"Sticks and Stones: The Power of Your Words"

"Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit." Proverbs 18:21


"Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live!" Deuteronomy 30:19


"Look, today I am giving you the choice between a blessing and a curse!  Deuteronomy 11:26


" The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? (Jer 17:9).


 "...For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks" (Mat 12:34)


 "But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies" (Mat 15:18-19)


"And I will give them one new heart, and I will put a new Spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh" (Ezek 11:19)

"Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me!" What a clever childhood phrase, designed to make us look tough in front of a crowd. But it's definitely a false statement. There are many words that have hurt me throughout my life. And many I've said to hurt others. Broken bones heal, but hurtful words can leave a gaping wound forever if left unattended.


As I'm writing on this subject today, I'm going to confess this is definitely a struggle of mine. I'd like to blame my disadvantage on my DNA and the simple fact that I am a female. But, as you can see, there are no references in the Word that direct this problem towards women alone. It's a struggle we all have. We are sarcastic and rude towards our spouse, belittle our boss, carry on with the latest gossip that may or may not be true or be too harsh on ourselves (our image, perfectionism, etc). There are many ways was can "defile" ourselves. All of them start with the tongue. Can you believe it? The smallest muscle in your body can wreak the most havoc in your life.


To understand the reason we should control our tongue, we first must know the power of our words. If you go back in the Word, you'll see an interesting thing about God. He uses His words to create life. While I'm sure, being all powerful, He could've just "thought" the world into existence, He chose to "speak" it into being. He spoke each command and a new part of creation was formed. In the desert, Jesus was tempted by Satan. He won the battle by using His words, more importantly he used the Word (kind of an oxymoron because He IS the Word....hehe...we'll save that for another blog). Apparently, we have some power packed in these gross looking things we call tongues. The power of life or death....and thank God we have a choice.

Now that we understand the WHY of taming our tongue, let's get on the "how to" part. I don't know about you, but I've attempted this feat many times by my lonesome. I do a pretty good job until a rumor floats around I just have to find out about, you know, so I can pray for them. My husband makes me mad and it's important he knows what I think of him at the moment, because I don't want to be bitter. My friend just stabbed me in the back so I need to let my other friends know so they can be careful not to be hurt. You see how easily we can "manipulate" ourselves into letting our tongue loose. We keep it tamed for the most part, but until we have a change of heart, it will be an ongoing battle. Why? "...For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks." If your words are negative, degrading, or deceiving, it's coming from your heart. I don't know about you, but that's a scary thought. You think they are just simple, insignificant words that come up every once and a while, but those things are in my heart! So what are we to do? Fight this battle forever?


I regret to tell you I am still in midst of this battle, as are most people. But, on the encouraging side, the leash on my tongue has become much shorter. The more I'm putting God's words into my heart, the more the bad ones are being pushed out (see "There's a Secret Garden She Hides"). The Word has a way of going down deep in your soul and planting new life, new words and a new heart. The more "seed" you have, the more life you will reap. I want to be able to create life with my words. I want my conversation with the next person to leave them feeling refreshed, not depressed. I want to use my words to inspire, create and heal. 

God's promised to give me the desires of my heart, and if this battle is still raging inside of me, he's just not finished yet! So, my solution: take it a day at time. God tells me to choose THIS day, life or death? If I'm surrendering myself to Him on a daily basis, I'm choosing life, and choosing to trade in my heart of stone...for a heart of flesh.