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.
Proverbs 18:20-21 NKJV A man’s stomach shall be satisfied from the fruit of his mouth; From the produce of his lips he shall be filled. (21) Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit.
- Your life is filled with what your lips are producing.
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.
- Your tongue determines the direction of your life. (James 3:3-4)
If you don’t like the direction your life is headed, change the direction by changing what you are saying.
- The devil and his team are endeavoring to get you to speak words that they can act on in your life.
- The Holy Spirit and His team are endeavoring to get you to speak words that they can act on in your life.
Matthew 12:33-37 NKJV “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit. (34) Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. (35) A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. (36) But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. (37) For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”
- Jesus said we can determine whether the tree is good and produces good fruit or bad and produces bad fruit. (v. 33)
- Fruit from a tree represents the end results.
Another way to say this based on the Greek is, a tree will produce fruit that is good for you, or it will produce fruit that is bad for you.
He also said that a tree will be known by the results that it produces.
- Jesus established that our words come out of what is in our hearts in abundance. (v. 34)
Matthew 12:34 ERV You snakes! You are so evil. How can you say anything good? What people say with their mouths comes from what fills their hearts.
- Jesus said that if you want to say good things, you must have good or right things stored in your heart. (v. 35)
Those that say things that are not good for them, say them because they have bad or wrong things stored in their hearts.
- Jesus said that on the day of judgment men will have to give account for every idle word they speak. (v. 36)
Matthew 12:36 AMPC But I tell you, on the day of judgment men will have to give account for every idle (inoperative, nonworking) word they speak.
Jesus was not necessarily talking about having to give an account at His Judgment Seat for our idle words.
What is the Day of Judgment Jesus spoke about?
Judgment (GREEK) – krisis – crisis, turn of affairs, judgment.
Matthew 12:37 AMPC For by your words you will be justified and acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned and sentenced.
Justified (GREEK) – dikaioo – bring out of that which a person is or desires.
Condemned (GREEK) – katadikazo – pronounce a sentence against you.
Jesus is saying that in a Day of Crisis, our own words will speak for themselves.
- What we say in a moment of crisis, will determine the outcome and we will be either justified (receive the desired result) or condemned (prolong the sentence)
Matthew 12:35 NKJV A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things.
Treasure (GREEK) – thesaurus – anything laid up in store, or the place where the stores are kept. (We refer to a thesaurus for synonyms or words that that are stored up in one place for reference.)
Psalms 119:11 NKJV Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You.
Hidden (HEBREW) – sapan – to conceal something (like Moses when he was a a baby), to store up, to protect (like the Holy of Holies)
Psalms 119:11 NET In my heart I store up your words, so I might not sin against you.
This tells me that what Jesus has described here can be done on purpose and ahead of time. We can store the right words in our hearts on purpose and before they are needed.
Colossians 3:16 NKJV Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
How we write the Word of God on our hearts:
- Repetition
God originally gave the law in Leviticus but because the people did not get it the first time, He repeats it again in Deuteronomy (“repeated law”). Could also be said, “Let’s go over this again…”
Deuteronomy 11:18-20 NKJV (18) “Therefore you shall lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. (19) You shall teach them to your children, speaking of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. (20) And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates,
- Meditation
Joshua 1:8 NKJV This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.
Psalms 1:1-3 NKJV Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; (2) But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night. (3) He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper.
Psalms 119:15-16 NKJV I will meditate on Your precepts, And contemplate Your ways. (16) I will delight myself in Your statutes; I will not forget Your word.
Psalms 119:97 NKJV Oh, how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day.
1 Timothy 4:15 TPT Make all of this your constant meditation and make it real with your life so everyone can see that you are moving forward.
- Memorization
Every Old Testament student (talmudim – including Jesus), studying to be a Rabbi, early in their training had to memorize the Pentateuch as a requirement.
Proverbs 7:1-3 NIV My son, keep my words and store up my commands within you. (2) Keep my commands and you will live; guard my teachings as the apple of your eye. (3) Bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart.
Psalms 119:16 NKJV I will delight myself in Your statutes; I will not forget Your word.
John 14:26 NKJV But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.