But I tell you that every idle word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment. Matthew 12:36.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God (אלהים) says:
Do you delight in life and enjoy days you love filled with good? Or is your life up and down, and more down than up? Does it seem like you gain ground and then you lose ground and are tossed about so you never really arrive anywhere? Do you go in and out from days of fear and dread to days of peace and joy, and no sooner seem to have hold of peace then trouble, fear, and unease return with a new situation similar to the one before?
If so, the problem is in your mouth. I am talking about a runaway tongue.
Come, children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD. Who is the man who desires life and loves length of days that he may see good? Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit. Depart from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it. Psalm 34:11-14.
Everything about your life, here and for eternity, has to do with what words you are saying or words you have said. Ultimately even whether you have eternal life has to do with the words of your mouth.
“The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart”—that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. Romans 10:8-10.
Everything in this world and in the universe was created by words, My Words, and so were you. Words are of utmost importance. An uncontrolled mouth is an uncontrolled life. Whether you like it or not, you are your word just as I am My Word and My Word became flesh and dwelt among you. And your flesh takes on your words as well. Your whole body and your life are directed by your words.
And I am talking about believers and unbelievers. People of prestige and people of no prestige. Intellectuals and those considered not so sharp mentally, for all of you, death and life are in the power of YOUR tongue.
You reign in life and eternity with Me and kings reign by their words, by making royal decree.
“You will also decree a thing, and it will be established for you; and light will shine on your ways.” Job 22:28.
The solution to every need, problem and impossible situation is there for you in Jesus, and I give it to you generously and ungrudgingly no matter what you have done, but you cannot receive it if you are double-minded. What does that come down to meaning? Double tongued.
From the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way. Does a fountain send out from the same opening both fresh and bitter water? Can a fig tree, my brethren, produce olives, or a vine produce figs? Nor can saltwater produce fresh. James 3:10-12.
The solution always has to do with letting My Light in and putting the darkness out. But if you let the Light in and then let in the darkness again, if you partake of the divine and then partake of demons, nothing is accomplished.
Idle words will ruin your life. You cannot receive the solution and keep your territory if you are going to give your mouth free reign for evil words. An uncontrolled tongue will give you the life of the double minded. You cannot speak like the devil and expect Heaven’s results. Heavenly results require heavenly Words.
“I have put My Words in your mouth and have covered you with the shadow of My hand, to plant Heaven and establish it on the earth, and to say to Zion, ‘You are My people.’” Isaiah 51:16.
“As for Me, this is My covenant with them,” says the LORD: “My Spirit which is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your offspring, nor from the mouth of your offspring’s offspring,” says the LORD, “from now and forever.” Isaiah 59:21.
You cannot speak evil and expect good. You cannot speak darkness and expect light. You cannot let Satan in and expect to win. If you are in Christ walk in agreement with Him. He only spoke My Words; the devil had no part in Him.
For in accordance with your words you will be justified, and in accordance with your words you will be condemned. Matthew 12:37.
Jesus came to undo (untie, destroy) the works of the devil. 1 John 3:8. Be careful you do not bind yourself up again. Death and life, binding and loosing, defeat and victory, are in the hand of your tongue and you will eat the fruit of it.
With the fruit of a man’s mouth his stomach will be satisfied; he will be filled with the product of his lips. Death and life are in the power (yod in Hebrew which means “hand”) of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit. Proverbs 18:20-21.
You will be held accountable for every idle word that you speak and that is what I am focusing on here. Because many of you who are seeking Me and really do love Me are not controlling your tongue, and without doing that you will never live a pure and holy life untouchable by Satan. You will be bringing evil into your atmosphere and letting down your hedge of protection. To have victory that remains you must be careful about not speaking idle words.
What are idle words? Idle words are words which accomplish nothing but harm. They produce nothing good but fall to the ground and grow weeds, thorns, and bitter roots that cause you and those who hear you to trip, stumble, and fall in some way.
Idle words include many categories, all having to do with negative emotions such as anger and unforgiveness, lust, fear and anxiety, jealousy, offense, rudeness, obscenity, and the like, but there is one insidious category that many believers fall short in while they would avoid the more blatant ones, and that category can go under the general heading of gossip. It includes tale bearing, repeating what someone told you about someone else which is immoral or sinful and degrades that person and the one who did it with them, judging and condemning others’ behavior, and telling derogatory things about others from personal knowledge. Many people engage in the last category about those they live and work with, in other words, those they are close to that they have allowed themselves to become irritated with or negative and malicious about. Spouses are often guilty of this one and it is straight from the fire of hell to divide and make light of covenant.
