YOUR MOUTH, YOUR DESTINY - Excerpt from Chapter Two
CHAPTER TWO: POWER OF A BONELESS ORGAN
The tongue is a mobile, muscular, and boneless organ attached to the floor of the mouth of every person. It is linked directly to the larynx, which is the voice box. The movement of the tongue enables or aids articulation of speech.The tongue is also vital for taste and ingestion of food and drink. It may be small, but it is mighty. It has the power to determine one’s destiny because it is endowed with the power of life and death, the power to create, and the power to destroy.
Nations have fought disastrous wars in ancient times and also in our time because of the wrong use of the tongue, which culminates in communication breakdown.
Marriages are decomposing daily, and many have already crash-landed because of the wrong use of this boneless but very powerful organ, the tongue.
Many people are in strife and live in grave bitterness because of the abnormal use of their tongues. The word of God states in Pro. 18:21:
“The tongue has the power of life and death.”
Many people waste precious time uttering words that bring down, words that depress, words that discourage, as well as curse words, slanderous words, angry words, bitter words, flattery words that pervert, unkind words, boastful words, shameful words, and words coated with lies. When spoken, these kind of words can never be retrieved into the mouth because they are like eggs: once broken, they cannot be put back together again.
Words can make and also destroy a person. They reveal who an individual truly is and what such a person is made of. The abuse of the tongue attracts defeat, failure, poverty, sickness, discouragement, and death. Many prayers are unanswered because such prayers are, by and large, negated and rendered void through damaging and profane confessions.
Negative confessions are expressed as declarations of confidence in the devil’s principles. They give honor to the enemy and dishonor to the Most High God.
You can shape your destiny through the correct use of your tongue. Your success or failure and victory or defeat depends on you.
Let me avail you with some real examples of the abuse of the tongue that is highly predominant in our society today:
• I am dead; I’m finished!
• This is big trouble for me.
• My husband will kill me.
• You are a naughty child.
• This child is a problem to himself, not to me.
• You must be sick in your head.
• You are a blockhead!
• You are a coconut head.
• There’s only water in your head.
• You’re just daft!
• This child is like her mother: lazy, dirty, and simply useless to herself.
• My husband is the biggest problem in my life.
• My wife is just too wicked at heart: even the devil is more compassionate. She’s very selfish and mean!
• This sickness is too much for me to bear.
• Get out of my sight, you goat!
• Fool! Idiot! Nonentity! Lunatic! Get out! You are a psychiatric case.
• If this is how terrible marriage is, I prefer to be single. I’m not cut out for this.
• My husband’s eyes are always glittering whenever he sees pretty girls.
• Heaven is not for everybody. He’ll rot in hell!
• Go to hell, my friend!
• Piss off! (Whatever that means.)
• This sickness is hereditary. My parents died of it. I’m scared I’ll be the next victim.
• Please, can you remove your rickety car from my way?
• You shameless solicitor. Your lies will take you to hell. You dirty, miserable demon.
• You are the devil incarnate. Please don’t talk to me ever again.
• This country is hell on earth. Hell can’t be worse.
• Nothing ever works right in this country. Absolutely nothing!
• I’ve been in terrible debt for years now, and it keeps getting worse by the day. I’m just depressed, frustrated, and sick and tired.
• Our leaders are evil, corrupt, shameless, and immoral.
• Right now, I’m as rich as a church rat. It’s never been as bad for me as it is now.
• This child is just a pig. My goodness!
• Look at this madman who is drinking, smoking, and driving all at the same time. Watch where you are going, fool!
• Pastor, I’m sorry to say my husband is just a dog.
• AIDS was created because of men like you. Just don’t touch me!
Grievous words, shameful words, and swear words are very powerful.
The words from a man’s mouth are as deep as waters (Pro. 18:4). The tongue of the wise is health (Pro. 21:18b). Pleasant words are as a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and health to the bones (Pro. 16:24). If a man offends not in words, the same is a perfect man (Jam. 3:2). Speak a word in season to him that is weary (Isa. 50:4). Be not rash or hasty with your mouth so that God would not be angry and destroy the work of your hands (Eccl. 5:6).
