Powerful Words
“Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man; but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man.”
We really need to watch what we say - there is tremendous power in the spoken word! It can break down a person and it can also build up a person. If you have got nothing good to say about someone, then rather don’t say anything at all.
Maybe some of us men have to ask the Lord today, to please curb that temper that we have because we often say something in the moment, in a fit of temper, then afterwards we wish that we had never said it at all. Things that are said on the spur of the moment don’t do anybody any good.
You know you might laugh but sometimes it is good to count to ten before you say something, normally you won’t say it at all.
I remember, many, many years ago, a lovely lady - She came to me and she was broken-hearted, she said: “Angus, I really want you to pray for me… You see, my husband had a drinking problem and he used to come home in the early hours of the morning and collapse into the bed next to me - it used to make me so angry”. The one day he did just that. He came home at about three in the morning and passed out on the bed and she turned to him and she said, “I wish you would just die.”
And you know, she woke up in the morning feeling bad about what she had said, she shook her husband to wake him up, but he had had a heart attack and had died. And she said, “Angus, I didn’t mean it. I wish I could say sorry.” We prayed together and God, I know, forgave her. But she had to deal with that issue in her life.
Be careful what you say. Jesus says, it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a man but it is what comes out of his mouth. It is not what you eat, it is what you say.
And then I remember at a meeting with a whole lot of men, years ago, The Holy Spirit was moving so powerfully and we were speaking about the very same thing. A man came up onto the platform and he broke down and cried - a big, strong ex-policeman. He said, “I have never told my son that I love him and that he is good enough.”
And at that moment, a young 18 year old boy came running down the aisle, tears streaming from his face, “Dad, I love you!” The two of them embraced in front of a host of men.
Do you know that that boy could not even make the third rugby team at his school but after his Dad’s affirmation, after his Dad speaking life into that young man, he went back and he made the first team, then went on to be semi-professional sportsman.
I want to say to you today, be careful what you say. God bless you and have a wonderful Sunday.