Death and Life

Series: The Power of Words

Leslie Basham: You can embark on a running regimen, lift weights and eat right, yet still neglect the most powerful part of your body.

Nancy Leigh DeMoss: I think this little member--the tongue--may be the most powerful, potent member of our bodies. In fact, the Scripture says that if we can control the tongue, we can control everything else about our body.

Leslie Basham: This is Revive Our Hearts with Nancy Leigh DeMoss. It's Monday August 11.

Have you ever said something and immediately regretted it? Maybe it's even happened today. The Book of Proverbs gives us a lot of wise counsel about our words. And today, Nancy will begin a new series looking at what it says.

Nancy Leigh DeMoss: We remember reading a news report a few years ago about a wildfire in the Black Hills National Forest of South Dakota. It took more than a thousand fire fighters over two weeks to battle this fire.

In the meantime over 80,000 acres of valuable timber were destroyed, and the damage was estimated to be in excess of $40 million. How did that fire start?

Well, a 46-year-old woman named Janice Stevenson admitted that she stopped by a road in that forest on August the 24, lit a cigarette and then tossed the still burning match on the ground.

Rather than putting out the fire; she saw that the brush was actually on fire, but she got back into her car and continued on to her destination, leaving the fire to rage out of control.

As I read that account I was reminded of James 3:6 which tells us that the tongue is a fire. And it can be a wildfire that is caused by that little member of our body called the tongue.

James goes on to say: See how great a forest a little fire kindles. And as I've been praying and studying, seeking the Lord on this subject of the tongue, I tell you my heart is kind of trembling.

This is one of those subjects that I am reluctant to speak about because I feel so highly accountable for what God's been showing me and so desirous that the words that I speak would be pure words and words that would be pleasing to Him.

But I also shudder to think of how many times my words--words that have come out of this mouth--have been like that woman's match, where I've thrown out the word without thinking.

And I had no concept of the wildfire that was going to be started as a result. And then I just walked off having created enormous damage.

I think this little member--the tongue--may be the most powerful, potent member of our body. In fact the Scripture says that if we can control the tongue we can control everything else about our body.

I have spent quite a bit of time recently in the Book of Proverbs reading everything I can find in that book about the tongue, the mouth, the lips and our speech. I found over 110 references to the tongue in the Book of Proverbs.

And that doesn't include verses that don't specifically mention the tongue that are about things like quarreling and anger and gossip and things that have a direct relationship to the tongue.

And I want to encourage you to get out your Bible, if you can, to jot down as many of these references as possible so that you can go back and do your own study. Begin as you are reading through the Scripture to write down every verse that you can find in that book of wisdom that has to do with our tongues, for better and for worse.

Today we want to focus just on this general matter of the power and the impact of our words, the power and the impact of the words that come out of our mouths.

In fact, the Scripture says that our words have power to kill and to give life. That's pretty incredible power--the words that we speak--and it doesn't have to be many of them. And sometimes ones that we weren't even thinking about, maybe there was no intent to harm, but those words actually can take life.

They can destroy life, and conversely those words can give life. Proverbs 18:21 is a verse that I hope you will memorize and write it down at least the first portion of it. Put it in your car; put it next to your telephone. That's a place where we need to be reminded of this verse.

Put it on your bathroom mirror so as you're getting ready in the morning, you can be thinking about it. Put it on your nightstand so that when you go to bed at night, you can be thinking about the words that you spoke that day.

Proverbs 18:21 says: "Death and life are in the power of the tongue and those who love it [that is those who love the tongue, those who love to talk] will eat its fruit."

Now what is that saying? The writer is saying that our words can do enormous good, and they can do enormous damage or evil. Our words can be life-giving or life-destroying.

He's saying here that the words we speak, even the thoughtless and careless words that we just throw off when we're in a conversation when we're not thinking, which is part of my problem so many times. I am talking without thinking. But those words have consequences. And when we speak the words, we're going to have to live with the consequences.

When Janice Stevenson threw that match carelessly into the dry brush of that National Forest she didn't intend to start a forest fire. She didn't intend for that fire to rage out of control. She wasn't thinking. She was being careless.

And yet she had to live with the consequences. She was found guilty, ended up, as I understand, to be sentenced to something like ten years in prison. When she threw that match out she wasn't thinking about the fact that her careless decision had consequences.

And we so often don't think about the fact that the words that we just throw out have consequences. And when we throw out words that are not life-giving, words that are destructive we're going to have to live with the harvest and the consequences that result.

