Text: Hebrews 4:12: For the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Praises unto our
Father who is so loving and gracious and merciful and kind to us-ward! He loved us so much that He proved it by
taking our place at Calvary. As we
continuously give our all to Him, we find Him to be everything we need. All we have to do is continue in His Word and
obey!
As we read and study
His Word we know that every Word is power packed and meaningful! Even in Genesis 1:3 we see how God
said, “Let there be light” and it was
so: Genesis 1:6 “Let there be a firmament in the midst of
the waters” and it was so: Genesis
1:11 God said, “Let the earth bring
forth grass, herb yielding seed” and it was so. He spoke everything into existence telling it
just what to do! Such words, such
creative power!! Our words also have
that same creative power, whether we speak negative or positive. With all we have attained in knowledge in
spiritual truths, our Father wants us to “watch
our words”!
The word itself in the Greek is log’os, meaning something said (including the thought); a topic, subject of disclosure;
also reasoning (the mental faculty or motive).
Words are
powerful. They can be productive, creative and destructive. In growing up we would say, “Sticks and stones may break my bones but
words can never hurt me”. Especially
if you found out folks were talking about you or you get into an altercation
and they’re saying ugly things to you.
We’d poke our tongue out at them and say “nan-nan-na-nan-nan”! We did
those things when we were younger not realizing that saying “words will never hurt me”, was a
lie. And because we know now that “our words can hurt and destroy” others,
ourselves as well, we see people and want them to see us in a different light
and allow our words to be productive and creative and not destructive toward
one another or in relation to ourselves.
Words that are destructive can kill one’s influence or assassinate one’s
character, even after the bones have healed!
Let’s take a look
at two examples in scripture as to what “negativity”
does:
·
Proverbs
18:21: Death and life are in the
power of the tongue: and they that love
it shall eat the fruit thereof.
Death is the
root word ma’veth, meaning death (natural or violent); the dead, their
place or state (hades); pestilence; ruin; destroy; die; slay.
Life is cha’y, meaning to be alive; live / and chayah’, meaning to revive; live; nourish up; preserve (alive); quicken; recover;
repair; restore (to life); be whole.
·
Proverbs
11:9: A hypocrite with his mouth
destroys his neighbor.
The “neighbor” in this verse is not just the
person next door, but also the other members of the body of Christ. The latter part of this verse says:
·
“But through knowledge shall the just be
delivered”.
Yes we have spoken so
negatively about things, especially when we were growing up, not knowing we’d
have everything we said. Even now some
negative things may come out, but when you know better you do better! Jesus said:
·
Matthew
12:36: Every idle word that men shall
speak, they shall give account thereof in the Day of Judgment. Vs 37: For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt
be condemned.
This word idle is the Greek word argos’, meaning, to be inactive, unemployed, lazy, useless, barren,
and slow. So any “idle” (negative) word we speak will
yield no return because of its inactivity.
So let us speak only that which is positive and that which will yield
good return and productivity!
When you hear people
say today, “Gas is so high I’m going to
have to get me a bicycle”! What are
you saying? Are you agreeing or do you
say, “Regardless of the high prices, I’m
still going to drive my car wherever I need to go?” People are saying, “Food is so high, I can’t even afford it and I don’t know what I’m
going to do!” Do you agree with that
or do you say, “I’m still going to eat
regardless of the prices because I know in whom I trust!”
Unconsciously,
sometimes it’s easy to agree with the negative but we have to be mindful of our words. That’s why we must be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath (James 1:19).
·
Proverbs
6:2: Thou art snared (trapped;
entangled; seduced; enticed) with the words of thy mouth; thou art taken
(smuggled in; unawares brought in) with the words of thy mouth.
Exodus 10:28,
we see how Pharaoh got himself in a snare
with what he said to Moses after God had sent the plague of darkness. But Pharaoh still wanted to hold on to the
flock and herd and send Moses away with only the little ones. God hardened Pharaoh’s heart and Pharaoh “ensnared” himself when he said to
Moses:
·
Vs 28:
And Pharaoh said unto him, “Get thee from
me, take heed to thyself, see my face no more; for in that day thou
see my face thou shalt die.”
·
Vs 29: And Moses said, “Thou hast spoken well, I
will see thy face again no more.”
And Moses didn’t see
Pharaoh’s face anymore. Remember, by thy words thou art justified, or thou art
condemned (Matthew 12:37).
·
Psalm
136:13: To him which divided the Red
sea into parts: for his mercy endures
forever: vs 14: And made Israel to pass through the midst
of it: for his mercy endures
forever: vs 15: But overthrew Pharaoh and his host in
the Red sea: for his mercy endures
forever.
Numbers 13:21-33
(search of Canaan and the report of the spies): vs 33: And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the
giants: and we were in our own sight
as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.
Exodus 33 (the journey into Canaan):
·
Vs 1: And the LORD said unto Moses, “Depart and
go up hence, thou and the people which thou hast brought up out of the land of
Egypt, unto the land which I swear unto Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob saying
unto thy seed will I give it.”
