The power of the tongue by Kathleen Berg Spencer

 The Power of the Tongue

By Kathleen Berg Spencer

Have you ever been having a really good day, and suddenly someone said something that hurt your heart?

Or have you ever been struggling with life issues and barely able to keep your head above water, and someone suddenly spews out negativity and anger, and judgmental words? Or maybe you're the one who has been guilty of doing it to others.

I think we've all had it done to us or done it to others at some point in our lives. When it is done to us, it can ruin our whole day, and sometimes it even causes a physical sickening pain inside of us. As people who claim to be followers of Christ and are supposed to represent who He is at all times, I want to look at what scripture has to say on the subject. Proverbs 18:21 says, “The tongue has the power of life and death”

and James 3:6 says, “And the tongue is a fire, the very world of unrighteousness; the tongue is set among our body’s parts as that which defiles the whole body and sets on fire the course of our lives and is set on fire by hell.”

In Luke 6:45 Jesus said, “Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.”

There is a lot of scripture about how we are to treat each other. Every one of us has the ministry of helping each other become more like Christ, and in I Thessalonians 5:11 it says that we are to build each other up and encourage each other. We are to put others above ourselves and our own interests. So what if they don't do it our way.. encouragement has to trump our perfectionism.

If we have been hurt badly by others, or have an entitlement attitude, those are things in our hearts, and Satan will use these for his benefit. The scripture says that we are to “stop biting and devouring each other or you will be destroyed by each other” Galatians 5:15So it's easy to say, “I don't do that, I'm not that bad.” Every time we say a negative word about someone, that is a tool that Satan continues to use in the life of the person saying it, and in the life of the person it's being said to, and the bible says that we will give an account for every word that we say. Satan wants us to be stuck in our past and our hurt and our pain, and unless we allow God to deliver us from those things, we will continue to be his agents instead of God's. We all have different ways that we process things, and it's easy to make assumptions about what others say through our own muddied filters. I, for one, have been misunderstood, and my character ripped because I assumed that the people I was talking to would “get it”. It was devastating to me, but because I understand how Satan works in people's lives and even in the life of unwary Christians, I took it to God to heal my heart and to pray for them. The scripture is clear that if we have a problem with someone, we are to go to them and, in love, talk to them and seek understanding. It's easier to talk to other people about it and harbor hurt and anger and be used again as a tool of Satan. "Get rid of all bitterness, rage, and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you." Ephesians 4:31

A great way to be healed of the brokenness inside of us is to read about what God thinks of us and accept it as truth. The Bible says, “Whom the Son sets free is free indeed.” When I needed to be set free of things that were holding me captive, I had to go after it with everything in me. “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:13 Our motive has to be because we want to honor God with our whole lives and not continue to be held captive by the strongholds that Satan has set up in us and to continue to be used for his purposes instead of God's.

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