Words Devotion

This is a devotion I wrote for our Ladies Meeting and I had a few friends say I should put it on my blog. So here it is! I hope it can be a blessing and encouragement to someone.

Psalm 19:14 “Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer”
God gave us a special way to communicate that no other creature has. We can use words to communicate. We can speak words, write words, and even sign words. And amazingly, other people can understand our words and communicate back with their own words. When you think about it, it’s an amazing thing!
With our words we can project our feeling, our passion, our love, our hate, and our annoyances. Most of the time our words are negative more than they’re positive. What does the Bible say about our words? What should the majority of our words be?
In Hebrews 10:24 it says “And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:” Our words should encourage others to do good, and to love. The word provoke is not always a negative word, but it means to persuade and push. When we speak, our words should persuade other to love and do good works.
The most important thing our words should contain are words of God’s love. Our words should be a sweet smelling savour (Ephesians 5:2) to God. We should use our words to be kind to others, to tell others about Jesus, and the share His love with those around us. We don’t have to constantly tell others about Jesus’s sacrifice and love for us, but our words should contain words about Jesus and His love for us.
Our words should also contain forgiveness. In 2 Cor. 2 Paul tells the Corinth church that if someone does something offensive or wrong, that’s it’s better to forgive them and comfort that person, that to hold it against them and cause bitterness in their hearts. He says that if you forgive that person, God will also forgive you, and it will be counted as a blessing toward you. Having a bitter spirit, and holding unforgiveness in your heart is shown through your words. People can hear your bitter heart, without out having to tell them it’s there. ii. We should be quick to forgive, and slow to judge. It’s easy to criticize and wonder why people do things, but it builds an unforgiving spirit and it affects the words you speak. It’s much better to learn to let things go, and to not let them bother you, unless you’re willing to face them and deal with the problem.
Eph. 4:32 “And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.” In whatever we do, we should be able to say kind words to others. Sometimes it’s hardest to say kind words to those we’re around all the time. We can be kind to the check-out girl, the bank teller, and the person who calls the wrong number. But it isn’t always easy to temper our words with kindness when we’re talking to our family, or those we see often.
Don’t let words with no benefit pass through your lips. Gossip isn’t always stretching the truth or telling lies, most of gossip is truth that doesn’t need to be spread. Decide whether the words you’re about to say are words that are yours to say. If it’s someone else’s story or event, let them tell it themselves. And if it isn’t going to spread a kind spirit in the person you’re telling, keep it to yourself. Not all information needs to be shared. “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all.”
Along with Kindness, our words need to contain truth. Eph. 4:17 “Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.” There’s always debate about whether or not a “little white lie” is bad. While we shouldn’t go around saying everything that’s on our mind, and giving every opinion we might have, it’s also not good to keep the truth hidden in your heart. Don’t lie to yourself and say everything is fine, when there’s something that needs to be dealt with; either between you and God, or between you and someone else.
Our words should not involve twisted truth about others. Sometimes it’s necessary to discuss an event that’s happened, and sometimes you need to talk to a trusted friend about something that’s bothering you. But make sure that the words you speak are truth, and not a twisted truth. And speak ALL of the truth. A lot of times we’re good about leaving out our part of the fight, or downplaying what we did to cause the disruption. Be as honest about your involvement in the problem, as you are about the other person’s involvement. Speak the truth.
God gave us the ability to use words, and he gave us the ability to communicate with them. Make sure that the words you speak are the words God wants you to use. Imagine using God as a filter and consider if your conversations and words would pass His test of approval.