June 9, 2013 … The Power of Words

Daily Berry Patch Devotions in 2013 - Day 160

Passage of the Day #1: Proverbs 18: 21 [Who would deny the power of words? ] [NLT] …  
21 Those who love to talk will experience the consequences, for the tongue can kill or nourish life.
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Reference Passage #1: Isaiah 55: 11 [God declares the power of His words.] [NKJV] …  
11 So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it. 

Reference Passage #2: 2nd Timothy 3: 16-17 [God very word was created to shape our interaction in the world.] [NKJV] …  
16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. 

Reference Passage #3: Ephesians 4: 29 [Paul knew that corrupt communication could have corrupt consequences and the opposite being the case as well ] [NKJV] …  
29 Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.

Reference Passage #4: James 3: 2-11 [Jesus’ brother knew just how powerful was the tongue for shaping society. ] [NKJV] … See this link …

My Journal for Today: Who would deny, in this age of information and communication, the power that words have to shape interpersonal interaction as well as social action. And the evidence in today’s world of the “power of the tongue” is everywhere.

Teens in rapidly increasing numbers are committing suicide because they’ve been bullied on Facebook. Words from social media on the internet are being used to incite riots all over the world. Marriages are disintegrating because wives are being verbally abused by husbands; and husbands escape their duties as parents because of the disrespect they feel verbally from their wives. In the workplace some overachieve and some underachieve because they were wounded by their fathers by not getting verbal affirmation as a child.

God certainly recognized the power of words as we read in both the Old and New Testaments. In Isaiah 55: 11 we read God’s own declaration that the words from His Tongue would always produce what He intended for His words; and in 2nd Timothy 3: 16-17 we read why God codified His word into our Scripture, … i.e., to reshape how we live and move and have our being. The Apostle Paul realized the power of words to destroy or to encourage when he wrote what we read in Eph. 4: 29, copied above for your edification. And finally, in God’s written word, we read of the treatise by Jesus’ brother, James, from James 3 (linked above), about the disproportionate power of the tongue as an organ of the body to move man toward greatness or incredible destructiveness.

Today you and I are going to have the opportunity to influence the world for good or evil by the words we choose to speak or to write. Here I sit, shaping some words, … to influence my own life, yes, but also possibly to influence you if you’re reading here with me. Will my words, hopefully deftly influenced by God’s word, have any influence on you?

But during the day today, I can choose to use my words to show love to my wife, encourage my kids or grandkids, and to influence those with whom I’ll make contact. Will my words tear them down or lift them up? We’ll see; but I hope we’ll all go out and use our tongue to have the power of God’s word or the intentional influence which James wrote about in his treatise on the tongue to influence all of us as the power God has give us through words to shape the world.

My Prayer for Today … Lord, help me to use my words for Your intended purposes, avoiding any corrupt communication which might negatively influence another. … Amen