The Power of Words

Posted on by Tanner Royalty

While walking across the graduation stage in December of 2013 to receive my undergraduate degree in Communications and English I knew that I had been called to ministry and that I would be beginning a Master’s degree at the nearby seminary in the following Spring. What I did not then see is how closely my undergraduate “secular” degrees and my ministerial vocation would align. As a minister and writer, I spend much of my time thinking about words.

Words are often something that we all take for granted. We can communicate with ease with the people around us because of words and known language. But think about it… words are not simply sounds caused by air passing through our larynx. In a medical sense words can be narrowed down to a group of muscles operating together in unity to create sounds that we interpret meaning from… but we as living beings understand words to have real power. Nelson Mandela, who was imprisoned for almost 3 decades because of his beliefs and activism, knew the power of words. He is often quoted today, but that was not always the case. While in prison his words could not be quoted for fear of punishment. After his release he said,

It is never my custom to use words lightly. If 27 years in prison have done anything to us, it was to use the silence of solitude to make us understand how precious words are, and how real speech is in its impact on the way people live and die.

Nelson Mandela understood the power of words. Words don’t carry power by accident; in fact, God spoke the world into being by the power of His words. Hebrews 11:3 says,

By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.

Words were the instruments by which God created all things, and creation was established by God’s words! How awesome is that? But if more proof is needed to establish the weight of spoken word I would add that with faith filled words Jesus calmed the raging sea, with faith filled words Jesus raised the widow’s son, and with faith filled words Jesus called Lazarus from the tomb. The Bible has a lot to say about words that we as Christians need to know and understand.

Words do more than convey information. The power of our words can actually destroy one’s spirit, stir up hatred and violence, sow disunity among the brethren, and annihilate one’s witness before others. In fact, King Solomon, author of most of the Old Testament book of Proverbs and one whom many assume to be the wisest man to have ever lived, wrote many times about the power of words. In Proverbs 18:21 he said,

Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.

Out of all the things God created we, as humans, are the only ones who have received the gift of words. We can use them as a gift or a curse… but nonetheless, the power to use words is a unique and powerful gift from God.

How often do we hear statements like, “Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can never hurt me” or “I’m rubber and you are glue, your words bounce off me and stick to you”? As a kid these might be nifty comebacks for the playground bully… but as we grow older we become more and more aware of how false these statements really are.

To be blatantly honest the things people say to me often stick to me. This is in direct contradiction of what I used to say to mean name callers! Words stick to my heart and soul, sometimes in uncomfortably painful ways. Being a Believer can be difficult in an age where everyone has the right and the willingness to express themselves… sometimes even at the expense of others. Being a minister can be difficult in an age where everyone believes their opinion is fact and that it is beneficial to express… even at the expense of disunity or demoralizing their Pastor.

The fact is… words have the potential to produce positive or negative consequences. They have the power to give life through encouragement and honesty or to crush and kill through lies, gossip, and demoralization. How can we be assured of producing good words that have a positive outcome?

So…what should we ask ourselves about our words before we open our mouths? Let’s think together.

  • Are these words helpful?

This question is the best starting point. To be clear, helpful words are not always comfortable or easy to say words. Some of the most helpful words I have ever received in my life have been some of the hardest words I ever could have imagined hearing at the time.

Proverbs 27:17 says,

As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.

Sometimes forces have to collide in order for growth to occur. Iron hitting iron is not always a great sound… but in the end there is a sharpening that occurs. There are times when we can help another person by kindly exhorting or even rebuking them. The difference between helpful and non-helpful words though is that even when we are rebuking someone we are doing it for his or her good and not because of any other factor or motivation.

Ephesians 4:29 puts this into context when it says,

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.

Our words are meant for building others up… nothing more and nothing less. But, often we use words carelessly, without considering their impact. We complain, we mouth off, we criticize, or we gossip. I think we talk sometimes simply because we’re afraid of being overlooked or we overvalue our opinion. But if our words aren’t going to be helpful, it’s best just to remain quiet. I believe it is important to remember that our words aren’t just for sharpening others… but sometimes we are meant to be another person’s support system or motivation to continue fighting the good fight until the end.

  • Are these words true?

Have you ever met someone who struggled with the truth? Maybe they are the type of person who likes to have the best story and they don’t care to bend the truth to get there… maybe they are the type of person who enjoys being the center of attention even if it means twisting or bending the truth to get there. Some of these people I have encountered seem so accustomed to lying that I’m not sure they even know what the truth is anymore. People who don’t want to face reality can sometimes convince themselves to believe things that they really know are not true. They have bent the truth so much that they believe their version of the truth to be accurate!

Some deception isn’t as cut and dry as a straight up untruth though… some think they are innocent as long as they say what is technically true, even though they intend to mislead others to believe what is not true. It is absolutely possible to tell things that are technically true, yet leave out pertinent facts or otherwise speak in a way that we lead others to believe untruths.

