Speak Life

At the age of about four my precious daughter once asked me this question from the back seat of the car, “Mom, where did I come from?” I took a big breath and as best as I could, in appropriate four-year-old language, tried to explain a bit about the birds and the bees to my little girl. I glanced in my rear-view mirror to see her little face seriously considering my words, and then she replied, “No, I mean what hospital did I come from?” If only I had of inquired why she was asking me the first question! I am grateful today that my beautiful, now thirty-five-year-old daughter, does not seem to be scarred beyond repair by my misinterpretation of her simple yet legitimate question.

A word aptly or appropriately spoken in right circumstances can bring life, comfort and encouragement. However, the opposite is also true. When we speak at the wrong moment out of emotion or assumption, or even opinion, our words can humiliate, crush and cause deep injury.

Jesus, the Son of God only spoke what His Father told Him to say (John 8:28). When Jesus spoke, hearts were changed, wombs were opened, families were saved, and the dead were brought to life.

In our Centre we have a lovely crystal bowl, filled with apples of gold, which was originally meant as a Christmas decoration. But, because it looks so attractive, we have kept it out year-round to add beauty to the surroundings of our Centre. In John 6:63b, Jesus declares, “The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.”

 I would like to encourage you today to courageously take some quiet time to look with the Holy Spirit at the words that you have been speaking to those around you, your spouse, a parent, sibling, children, Pastor and even yourself. Are they so filled with the life of God’s Spirit that, when remembered, they continue to add beauty to those within their hearing?

Proverbs 18:21a teaches, ‘The tongue has the power of life and death’.

And James brings reality when he wrote, ‘With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness.’

If the Lord is speaking to your heart today, and you feel the regret which can come with God’s reality don’t be discouraged or dismayed. Listen instead to your Father’s words. ‘Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret’ (2 Corinthians 7:10a). ‘Repent, then and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord’ (Acts 3:19).

Isn’t this why Jesus came, to set us free from the things that bind us on this earth and to transform us into the sons and daughters that He has created us to be?