SOUNDING
OUT: What Do You Have To Say
For Yourself?
When I was a youth growing
up, I didn’t always appreciate hearing, “So,
what do you have to say for yourself?” I usually
heard those words when called to account for something
I had done, and those situations were not always positive.
However, recently I have been delighted by the same
question. Because I have learned that what I say really
matters, I delight in speaking, not just in the face
of accusation, but also in the face of opportunity.
Proverbs 18:21 says, “Death and life are
in the power of the tongue.” So, I decided that
I’m going to use its power to my advantage. Since
I’m going to speak anyhow, I might as well speak
well and bring good rather than evil to myself. If God
has given me that kind of power to control the fruit
I engender in my life I ought to hold myself accountable
and responsible to do it properly.
Now I refuse to get on my own case in a negative
manner, I have an adversary that is quite proficient
in the category of accusation. The accuser always seems
to have something to say, but I refuse to agree with
him. I’d rather agree with God and speak that
which will bring life instead of death.
Have you read Genesis chapter one recently? God
spoke the creation back into its proper arrangement
after it had been without form and void. God “spoke
it into being,” so to speak. What about you and
I? What do we speak into being in our lives? What do
we have to say for ourselves?
We are supposed to be imitators of God as dear
children. Now, I’m aware that none of us are God.
We do not create anything. I still cannot deny that
God has put in our control the awesome power of the
tongue. When what we speak is the truth, and when that
truth is spoken in love, what a difference it can make
in our lives.
Whether speaking of the creation or of things yet to
come, God told Isaiah how He would speak it before He
did it.
Isaiah 48:3:
I have declared the former things from the beginning;
and they went forth out of my mouth, and I shewed them;
I did them suddenly, and they came to pass.
Isaiah 46:9,10:
Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and
there is none else; I am God, and there is none like
me, 10Declaring the end from
the beginning, and from ancient times the things that
are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and
I will do all my pleasure:
Isaiah 42:9:
Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new
things do I declare: before they spring forth I tell
you of them.
What do you see in God’s
Word that you want to see come to pass in your life?
Speak it forth boldly! What do you have to lose? Our
adversary wants to keep our mouths shut. He does not
want us to declare God’s Word. He’d love
nothing more than to stop us from receiving the things
God wants us to have.
Don’t stop… never stop… don’t
stop speaking God’s Word. DON”T STOP SPEAKING!
The first century church prayed for themselves that
they would speak with boldness. You can bet they followed
through and did it.
Acts 4:29b,30b:
… grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness
they may speak thy word,
… and that signs and wonders may be done by the
name of thy holy child Jesus.
As you speak, don’t
forget to use the name of Jesus Christ. Keep his name
on your lips, and the reality of God in Christ in you,
in your hearts. You know, God’s Word never returns
void.
Isaiah 55:11:
So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth:
it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish
that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing
whereto I sent it.
God wants His people to
start talking and not stop. He wants us saying what
He says about us. He wants us to speak the truth in
love. So now, what do you have to say for yourself?