Most of us have lied before, perhaps because we’re trying to cover up for a poor decision we made, avoid confrontation, or to get something we want. I have found that almost every lie can boil down to this simple truth…

We lie because value our own interests rather than valuing the interests of others.

Philippians 2:4 says,

Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Let’s examine our words and find them to be true. God never lies, and never has, so neither should we. We must stay in line with the truth even when it hurts, even when it means we won’t get our way, and even when it means we are wrong.

1 Corinthians 3:18 says,

Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise.

  • Are these words timed correctly?

Proverbs 15:23 has been a passage that always has intrigued me. It says,

To make an apt answer is a joy to a man, and a word in season, how good it is!

How can a “word” be in season? I’ve come to understand that it is possible to say the right thing at the wrong time. For example, Sunday mornings are hectic for most ministers. It is what we have prepared all week for! For myself, on Sundays I am typically at church before the sun comes up and I am usually the last to leave after leading multiple services. Ministering pulls a lot out of me on Sundays! Sunday afternoon is typically not the ideal time to provide suggestions to me about what has taken place that morning. I’m too tired, drained, and sensitive; the timing isn’t right, even when the suggestions are helpful.

Sometimes we are better off evaluating our “truths” to make sure they are true and allowing them to sit until they are in “season” to be received.

  • Are these words kind and gracious?

The truth is meant to “set us free.” Jesus says this to His disciples in John 8: 32,

You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

The truth is meant to be a liberator, but yet we all know people, maybe even ourselves, who have used it as a weapon to beat people up and to tie them down. The truth can at times be uncomfortable and hard to hear and say… but it should always be used in love. Ephesians 4:15-16 says,

Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

The truth isn’t for our personal gain… but rather for the edifying of the Body and the building up of the Kingdom. I always try to ask myself, “How would I want somebody to tell me what I’m about to say? Is the way I’m about to say this consistent with the way I am called to live and interact with others? Speaking the truth is only half of what we are called to do… we must do so in love for the full effect.

We should allow our speech to be “seasoned with salt,” full of grace and kindness and love like we read about in Colossians 4:6 where it says,

Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.

Psalm 19:14 says,

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.

What is your mouth filled with?

Posted on by Tanner Royalty

The topic this week is one that I think all of us need to hear and be reminded of on a regular basis. As worship leaders, worshippers, and believers in general the world views and makes judgments about us based on several things: how we act and handle ourselves, and how we speak and interact with others. Are we compassionate? Encouraging? Quick to speak and slow to listen and think? Or do we use our words as a way to force our agenda or tear down others for personal gain, enjoyment, or even naturally or unintentionally?

All of us probably are well aware that the Bible doesn’t shy away from, or hold any blows, when it speaks of the tongue and how we as believers must interact with each other and the world. Scripture is pretty clear that we must tame our tongues at all costs. In fact, the word “tongue” (which is often used interchangeably with the word, language) is in the 1611 version of the KJV Bible 160 times! Think about it! That is a LOT! We have 66 books in our Protestant Bible and if we were to divide up those 160 times that the word “tongue” is used throughout those books it would appear almost 2.5 times in every book! Obviously God’s will is that we pay close attention to what the Word says about our tongues…

James 3:2-10 says,

For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body. If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell.

James 1:26 says,

If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless.

What I get from reading passages like the ones above is that the tongue isn’t something to be taken lightly. In reality our tongue makes up such a small part of who we are, but yet it determines so many things like: how we are perceived, how easy or hard we are to work with, whether or not people enjoy being around us or interacting with us, etc. With our tongues we hold the power to encourage and build up, or to tear down and destroy.

Proverbs 18:21 says,

Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.

Proverbs 15:4 says,

 A gentle tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit.

What does your tongue demonstrate and give? Life or death?

So… how does our tongue affect our weekly and congregational worship? Believe it or not, the worship that happens on Sundays in our churches is actually determined by far more than what happens during the music or preaching of God’s Word. We all know that our worship isn’t determined by or limited to the sound or words of a song, but rather that worship is an active lifestyle that inhabits all we are, think, say, and do, and that brings pleasure to the heart of God! This means that our actual worship happens more frequently off the stage than on because we interact with others each and every day and our corporate worship may be limited to 1 or 2 times a week on the stage!

How is the way you interact with those on and off the stage building a Christ-like character within them? Are you encouraging and building them up with your interactions and words or are you sowing a seed of darkness and death in their lives and souls?

I am convicted personally, and I think we should all be, when I think that although I may enter into corporate worship with the correct heart and mind I may be failing every other day to demonstrate God-honoring worship by the way I interact with those around me. The 2 or 3 times I may get to lead or participate in corporate worship fails or falls short in light of 5 or 6 other 24 hour days that I may be sowing death with my words.

I love this quote I found… it says,

What takes us years to build with our talent can be destroyed overnight by our character; and, what takes time and effort to build with our worship team efforts can be destroyed by the power of the tongue.