In Rom. 10:8–10, the Bible reveals a very powerful truth and principle:
“But what does it say? The word is near you;
it is in your mouth and in your heart, that is,
the word of faith we are proclaiming: that if
you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’
and believe in your heart that God raised him
from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with
the heart that you believe and are justified,
and is with your mouth that you confess and
are saved.”
The Bible states that out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. Therefore, we must be sensitive to guard our hearts with great diligence and care, for out of it are the issues of life (Matt. 12:34b). A wise man’s heart guides his mouth (Pro. 16:23).
Many have brought great ruin to their lives as a result of the words they utter, which are a reflection of the state of their hearts. You can overcome the power to speak ruin and death to your life as well as to others by instead speaking faith-filled words of life. The way to be rid of a bad habit is to replace it with a good one. Declaring the word of God releases his power. Speak words of victory and triumph in your life and in situations, as well as in the lives of others, and not words of fear, doubt, anger, and defeat. Jesus declares that a man shall have whatsoever he says (Mk. 11:23). You can enhance your destiny, that is, God’s predestined plan and purposes for your life, by speaking words of faith. Positive confessions are beautiful, but faith-filled words and confessions are powerful and backed by the power of God. Faith-filled words are words inspired by the word of God, spoken with the assurance that God’s promises are powerful, effective, and resourceful.
Faith confessions based on the word of God activate the angels of God, whom the Lord has assigned to every believer to minister grace and favor. Likewise, swear words, words of unbelief, and words of fear, which are all inspired by the devil, activate and empower the enemy to oppress the lives of those who use such words and to abort or frustrate God’s plans for their lives.
Faith-filled words and confessions may not produce instant results, but have faith in God nevertheless, and never give up. God is good, and his mercy knows no bounds. He is the sovereign God of process. He promised Abraham and Sarah a son, but this did not manifest until 25 years after the promise. From the time the promise is made to the time of its fulfillment is a time lapse called “the process.” The process is relative because the length of the time lapse is not fixed. It differs from one person to another. So while you wait through your own process, keep speaking positive and faith-filled words. God’s time is the best time. He is never late. Faith comes through intimate fellowship with God by hearing his word (Rom. 10:17). Ignorance is a devourer. God’s people perish and waste away due to lack of knowledge (Hos. 4:6). You can get what you want by speaking faith-filled words. Are you having challenges with your health, marriage, children, relationships, work, business, academics, Christianity, or friends? Or is it an infertility situation? You can possess your possessions now. Turn your adverse situations around by speaking words of life and power, words that build and not destroy, words that are positive and not negative.
While encouraging us to have faith in God, Jesus says in Mark. 11:23–24:
“For verily I say unto you, that whosoever shall
say unto this mountain, be thou removed, and be
thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his
heart, but shall believe that those things which
he saith shall come to pass; he shall have
whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you,
what things so ever ye desire, when ye pray,
believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.”
(KJV)
In a nutshell, Jesus is saying in the above verses of Scripture that if or when you encounter adverse situations in your life, you have the God-endowed ability to use the powerful instrument of your tongue to command such difficult situations that may appear like unmovable mountains to be removed from your life and be cast away. However, this will come to pass only if you do not doubt in your heart but believe that what you say shall come to pass.
Say and with no doubt believe in what you say and it shall come to pass. Words of doubt, fear, and defeat weaken and worsen your state of well-being.
What are you waiting for? Begin to speak God’s promises and faith-filled words in your life, family, business, health, womb, marriage, and so on. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God, to the pulling down of strongholds.
2. Cor. 4:13 states:
“I believe; therefore I have spoken. With that same
spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak …”
Jesus also states in Matt. 12:37,
“For by your words you will be acquitted, and by
your words you will be condemned.”
