Quit Getting Hung By Your Tongue
By Jennifer Mears
TEXT: Proverbs 18:21
NKJV reads,
“Death and life are in the power of the tongue,
And those who love it will eat its fruit.”
Amplified Bible reads like this,
“Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and they who indulge in it shall eat the fruit of it [for death or life].”
The Message Bible reads this way,
“words kill, words give life;
they’re either poison or good fruit—you choose.”
Introduction Illustration:
How many of you have ever had Hand, Foot in Mouth Disease?
My daughter Kristen had it last year. It was all over her school…it seemed like all the teachers and students caught it. When I was a the doctor’s office with my daughter, I began teasing the nurse and I told her that sometimes I have an acute (sudden onset) case of Foot – In – Mouth Disease… every once in a while, with very little warning ---I would open my mouth and my foot would suddenly end up in it!
Ever heard of a parent wanting to hang their children up by their ears?
Well, have you ever been hung by the tongue?
Have you ever opened your mouth and said something that you knew was going to get you in trouble, or going to come back and haunt you?
NEVER MIND, JUST KIDDING! Oh, can’t we just move on…
can I take that back?
Oooooooh, TOO LATE! Open mouth, insert foot…
do not pass go and do not collect $200.00!
Husbands (and wives) are bad about thinking “I can’t say that” and then ----they say it anyway…
We’ll get into an argument with our spouse, and this thought pops into our heads, we know if we say it, it’s going to get us in trouble.
We tell our selves, I’m not going to say that OR I’m not going to go there, BUT wouldn’t you know it, the moment you open your mouth, out pops those words that you knew you wasn’t going to say, and you’re in the dog- house.
ILLUSTRATION:
One lady was just a gossiping about someone in a local church to their pastor, and he stopped and asked her a question and she told him, “I’ve already told you more than I know.” (ouch) Does this sound familiar? Ever been a topic of one of those discussions?
I want to share with you this evening about how there is power in our words!
Our Words can bless, encourage, strengthen someone, and can bring the power of God on the scene. But words can also hurt, destroy, kill someone’s reputation, curse and damage people.
Touch someone and tell them “There’s power in what you say...so you better becareful what comes out of that thing...! HEY! We gotta watch out and be careful of what we say. Our mouth can be one of the most dangerous weapons that we have...or we can speak and bring life and resurrection to something that seemed to have died or was wasting away...Let Jesus come ALIVE in your heart and begin to resurrect all of your hopes and dreams that have perished within you.
There are many times we have brought things on our self because of what we’ve said.
Every time you open your mouth and confess that the enemy has really got you down, you’ve given him information that he wouldn’t have known unless you told him…and that gives him power…
What you say really does have a lot to do with what happens in your life.
Our scripture text in Proverbs 18:21 tells us that death and life are in the power of the tongue.
As I was praying today The Holy Spirit began to speak to my heart and said that some of you are about to fall into a trap set by Satan. It’s difficult when people come against us. I know of a couple of situations going on right now where the enemy is attacking people by using their work place and people in the church…
Here’s what the Lord was showing me that we need to be careful of…
1.Be careful when you speak judgment on somebody…
Luke 6:37-38 “Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven: 38 Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.”
Matthew 7:1-2 “Judge not, that ye be not judged. 2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.”
When we get critical, and judgmental, we bring that same level of judgment back on ourselves. So if you criticize someone for not doing something and you turn around and you’re not doing what you’re complaining about either, that same judgment is coming back on you.
2.Consider the people who abuse us or take advantage of us.
What we say in response to that will determine what results you get in your life.
This is a critical area because we can fall into offence = that it can turn into a trap of Satan.
So what do we do when we’re being misused?
First, be careful of what your “little mouth” has to say!
No matter what someone does to you it does not excuse you to operate outside of the scriptures in your reaction to the situation. Remember, bring every thought into obedience of Christ.
1 Peter 3:9 says, “Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing.
This goes back to Luke 6:38 – We’re not to render evil for evil, railing for railing. We’re not to escalate the fight, but when someone’s attacking us, we’re to bless them.
That’s God’s way of answering an attack.
Matthew 5:44-45 “But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; 45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven
Our relationship with God has to do with the way we treat those around us.
There’s life or death in your tongue, blessing or cursing.
There’s power in the tongue.
There’s a connection between what you say and what happens to you.
That’s why we need to be careful in what we say!
The next thing I want you to see about being hung by the tongue what goes in is what comes out...OUCH!
Matthew 12:34 “O generation of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.”
Luke 6:45 “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.”
We need to be careful of what we feed our spirit man.
There’s a term in computer programming that says, garbage in, garbage out.
What does the Word say we should be feeding our mind?
Philippians 4:8 “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”
Nowhere does it say that we’re to have stinking thinking.
