Never Underestimate the Power of Your Words

 

Proverbs 13:3(NLT)
"Those who control their tongue will have a long life; opening your mouth can ruin everything."

One of the worst arguments I’ve ever had was with my ex-husband while we were still married. He and I had been on non-speaking terms for almost three days. It was sucking the life out of me just to see his face. I was never the kind of person to go a whole day without speaking to my man, but the situation with him emotionally drained me. After several months of being married and living together under one roof, you begin to see the true nature of a person. I was very hurt and disappointed to witness that if my ex-husband felt I had wronged or disrespected him in some way, it wouldn’t bother him one bit to go days without mumbling a word to me.

One day he came home from work, and I couldn’t take the silence anymore. I said, “How much longer will we go not speaking to one another?” With absolutely no emotion or hesitation, he said, “As long as it takes.” I lost it emotionally. I used my mouth as a sword to emasculate him, and oh how I regretted it.

The wrong words can destroy a marriage. They can cause irreparable damage to a relationship. To think before we speak is perhaps the most common and beneficial of all human wisdom, but so many of us fail to heed it. God tells us in Proverbs 3:5-6 to trust in Him with all our hearts, and we should not lean on our own understanding. In all our ways, He commands us to seek Him, and He will then show us the path to take. This is God’s Word and wisdom, and there is no greater or wiser practice in all eternity than to do what He says.

God’s Word doesn’t fail, and He means that we should use it, especially in those times when we are trapped and set up by the enemy for a fall. Heavenly Father warns in 1Peter 5:8-9(NLT), “Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith.” God has informed us that the devil is our great enemy, and he prowls around in our everyday environment, looking for an opening to steal, kill, and destroy. This isn’t something anyone should take lightly.

There are areas in each of our lives where we haven’t fully put on the love of God. We’re still indulging negative habit patterns that we’ve developed over the years from wrong believing. Things like insecurities, jealousy, fear, and the pettiness of looking down on others and taking cheap shots at people. We are arrogant in some ways and will not humble ourselves to do what God says instead of always going to what we’ve always done. Refusing to change our thoughts and behaviors is one of the ways that we create an opening for the devil to wreak havoc on our lives and relationships. The way to prevent this is to do as God commands in 1Peter 5:9 and be strong in our faith in God.

God commands us in Ephesians 4:23 to be renewed in the attitudes, thoughts, and feelings of our minds. To renew is to make brand new. It’s to put off those former ways of behaving and put on the nature of Christ in every situation. This is what God has commanded us to do. He commands us to change the way we think so that His love becomes the motivation behind our actions. God’s Word is perfect and true, and the reason that many people don’t renew their minds and change their actions is because they don’t believe God’s way works. They don’t believe that His way will always yield results that are beneficial for everyone. To have a successful relationship of any kind, this has to change.We must believe and trust that God will always tell us what is right and beneficial for our lives.

I’ve had to learn some things the hard way. Now, I start my day by asking the Holy Spirit to help me control my tongue. In the past, I said things that unintentionally hurt people I cared most about. When I was angry or upset, hurtful words came so easily. Before I could catch myself, I said something that I couldn’t take back. To stop the enemy from continuing to steal the joy and unity from my relationships, I renewed my mind to passages like Ephesians 4:29-32(NLT). It states:
29 Don’t use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them. 30 And do not bring sorrow to God’s Holy Spirit by the way you live. Remember, he has identified you as his own, guaranteeing that you will be saved on the day of redemption. 31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior. 32 Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.”

We must have faith in God. He tells us to get rid of behaviors like bitterness, rage, anger, and harsh words because these can cause a lot of trouble in your life if you don’t let go of them. Our Heavenly Father is our Creator, and we’re to do the things He’s told us to do so that our lives are covered under His goodness, protection, and care. He has informed us that it’s critical that we not give evil behaviors any room in our lives. 

We should never underestimate the power of our words. They can do great good, but they can also do great harm. We should avoid the latter at all cost. We must train ourselves to think before we speak. Romans 5:4-5(NLT) says, “And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.” God’s love is in our hearts through His precious Holy Spirit. The Spirit will help us to change our thoughts and attitudes so that love is our go-to, not anger. We must believe that Christ has made this possible for us, and that we can live through his love and make the choice to show it to others through our actions and words.■

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

“Never Underestimate the Power of Your Words”, written by Kim for https://rescuefromdomesticviolence.blogspot.com© 2022. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.