Devotion: Choose Life Words

There is a phrase that people say when they have finished complaining about something or when they want to complain but choose not to say anything that goes something like, “But why complain, no one listens anyway.”  We have been cleverly trained to speak certain negative catch phrases that actually speak words of doubt, fear, sickness, and even death and many of us have no idea that we are speaking such things into our lives.  We recently learned that “death and life are in the power of the tongue” (Proverbs 18:21), which suggested that the words we say can actually affect our life.  We also learned the words we speak are like seeds that are planted in the ground and from those seeds; we reap a harvest from what we have sown or in this case, spoken.

However, we have a bigger problem; there is someone actually listening for those complaints.  We have an adversary, who “wanders back and forth about the earth walking up and down it (Job 1:7) like a roaring lion, seeking those that he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8).  As we have mentioned many times before, the fact that he is seeking or looking for those that he may devour means that he does not have the right or the permission to devour anyone.  Guess where that permission comes from?  We know that many believe that the permission comes from God (Job 1:8-12), but it is actually the words that we speak that gives him “permission.”  Scripture tells us that we have been trapped by what we say, ensnared by the words of our mouth (Proverbs 6:2 NIV).  It just goes to show that the words you speak are more important than you may have thought.

The Bible tells us “neither give place (opportunity) to the devil” (Ephesians 4:27), but those negative catch phrases that we speak actually give him place or opportunity.  It is the permission that he needs to do what he does best, which is “to kill, to steal, and to destroy” (John 10:10).  We need to be very careful with what we say, careful to choose life words because there is a little more riding on those words than our reputations.

As you read today’s inspirational message, reflect on those negative catch phrases that inadvertently come out of your mouth and remember that there is someone who is just waiting for you to speak them.  We pray that you will be blessed, informed, and all the better for having read both, the commentary and the message.  If this message is a blessing to you, please share it so that others may be blessed as well.  Amen.

Enjoy your blessings. - KW