The last few days I have been thinking often about the power of our words. Not only how our own words affect us, but also how the words of others can impact our lives. I posted on Facebook a few days ago a status of "don't plant seeds you aren't ready to harvest." It should not have been a surprise when yesterday my pastor preached on the power of the tongue and also stated how a seed is anything that has potential. We often hear the word "seed" used in church and equate it with being financial seed. However, our words are also seeds.
Every time we speak, we are releasing seeds into the atmosphere. Our hearts and minds are the soil in which these seeds can plant. We can also receive the words of others into our lives as well. This is why it is so imperative we guard our conversations. Many things said in a joking or playful manner can take root and being to sprout into real thoughts. This is why if you are married you should never even mention the word divorce. The thought can begin to take root and spread. Another example is in being careful where we place our hearts and trust as single women. Conversations can lead in various directions. We are to guard our tongue against lustful speech as this can lead us to falling into temptation if the opportunity presents itself. We must also guard ourselves against conversations with men regarding marriage and a future if both parties involved are not actually at a place where they are willing to pursue those futures. This is what I mean by planting seeds we are not ready to harvest.
We can say things without realizing the full impact our words can have on others. For those of you with children, thing of times you have told your children you would do something, but then had to change your plans. Have you seen the disappointment on their faces? The same thing can happen to us as adults, but we usually hide our reactions better than children.
We can change the whole direction of our lives by learning to guard the words we speak. This is not a new revelation, but something God has been showing us for thousands of years!
"My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment. For we all stumble in many things. If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body. Indeed, we put bits in horses’ mouths that they may obey us, and we turn their whole body. Look also at ships: although they are so large and are driven by fierce winds, they are turned by a very small rudder wherever the pilot desires. Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things.
See how great a forest a little fire kindles! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell. For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and creature of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by mankind. But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so. Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening? Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Thus no spring yields both salt water and fresh." James 3:1-12
We cannot expect great things in our life if all we speak is negative. If we enter into relationships speaking of the other person hurting us or leaving us just like all the rest, then we are speaking death into a situation before it even begins. In our jobs we can speak death or life over a promotion or raise. Remember, fresh and bitter water cannot come from the same opening. Are your words those of sweetness or words of bitterness? What are you releasing into your life and the lives of those around you through your words?
Choose wisely your words today because they become the reality of your tomorrow.
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