Psalms 141:2-3 NKJV Let my prayer be set before You as incense, The lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice. (3) Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth; Keep watch over the door of my lips.
Psalms 141:2-3 CEV Think of my prayer as sweet-smelling incense, and think of my lifted hands as an evening sacrifice. (3) Help me to guard my words whenever I say something.
Psalms 141:2-3 ERV Accept my prayer like a gift of burning incense, the words I lift up like an evening sacrifice. (3) LORD, help me control what I say. Don’t let me say anything bad.
Proverbs 18:20 NKJV A man’s stomach shall be satisfied from the fruit of his mouth; From the produce of his lips he shall be filled.
- Your life is filled with what your lips are producing.
Do you want your life to be full of what you need? Then check up on your words first.
The enemy’s strategy is to get you to speak words that he brought to you so that what he wants will come to pass in your life.
Proverbs 18:21 NKJV Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit.
How would we act if every word that we speak instantly came to pass?
Proverbs 18:21 ERV The tongue can speak words that bring life or death. Those who love to talk must be ready to accept what it brings.
James 3:1-10 TPT My dear brothers and sisters, don’t be so eager to become a teacher in the church since you know that we who teach are held to a higher standard of judgment. (2) We all fail in many areas, but especially with our words. Yet if we’re able to bridle the words we say we are powerful enough to control ourselves in every way, and that means our character is mature and fully developed. (3) Horses have bits and bridles in their mouths so that we can control and guide their large body. (4) And the same with mighty ships, though they are massive and driven by fierce winds, yet they are steered by a tiny rudder at the direction of the person at the helm. (5) And so the tongue is a small part of the body yet it carries great power! Just think of how a small flame can set a huge forest ablaze. (6) And the tongue is a fire! It can be compared to the sum total of wickedness and is the most dangerous part of our human body. It corrupts the entire body and is a hellish flame! It releases a fire that can burn throughout the course of human existence. (7) For every wild animal on earth including birds, creeping reptiles, and creatures of the sea and land have all been overpowered and tamed by humans, (8) but the tongue is not able to be tamed. It’s a fickle, unrestrained evil that spews out words full of toxic poison! (9) We use our tongue to praise God our Father and then turn around and curse a person who was made in his very image! (10) Out of the same mouth we pour out words of praise one minute and curses the next. My brothers and sister, this should never be!
- Your tongue affects your entire life.
James 3:2 TPT We all fail in many areas, but especially with our words. Yet if we’re able to bridle the words we say we are powerful enough to control ourselves in every way, and that means our character is mature and fully developed.
- Your tongue determines the direction of your life.
James 3:3-4 TPT Horses have bits and bridles in their mouths so that we can control and guide their large body. (4) And the same with mighty ships, though they are massive and driven by fierce winds, yet they are steered by a tiny rudder at the direction of the person at the helm.
- Your tongue can inject poison into your life and the lives of other people.
James 3:7-8 TPT For every wild animal on earth including birds, creeping reptiles, and creatures of the sea and land have all been overpowered and tamed by humans, (8) but the tongue is not able to be tamed. It’s a fickle, unrestrained evil that spews out words full of toxic poison!
- You have a choice in what your tongue says.
James 3:10 MSG Curses and blessings out of the same mouth! My friends, this can’t go on.
- You can change the direction of your life by changing your words.
- Your words are shaped by what you deposit in your heart.
Matthew 12:34-35 AMP You offspring of vipers! How can you speak good things when you are evil (wicked)? For out of the fullness (the overflow, the superabundance) of the heart the mouth speaks. (35) The good man from his inner good treasure flings forth good things, and the evil man out of his inner evil storehouse flings forth evil things.
- Jesus was very disciplined and intentional in how He used His words.
Luke 4:38-39 NKJV Now He arose from the synagogue and entered Simon’s house. But Simon’s wife’s mother was sick with a high fever, and they made request of Him concerning her. (39) So He stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. And immediately she arose and served them.
Hebrews 11:3 AMPC By faith we understand that the worlds [during the successive ages] were framed (fashioned, put in order, and equipped for their intended purpose) by the word of God, so that what we see was not made out of things which are visible.
- If created things were formed by God’s spoken Word, then they can be changed by God’s spoken Word.
If it came into existence by spoken word, it can be altered by spoken word.
- We are not called to be reporters; we are called to be forecasters.
Romans 4:17 AMPC As it is written, I have made you the father of many nations. [He was appointed our father] in the sight of God in Whom he believed, Who gives life to the dead and speaks of the nonexistent things that [He has foretold and promised] as if they [already] existed. [Gen 17:5]