Introduction

It is rare to hear a Christian speak positively when facing challenges in life. Christians don’t even speak positively for each other when trouble comes. For one thing, Christians tend to be unspiritual, so things like the promises of God, a profession of faith in God’s help, and the like will rarely be heard coming from a Christian’s speech during trials in life. Instead, you will hear very little, the doctor’s report, the accountant’s report, or some farfetched pessimistic outcome fabricated from the fears within a Christian’s heart.

I hope to show in this lesson that we have some control over the outcome of the challenges of our lives. We are not hopelessly and helplessly adrift on the whims of life. We have a say in what happens to us in our lives.

Our Words and Heart

Proverbs 18:21 (NKJV) — [21] Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit.

What do you talk about to yourself and others? The passage above tells us that death and life are in our words, and those who speak a lot will reap the fruits of their words. From this passage alone, we understand that we should carefully choose what we say. However, that is not so simple. It isn’t merely saying certain words, but rather where those words come from. Consider the following passage of Scripture.

Matthew 12:34–35 (NKJV) — [34] Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. [35] A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things.

The point here is that the words we speak are a product of the condition of the heart. That doesn’t mean that everything that we say comes from the heart. Some things we say come from mere tradition or mental ascent. In other words, we are repeating what we are told or what we would like to believe. However, for the most part, what we say comes from the heart. Let a person talk enough, and you will uncover the actual condition of their heart.

The words that we speak make a difference in our lives, so we should control what we say. Consider the following.

• Proverbs 10:19–21 (NKJV) — [19] In the multitude of words sin is not lacking, But he who restrains his lips is wise. [20] The tongue of the righteous is choice silver; The heart of the wicked is worth little. [21] The lips of the righteous feed many, But fools die for lack of wisdom.
• Ephesians 4:29 (NKJV) — [29] Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.
• James 3:6–9 (NKJV) — [6] 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. [7] For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and creature of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by mankind. [8] But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. [9] With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God.

We see that the words we speak are not meaningless but instead have a significant part in the circumstances we find ourselves in, the outcome of challenges, and the condition of our lives as a whole. The words that we speak indicate a righteous or unrighteous heart. It is also an indication of one who has faith in God.

Take note that there is a difference between the righteous and the unrighteous words and heart. The unrighteous talk a lot, whereas the righteous do not. The unrighteous are identified as fools (those who lack wisdom), but the righteous as wise. Therefore, the words of the wise and the fool’s words will lead to different outcomes. The words of the wise will feed many, but fools die.

This last point is one that I have been sensitive to for the last several years. It is incredible to me that those who call themselves Christians do not speak faith-filled words. There are only a few Christians that you can tell have the word of God in their hearts because that is what comes out when they talk.

I am reminded of one of my childhood mentors, the late Reverend Mattie Waters. When you talked to her, you could tell her heart was filled with the word of God. However, from my experience, it is rare to find someone like that. Most Christians speak doom and defeat. They do not speak from a heart filled with God’s word

Our Words and Faith

Matthew 21:21–22 (NKJV) — [21] So Jesus answered and said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ it will be done. [22] And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.”

There is a correlation between our hearts, words, and beliefs. Jesus said that if we say to the mountain (seemingly impossible situation) to move and we don’t doubt in our hearts but believe what we say will happen, then it will happen. This means that several things go together with the words that we speak.

1. We must say what we want or what we want to happen
2. We must believe the things that we say
3. The words we speak come from the heart
4. The heart must not have doubt (uncertainty, caught between two outcomes)

What this means is that if you really have faith in God in your heart, then your words will reveal that and be a direct result of that. If there is doubt in your heart, then that will show itself too. Our task is to remove the doubt by being certain of the word of God that we feed our hearts with regularly.

Matthew 4:4 (NKJV) — [4] But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ “

You cannot have faith in God if you do not have the word of God dominating in your heart. You do not have faith in God if your words confess another option. For example, a person who declares that they have faith in God and the only things you hear them say is what the doctor told them, the medications they have to take, how they will have the condition their whole life, etc., then that person does not have faith as indicated by their words.

This means that it is vital, as Jesus said in the passage above, that we feed on the word of God and get that word in our hearts. It is possible to read the Bible but never get that word into our hearts. How is that possible? Reading the Bible can be an academic endeavor, and we never intend for it to enter our hearts. In other words, we read the Bible because we are supposed to or it is merely a tradition. However, we should read the Bible with the intent for the word of God to enter our hearts and guide our lives. How do we do that?

