Fruit of Our Words

April 15, 2024 Cathy

The tongue can bring death or life; those who love to talk will reap the consequences. [Proverbs 18:21].

QUOTE: Words have special powers. The power to create smiles or frowns. The power to generate laughs or tears. The power to lift up or put down. The power to motivate or demotivate. The power to teach good or evil. The power to express love or hate. The power to give or take. The power to heal or to harm. Choose your words carefully (A.D. Williams).

FRUIT OF OUR WORDS

Life, death, blessings, and curses are in the power of our tongue and our thoughts. Guard EVERY thought and word you make concerning yourself, your business, your family, and every part of your life. It’s not just one thought or one seed, it’s all those sacred seeds of every single thought that are sown and grow over the years that will have an impact on our lives.

This concept of our thoughts controlling how our life turns out is very personal to me. As I sat on my veranda at my beachfront condo in Belize looking out at the ocean for the last time, I wondered, how did I get here?? This was the day I had to move out of my condo and wondering what I was going to do next. What did I “think” to get myself into this situation? This question haunted me for years.

I was in the personal development industry, had recently graduated from the John Maxwell coaching program, was growing my coaching business working with women from other countries that lived there and also Belizean women, had worked through the Think and Grow Rich book, had worked with coaches on my thinking, and had worked through much of my family challenges. I had learned the power of my thoughts, had done extensive work on myself and paid several thousands of dollars for coaching, training, and personal development. So, what in the world had I “thought” that got me here??

I’d like to go back to the story of Job for a moment. If you remember, in this story, there were a lot of things that happened to Job. Job lost everything he had, the enemy thought for sure Job would crumble, and his friends believed he must have done something evil to cause his problems, even his own wife told him to curse God. [Job 2:9]

During my major biscuit flying season, I too had several people doubt, wonder, question, and walk away. They asked questions in a demeaning and hurtful way. It was hurtful because at the time I had no answers to their questions. It was painful because it felt like some people were insinuating that I must have done something terribly wrong to have deserved or caused my problems, just like Job’s friends did.

The thing is, girlfriends, we are not promised a life with no flying biscuits. Sometimes problems, pain, and challenges will come regardless of the goals we have set, no matter what right things we are doing, or how many backup plans we have in place. We do have an enemy that is roaming around trying to steal, kill, and destroy everything that God has promised us.

At times things will be so overwhelmingly painful that we won’t have answers or understand why things happen. We may not be able to pray or even think. Also, I believe there are times when we cause our own problems by the thoughts that we have, without even knowing it.

A lot of people believe that the Lord gives us problems to teach us something and he will simply allow the biscuits to fly as he did with Job. That I don’t believe is true, God gave us the Word to teach us, not problems. Now yes, God can use situations and challenges to work through us however, God does not cause the problems. The enemy does and people always tend to get mad at the wrong entity.

God took His protection off Job and the devil to wreak havoc in Job’s life. God knew that no matter what the devil did to him, Job would honor God. Job went through many struggles, had all sorts of thoughts, and even got mad at God. However, he came to his senses and realized that God had always been good to him and that regardless of what was going on God loved Job.

So, did my thoughts cause my problems? Possibly, there may have been some beliefs and thoughts that were limiting my usefulness for the Lord. But I believe now that I may not have been strong enough in my faith and in the Word, so when biscuits came flying, I got off track.

My biscuit flying season was the most devastating season that I went through, however, I stood firm the only I knew how to at that time and kept pressing on with the Lord instead of getting mad at God. I would not have had the peace I had without my relationship with the lord.

You WILL eat the fruit of your words: life, death, blessing, and curses are in the power of the tongue and our thoughts. The scary part is that those three parts of the brain we talked about work together and sometimes against us because of what is put into our minds. At times we might not even know that the thoughts we are thinking could devastate us.

It’s not only the seeds that we plant in our minds but its also the seeds others have planted. I was told all my life that was I ugly, good for nothing, and worthless. I was also that outcast kid in school who was bullied and made fun of daily. Unknown to me, I am sure seeds of limiting beliefs were being planted and rooted very early in my life. These thoughts can become stuck in our subconscious mind and become stumbling blocks that we are not even aware of. As we have seen, these deeply embedded thoughts can bring life, or they can destroy.

FRUIT OF OUR WORDS: The fruit in our life is not brought forth through one seed, it’s all those sacred seeds sown, from every single thought that has been accumulated over time. The best thing we can do for ourselves is BE IN THE WORD, be careful of the people we spend time with, what things we listen to, what we read or watch, or what we allow to come into our minds. Because over time, whatever we put into our minds eventually has to come out through our words, decisions, and actions.

DAILY ACTION STEP
Say to yourself out loud
I AM WHO GOD SAYS I AM

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FRIENDLY REMINDER: take out your journal and write down your thoughts, takeaways, and progress for this week!

TAKEAWAY GEMS

There is fruit from our words, good and not so good.
Life, death, blessings, and curses are in the power of the tongue and our thoughts.
Guard EVERY thought and word you make concerning yourself, your business, your family, and every part of your life.
All those sacred seeds of every single thought that accumulate over the years.
Sometimes life will happen regardless of the goals we have, no matter what right things we are doing, or how many plans we have in place.
Our thoughts and what we think about ourselves is CRITICAL.
It’s not just one thought seed, it’s the accumulation of each sacred seed that will produce the fruit in our lives.

QUESTIONS TO “THINK ON”

What is some fruit you harvested from seeds that were sown?
What are some different thoughts you can start to sow about YOU?
What life situation has helped you stop, evaluate, and get back on HIS path?

ACTION STEP
EAT YOUR FRUIT: This week is a simple exercise that will help you develop a habit of Stellar Thinking. Since most of us eat all day long, every time you put something into your mouth, THINK about what you are THINKING ABOUT YOU.

DAILY SCRIPTURES

DAY 1: His wife said to him, Are you still trying to maintain your integrity? Curse God and die. But Job replied, you talk like a foolish woman. Should we accept only good things from the hand of God and never anything bad? So in all this, Job said nothing wrong. [Job 2:9-10]

DAY 2: Therefore, they must eat the bitter fruit of living their own way, choking on their own schemes. [Proverbs 1:31]

DAY 3: Wise words will win you a good meal, but treacherous people have an appetite for violence. Those who control their tongue will have a long life; opening your mouth can ruin everything. [Proverbs 13:2-3]

DAY 4: The tongue can bring death or life; those who love to talk will reap the consequences. [Proverbs 18:21]

DAY 5: Timely advice is lovely, like golden apples in a silver basket. [Proverbs 25:11]

DAY 6: Take control of what I say, O Lord, and guard my lips. [Psalm 141:3]

DAY 7: May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. [Psalm 19:14]