Research shows the average person speaks at least 7,000 words per day. When I was a boy, I often heard the saying, ‘sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me’. The idea behind this saying is that words alone are not powerful enough to have any bad effect. But in reality, words are powerful…. sometimes they build us up while other times they tear us down. The words we speak really do matter.


The most powerful words ever written are in the Bible. The writer of proverbs 25 gives examples of how to use our words to good effect. He says the use of right words at the right times ‘is like apples of gold in pictures of silver’. (v.11). Has anyone ever spoken untrue words about you? The writer describes this type of person in verse 18: “A man that beareth false witness against his neighbor is a maul, and a sword, and a sharp arrow.” It is very painful to read or hear things that are simply untrue although such manner of speaking is quite common in the world today. Realizing the power of words spoken, our desire should be to speak only words that have a good effect and that will bring blessing to others.


It is sad and disappointing when professing Christians stray from their faith. This often results from the lack of devotion to daily reading and practicing the teachings of the Word of God. In I Timothy 4 Paul urges Timothy to pass on the good teachings he has received. He is to be an example to believers in his speech as well as in his faith and in his lifestyle. Furthermore, Paul urges him to devote himself to the public reading of scripture, of preaching and teaching: ‘…. give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.’ (v.13). Speaking the powerful and precious words of God’s Word must always be a high priority of Christian leaders.


Every word in God’s Word is both powerful and inspiring and is God-breathed. As believers we must affirm the power and truth of God’s Word as it relates to our salvation… His love, His mercy, His grace and His justice. We are reminded of some of the final words of God regarding the words of scripture as recorded by John in Revelation 22:18-19: ‘If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophesy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.”