The Bible in Depth – #21

Study Twenty-One
 
As We Speak
 

​2 For we all stumble in many things. If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, also able to bridle the whole body. 3 Indeed, we put bits in horses’ mouths that they may obey us, and we turn their whole body. 4 Look also at ships, although they are so large and are driven by fierce winds, they are turned by a very small rudder wherever the pilot desires. 5 Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things.
 
See how great a forest a little fire kindles? 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 (James 3:2–8).
 
My tongue can get me in so much trouble! I can figure out exactly what I want to say; I can rehearse it and rehearse it and rehearse it, yet when I open my mouth to speak, the words that I practiced don’t come out. In fact, what does come out is embarrassing to me because it is closer to the full truth than I was ready to say.

What I do like about my tongue is that if I am robed in the truth of God’s Word, meaning if I read it cover to cover—say, a couple of times a year—and if I research what certain words mean, then when I am speaking to people, words from the Bible come out without my commissioning them. Oh, I like that because those words fit the issue completely, and the listeners are truly blessed.
 
In the past, I could and did use evil words. But when I learned that every evil word puts a curse on the people listening to me, I taught myself to say only positive, encouraging words. I feel so much better using my tongue for that.
  
Your Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light to my path (Psalm 119:105).
 
I like to know what the Lord wants me to do, so I ask Him to show me in His Word what He wants me to do. Usually, He tells me to read Isaiah 68:11. The Lord gave the word. Great was the company who published it.
 
That tells me two things: He wants me to write, and He wants me to write with Him, as He can tell me what to write and what to change in what I have already written. The entrance of Your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple (Psalm 119:130).
 
20 My son, give attention to my words, incline your ear to my sayings. 21 Do not let them depart from your eyes, keep them in the midst of your heart; 22 for they are life to those who find them, and health to all their flesh. 23 Keep your heart with all diligence for out of it spring the issues of life. 24 Put away from you a deceitful mouth, and put perverse lips far from you (Proverbs 4: 20–24).
 
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. 36 But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. 37 For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned (Matthew 12:34–37).
 
8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): 9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth one is made unto salvation (Romans 10:8–10).
 
This is the great salvation passage of the Bible. Our salvation depends on words, and our salvation depends on the depth of the heart saying the words. One of my granddaughters wanted so badly to be saved. Every time I came off the mission field, she and I would discuss this verse and then we would pray, but she never seemed to grasp her salvation. Finally, the Lord revealed what was missing. Note this verse says “believe in your heart.” The heart is the seat of our emotions, and the Lord said, “She must surrender to me. Her emotions will then ride her through to her salvation. She went off by herself and surrendered. She rejoined us a different person!
 
Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures (James 1:18).
 
Let me end this Bible study with this verse which, by now, should be quite familiar to you. Use your words: first for your salvation and then for your life here on earth. Your words create your life. That’s how God planned it, that’s how we should live it.
 
For assuredly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, Be removed and be cast into the sea, and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray believe that you receive them, and you will have them (Mark 11:23).