·
Vs 2: And I will send an angel before thee; and
I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite,
the Hivite, and the Jebusite:
·
Vs 3a: Unto a land flowing with milk and honey:
Up to this point they
were in Hazeroth (Numbers 13), and stayed there until Miriam was brought back
to the camp after being healed from leprosy for murmuring against her brother
Moses. After she returned to the camp
they pitched in the wilderness of Paran.
Paran was between Sinai and Canaan.
This is the scene of much of their wanderings in the wilderness. They were in Paran for forty years after
leaving Sinai and before passing over into Canaan.
Paran means, region of caverns, lurking and searching. It was a desert of Arabia. Arabia in Hebrew and Greek is arab (arawb’) sterility (to be sterile or not
having the ability to produce). Arabia’s continued definition in Hebrew
is to intermix with the idea of covering
with a texture; to grow dusky at sundown; evening; darkened. Israel many times became caught up with idol
worship and also walked in unbelief, but those that believed God He carried them
into the Promise Land. Paran is the
place the Israelites wandered for 40 years between Sinai and the Promise Land
(Numbers 10:12; 12:16).
Exodus chapter
thirteen Moses sends out the twelve spies to Canaan, men of every tribe of
Israel and everyone was a ruler among them.
We have just read in
Exodus 33:1-3 how God had given them the land and what He would do to all their
enemies, the “ites”. We know how congregations believe their
Pastors and those in authority and some, not all, will give you the truth!! But listen to the report of these twelve
leaders: (also Numbers 13:26-33).
·
Vs 30:
Caleb stilled the people before Moses and
said, “Let us go up at once and possess it; for we are well able to overcome
it.”
·
Vs 31:
But the men that went up with him said, “We
be not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we.”
·
Vs 32: And they brought up an evil report
of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, the
land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eats up the
inhabitants thereof, and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great
stature.
·
Vs 33: And there we saw the giants, the sons of
Anak, which come of the giants: and
we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.
Exodus 33:2 God
had already said that He would send an angel before them and will drive out
the Canaanite, the Amorite, and the
Hittite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite. Two of the spies, Joshua and
Caleb, came back with the “grapes”,
but the other ten came back with the “gripes”! Evidently, God’s past faithfulness did not
bring these ten men into a loyal relationship with Him and they did not trust
in God and His promises concerning their future. Their lack of faith stood in marked contrast
to that of Joshua and Caleb!
The ten came back
with negativity in unbelief and fear, bringing about low self-esteem: Numbers 13:33: We were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their
sight.” Again, Proverbs 6:2: Thou art snared (trapped;
entangled; seduced; enticed) with the
words of thy mouth; thou art taken (smuggled in; unawares
brought in) with the words of thy
mouth.
Only two, Joshua and
Caleb stood against the majority. We
must stand on God’s Word even if the majority is against us!
James chapter
three talks about the mouth and that little “pink tornado” encaged by the teeth, called the tongue can change your whole
world!! [Read the whole chapter]:
·
Vs 5:
Even so the tongue is a little member,
and boasts great things. “Behold how
great a matter a little fire kindles!”
·
Vs 6: The tongue is a fire (pur) [lightning; fiery]: [That’s
why we must stop getting angry and saying, “That thing burnt me up”]
(again “our words”): a world of iniquity (adiki’a) [injustice; moral wrongfulness;
unrighteousness]: so is the
tongue among our members, that it defiles the whole body and sets on fire the
course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.
·
Vs 8: The tongue can NO MAN tame; it is an
unruly evil, full of deadly poison.
This “hell” is not beneath the surface
of the physical earth.
This information is
from the Encyclopedia Britannica. Beneath the earth’s skin-like crust
are the hot lifeless mantle,
the outer core, and the inner core:
·
The
mantle: a thick layer of solid rock
below the earth’s crust. It goes down
1,800 miles. The upper part of the
mantle has a temperature of about 1,600 degrees Fahrenheit (870 degrees C). This temperature gradually increases down
through the mantle to about 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit (2,200 degrees C):
·
The
outer core: begins about 1,800 miles
below the earth’s surface. The temperature
of the outer core ranges from about 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit (2,200
degrees C) in the uppermost parts to perhaps 9,000 degrees Fahrenheit
(5,000 degrees C) in the deepest parts:
·
The inner
core: the Ball Shaped Inner Core lies within the outer core
and makes up the center of the earth.
The boundary between the outer and inner cores is about 3,200
miles below the earth’s surface.
The center of the inner core is about 800 miles below this boundary
or about 4,000 miles below the earth’s surface. The temperature
in this core may be as high as 9,000 degrees Fahrenheit (5000 degrees C).
Religiously speaking,
which area can you really call “hell”? I’m sure someone would suggest that it’s the “hottest area”. Jesus help us Lord!
The word “hell” in James 3:6, is from the
root word Gehenna or the Valley of
(the son of) Hinnom (lamentation), a valley of Jerusalem, used (fig.) as
a name for the place (or state) of everlasting punishment; hell; hell fire. In the Hebrew it’s also the name Tophet.
