aerobic exercise for 30 aerobic points every week. We had to fill out a form every week telling how many points we got and how we got them.
30 aerobic points was the equivalent of running three miles every other day at eight miles an hour.
I did well to walk a block without fainting when I came to campus.
I was a true nerd with no desire or skill in physical things. I was also an asthmatic. I had spent most of my life indoors reading books.
But God intended for me to be educated as whole man body, soul and spirit so I would have to start moving.
I began to go to the track where we all did our running. Within a few weeks a guy named Charlie had noticed me and made it one of his goals to help me.
He would join me as I LOL ran! It was more like a crawl!
But every time he joined me his words were full of encouragement. He would tell me he believed I was becoming a better runner with every day and under his encouragement I did.
By the end of the year I did in fact run three miles at eight minutes a mile. It was only because of Charlie s encouragement.
He spoke life-giving words to me. Though I don t run to many eight minute miles today I still run almost every day. He also opened up to me the art of mentoring others.
Sometimes in the meanness of spirit that religion can inculcate in people we lose the very beauty of Christ s message.
We can become negative a shrill people who only relate to others in a condemning way. But that is not the way Jesus would have us be.
He tells us all of our communication is to bring grace to the hearers.
Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear.
Ephesians 4:29
Before you think that I am simply saying only say nice things to people Life Giving words are always the place where Grace and Truth meet each other.
Lovingkindness and truth have met together; Righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
Psalm 85:10
Lovingkindness and truth have met together; Righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
Psalm 85:10
If our words are only mercy they end up as shallow flattery and set a snare for those who hear.
A man who flatters his neighbor Is spreading a net for his steps.
Psalm 29:5
On the other hand words that have nothing but truth become legalistic and result in condemnation.
For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.
John 1:17
Life giving words reflect the truth of God and the Grace of God in full measure.
Life giving words never ultimately tear down a person though they often tear them away from wrong behaviour.
They always give grace to others without sacrificing truth.
They are the voice of Jesus through us, drawing out of others what God sees in them.
Drawing out of others what God sees in them.
The whole business of truth telling is a bit tricky.
We often see others through our own eyes and not God s.
I have learned to ask God what He wants me to see in others and speak that into them.
Sometime it is very hard to see the person God sees for all the outward stuff that blocks our vision.
Some have said that I was just lying or deceived when I have spoken words of encouragement to others.
They knew them so well that they could see clearly that my vision of who they were was false.
Unfortunately what they saw of them was their sin.
If all we look at in a person is their sin we will only have satan s view of them. He is the accuser of the saints not God.
Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying,
Revelation 12:10a
"Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come,
Revelation 12:10b
for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night.
Revelation 12:10c
"And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death.
Revelation 12:11
I love the answer Michelangelo gave concerning his sculptures when asked how he could do such amazing work.
Michelangelo said that he didn t sculpt figures into marble: he liberated them out of it. He quarried his own marble in Carrara, seeing the figures in the living rock before driving in the first nail that would split it off the rockface.
http://www.freethought-forum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=11589
This is the power of life giving words. They see the person trapped inside and seek to liberate them.
This must be our goal if we are to give lifegiving words.
To give words of life our hearts must be free from the fear or self advancement that would keep us from speaking the truth.
They must also be free from envy, bitterness, criticism, judgment and other such motives that would keep us from speaking in love.
but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ,
Ephesians 4:15
Our heart s motive must be to see others become who God sees them to be.
To do that we need to spend much prayer asking God who He sees them to be. We need to find the person God is seeking to liberate from the stone tomb of their own flawed view of themselves and from their sin lives.
I understood this when I read the story of Gideon in the Old Testament.
Then the angel of the LORD came and sat under the oak that was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite as his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the wine press in order to save it from the Midianites.
Judges 6:11
The angel of the LORD appeared to him and said to him, "The LORD is with you, O valiant warrior.
Judges 6:12
Then Gideon said to him, "O my lord, if the LORD is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, 'Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt?' But now the LORD has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian. Judges 6:13
The LORD looked at him and said, "Go in this your strength and deliver Israel from the hand of Midian. Have I not sent you?"
Judges 6:14
He said to Him, "O Lord, how shall I deliver Israel? Behold, my family is the least in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father's house.
Judges 6:15
But the LORD said to him, "Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat Midian as one man.
Judges 6:15
If I had been looking at Gideon I would not have seen a mighty man of valour.
I would have seen a cowardly man who held a deep sense anger towards God.
I would have seen a man who was full of fear.
I would have seen a man who was dogged by a message of rejection of him and his family that most likely had followed him all his life.
But the angel spoke what God saw a mighty man of valour.
God saw the mighty man trapped inside and spoke the word of destiny that freed Gideon to become exactly what God saw and believed of him.
We first must let God liberate the man or woman He sees in us just like He did Gideon through His life giving word.
Then we can go about bearing that same word to liberate others.
The last thing I want to share is that a primary aspect of spiritual warfare is defeating death giving words that have lodged in our souls.
The worst thing a Christian can do is to fall into self pity because of the words of death that have been spoken over them by others or themselves.
The proper response to those words is to counter them with what God says about us.
They have no power unless we give them power. To live as if they are true, or in bitterness and self loathing because we have been given them enforces their reality on us.
To take the sword of the Spirit the Word of God and defeat them is the way we overcome them.
This is a crucial aspect of finding our purpose in God.
It is an essential and constant aspect of our warfare in the Spirit.
Life Giving Words ODCF Oct 3 2010 Web
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