What Do We Say?

Good morning

The next group of the acts of the sinful nature that is mentioned in Galatians 5:19-21 is idolatry and witchcraft. We have discussed idolatry extensively before. Do I hear you say we are certainly not involved in these kinds of things? Are we not?

We may not consciously do witchcraft as a practice, but one of the core practices of it is the speaking of curses. A curse is the declaration of something negative with the intention to make it happen, in other words the opposite of a blessing. How many curses to we speak over ourselves daily? We boast about our illnesses, making it our identity, declare unbelief, declare fear, we curse our neighbours by means of gossip, we curse the church by saying condemning things about her, and so on.

In Romans 4:17 we read: “...God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were.” Instead of identifying with the negative, making it our own and declaring it over ourselves and others, should we not in the name of Jesus, together with God declare those faith things that are not as though they were? Jesus said in Mark 11:24: “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” If we really believe we will receive what we asked for, we will talk as if we have it, but how often do we cancel our own prayers by thinking and saying ‘what if’? Our words have power. They give mandate to the Lord to meet our needs and do miracles for us, but they also give mandate to the evil forces to kill, steal and destroy.

How many lives have been destroyed by the words ‘you will never amount to anything’ and how many successful people have been created by the words ‘I know you can do it’? David prayed in Psalm 141:3-4: “Set a guard over my mouth, O Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips. Let not my heart be drawn to what is evil, to take part in wicked deeds with men who are evildoers [which include gossip],” and in Psalm 1:1-2: “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.” Solomon said in Proverbs 21:23: “He who guards his mouth and his tongue keeps himself from calamity.”

Do you get the impression that there is power in the tongue? Part of the fruit of the Spirit is self-control. Just as we have to exercise control not to hit somebody when they anger us, even though every nerve in our body calls for it, or not to smash the computer against the wall when it refuses to do what we want it to do, we need to watch what we say. It is much easier to let a curse slip from our lips than to hit a person, but it does even worse damage. The evil forces wait eagerly for a mandate to hurt somebody and the moment we speak it through gossip or a spurt of anger, they have it. David prayed and gave good advice in the Psalms quoted above. If we keep away from the temptation to speak curses, in other words we do not mix with gossips and mockers, but focus on the word of God that brings life, we will speak life.

It is not easy, but possible to stop halfway through a sentence when we realise we are about to curse somebody or ourselves, and to walk away from a gossip party or at least silence the gossips by telling something good about the person being gossiped about, or telling them to rather go and talk to the person.

“Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone, (Colossians 4:5-6).” We need to keep the end result of our words in mind. “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think [and speak] about such things,” (Philippians 4:8).

Lord, please help me watch my mouth.

Thank you Lord that your Word went out from your mouth, via your servant’s pen, and it will not return to you empty, but will accomplish what you desire and achieve the purpose for which you sent it.

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