The Power Of The Tongue

The spoken word can be extremely powerful. When humans speak, it can literally mean life or death.

If I mention a few words of famous speeches, most senior Americans can readily recall the heart of the message. As time regressive examples: “I have a dream,” by Martin Luther King, 1963. Next, “Ask Not What Your Country Can Do For You? John F. Kennedy's Inaugural Address, 1961, How about, “We Shall Fight On The Beaches, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender..,” Winston Churchill, 1940. Very remarkable was, the 1983 Gettysburg Address by Abraham Lincoln, “Four Score and seven years ago..,” And who can forget, at the breaking dawn of our great nation, Patrick Henry's inspirational words of “Give me liberty or give me death”!

But there have never been words spoken more powerful than in the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. As the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters, God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night...”

One of the many essential things we can talk about as believers is the power of our tongues. The impact of our words is never completely retrievable. God made man was made in his image. If you compare men and women to animals, you will see numerous similarities in the ability to exhibit emotions of love, hate, hunger, and fear. But there is a spectacular difference between humankind and animals. We were given the knowledge to form words and communicate them to each other. Not that animals can't speak among their own species and others as well. I'm sure animals verbally express themselves—it's just that I usually can't understand them. Just as I can't understand an Arab speaking. But even from the barked-out warnings of a protective guard dog or from the televised rants of a sword-wielding radical Muslim, a clear threatening message is still transferred by their tongues.

God spoke this world into existence. His spoken words created all things, living and inanimate, here on earth and the vast universes of infinity. God said, and it was so, and it was. Clear and simple.

God empowered us with the ability to speak, to glorify Him. It is one of the God-given attributes that formed us in His image. There have been many mornings when I hear the joyful chirping songs of the birds and I wonder; are they worshiping God more religiously than I do?

We are flesh and blood with a brain and soul that temporarily lives in this earthly body. Humankind was created as speaking entities, much like God Himself. And yes, if our faith was deep enough, we too could speak and mountains would move at our commands. But as you all know, we fall far, far short of what God expected of us.

So with that thought, let’s begin our study of the power of tongues. Proverbs 18:21, KJV, Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit.

With studious effort, we can readily discern important considerations within this single scripture. Our words have some kind of power. Meaning: Our speech can cause life or death. Now how our words can speak death needs little clarification. But how can our words speak life into reality? The best example I can think of is any courageous young girl or woman that says, “No I won't have an abortion. The baby within me has a God-given right to life.”

We can speak joyous lives into existence or speak with callous, vicious anger to the destruction of relationships and, possibly, even real physical deaths. An example of which might be words spoken or unspoken that contributed to the suicide of a loved one.

Now some imbecile may read that and think, “If I speak life to my bank account, it will become a reality.” That mistaken belief could be known as “word of faith theology,” totally misconstruing the life or death meanings of the spoken word within this epistle which speaks to the “cause and effect” with human to human relationships, or human to God situations.

Proverbs 10:19 In the multitude of words sin is not lacking, But he who restrains his lips is wise.

As a simplified explanation: In a busybody's massive plurality of words, there is no lack of sin. We sin if we talk too much. We sin if we bow down to the god of “Political Correctness” and modify our beliefs. Most all sin begins with spoken words. All people bear fruit that is good or bad. Our spoken and unspoken words produce fruit. Good or bad, pleasing or rotten, we are required to “eat” that fruit. The Bible teaches that as a fact.