The Power of Thought and Speech

I’ll bet you try not to use profanity.  I’ll even guess that you try to speak nicely and honestly most of the time. Certainly you have heard the verse “your tongue is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body.” (James. 3:6).  King David warned us to “keep your tongue from evil, and our lips from speaking deceit.” (Ps. 34:13).  But if you start paying attention to the words that come into your head and find their way out of your mouth, you mostly likely slip up, if you are like me.

I am finding negative ideas float into my brain, and often leak out of my mouth. Sometimes these nasty words are blurted out in moments of frustration.  Much of this talk is self-talk.  I verbally judge myself.  I’ll hear my brain saying “Julie, you are so stupid.”  Or , “come on, you dumb-bunny.” [That was one of my mother’s common expressions.]  When I have to encounter someone who is not very pleasant, I’ll hear my inner voice say, “Oh, crumb, not him again.”

Believe it or not, this negative self-talk or whispered complaints about another person, matters. It drains spiritual power away from the speaker.  Jesus, during the Sermon on the Mount, said  “Anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.”  That is a heavy statement.

Why is it so weighted?  Because the words spoken from our mouths (or within the silence of our heads) are“curses”, destructive statements uttered at a creature of God into the kingdom of God.  So when I am saying “you dumb-bunny” to myself, I am cursing myself.  I am putting fuel on the fire of negative thought, and self-slander.  If directed to another person, I am cursing a fellow-human being as well.

Sarah Young reminds us that “the ability to verbalize is an awesome privilege granted only to those created in God’s image.”  So — seriously watch your thoughts and your mouth. Pray “let the words of my mouth and the meditations (thoughts) of my heart be pleasing to God.”