In the same vein, Jesus says in Matt. 16:19,
“I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven;
whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven,
and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in
heaven.”
You are to bind with the use of your mouth. This is a spiritual exercise. It means to restrain, to restrict, to arrest, to tie up. With your mouth, you can restrain and arrest situations contrary to God’s purpose for your life.
Also, the power to loosen that which has been bound is also in your mouth.
The power to release favor and blessings upon your life is also resident in your mouth. The tongue is the main organ in the human mouth that stimulates speech. It is a very powerful weapon and instrument. Your faith-filled words and testimonies are backed up by divine power from the throne of God.
Rev. 12:11 states:
“They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and
by the word of their testimonies.”
(KJV)
Your testimonies and confessions are powerful. Instead of confessing defeat, lack, pain, loss, sorrow, depression, sickness, failure, or fear, confess victory, healing, abundant provisions, and restoration.
Make the following confessions:
- I am strong (Joel 3:10).
- I am more than a conqueror (Rom. 8:37).
- I am rich (2. Cor. 8:9).
- I am prospering (Ps. 30:6).
Both David and Goliath understood the power of speaking. The Philistines had gathered their forces of war against the Israelites. Their champion, Goliath of Gath, was more than nine feet tall. He was extremely strong and well fortified with great armor. He defied the God of heaven and challenged the Israelites to a duel. There was no man in all of Israel bold enough to attempt fighting Goliath, what many considered as suicidal. The Israelites were troubled and in great despair in spite of the fact that they had men of great valor. King Saul, for instance, was huge in stature. He was a man of war. However, the threats and curses from Goliath frightened and paralyzed the Israelites. But David, a young lad from Judah, would not be cowered. He volunteered to fight Goliath and remove the reproach on Israel. His battle with Goliath started with the exchange of words, a powerful means to intimidate and subdue an adversary. Goliath cursed David by his gods and promised to feed David’s flesh to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the field. David retorted and spoke words of victory and faith in God’s saving grace. He said:
“This day the Lord will hand you over to me, and I
will strike you down and cut off your head. Today,
I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to
the birds of the air and the beast of the earth,
and the whole world will know that there is a God
in Israel. All those gathered here will know that
it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves;
for the battle is the Lord’s and he will give all of
you into our hands.”
David triumphed over Goliath and killed him. Remarkable! Speak to your enemies like David did. Speak destruction to everything in your life that God has not planted. Feed the flesh of your foes (sickness, depression, disappointments, lack, miscarriages, sorrow, unbelief, and all other forms of oppression) to the birds of the air. Speak victory and triumph in your life.
A woman had been sick for 12 years. She had a bleeding problem. You very well know that blood, that red fluid that circulates throughout the body, carries nutrients and oxygen to the human tissues and eradicates waste and carbon dioxide from the body. Blood is vital for the sustenance of life. This woman was gradually losing this vital fluid for a period of about 4,380 days. She had seen many doctors (except Doctor Jesus) and had spent all the money she had to no avail. Instead, she got worse. She must have been afraid, frustrated, and in great despair and distress. One day, she heard about the word of God, Jesus.
And she believed in her heart that a contact with Jesus (the word) would deliver her completely from her suffering. And she said:
“If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole.”
–Mk 5:28 (KJV)
She said it and did it, and her contact with Jesus finally stopped her 12-year torment and sorrow. Your contact with the word will bring perfect deliverance and victory to your life. Just confess with your mouth and believe in your heart and it shall be done.
There was a prophet called Ezekiel, whom the Lord set in the middle of a valley full of slain men’s bones. The bones were great in number, and they were all completely dried up, which meant the slain had been dead for quite a while. God asked Ezekiel whether he believed that those bones could ever come back to life with tendons and flesh on them. The Lord instructed him to speak (prophesy) to the dry bones and tell them to come back to life. Ezekiel was not seduced by unbelief, and so he spoke and commanded those dry human bones to come back to life. Thereafter, there was a rattling sound as the bones in fact supernaturally began to come together as tendons and flesh appeared on them. He then prophesied to them the breath of life, as God commanded him to do, and the slain all came back to life as he prophesied (Ezek. 37:1–10).