Those who love the tongue, those who love to talk will reap the consequences, will eat the fruit of the choices they have made and the words that they have spoken.

Proverbs 10:11 tells us that the mouth of the righteous is a well of life or as some translations put it, "is a fountain of life." You see the words we speak can be life-giving.

They can spring up and give life to others. They can be like a spring to a weary traveler in the desert to someone who is thirsty. And we know from Psalm 36 [:9] that with God is the fountain of life.

If we want to speak words that minister life to others, we need to be filled with the Spirit of God so that He is the one motivating and enabling us to speak words that give life.

Our words have power to wound or to heal, to wound or to heal (Proverbs 12:18). "There is one who speaks like the piercings of a sword"¦" There are some very graphic word pictures that Proverbs uses and this is one of them.

There are some who speak like the piercings of the sword, sharp, cutting, reckless, piercing hurtful words. But he says, "The tongue of the wise promotes health."

You see, those piecing words, those words that are like swords, they are words that are not thought through, the things we just blurt out, perhaps under the pressure of the moment. And we may not intend to hurt but with those carelessly thrown-out words, we can inflict great damage.

On the other hand, that verse says that if we are wise the words we speak will promote health.

Our words can administer grace and help and health. And I'm so grateful for those people who, when I'm discouraged, know how to lift up my heart with an encouraging word.

In fact, Proverbs 12:25 tells us that good words can actually help cure depression. "Anxiety in the heart of man causes depression, but a good word makes it glad."

And you've known what it is, as have I, to be at a time when you're just really low and someone calls or someone in your family just speaks a word of grace, a word of encouragement.

"I know this is a hard time but I have been praying for you. And I know you're going to make it." Those words bring health and wholeness to our spirit. They can lift our spirits. Words of kindness, truth and blessing can be healing.

Proverbs 15:4 says, "A wholesome tongue (a healing tongue) is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit." So there are some words that can crush or wound our spirits, can destroy morale.

As I'm speaking, perhaps you're thinking of words that have been spoken to you, maybe words that were spoken when you were a little girl; but you've never forgotten those words.

Now it's easy enough to think about what words may have inflicted damage on us when we were little. But you know we can't do anything about those. We can't help the words that were spoken to us.

What we need to focus on is, when have I spoken words to someone else, to a child, to a friend, to a parent. Isn't that the place where we blow it--with the people we know the best--the people we live with?

Proverbs 16:24 tells us, "Pleasant (or delightful) words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the bones." And notice the interrelationship here between body and soul, between our physical condition and our internal spiritual condition. You can't really separate the two.

And that's why he says that words, sweet words can minister physical and spiritual blessing and health to others. Death and life are in the power of the tongue!

Think about the words that you have spoken in your home in the last 24 hours and ask the Lord to show you if your words have been bringing health or have they been wounding. Have your words been bringing life or have they been destructive?

And as you meditate on this passage, we're going to go through the Proverbs over these next couple of weeks and just pull out and bring into the light and examine many of the things that the Proverbs have to tell us about the tongue.

But I want us to keep coming back to that verse --Proverbs 18:21: "Death and life are in the power of the tongue."

Leslie Basham: Nancy Leigh DeMoss has been encouraging us to let our words be a source of life around us. She'll be right back to pray.

This week, as we are studying the power of the tongue, I hope you begin to use your words to encourage others more and more.

If you see a difference in the way you start relating to those around you, would you write and let us know? Hearing from you would be encouragement to us. You can bless us with your words.

When you write, would you consider supporting Revive Our Hearts with a financial gift or tell us that you'll be praying for the ministry? We need the prayers and financial gifts of our listeners in order to speak truth into the lives of women who desperately need to hear it.

You can send your gift to Revive Our Hearts or contact us via e-mail by visiting our Web site www.ReviveOurHearts.com. While you're there, you can find out how to get a copy of this week's series on cassette or CD. Again, go to ReviveOurHearts.com or call 1-800-569-5959. 

Tomorrow, we will find out how words can destroy others and how we can even destroy ourselves with what we say. Now here's Nancy to lead us in prayer.

Nancy Leigh DeMoss: Lord, would you open our eyes to ways that our words have been hurtful and damaging and teach us from Your Word how to speak words that heal, words that administer life and grace and blessing and encouragement and hope. For Jesus' sake we pray it. Amen.

Revive Our Hearts with Nancy Leigh DeMoss is a ministry partnership of Life Action Ministries.

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