The Power of Our Words
Bible passage: James 3:5-12
Focus verse: Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one. Colossians 4:6 NKJV
My husband and I argued recently, cutting each other’s hearts with sharp words. He accused me of moving his tool–again. After repeatedly hearing such accusations of doing something I didn’t do, I felt irritated, so I defended my actions. He took a verbal jab at me to win the battle, so I shot back with an assault that dealt a low blow. I suddenly realized my huge mistake as he winced. I’d learned how to negotiate through arguments to work for a solution with my First Blessing, yet I resorted to trying to win a fight. Why? My response was even worse than his. I knew better than to do that. How can I tell him, “I love you,” and mean it after verbally attacking him? After a moment of reflection, I came back to apologize for hurting him. I also resolved to work toward a solution. He apologized for blaming me for his missing tools, which he admitted misplacing, and determined to ask if I had seen them. The power of my words really showed that day.
God’s Word tells us that our words are far more powerful than we realize. Our words have the power to tear people down or build them up. It’s hard to do sometimes when we are furious, feeling wounded by the other person’s words. Yet, both hurtful and gracious words should not come from the same mouth as Christ-followers. One destroys while the other brings life. Therefore, our relationships flourish when our responses are gracious and helpful to those we answer.
Once toxic words flow out of our mouths, we can’t take them back. They can destroy relationships by wounding people. No one wins. But when we share the truth with Christ’s love, everyone wins. So when you find yourself in the heat of an argument or tense discussion, ask yourself, “Will my words build up this person? Will they be kind yet truthful? Will they build bridges or burn them?” Then, when you choose your words carefully, reflect gracious truth in your conversations, and watch your relationships thrive.
Prayer: Lord, help me choose my words carefully. Let them be gracious and helpful to build up the people in our discussions. Give me Your ears to hear what someone means rather than react to what I believe I hear. Thank you for the relationships you have given me. May I love them with Your heart. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
#twiceblessed
Hello Charlaine,
I just read your post, Power of Your Words. I am impressed and it was very informative. I love the personal touch with your story of a minor disagreement with your husband where you displayed your imperfections.
I wanted you to know that you and I both are contributing writers to the Christian publication Faith Filled Family Magazine. My latest article was published in the August edition, Raising Godly Children page 48. That is also how I found you because I read your article! Also, I like the way your blog site pops out the posts when scrolling down from the top tabs. I most certainly would like to know how that was accomplished.
To be honest I had wanted to browse your website at http://www.totallyfit4life.net to see if there was something I could help tweak to bring you more visitors to your landing page or to create engaging copy. It seems I was not able to get the link to work. I wanted you to be aware of it.
I know your ministry is geared towards women only, however much like you I also seek to speak to troubled youth and engage them with the tools and wisdom to make the critical choices that will guide their future.
As an aspiring copy writer, blogger, writer, and author I regard my writing as a ministry.
Please let me know if there is anything that I can do to help or assist you in getting your message to a larger audience. I am currently on the WordPress.com platform. If I wanted to sell my books on my site does that mean I would have to switch to the WordPress.org domain to be able to facilitate direct sales of my book from the site? Do you have experience with that? As I see you also have authored several books.
Please contact me at eugenecoghill@msn.com. May God continue to bless you as you bless others with health, education, and God’s love.
Sincerely,
Eugene Coghill
http://www.eugenecoghill.com
Hi, Eugene! It’s nice to meet you. Thank you for contacting me. I haven’t written for FFFM for quite a while. My website http://www.totallyfit4life.net no longer exists. It is now http://www.betotallyfitforlife.com, also a subdomain of this website http://www.charlainemartin.com. Be Totally Fit for Life! ministers mostly to women, although some men also follow my blog and social media posts. Currently, I don’t have money in my budget to hire a copywriter. As for my blog post titles popping out, that feature comes with the theme. You can choose themes with some really great features on WordPress.org. I can’t say it’s easy to set up a Web Store. Paypal offers a platform, but I’ve not been able to utilize it well. Instead, I posted a WordPress Form with all the fields I need to fill out. A reader submits it, and I send them an invoice through PayPal, they pay, then I mail their books to them. May God bless you with insight and the words He wants you to express His love to your readers.