Where Are Our Tongues Taking Us?
Perhaps the thought of our tongues taking us anywhere seems a bit ridiculous, but not if we read and believe the word of God, as Deuteronomy 32:45-47 makes clear we should do, because it says When Moses finished reciting all these words to all Israel, he said to them, “Take to heart all the words I have solemnly declared to you this day, so that you may command your children to obey carefully all the words of this law. They are not just idle words for you—they are your life. By them you will live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess.” Then Jesus affirmed that again in Matthew 4:4, which says Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ “ And since it’s not difficult to relate the journey of marriage restoration to crossing the Jordan to possess the promised land, we should understand the importance of taking all of God’s words to heart so they can be our life and we can live long in the promise of our restored marriages!
And James 3:2-12 makes it unmistakably clear that our tongues have the power to determine our direction and set the course of our future, because it says:
We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check. When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small
spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man, but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water. And then Matthew 12:36-37 says But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.” Hopefully this is strong enough to help us understand that there are NO such things as “harmless” words. Our words have power for life and death, and one of the biggest mistakes many women standing for marriage restoration make is the failure to learn the absolute necessity of learning to bridle our tongues! My mother always said “If you don’t have anything good to say, don’t say anything at all.” Wow! I wonder how many marriages we’d see restored if we’d all start putting that one simple thing into practice!
This is such a CRITICALLY important message for us to get if we’re serious about the restoration of our marriages. Yet it’s one that so many women are TOTALLY resistant to, and even hostile to. For instance, I recently offended a FAM member because I cautioned her to be careful about the things she was saying about her husband to her mother-in-law, and she hasn’t called or visited the website since. Now that’s pretty sad, and oh how Satan loves it! And women are often offended by the suggestion that they need to spend a lot less time on the telephone talking to anyone and everyone about their husbands and marital woes (including me) and spend more quality time with their children or studying God’s word. We often talk about the principles of marriage restoration, which are based on what we find about restoration and marriage in the Bible, but there’s no other principle of marriage restoration I know of that more is written about than this one…and yet it is the one women have the most difficult time understanding and accepting! God’s plan for us can’t and won’t work unless we work HIS plan, and His plan is found in His words, and since there is SO much written about the power of His word and our spoken words, we’ve got to start DOING and SAYING what God tells us to if we want to live in the victory and everlasting joy He has planned for us.
Dr. Creflo Dollar presented an AWESOME, scripture intensive series of messages on the power of our words this week, which I VERY strongly urge every person standing for marriage restoration or any kind of healing or miracle to listen to over and over again until it’s all deeply planted in our hearts and something we can put into practice. The links are available in Wednesday’s post, Accessing And Operating In The Power Of God’s Word.
I love Isaiah 58:12-14, which seems to sum this up pretty well, and should be very encouraging to anyone standing for marriage restoration, because it says Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings. “If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the LORD’s holy day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words, then you will find your joy in the LORD, and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.” The mouth of the LORD has spoken. Well, as an old saying I didn’t used to appreciate quite as much as I seem to now says “God said it. I believe it. That settles it!”
I pray that through the power of the Holy Spirit we will all remember Luke 6:45 in future conversations, especially when talking about our husbands and marriages, because it says The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks. That’s why it is so important to have the word of God planted and stored up in our hearts, and James 1:26 tells us why it is so important to learn to control our tongues, because it says If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless. May we all learn to keep a tight rein on our tongues and refrain from speaking idle words, especially words contrary to the word of God and in opposition to our dreams, so we will be sure to enter God’s promised land of marriage restoration!