Todd Bailey Ministries

po box 272136
fort collins, colorado  80527
toll-free (888) 600-7855

Seasoned Speech

Share |

Words are the chief method we use to communicate to each other. Each time we open our mouths to communicate to someone, we convey our thoughts, feelings, emotions and intentions, not only by what we say, but how we say it. What we say and confess has more of an effect on us than we think! Words are a powerful tool. If it were not so, God would not have told us that death and life lie in the power of the tongue! That's why the Bible tells us that our speech should be seasoned with grace, meaning we are to speak with wholesome, winsome speech. 

I believe God's purpose for speech is threefold: 
(1)To edify man. "Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearer." (Ephesians 4:29) 
(2)To praise God. "They shall speak of the glory of thy Kingdom, and talk of thy power, to make known to the sons of men his mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of his kingdom." (Psalm 145:11-12) 
(3)To proclaim the gospel. "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature." (Mark 16:15)

However, sometimes we go outside of these guidelines, and that's when we tend to get in trouble!

The importance of holding the tongue before speaking is brought up repeatedly in the Bible. Psalm 39:1 says to keep your "mouth with a bridle." Now, bridling your mouth doesn't mean to keep silent all the time! If you've seen a bridle on a horse, you know that the horse can still eat, drink, and make noise with the bridle on. The bridle is used to guide a horse in the direction it should go, and hold the animal back from proceeding further than it ought to. In the same way, we need to use the Word of God to bridle our speech. The Bible will guide us in the right direction, and hold us back from saying things outside of God's will. Keeping close control of every word we speak may seem meticulous, but the end result will be the advancement of the Gospel.

You see, the words that proceed from our mouths speak to our integrity. If we are blessing God out of one side of our mouth, and cursing man out of the other, how can we testify to the gospel of the grace of God? The lost will only be convinced by the fruit of our lips.

Psalm 77:12 states: "I will meditate also of all thy work, and talk of thy doings." If our hearts and minds are continually filled with the Word, we'll have no choice but to speak forth speech seasoned with grace; for out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks!