Guarding Our Mouths
We can walk without falling in this world if we learn to control what we speak. James 3:2b says, “If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body.” This is key, because our tongues are able to control our whole body! James refers to the tongue like a rudder of a large ship. The pilot can direct the ship wherever he wants it to go from the small rudder. We should be using our tongues the same way. If you do not want sin in your life, then start speaking the Word with your tongue. Affirm yourself every morning. Memorize and quote Psalm 119:9-11. “How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word. With my whole heart I have sought You; Oh, let me not wander from Your commandments! Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You.” As you are faithful to memorize and speak the Word over your life, your body will come into alignment with what you are speaking.
If you are not speaking God’s Word you will reap Proverbs 17:20b which says, “He who has a perverse tongue falls into evil.” The definition of perverse is “improper, incorrect, turned away from what is right or good.” So, any time we are speaking something contrary to God’s Word, we have a perverse tongue and can fall into evil? Actually, Proverbs 17:20 says he falls into evil. It does not say he can fall into evil. It says he falls into evil, but this fall can be prevented. Psalm 141:3 says, “Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; Keep watch over the door of my lips.” If we guard our mouths we keep from defiling ourselves also. Matthew 15:11 says it’s “Not what goes into the mouth [that] defiles a man; but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man.” So we can tame our tongues to speak only God’s Word. Then set a guard over our mouth to not speak anything else. As we do this we will prevent ourselves from being defiled, falling into evil, or sin.
Preventing Traps from the Words We Speak
If we are speaking contrary to God’s Word, we are actually setting traps for ourselves to fall into. Proverbs 6:2a says, “You are snared by the words of your mouth.” This same sentiment is echoed in Proverbs 12:6. “The words of the wicked are, lie in wait for blood, but the mouth of the upright will deliver them.” You may say many bad things and not see anything bad come from it. However, according to Proverbs 12:6 those words are waiting for the right opportunity to attack you. For example, say you make a promise to someone, maybe tell your kids that you will take them out for ice cream on the weekend. The weekend comes, and you forget to take them out. No big deal right? Wrong! Your promise that you spoke is lying in wait for blood. A broken promise can lead to a lack of trust and maybe even worse. This principle applies to everything we speak, not just promises. Proverbs 26:2 says, “Like a fluttering sparrow or a darting swallow, an undeserved curse does not come to rest.” So if you speak evil over someone or say “I hope you….”, if that curse is undeserved it just might boomerang back on you because it does not come to rest!
Genesis 8:22ab says that “While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest…. shall not cease.” Your words are the seed and you will eat of their harvest (Mark 4:14). However, the harvest may not be immediate. Isaiah 55:10-11 says, “For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, 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.” You will reap what you have sown with your words (Galatians 6:7-9). The perverse words you have spoken are waiting for blood! Bind them up in the name of Jesus. Proverbs 12:6 says that “the mouth of the upright will deliver them.”