If you’re constantly filling your mind with junk, that’s all you’re going to have to drawl from when you get in trouble.
I’ve found that some Christians are the most negative people on the face of the earth.
Don’t do this, or don’t do that.
It won’t work because we’ve tried it before and it didn’t work then.
Every time you speak a negative word, you’re bringing death to your situation.
Whenever you find yourself speaking those destructive things in your life, turn to THE Word and bring those thoughts under subjection to Jesus Christ and His Word.
Speak “A” Word OR “THE WORD”?
Choose to believe “A” Word OR “THE WORD”?
---choose to listen and believe the voice of truth
Next we get hung by the tongue when we confess the problem more than the solution.
Listen to me, here’s what normally happens when we get hurt, or we’ve gotten bad news, or something bad has happened to us; we begin to rehearse the hurt…
We will go over and over it in our mind, and every time we do it gets bigger and bigger.
What would have been just a tiny blip on the screen in your life if you had turned it over to God?
-because you’re rehearsing it helps turn it into a major event.
We call up a friend and tell them all about it.
We’ll keep calling people until we find one that will agree with us that it’s bad…and will crawl up in the pity party bed we are lying in ----NO we don’t need that! We need to start justasking for prayer or praying with each other about the situation for wisdom and for God to intervene…asking for God’s Will…don’t get in the mess with ’em...but help pull them out...get down there and lift them up! Hallelujah!
and QUIT talking about it so much! When we talk about our problems, it gives them power---but when we talk about GOD and HIS POWER over the problem...it gives Him the room to move upon our behalf!
The more we keep speaking about the problem, the stronger it’s building in our minds and turning into a stronghold.
2 Corinthians 10 describes what makes up a stronghold.
A strong hold is just what it says...
something that is strong that has a hold on you...BUT GOD!!!!
Start giving God praise and room to move upon your behalf and turn your mind over to Him!
REmember, the more you turn it over in your mind, the bigger the situation seems to get.
Then what happens, we get so discouraged, so down, our joy gets zapped, our faith is leaking out everywhere.
Because we’re not feeding our spirits the right thing.
Here’s what we need to be doing,
1.Speak and Confess the solution, not the Problem…
Christians ought to be the most positive people on the face of the earth.
Here’s why…
1.no matter what happens in our life, as long as we’re living for God, He will make all things work together for the good of them that love the Lord and are called according to His purpose.
No, you won’t like everything that happens to you.
Yes, you’re not going to understand why some things happen,
BUT ---- we need to come to the realization that God is Sovereign, you can’t run anywhere He’s not, and He’s very much aware of you’re situation.
2.Another reason we should positive, “Nothing is impossible to them that believe.”
3.God will not withhold any good thing from us.
Psalm 84:11 “For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.”
1. The Lord is my light and protector
2. He will give me grace and glory (we can not have grace until we’ve had mercy)
Grace=unearned favors received from God
Mercy=a term used to describe the leniency or compassion shown by one person to another (SALVATION)
No good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly or in righteousness.
If the answer’s not coming, there’s one of three things happening…
1. You’re not walking uprightly before God, there’s un-confessed sin in your life. Sometimes when you’ve been praying, you need to ask the Lord is there anything in your life that is a hindrance, or sin that you need to confess to Him.
2. If everything is clear in your life, (by God’s standards), then there could be some resistance by the enemy to keep the answer from coming. Daniel faced that when he prayed for 21 days. God told him He heard the prayer the first time put the prince of Persia was resisting the answer from coming.
3. Another possible situation is it’s not a good thing for you to have what you’re asking for now. It doesn’t mean you’re not going to get it, but it means God has something else He wants to accomplish in your life that is better for you.
So what do we do?
Confess the solution instead of the problem until you hear from God.
I’m not talking about the power of positive thinking, I’m talking about releasing the power of the Word of God for your situation.
Find scriptures that relate to God’s taking care of your situation.
Start to proclaim those out loud.
Listen to this…Daniel 10:12 says,
“Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words.”
• God’s letting Daniel know that His words were heard, and that God sent an angel to carry those words that Daniel spoke.
God hears your words, and if you’re speaking the Word that God spoke, you’re releasing the Power of the Spoken Word of God.
GOD Says in Isaiah 55:11 “So shall my word be that goes forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.”
So what is the Bible?
It is God’s Words that went forth out of His mouth. So when you speak it, you release it and it shall prosper in the thing that God sent it.
Finally, we need to get to the place where we quit asking why and start saying “yes”!
It’s okay to ask God why, but God doesn’t want you to live there.
Sometimes we use the word “why” to run from God.
Listen, “why” is questioning God’s authority
AND, saying “yes” is accepting God’s authority in your life.
So we can either speak life or death to our situations, that part is up to you. You control what you think, or say. So let’s release the Power of God into our situations…and walk in victory!