Gossip, in all its forms, is poisonous. It poisons you when you hear it, poisons another when you repeat it, and then the person you loaded it with will share it with someone else and poison them.
The words of a whisperer are like dainty morsels, and they go down into the innermost parts of the body. Proverbs 18:8.
I am telling you now to repent and take this seriously, for gossip and tale bearing bring judgment and not acquittal.
Then Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married (for he had married a Cushite woman); and they said, “Has the LORD indeed spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken through us as well?” And the LORD heard it. Now the man Moses was very humble, more than any man who was on the face of the earth. Suddenly the LORD said to Moses and Aaron and to Miriam, “You three come out to the tent of meeting.” So the three of them came out. Then the LORD came down in a pillar of cloud and stood at the doorway of the tent, and He called Aaron and Miriam. When they had both come forward, He said, “Hear now My words: If there is a prophet among you, I, the LORD, shall make Myself known to him in a vision. I shall speak with him in a dream. Not so, with My servant Moses, he is faithful in all My household. With him I speak mouth to mouth, even openly, and not in dark sayings, and he beholds the form of the LORD. Why then were you not afraid to speak against My servant, against Moses?” So the anger of the LORD burned against them and He departed. But when the cloud had withdrawn from over the tent, behold, Miriam was leprous, as white as snow. As Aaron turned toward Miriam, behold, she was leprous. Then Aaron said to Moses, “Oh, my lord, I beg you, do not account this sin to us, in which we have acted foolishly and in which we have sinned. Oh, do not let her be like one dead, whose flesh is half eaten away when he comes from his mother’s womb!” Moses cried out to the LORD, saying, “O God, heal her, I pray!” But the LORD said to Moses, “If her father had but spit in her face, would she not bear her shame for seven days? Let her be shut up for seven days outside the camp, and afterward she may be received again.” So Miriam was shut up outside the camp for seven days, and the people did not move on until Miriam was received again. Numbers 12:1-15.
You see what gossip on the inside appears like on the outside? Leprosy eating away at your soul and in your body to the very bones.
He also loved cursing, so it came to him; and he did not delight in blessing, so it was far from him. But he clothed himself with cursing as with his garment, and it entered into his body like water And like oil into his bones. Psalm 109:17-18.
David wrote Psalm 109 about those who were gossiping about and judging him, speaking ill of him and doing him harm. He called upon Me to save him from their accusations and to turn their curses into blessings for him.
Let them curse, but You bless; when they arise, they shall be ashamed, but Your servant shall be glad. Let my accusers be clothed with dishonor, and let them cover themselves with their own shame as with a robe. With my mouth I will give thanks abundantly to the LORD; and in the midst of many I will praise Him. For He stands at the right hand of the needy, to save him from those who judge his soul. Psalm 109:28-31.
And I did take down all who were speaking evil of him from Saul, the king, to the least of his servants. Be careful about speaking ill of others, especially those in the ministry or in leadership, even if they have fallen from weakness. Do not gossip and judge them. Support them with your prayers and plead the blood for them. Watch your mouth and avoid gossip and judging lest you fall in the same way. Judgement belongs to Me for I know hearts.
“Do not judge so that you will not be judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and behold, the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.” Matthew 7:1-5.
Do not speak against one another, brethren. He who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks against the law and judges the law; but if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge of it. There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and to destroy; but who are you who judge your neighbor? James 4:11-12.
Do not sit speaking against your brother. If he is in the wrong correct him by speaking the truth in love. But do not be attacking people’s character, especially when you have not verified what you are telling but just heard it from another, and sometimes from a person you do not even know very well. Why do you believe them and repeat it?
You will feel a force within you after you have heard some morsel of gossip or someone has said something rude to you to go to someone and repeat it. It almost seems to push you along into speaking out. I do not force you to do things, I lead you and guide you by My Word, so you know Satan is behind it. Be aware of this and do not fall for it. Put a curb on your mouth and change the course of the conversation. Turn aside from evil.
