The Power of Spoken Words

Today I read through Proverbs 12 and I thought it was amazing how much it had to say about the spoken word and what comes out of our lips. These are just some of the verses and they are the ones that really stood out to me:

12:13-"An evil man is trapped by his sinful talk, but a righteous man escapes trouble."

When I think of the word trapped, I think of something that is caged and has no way out. It is boxed in and it cannot seem to escape whatever is holding it there. I think that when they say sinful talk with keep you trapped then that is exactly what will happen. You will be trapped in sin as long as sinful things keep coming from your mouth. But the Lord can break us away from that entanglement and when we start living the righteous life, we can evade being trapped by that sinful talk altogether!

12:18 & 19- "Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongues of the wise bring healing. Truthful lips endure forever, but a lying tongue lasts only a moment."

This scripture speaks directly into the power of what we say and how it can affect people. It says "reckless words pierce like a sword..." I don't know about you, but I would never want to be pierced with a sword. But if we are wise our tongue brings healing. This just shows that if we are aware of what we say then we will see just how we can either mentally and emotionally destroy someone, or we could very well see how we can uplift and affirm the people around us. Am I saying that it is bad to poke fun at the people around you, such as your friends? No! Not at all! I mess around with my friends all the time and make fun of them and they joke with me right back. But I'm just saying to be careful how far we take it and to whom we are speaking to.

12:22-" The Lord detests lying lips, but he delights in men who are truthful."

This one pretty much speaks for itself. But I challenge us all, me included, to be honest men and women today and to accept consequences for what happens when we are honest. Many times we are honest though the Lord will bless us. I have seen it many times in my own life and I can assure you that it is a tough challenge at times but it is worth it.

12:25- "An anxious heart weighs a man down, but a kind word cheers him up."

This shows us how the power of words can be used to encourage. All around us, everyday, probably more than we know, there are people who are hurting and they are down because of certain things that are going on in their lives. But how uplifting is a kind word from a person around you. I have been encouraged many times by how people can speak life into me. Many times by someone I would never expect to talk to me. But today the other challenge is to be an encourager, simply say something to someone that looks like they are hurting or maybe just find a stranger and tell them that God is gonna take care of whatever they have going on. You may be surprised at how God can use you, or you may go on your way simply wondering how your words impacted someone. Either way you are speaking life into the soul of another believer.