The Power of Words

Proverbs 18:21: The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.

Welcome back to another inspirational moment from historical Christian romance novels.

Have you ever been wounded by the words of others? I’m guessing everyone is raising their hand. I’m not sure anyone goes through life without ever hearing an unkind word said about them or to them.

Now here’s the hard question. Have you ever wounded someone with your words? You may not be raising your hand now, but most likely your heart is pricked by that question. We are human and therefore imperfect which means we sometimes lash out with our words.

Proverbs 12:18 says, Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.

In the novel A Cowboy for Keeps by Jody Hedlund, the

hero Wyatt struggles to overcome the words of death

his stepfather spoke to him.

“The truth is,” Rusty continued with a harder jab, “you

were a failure, and you’ll always be a failure.” (p.89

Jody Hedlund, A Cowboy for Keeps 2021)

God’s word has much to say about our words, because God knows how our words can speak life or death over someone. Think about the reckless words and insults that have been slung at you. How long did it take for you to overcome them? Are you still wrestling with them? If you are I want to encourage you to give those words of death over to the Lord and let Him speak truth into your life.

At the same time ask Him to help you use your words to speak life into those around you. For His word says that the tongue has the power of life and the tongue of the wise brings healing. In a world full of hurt and riddled with sin, we need more people speaking words of life into and over people.

I’ll leave you with this thought: If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all.