Godly Speech - Part 1: The Good Stuff

Speech is very important to God. If you read in Proverbs, you'll find out very quickly what kind of talk is pleasing to him.  These are all verses just from the 16th chapter of proverbs:

Righteous lips are the delight of kings,
And they love him who speaks what is right.


The heart of the wise teaches his mouth,
And adds learning to his lips.


Pleasant words are like a honeycomb,
Sweetness to the soul and health to the bones. 


An ungodly man digs up evil, 
And it is on his lips like a burning fire. 


A perverse man sows strife, 
And a whisperer separates the best of friends.

Today I want to talk about the good speech that's supposed to come from our mouths. Tomorrow I will talk about the bad speech.

#1 - Encouragement (...even when things don't meet your standards)
Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, 
as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.
Ephesians 4

It's not a blessing when you discourage people. If someone has a dream or a calling, don't take it upon yourself to be the practical, level-headed one. You should come along side them as their full of faith friend!

God's default attitude is not pessimism. It's not apathy or dismissal. We don't surprise Him when we succeed, He was rooting for us all along! So when you're talking with people You need to have the same posture. You need to be encouraging the dreams of the people around you. God said those who delight themselves in Him will be given the desires of their heart! God will fulfill the desires He has given.

#2 - Joy (...in every circumstance)
A happy heart makes the face cheerful, 
but heartache crushes the spirit.
Proverbs 15 

I know you have ten excuses for why you're in a bad mood today and it's just a phase and you'll get over it once that problem at work gets solved or your visiting family goes back home, but have you thought that maybe the enemy has figured out how to deprive you of strength to stand? You lose your joy whenever something stressful comes up, you think the devil doesn't notice? The Bible says the joy of the Lord is our strength. It's our energy to get up and walk out of valleys instead of just staying there moping. 


The worst part is when you've been de-joyed you get frustrated that people want to talk about how good God is. Don't fall for this trick! You've got to believe that when you put on joy you'll gain the strength to fight.

This is in the speech post because the Bible says out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. Most of the time negativity is simply a lack of joy.

#3 - Praise (...all the time)

I will bless the LORD at all times; 
His praise shall continually be in my mouth.
My soul shall make its boast in the LORD; 
The humble shall hear of it and be glad. 
Oh, magnify the LORD with me, 
And let us exalt His name together. 
Psalms 34

I heard someone say that God doesn't get any glory for something He's done for you unless you tell someone about it. We sing all the time, "I give You glory" but the truth is God's glory is in who He is and what He's done.

We talk all the time about what our favorite sports team or actor did. The when the Olympics arrive we'll all be talking about the amazing things the athletes are accomplishing. We can very easily spend more time praising people in the news than we do praising God.

Jesus said that if He is lifted up He will draw all men unto Himself. This was a picture of the cross, but I also believe that it was a spiritual picture of our strategy for reaching the lost and drawing Christians closer to Jesus. When we talk about Jesus and lift His Name and reputation up, He gets inside their hearts and tugs them towards Him. The Bible says we overcome by the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimony. The blood has been shed, now we need to tell somebody about what God has done!