Proverbs 18:21 says, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.”

Death or life.

Words… WORDS… WoRdS!

They make or break,

They heal or hurt,

They  pave the way,

They set a trap,

They halt.

Words are the fabric of our communication

with God,

with others,

with ourselves.

“Words – so innocent and powerless as they are, as they stand in a dictionary, how potent for good and evil they become in the hands of one who knows how to combine them.” ~ Nathaniel Hawthorne.

We waste time with our words, throwing them around effortlessly as if they are free to scatter as seeds recklessly sown, not realizing that is exactly what they are … seeds.  They will bear fruit because words have power to kill or bring life.

In our daily living, we choose to love or to die with the words we are speaking. These words are loaded with hope, building up the audience we are speaking towards.  Alternately, the words we speak can be loaded swords of enmity that break down the souls of those who are listening.

Proverbs 18:4 – The words of a man’s mouth are as deep waters, and the wellspring of wisdom as a flowing brook.

This is one of those places that the Lord is truly dealing with me, daily. Are the words of my mouth formed from a wellspring of wisdom and flowing like a brook which brings refreshment, or are they divisive, inoperable, and unedifying?

God’s Word deals with the heart of every matter.  Out the abundance of our hearts, our mouths speak. It is this place, in the deep recesses of our hearts, the difference is realized. If I am not filling up, soaking in His abundant life-giving Word, I can’t sow seeds of life into others.  If I am not aware of the power of being deeply engrossed in the precious promises that His Word offers, then I will find myself easily swaying with the wind and carelessly thrown about in the storms. My words will reflect the place of my heart, battered and broken or full and complete.

Look at Ephesians 4:29 – “Let no corrupt (foul or polluting language), nor evil word nor unwholesome or worthless talk [ever] come out of your mouth, but only such [speech] as is good and beneficial to the spiritual progress of others, as is fitting to the need and the occasion, that it may be a blessing and give grace (God’s favor) to those who hear it.

Does that surprise you?  The power of your words literally affect the lives of those who you sow them into.

I love what Matthew Henry has to say about this verse: “Filthy words proceed from corruption in the speaker, and they corrupt the minds and manners of those who hear them: Christians should beware of all such discourse. It is the duty of Christians to seek, by the blessing of God, to bring persons to think seriously, and to encourage and warn believers by their conversation.”

Do you realize that any word we speak which is inoperable will be accounted for later? Look at Matthew 12:35-37- “But I tell you, on the day of judgment men will have to give account for every idle(inoperative, nonworking) word they speak. For by your words you will be justified and acquitted, and by your word you will be condemned and sentenced.”

As I ponder the depth in the dictionary of my life, I consider that many of the syllables which were spent in my conversations were inoperable, especially in the lives of those closest to me.  I know that I am often too quick to assume the worst, rather than consider the best. That is a somber thought. I want to do more. I want to live life better. I want to live in a way that my words matter, so that they become seeds purposely sown with expectation of a harvest.

So often, as I sift the petitions which become the banner of my prayers I realize I am scattering stones rather than planting living shells of faith. It isn’t just in the prayers of faith where we falter, but in the conversations of grace that I can miss the mark, too.

Colossians 4:6 tells us to season our words with salt and grace, while the words of a wise man are considered grace words. (Eccl 10:12)

I love that in His GRACE we have the chance to redeem the inoperable moments our flaws lead us into.  I pray that I can be continually changed into His image so that I can extend grace in a way that alters the conversation of my mouth so much that people begin to recognize His presence.

Sowing seeds of grace, purposely intent on redeeming the broken pieces that have been cast aside in our daily living; we build up walls that will no longer be susceptible to decay and destruction.

{Are you up to a challenge?}

Will you walk with me on Mondays down these roads of grace and begin the march towards a heart which is fully bent towards bringing life into the situations around you? This is a challenge, friends, to be light bearers bringing life forth in prayer and power right into the paths that God has put you into.

Let your mission be focused. Make a difference. Season your conversations with grace and salt and be intentional to speak operable life-filled words.

Join me as I make an intentional effort to find those moments to speak life into those moments where I can willfully build others up rather than tear them down, to speak hope into the dying embers of the flames which once burned with fervor, and to sprinkle grace upon every conversation seasoned with the salt only God’s Word can flavor.

Mondays will be the day where we talk about making a difference and sowing faith. What can you do this week to build others up in faith?

~Many Blessings!

Linking up with Soli Deo Gloria Sisterhood and Make A Difference Mondays.