Aaron and Miriam loved Moses and followed him. Miriam was the one who helped her mother hide him in a basket as a baby and watched until Pharaoh’s daughter found him and then she was bold enough to offer to get her mother to nurse him for Pharaoh’s daughter. But at the moment she gossiped with Aaron it just seemed too juicy a tidbit to pass by and their pride got in the way as well, though both of them were honored in the community, Aaron as the high priest and Miriam as a prophetess who led the worship among the women with tambourine and dancing. Be careful not to let the devil get ahold of your tongue. He loves to ruin relationships in families. But I dealt with Miriam and Aaron quickly before their gossip spread into the camp causing a rebellion against Moses—a division whereby some followed Aaron and Miriam and others remained loyal to Moses.
“You let your mouth loose in evil and your tongue frames deceit. You sit and speak against your brother; you slander your own mother’s son. These things you have done and I kept silence; you thought that I was just like you; I will reprove you and draw them up before your eyes. Psalm 50:20-21.
Be careful about speaking gossip, it will spread quickly and can divide a family, a church, a city, a nation. Watch the door of your mouth and keep a tight rein on your tongue. A tiny spark can set a whole forest ablaze.
See how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity; the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by hell. James 3:5-6.
But there is another fire you can fan into flame and it will take hold of your tongue and give you a whole new utterance, a heavenly language that unites in love.
On the day Pentecost was fulfilled there were a room filled with about 120 believers who all loved Me and wanted to live a new life now that they had experienced the risen Christ and seen Him ascend back to Heaven, but they needed help with their tongues and I gave it to them. A strong rushing wind filled the house and tongues as of fire rested on the head of each and went into their minds and their spirits as it rested upon them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance. Acts 2:1-4. And what were they speaking about? My mighty deeds. Acts 2:11. And everyone in a diverse crowd from different countries understood the heavenly language as if it was spoken in their native tongue. All at the same time coming out of 120 believers.
Jesus came to baptize you in the Holy Spirit and FIRE. Sacred heavenly fire. Not profane, lustful fire. The devil has a lying counterfeit for every heavenly reality. Never get pulled into his hell fire for it brings the worm of shame and is never extinguished.
And on the day the heavenly fire appeared and remained, people who heard and saw, 3,000 of them, got born again, filled with the Spirit, and saved unto eternal life. They wanted that unspeakable joy that gave them life eternal. They wanted to drink of the Holy Spirit also. They wanted that precious fire to enkindle their cold dead hearts. Right words make a difference. And so do wrong ones.
Therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord. 1 Peter 2:1-3.
Right words are My Words. They are not idle words, they are your very life. They can save your souls.
Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls. But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. James 1:21-22.
“Take to your heart all the words with which I am warning you today, which you shall command your sons to observe carefully, even all the words of this law. For it is not an idle word for you; indeed it is your life. And by this word you will prolong your days in the land, which you are about to cross the Jordan to possess.” Deuteronomy 32:46-47.
You may not use them that way but your words are tools by which you are framing and building your life, use them well. They are like sword thrusts that go to the heart where they can kill or save. Make sure the hand of your tongue has hold of the Sword of the Spirit and not the sword of hell.
He who speaks truth tells what is right, but a false witness, deceit. There is one who speaks rashly like the thrusts of a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing. Truthful lips will be established forever, but a lying tongue is only for a moment. Proverbs 12:17-19.
Do not put profane fire on My altar like the two sons of Aaron did. That fire burned them to a crisp. Watch out when you play with the devil’s fire, he will destroy you with it. But My heavenly fire will revive your cold spirits and renew your youth. Remember the two disciples on the Road to Emmaus? My Word set their cold, depressed, doubting hearts burning and they ran a distance that had taken them all day to walk in their depressed condition in record time.
And My Word will do that for you. But you cannot speak My Words and the words of the devil and expect to have and keep the victory Jesus has already won for you. But if you have slipped with your tongue, repent and run to Me and apply the Blood of Jesus to erase every trace of your guilt and sin.
I love you. Today we have merely touched on controlling your tongue to have the good life, but in the lessons to come I will teach you how to control your tongue so you can live the life that is life indeed, the abundant life I planned for you from the start, and love all your days as you see good.