By Toni Ford
Have you ever wondered if your words had any power? There is a story about a group of frogs that demonstrates how our words impact the lives of others.
A group of frogs were traveling through the woods and two of them fell into a deep pit. All the other frogs gathered around the pit. When they saw how deep the pit was, the frogs thought their two troubled friends were as good as dead.
The two frogs ignored the comments and tried to jump up out of the pit with all of their might. The other frogs kept telling them to stop, that they were as good as dead. Finally, one of the frogs took heed to what the other frogs were saying and gave up. He fell down and died.
The other frog continued to jump as hard as he could. Once again, the crowd of frogs yelled at him to stop the pain and just die. He jumped even harder and finally made it out. When he got out, the other frogs said, “Did you not hear us?” The frog explained to them that he was deaf and that he thought they were encouraging him the entire time!
There are so many lessons one could gather from this story, but the story to focus on today is the impact our words have on others, as well as the impact other’s words have on our own lives. The impact can be positive or negative. Scripture also reminds us of the importance of our words.
Psalm 34:13: “Then keep your tongue from speaking evil and your lips from telling lies!”
Psalm 141:3: “Set a guard over my mouth, Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips.”
Proverbs 15:28: “The heart of the godly thinks carefully before speaking.”
Proverbs 18:21: “The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.”
James 3:3-6: “The tongue is a small thing that makes grand speeches. But a tiny spark can set a great forest on fire. And among all the parts of the body, the tongue is a flame of fire. It is a whole world of wickedness, corrupting your entire body. It can set your whole life on fire, for it is set on fire by hell itself.”
The Lord knows the importance of our words and the impact those words can have on others, thus the reason for so many verses throughout Scripture about the tongue and our words.
Father, it is only fitting that we pray Your Word today over our words. Psalm 19:14: “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer.”
If you would like me to join you in prayer please email me at tonif77@gmail.com. I would love to pray for you!