Words Reveal Your Heart's Truth

Luke 6:45 “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.”

In the above quoted passage of scripture the Lord Jesus taught us a very important truth when He said that out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. In scripture, the heart can refer to either the spirit or the mind, depending on the context of the passage. In the context of this passage the heart is referring to our minds, for we speak from our understanding and not from our spirits (1 Corinthians 14:14). And so when Jesus teaches us that our mouths speak out of the abundance of our hearts, He is referring to the fact that that which dominates our thinking (our mindsets) also dominates our speech. The speech that Jesus is referring to in this passage is that which flows naturally out of people’s mouths throughout the course of the day. In other words, whatever we are fully convinced about in our minds naturally dominates what we say on any given subject. We have already mentioned that all believers come into the kingdom of God with mindsets that are contrary to God’s word, and so clearly their speech patterns will be a reflection of those mindsets. In the previous section we discussed the fact that as believers we need to change our mindsets to line up with God’s word, and we do that through meditation on His word. And so consequently we can see from this passage that the more we meditate on God’s word the more His word will begin to influence our speech patterns as a natural outworking of our changing mindsets. Notice that our Lord Jesus links our experience to the words that we speak, for He says that we bring forth either good or bad things, depending on what dominates our speech. The reason that good things are brought forth in the life of the believer is because God’s power is always released when His word is declared over our lives, for the scripture declares that without the word of God nothing was made that is made (John 1:1-3). And so the reality is that the more we meditate on God’s word the more we will find that same word beginning to dominate our speech, which ultimately results in God’s power being made manifest in our lives.

Joshua 1:8 “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.”

We looked at the above quoted passage of scripture in the previous section to show that God encourages us to meditate on His word throughout the day. In this same passage however, God also teaches us to speak His word over our lives, for He says that His word is not to depart from our mouths. And so we see that not only are we to think about God’s word but we are also supposed to confess His word. This is a deliberate action that God counsels us to take. In other words as an act of our will we are to confess God’s word over our lives. So why does God want us to do that? He answers that question for us in this passage, for He told Joshua that if he would be diligent in meditating on and confessing God’s word, that Joshua would have good success. The good success that God was referring to was the success that the Israelites would experience in conquering the nations that were occupying the Promised Land. So why did God link the change in Joshua’s thinking and speech to the success of the Jewish nation? The reason was because as Joshua became fully convinced in his mind as to the reality and truth of God’s word, his faith would be activated thus releasing God’s power, for without the power of God intervening on their behalf, the Israelites would never have been able to conquer the powerful nations residing in the Promised Land. And so as the nation’s leader, God needed Joshua to walk as Moses had learnt to walk, i.e. in demonstration of God’s power. Scripture reveals to us that Joshua was diligent in obeying God’s counsel to consistently confess His word, resulting in his faith in God’s power becoming so strong that he is the one person recorded in the bible that God listened to, when Joshua commanded the sun and moon to stand still for a whole day while the Jews destroyed their enemies in battle (Joshua 10:12-14). This example clearly teaches us that confessing God’s word over our lives is one of the mechanisms that God uses to transform our thinking until we ultimately become fully convinced in our minds as to the reality and truth of His word.

 James 3:2-10 “If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body.  … (8)  But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.  (9)  With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God.  (10)  Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so.”

In the above passage of scripture the apostle James teaches us that no man can tame the tongue because it is an unruly evil. So why is it that men cannot keep their tongues under control? Jesus explained the reason to us when He spoke about the evil hearts that men have, and that it is out of the abundance of their evil hearts that their mouths speak. Nevertheless when we come into the kingdom of God things change, because God begins to write His laws in our minds by His power thus causing our speech to change accordingly. As I have already mentioned, all believers come into the kingdom of God with a worldly mindset and thus have to transition their thinking and speech to conform to heavens standards. This is not an overnight process however and it does take time. And so in the interim period while the saint is slowly transitioning from a worldly to a heavenly mindset their speech becomes mixed between the two. The apostle James describes the condition of this saint’s speech by declaring that out of the same mouth proceed both blessing and cursing. James goes on to tell us that this is not an ideal state of affairs and needs to be addressed. Sadly however most believers never experience any significant change in their speech patterns and continue to speak as this world speaks on any given subject, purely because they are not diligent in meditating on and confessing God’s word over their lives. There are a category of believers however that do attain to heavens standards in their speech, and James mentions to us who they are when he tells us that those who are perfect do not stumble in word. The word translated “perfect” also means mature, and in the context of this passage that is the type of believer that James is referring to. A mature believer in scripture is not someone who has been in the kingdom of God for many years, but rather a believer who has reached the point where they are fully convinced in their minds regarding the reality and truth of God’s word and they therefore no longer stumble (sin) in the words that they speak, because their mindsets have changed accordingly.

Michael E.B. Maher

Faith Toward God

Buy Now

Donate