Let’s face it… we have great responsibility. As believers, especially in today’s time, we are under the microscope of the world. Everything we do has an audience and if we can’t speak out of the grace and love we have been given then what does that say about the value we place in that precious gift we are so freely given?

Our talents, abilities, and more importantly our words and actions carry great weight! The way we interact with and influence people daily can bring great blessing to the heart of God and our ministries or they can bring great destruction, deceit, and death.

An example of worship being halted by the work of the tongue is Miriam. If you are unfamiliar with the story it comes from Exodus. Chapter 15 verses 20-21 says,

Then Miriam the prophetess, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women followed her, with tambourines and dancing. Miriam sang to them: “Sing to the LORD, for he is highly exalted.”

Miriam was a worship leader and a person of influence that was used by God. However, we see that later on she allowed her language of worship to be replaced with divisive language. Numbers 12 records this,

Miriam and Aaron began to talk against Moses because of his Cushite wife, for he had married a Cushite. “Has the Lord spoken only through Moses?” they asked. “Hasn’t he also spoken through us?” And the Lord heard this. (Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.) At once the Lord said to Moses, Aaron and Miriam, “Come out to the tent of meeting, all three of you.” So the three of them went out. Then the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud; he stood at the entrance to the tent and summoned Aaron and Miriam. When the two of them stepped forward, he said, “Listen to my words: “When there is a prophet among you, I, the Lord, reveal myself to them in visions, I speak to them in dreams. But this is not true of my servant Moses; he is faithful in all my house. With him I speak face to face, clearly and not in riddles; he sees the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?” The anger of the Lord burned against them, and he left them. When the cloud lifted from above the tent, Miriam’s skin was leprous—it became as white as snow. Aaron turned toward her and saw that she had a defiling skin disease, and he said to Moses, “Please, my lord, I ask you not to hold against us the sin we have so foolishly committed. Do not let her be like a stillborn infant coming from its mother’s womb with its flesh half eaten away.” So Moses cried out to the Lord, “Please, God, heal her!” The Lord replied to Moses, “If her father had spit in her face, would she not have been in disgrace for seven days? Confine her outside the camp for seven days; after that she can be brought back.” So Miriam was confined outside the camp for seven days, and the people did not move on till she was brought back.

Miriam’s name literally means “bitterness” or “rebellion.” She recorded in the Bible as being a co-leader of one of the most powerful and influential worship services in the history of Israel. But we soon find her being used by the enemy to bring accusation against God’s leader, bring division among the people, and cause the progress of an entire nation to be halted in the middle of a desert.

Don’t allow yourself or the words you speak to be the halter within your congregation or body.

So… how do we do this? How do we build the body with our words?

  • Choose to speak out of grace.

Colossians 4:6 says,

Let your conversation be always full of grace.

Did your parents ever tell you to “think twice and speak once?” Or, “If you have nothing nice to say then don’t say anything at all?” Both of these statements speak such truth! The often quoted verse out of James 1:19 immediately comes to mind here,

Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger.

But really it isn’t always that simple… but if we are to be constantly conforming ourselves to the image of Christ then we must speak out of grace because it is through Christ that grace has been given. If we’ve ever been given a second chance (which we all have through Christ) then we owe it to others to be understanding and gracious in our interactions and words.

  • Choose to bring life through the things that you say.

Sticks and stones may break my bones but words can never hurt me… they can destroy my mentally, spiritually, and emotionally. I am guilty of living and speaking towards others with that mentality.

If our mouths and words convey messages about us and our hearts then what kind of message are we conveying each and every day as we speak and interact with others?

In Matthew 12:34 Jesus speaks to the religious people of his day in this way,

You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.

That may seem pretty harsh but the truth there can rattle you if you pay attention to it. Too often we equate our speech or make excuses for our detrimental interactions with others to our upbringing or personality but this makes it out to be more than that… it is a heart issue. Just because you aren’t a “people person” doesn’t excuse your heart for being the ammunition to a dangerous weapon used to cut others down.

In the battle of words choose to speak life to others.

Deuteronomy 30:19 says,

I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live.

Romans 14:19 says,

So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.

1 Thessalonians 5:11 says,

Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.

  • Choose to be accountable for your tongue.

No more excuses. It really is that easy. Find an accountability partner and be serious in reforming your language in the same way that you have transformed and reformed your mind and heart.

Jesus has done His part in us and now the ball is in our court. Choose to speak in a way that glorifies the Father. Create times of worship in your interactions with others by speaking life and grace.No longer do we have to be careful about who we say what to… because ALL we say is going to be said out of worship to the Father.

This week’s blog was hard because I was writing to an audience of one… me. If you have taken anything at all from this rambling please commit yourself alongside me to speaking life to others in the name of Jesus.

Psalm 100:4 says,

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.

Let’s not allow ourselves to be like Miriam. I will end with a reminder out of Deuteronomy 28:47-48. It says,

Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joy and gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things, therefore you shall serve your enemies, whom the LORD will send against you, in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in need of all things.