Our Words and Our Meditations

Ministers would say that we should have faith in God, and I would ask, “what does that look like?” How can I develop faith in God? The answer is to meditate on His word. Think about it for a moment. What do we do when we face challenges in life? One of the things we do is worry, which means we play a video in our minds of the bad outcome of the situation. We play that same video over repeatedly in our minds to the point we absolutely know that it will come true. We have successfully planted the negative outcome into our hearts by meditating on it.

Likewise, we can do the same thing, but for a positive outcome. We can meditate on the word of God and the corresponding result of the situation we are facing because of that word. Instead of doom and gloom, the promises of God that we see in His word will bring life and prosperity. If we meditate on that, we will paint an entirely different picture and believe what God says instead of what our worrying produces.

• Psalm 1:1–3 (NKJV) — [1] Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; [2] But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night. [3] He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper.
• Psalm 119:97–99 (NKJV) — [97] Oh, how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day. [98] You, through Your commandments, make me wiser than my enemies; For they are ever with me. [99] I have more understanding than all my teachers, For Your testimonies are my meditation.

 The Bible instructs us, even admonishes us, to meditate on the word of God. What does meditation in this context mean? It means to contemplate and rehearse God’s word in your mind. The thing is, you already do this. We easily meditate on the bad things. We picture how bad things will be, how we will lose this or that, etc. Instead of rolling those things over in your mind, roll over the word of God and the resulting outcome in your particular situation. Don’t just meditate on the Scripture, but on what they reveal to us.

Instead of worrying about a situation, take control and allow the word of God to guide you and paint a much better picture for you. Things may not go as you planned or hoped, but you know that the promises of God will prevail no matter what.

Our Words and Our Lives

Now let’s apply what we’ve learned in this lesson. 

1. Feed on the Word of God
2. Meditate on the Word of God
3. Believe God
4. Speak from the Word of God

Our words must be consistent with the word of God when we face challenges in our lives. Even when good things happen, we need to speak the word of God because we need God’s instruction in good times and bad times.

Don’t worry and cause your mind to take you to a bad place and subsequently corrupt your heart. Instead, stay focused on the word of God, and meditate on it, so that it becomes real. However, don’t just meditate on Bible scriptures because meditation can quickly turn into an academic endeavor. Instead, recite the passage of Scripture and meditate on the outcome that it causes in your life.

Rehearse Bible Scriptures and the outcome in your life that they reveal. You can be sure that it brings life, not death (See John 6:63). Paint a better picture in your mind and heart by the word of God instead of worrying about things. 

Fight With Your words

Ephesians 6:17 (NKJV) — [17] And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;

Paul says that the word of God is the sword of the Spirit. It is the offensive weapon that we can use when fighting the devil (even though, through Christ, we already have one). Cecil Paxton of Cecil Paxton Ministries (https://clpmi.org) told me that we have to speak the word of God from a position of victory, not the flesh. We tend to speak the word based on the problem instead of based on the desired outcome revealed to us by the word of God.

This means that when we are standing on God’s promises to effect change in our situations and lives, we can fight the opposition from the devil. We rise in our Spirit from a position of victory in Christ and come against that opposition with our faith-filled words. It’s not just a positive confession but a declaration that comes from the word of God. We speak that from our heart, and it will effect change.

We will constantly battle when we are progressing in our lives. Satan comes to kill, destroy, steal, and lie. We must stand against that with our words as we stand on the word of God from a position of victory (we already have it).

Conclusion

The words that you speak are based on the condition of your heart and what you believe has a significant impact on your life. Even in business, it is taught that you have to control your words. Even the secular world knows this. However, Christians seem to be devoid of this knowledge based on what they say. They tend to speak doom and gloom instead of the provisions promised to us from God’s word.

Fill your hearts and minds with the word of God and begin to speak from the Word of God. Don’t speak from worry and unbelief any longer. Even when things go very bad, still stay with the word of God. There are many things that we may not understand and many things that we still need to grow in, but always be consistent when it comes to feeding on the word of God and rehearsing that word and its outcome in our lives.

Say what you want your life to be. Pursue your dreams. Speak your outcomes into existence by speaking the word of God and its effect on your life.