1. Realize God spoke the world into existence and in like manner, we are also creating our world by the words we speak. (Genesis 1:2-30, Proverbs 18:20-21).
2. Understand that we change our lives by changing the words we speak, (Proverbs 12:6, James 3:3-5)
3. Know that our words will be what condemns us or justifies us in the end, (Matthew 12:36, Romans 14:12)
God is Good, Good is Not Always God
There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death. Proverbs 14:12
Who God is and everything He does is good. However, not everything that seems good is from God. Satan knows this, and even uses it to try to get us off the path. When Eve was in the garden with the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, she was not tempted by the evil side. She was tempted from the good side! Genesis 3:6-7 says, “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.” Eve saw that the tree was good, pleasant, and desirable. Satan tempted Jesus the same way in Matthew 4:8-9. “Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.” Satan was tempting Jesus with “glorious” kingdoms of the world that were created by God. He uses things that appear good and will even transform himself into an angel of light and his minions into ministers of righteousness to get us off the path (2 Corinthians 11:14-15).
To not be deceived, we must make sure our reference point for what is good is the Word of God and what He has revealed to us through the Holy Spirit. The problem arises when people relate their definition of good to their circumstances. For example, say you get offered a new job making twice the salary you are now. In reference to your current financial state, this “seems” good. However, if God has not told you to change jobs (John 16:13), it is actually an evil trap of the enemy masked to appear good. Proverbs 14:12 says, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.” It works the opposite direction also. Say God has told you to move to the worst neighborhood in the state as shown by the crime rate. In the natural, this seems like a bad move. However, if it looks bad, smells bad, tastes bad, and feels bad, but God says it is good, then it is good.
Proverbs 12:6 – The words of the wicked are, “Lie in wait for blood,”
But the mouth of the upright will deliver them.
Proverbs 18:21 – Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.
Bonus: Mark 11:23-24 – 23 For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. 24 Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.