What You Say Will Be Used Against You…

Matthew 12:34-37

“You brood of snakes! How could evil men like you speak what is good and right? For whatever is in your heart determines what you say. A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. And I tell you this, you must give an account on judgment day for every idle word you speak. The words you say will either acquit you or condemn you.”

I am sure we have all heard of the Miranda Warning, well have you? The Miranda Warning is considered a “right to silence.” The “right to silence” covers “…the right of the accused or the defendant to refuse to comment or provide an answer when questioned, either prior to or during legal proceedings in a court of law. This can be the right to avoid self-incrimination or the right to remain silent when questioned.”

In my heart came these words, we are so quick to say the enemy plays with our mind, or that the enemy has us, etc however, we need to be careful not to give power to the enemy, because he does not deserve that power from your mouth that God has given us. Let us go back to the beginning when God on the last day of creation said, “Let us make man in our own image,” (Genesis 1:26). Therefore, we have the attributes of God; in the beginning God spoke and said , “Let there be…” and there was. Genesis 1:2-3 “The earth was without form, and void;…then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.” You see we are told that the power of Life and Death is in our tongue and if we are created in the image of God, and we have the same attributes and when He spoke that which was nothing came into existence, this is all the more reason we ought to be careful of the words we speak. What we speak we will be.

Growing up I’ve often heard be careful what you say because what you say you speak into existence and that is just as we saw from scripture that to be true. You will have what you say. So what words are you giving power? Because it’s not about what another says but what you say. As I explained in another post https://armed4war.wordpress.com/2015/07/15/who-has-power-in-your-life/ what you say ultimately gives power for God to move in your life or the devil to go before the Lord and ask to use those words against you. So, whatever you say can and will be used against you in the court of the Heavens. Matthew 12:36 tells us like this, “Men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken,” and “careless” refers to the Greek phrase rema argos is considered empty, careless or unprofitable words. So, many of us have said many idle word, Lord forgive us.

Think about it in the court of law, the words that a defendant says can ultimately determine whether the suspect lives or dies, but just as powerful as some words can be to destroy, or dismay there just as powerful to speak of joy and hope. Words are the creative force what is all around us.

Let me back up a verse or two Matthew 12:34 “The mouth speaks what the heart is full of,” so we first have to ask the Lord to deal with our hearts. Thus, what we say reveals what is in our hearts. The Lord truly has been dealing with me on this particular issue, because sometimes I can become so frustrated, so annoyed, so angry, discouraged, uncompassionate, etc. and tend to go off emotion instead of dealing with my heart first and praying “Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips!” (Psalm 141:3) . And so eventually, what we hold in our hearts will come out in our words. Again, many times throughout Genesis, states “And God SAID let there be…and it was.” We must remember we have an adversary who is the accuser of the children of God, who goes back and forth persecuting us before the Lord, and he is seeking out whom he may devour. So, I ask you what is your heart full of? What has your heart soaked up? For if you fill your heart with grace and by soaking up the Bible your tongue will be a gracious tongue, or faithful heart will produce a truthful tongue, a critical heat produces critical tongue, I am sure you catch my drift.

The devil is like a roaring lion going to and fro seeking whom he may devour, he is the prosecuting attorney. I found this interesting that the word devil which actually comes from “diaballo” means to accuse, and therefore, when we give the enemy a foothold with the words we are so quick to use we often give him an edge for his case against us. I remind you, “anything you say can and will be used against you…” Revelations 12:11 says “And they overcame him [Satan] by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony…” you see it is the words we profess that we either overcome or lose to our adversary. This verse tells us that the way the oppressed overcame sickness, overcame oppression was by allowing God’s word to be true and every man’s word a lie (Romans 3:3-4). Spurgeon states it like this:

“It is a strange, strong expression; but it is none too strong. If God says one thing, and every man in the world says another, God is true, and all men are false. God speaks the truth, and cannot lie. God cannot change; his word, like himself, is immutable. We are to believe God’s truth if nobody else believes it. The general consensus of opinion is nothing to a Christian. He believes God’s word, and he thinks more of that than of the universal opinion of men.”

May we grasp ahold to this true and recognize the words we speak bring forth life or death for in the end we are told to ever be quick to listen and slow to speak, and that our words ought to be for edification and building of others (that includes ourselves), and that if nothing else may our words and our conversations be always full of graces and seasoned with salt (ref: Col 4:6, James 1:19, Ephesians 4:29). Beloved, be careful the words you speak to yourself even about yourself, to your spouse and about your spouse, to your children and about your children, even the brethren amongst the church for the word says” For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” (Matt 12:37) For James says it best “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” (James 3:9-10).

Lord, now I pray that you would set guard over our lips and bridle our tongue, and may the words we say be for building and edification to others and ourselves, and may our words be of few full of grace and seasoned with salt that we would bring honor and not dishonor to your name. Lord may we recognize the power in our words and the power you’ve given us to walk in Victory. Father, I pray that you would forgive us where we have fallen short, where we are quick to speak and ignorant not to listen, and because of your generosity, because of your mercy and grace I pray you would give us the wisdom we need for each situation when it pertains to our words, that we would bring your name glory. In Jesus name, Amen.