by Keith Gifford

When it comes to watching what we say, let’s face it, we could all use a little mind renewal. I don’t believe we’ve fully grasped how powerful our words are.  I couldn’t count the times I’ve heard ” if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all..” Turns out that’s very wise counsel, very Scriptural as well. My mom had a good one whenever we’d say something she didn’t like she’d say, “BITE YOUR TONGUE!”

I’m not sure that’s really wise counsel, but we got the idea. Especially when she’d say it with her fists on her hips and a snake-eyed squint with her lips real tight. In poker we call that a tell. Well it wasn’t poker but we could still tell it was time to straighten up and fly right. We heard that one a lot too. 
 
The Scriptures tell us, “with the fruit of a person’s mouth, his stomach will be satisfied, he will be satisfied with the product of his lips. Death and life are in the power of the tongue and those who love it will eat its fruit”. Proverbs 18:20-21. So you might say that our words are seeds, and they will produce fruit. Psalm 141:3 says “set a guard Lord over my mouth. Keep watch over the door of my lips”. Now there’s a good prayer to pray every morning, maybe even off and on all day. How about this one, James, chapter 3:2 says, “for we all stumble in many ways. If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man able to rein in the whole body as well”. That word perfect doesn’t mean flawless. It means complete or mature. I believe God expects us to grow and mature as His children. The only way we can do that is to keep letting the word of God renew our minds and our hearts. The more we do this, the more we will know God’s heart. Hebrews 13:15, “through Him then, let’s continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is the fruit of lips praising His name”. There it is again, the fruit of our lips. I like that. I like knowing I can speak life into a situation by speaking God’s words. We can do this. We can speak life into our families, into our marriages, into our friends and loved ones. His kingdom come, His will be done, on Earth that as it is in heaven. Amen.