A Prayer to Guard Your Tongue
By Debbie Przybylski
Whoever guards his mouth preserves his life; he who opens wide his lips comes to ruin. - Proverbs 13:3
The words we use have tremendous power. The Bible says that life and death are in the power of the tongue (Proverbs 18:21). I believe that our prayers will have more power and a greater anointing when our everyday life is filled with words that uplift and bring grace to others (Ephesians 4:29).
It is important for all of us who want to have an effective prayer life to carefully watch our speech.
The Power of the Tongue
A person can speak many words a minute and several thousand in an hour. You can imagine how many words an average person speaks in a day! We could fill a library in a lifetime! If we did, what would the titles of those books be? The tongue has a powerful influence on others. God is looking for a holy life, and one of the key areas that we must guard with all diligence is our tongue.
The truth is, we all have problems with what we say. That’s probably why the Bible says so much about the tongue. Proverbs is filled with verses about both the positive and negative aspects of the tongue. I counted the terms tongue, lips, mouth, and words, and they appear over 170 times in the Bible. We lived many years on a ship and remember how the small the rudder would steer our ship in huge storms. James 3:4-5 says:
“Take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark.”
Speaking negatively is costly in the spiritual realm, while watching what we say can bring spiritual reward. In Jericho, God’s people marched around the city in silence for six days. When they finally shouted on the seventh day, the walls came down immediately. Their silence and then shouting at the right time won them the victory.
Let's pray this prayer for God to help us control our tongues:
Lord, I know my tongue often gets ahead of my mind and heart. I am quick to speak and I repent of the many thoughtless things I have spoken. I am sorry for words I have spoken in anger or in gossip. Please help me to see when I am about to speak without thinking and to check my heart. Help me be slow to speak. Help me Lord to be a person full of loving words, full of your Spirit, overflowing with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness and self control. Amen.
Editor’s Note: The following is an abridged version of The Tremendous Power of Our Words by Debbie Przybylski. Click here to read the full article.
Editor's Note: We're proud to announce we've just launched a new nighttime companion to Your Daily Prayer: the Your Nightly Prayer devotional. You'll soon be able to subscribe to receive Your Nightly Prayer via email, or as a podcast, but for now you can find it on the website at crosswalk.com/devotionals/your-nightly-prayer. We hope it's a relaxing and soothing way to wind down your day with rich meditations on who God is.
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