The Word To Live By: 10-21-25
Phil Waggoner
A fool’s mouth is his destruction, and his lips are the snare of his soul. Proverbs 18:7
The Word To Live By: What you say with your mouth and believe in your heart will produce the fruit in your life that goes before you, behind you, above you, and below you (Mark 11:23, Proverbs 18:20,21, James 3:1-12). In fact, James 3:2 in the Message Translation says, “None of us is perfectly qualified. We get it wrong nearly every time we open our mouths. If you could find someone whose speech was perfectly true, you’d have a perfect person, in perfect control of life.” What’s the only thing in life that is perfectly true? THE WORD OF GOD! So, when you start your day with what the Bible says about you and your family, you’re starting the day ahead of the game. A word out of your mouth may seem of no account, but it can accomplish nearly anything—or destroy it! Your mouth speaks what your heart is full of. Your heart is full of what you think about. In Matthew 12:33-37, Jesus said, “Either make the tree good and its fruit good or make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit. You brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak what is good? For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart. The good man brings out of his good treasure what is good; and the evil man brings out of his evil treasure what is evil.” What I want you to see there is that Jesus said you make the tree bad or good, not the circumstances. 2 Corinthians 4:13 tells us, “And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, ‘I believed and therefore I spoke,’ we also believe and therefore speak.” Faith speaks faith. Faith in God. Do you want to know what’s in your heart? Listen to what you say when you are being squeezed by life. Not what you think, but what you say. You don’t have to say everything you think. You can pause and think, “What does God say about this situation?” before you speak. If you don’t know, you at least know that He’s a good God who is on your side and wants the best for you, so don’t say anything at all. I have mastered the art of smiling and nodding and walking away. I’ll close with Proverbs 4:23, “Guard your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.” How do the issues of life get out? Through your lips. How do you guard it? Overload it with the promises of God.
Read through the Bible in a year: Revelation 21-22; Isaiah 9-10; Psalms 111;
Read through the New Testament and Proverbs: Proverbs 21, Luke 13:1-17, Titus 3
The sum of Thy Word is Truth Psalm 119:160