Why is it everlasting? It is everlasting because it is the fire of
correction, the fire of God purifying out of man everything that is not like
God Himself. God created and made man in His own image and after His likeness
and anything in man’s character that is not like God, He consumes it with His
fire.
·
Our God is a consuming fire (Hebrews
12:29).
Consuming is the root
word katanalis’ko, meaning to consume utterly. Then it goes to Kata’, meaning down (in place or time); daily; as (concerning, or pertaining to
touching); throughout; uttermost. Then
to analis’ko, meaning to use up, ie destroy. Any place man is, outside of “heaven” (higher places of spiritual elevation) is “hell”, or that which
is downward (low, carnal, fleshly,
as pertains to darkness)! There are
two things that fire does, it will purify or consume. When man turns to God through Jesus Christ,
by the power of the Holy Ghost, yielding to Him and obeying Him, the fire of
God will purify (cleanse; refine;
decontaminate) him, but if man rejects God, the same fire that would “purify”
him, will “consume” (devour or
destroy) him. People are going
through “hell” right now because of
the situations they’re in or the circumstances surrounding them. Psalm 141:7, “Our bones are scattered at the grave’s mouth”. Much of the “hell” people are in may have
to do with the words that they have
spoken out of their own mouth or “the
grave’s mouth”. Again,
·
Matthew
12:36: Every idle (inactive,
unemployed, lazy, useless, barren, and slow) word that men shall speak,
they shall give account thereof in the Day of Judgment.
The “day of
judgment” is not when someone dies and stands before God. The “judgment
day” begins when those “idle words”
proceeds out of someone’s mouth! By the
way, we’re already standing before Him, or better than that, we’re in God and
He is in us! (1 John 4:4) Greater is he that is in you, than he
that is in the world.
·
Vs 37:
For by thy words thou shalt be
justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.
Gehenna or the valley of Hinnom (lamentation) or hell fire, was located
on the south side of Jerusalem where they burned the rubbish of the city and
dead caucuses of animals. Later
idolatrous kings as Ahaz and Manasseh made their children pass through the fire
in this valley, 2 Kings 16:3; 2 Chronicles 28:3; 33:6, and the wicked or evil
custom of infant sacrifice to the fire gods were made there.
Remember James 3:6: The tongue (glossa’)[language]
is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue [language] among our members, that it defiles the
whole body and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of
hell: and vs 8: The tongue can NO MAN tame; it is an unruly
evil, full of deadly poison (ios – e-os’) [venom].
But thanks be to God
our Father, He has the antidote to tame it with which is His Word!! Because as we mature we no longer speak like
Adam (the old man), speaking
harsh and unkind words, lying, exaggerating (making statements that represent something as better or worse than it
really is), teaching false doctrine, slander, gossiping, backbiting and
boasting. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ
shall all be made alive (1 Corinthians 15:22). But we will remember:
·
Psalm
19:14: Let the words of my mouth and
the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength,
and my redeemer.
·
Proverbs
15: 1-2: A soft answer turns away
wrath: but grievous words stir up
anger. The tongue (lashown’) [instrument of speech; language; speaker] of
the wise uses knowledge aright: but
the mouth of fools pours out foolishness.
And because of the
Holy Ghost we can do what 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 says:
·
Vs 3: Though we walk in the flesh, we do not war
after the flesh:
·
Vs 4: (For the weapons of our warfare are not
carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds);
·
Vs 5: Casting down imaginations and every high
thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into
captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.
·
Vs 6:
And having a readiness to revenge all
disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.
You see, God’s got our back!!! There is nothing going on with us that He has not provided a remedy for or a way of escape. There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able; but will with the temptation also make away to escape, that you may be able to bare it (1 Corinthians 10:13). THAT IS GOOD NEWS!!!
Again, God wants us
to “watch our words”!!!
On the positive
side:
·
Proverbs
21:23: Whoso keeps his mouth and his
tongue, keeps his soul from troubles.
Because we can trust
and depend on our Father, we can find consolation in everything He says and has
said!
While reflecting on
our inheritance we can rest in it! Our inheritance is incorruptible and
undefiled, and it fades not away (1 Peter 1:4). Our Father has made this possible! Many things are included in our inheritance –
eternal and everlasting life (John
3:15-16); we are lively stones (1
Peter 2:5); a chosen generation, royal priesthood, a holy nation, peculiar people
(vs 9); priests and kings (Revelation
1:6; 5:10). We’re super-humans, we’re ministers of “flaming fire” (Hebrews
1:7); we are as our Savior Jesus is, from
above and not beneath (John 8:23); we’re
sons (Galatians 4:7); we’re children
(sons) of light and of the day (1 Thessalonians 5:5).
That’s what I’m
declaring because I believe it! Not only
do I believe it, but I know it!!
Continue to profess
and believe and DO NOT allow your mouth and tongue to talk you out of it!
Evangelist Mary Perry