Your situation may be as those dry bones and may appear hopeless and dead, but there is power to restore life and hope to such situations. That power has been deposited in your tongue as well as in mine. Speak life to the dry bones in your marriage, health, business, relationships, family, finances, education, and job.
In Josh. 6:1–20, the report on the City of Jericho of Jordan, which is situated near the Dead Sea in the Middle East, is enunciated. This was a land God promised to give to the Israelites. It is referred to as the Promised Land, a land that flows with milk and honey. It is synonymous with your land of breakthroughs. The Israelites were hindered from taking the Promised Land as it was secured and fortified by a mighty wall built around the city.
The Lord instructed his servant, Joshua, to lead the Israelites in a procession around the City of Jericho for seven days. Seven is the number of perfection according to Scriptural numerology. The Israelites were to take up the Ark of the Covenant, symbolizing the presence of God, and proceed on the procession with seven priests carrying trumpets of rams’ horns in front of the ark for the first six days without shouting. On the seventh day, they were to march around the city seven times, after which they were to shout aloud when the priests had sounded the trumpets. They did just that, and the great Wall of Jericho crumbled. The Israelites then went in and possessed their possessions that God had granted them.
When you put your tongue to proper use, you can receive your breakthroughs and God’s promises for you.
Shout aloud to the rock of our salvation. Sing for joy to the Lord. Do you want victory over your challenges? Shout for joy to the Lord, burst into jubilant praises to God, and the walls of your obstacles will collapse terribly (Ps. 98:4).
This is an awe-inspiring and effective principle to destroy your Wall of Jericho (opposition). Shout and sing praises with your mouth. The tongue is that boneless organ that enhances the expression of speech and facilitates our ability to speak and sing praises to God, the righteous king.
In James 5:16b, the word of God states:
“The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and
effective.”
Prayer is a humble form of communication with God, expressing supplications, thanksgiving, and praise. It is a very effective means of living a victorious life, particularly for those who have a right-standing relationship with the Lord. It is also effective and powerful when we apply our tongue rightly. Prayer with faith-filled words can bring down mountains and level valleys in anyone’s life.
In the Gospels, Jesus encourages us to ask, for it shall be given unto us. He assures that whatever we ask in prayer, believing, we shall receive so that our joy will be full (Jn. 16:24).
1. Cor. 14:2, 4 states:
“For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak
to men but to God. Indeed no one understands him;
he utters mysteries with his spirit ….
He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he
who prophesies edifies the church.”
What does it really mean to speak in tongues?
Speaking in tongues is a gift from the Holy Spirit that empowers a Christian and enables him or her to pray in the will of God. It is evidence that one has been baptized in the Holy Spirit.
“In the same way, the spirit helps us in our weakness.
We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the
Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that
words cannot express. And he who searches our
hearts knows the mind of the spirit, because the
Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with
God’s will.” (Rom. 8:26-27)
The Holy Spirit, in his bid to help us live victorious lives, uses our tongues to accomplish this. Without this vital organ, one cannot benefit from this supernatural exercise.
When we pray in tongues, we are edified, which means we are improved upon spiritually and morally. We are strengthened and established. Our faith is built up when we pray in tongues (Jude 20). Do not forbid or cease to speak in tongues (1. Cor. 14:39). The words of a wise man’s mouth are gracious. A wholesome tongue is a tree of life. Soft-spoken words can quench the fire of anger. Let everyone be swift to hear and slow to speak. Refrain your tongue from speaking words of defeat, discouragement, destruction, and death. He who has a perverse tongue falls into mischief. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth but only words that are helpful for building others up (Eph. 4:29).
Rid yourself from filthy language (Col. 3:8). Let your speech or conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. Life and death are in the power of this boneless organ, the tongue. It has the power to create and also to destroy. Use your tongue for creative purposes only.
Ejiro Okene