Is Your Mouth Working Against You? A Change in Your Words Can Begin a Shift in Your Life

I have been learning a lot recently about the importance of words. Our words, whether good or bad, influence our lives. Not just our lives, but the lives of those around us, in ways that we often do not consider. When was the last time you stopped to consider what you should say before you say it?

If you’re anything like me, the answer is probably ‘not as often as I should.’ Maybe for the big, important conversations—definitely. But everyday words? Not so much.

Unfortunately, many of us do not give our words the weight or respect that they deserve. My pastor recently began a series on this very topic, and in the very first part, he asks a pointed question: Is your mouth working against you?

This question is a poignant one.

We don’t understand the real power and authority of our words and, as a result, tend to treat them carelessly.

The Power of Words

Our words are not just sounds we make. What we say matters. About ourselves, about God, about the situations in our lives, our words matter.  King David captured this truth when he prayed in Psalm 19:14, “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord.”

When you really grasp this, you will become more selective and careful about what you say. You will understand that what you say every day shapes how you think, what you expect, and the direction your life is headed.

Every morning, you have the opportunity to program your mind and change your words. To speak life, or to speak death into your situation. To speak of victory or defeat. Your mind and heart are waiting for instructions, and your words provide them.

A habit I have begun to develop this year in my own life is to set the tone and expectation for the day every morning by speaking God’s word and allowing Him to get into my head before I do. Before my phone, before my coffee, before the noise of life can begin to pour in. And I’ll be honest – the days I skip this? I can feel the difference by noon.

I really enjoy the simplicity of the Psalms for this. My favorites are Psalm 118:24, Psalm 5:3, and Psalm 143:8 NKJV. These three help me to start my day with joy, trust, and direction. To remember that I am here for a purpose and that God is in control. No matter what I face today, I can lean on Him.

Guarding the Words of Your Mouth

Earlier, we saw David’s prayer in Psalm 19:14 (NKJV):

“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord.”

That prayer reveals something important: the words we speak and the thoughts we dwell on matter to God. They are not small things. They shape the direction of our hearts and ultimately the direction of our lives.

Words Shape Your Expectations

Your words don’t just express what you think – they shape what you expect. When you keep saying negative things, you’re conditioning yourself to expect negative results. You’re literally creating an expectation for what you don’t want, almost as if you’re inviting it.

And here’s what sneaks up on you: over time, what you say either pushes you toward fear or pulls you toward faith. Toward an abundant life lived in trust, or an oppressed, trapped life lived in anxiety and uncertainty. Your words are steering you somewhere – the question is, where? Are you building yourself up with your words or tearing yourself down?

God Respects the Words We Speak

We can either agree with God and His Word or reject them. God has given us free will—not only over our choices, but over the words we speak. With that freedom comes responsibility, because our words matter to God.

Jesus made this clear in Matthew 12:36, saying that we will give an account for every idle word we speak. For good and for ill.

Scripture gives us a powerful example of this in the account of the twelve spies sent to scout the land God had promised Israel in Numbers 13.

God sent twelve men to explore the land—a land flowing with milk and honey. All twelve spies saw the same things. The same fertile land, same cities, and the same giants. They even brought back fruit so large it had to be carried on a pole between two men.

The evidence was the same. The promise from God was the same.

But when they returned, only two of them—Joshua and Caleb—spoke with faith. “We are well able,” they said. “God promised this land.”

The other ten spies saw the same land but spoke different words: “We cannot do this. We are like grasshoppers compared to them.”

Same land.

Same God.

Different words.

And God allowed it to be as they said. The ten who spoke fear and defeat died in the wilderness and never entered the promise. Joshua and Caleb? They walked into the land God gave them because they spoke faith and trusted God’s word.

That’s not a metaphor or hyperbole. It is a powerful reminder that our words matter. God wants us to keep saying what He said and stand on His word. To hold on tightly to it and trust Him. Directing our focus on Him and not on what we may face.

Why the Enemy Wants the Word of God Out of Your Heart

Satan understands something many believers overlook: death and life are in the power of the tongue (Proverbs 18:21).

When God speaks to you through His Word, that truth is planted in your heart. But Satan immediately tries to remove it before it can take root.

Jesus described this in Mark 4:15: “Satan comes immediately and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts.”

Why does the enemy try to steal the Word so quickly? Because once the Word of God takes root in your heart, it eventually comes out of your mouth.

Jesus said it plainly in Matthew 12:34-35: “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.”

Whatever you’ve stored up and rooted in your heart – that’s what’s going to come out when life squeezes you.

Think about it. When someone cuts you off in traffic, what comes out of your mouth? If you face an unexpected bill, what do you say? When someone criticizes you unfairly, what words slip out first? That’s what’s in your heart.

This is why the enemy fights so hard to keep God’s Word from settling there. If God’s truth fills your heart, faith will eventually fill your mouth. And when a believer begins speaking God’s promises in faith, they become dangerous to the kingdom of darkness.

In Psalms 19:14, David wasn’t only asking God to help him say the right things. He was asking God to shape the meditations of his heart, because what fills the heart ultimately determines what the mouth will speak.

When we meditate on God’s Word, it begins shaping our thoughts, our expectations, and eventually our words.

The enemy wants you meditating on your past failures, missed opportunities, and personal limitations. He constantly reminds you of who you were, hoping you will never become who God has called you to be.

But we cannot change the past. What we can change is what we allow to fill our hearts today. To do as Paul tells us in Philippians 3:13 and forget the past and press forward.

Conclusion

When you begin to change the words of your mouth and the meditation of your heart, you will begin to see your life change as well.

If you’ve been speaking death, limitation, or fear over your life, today is a good day to start speaking something different.

You don’t have to be perfect at it. You won’t wake up tomorrow and suddenly never say another negative word. But you can begin making a different choice.

Tomorrow morning, before you reach for your phone, before the noise of the day begins, speak one truth from God’s Word over your life. Just one. Then do it again the next day.

Let the words of your mouth and the meditation of your heart become acceptable in His sight. When you change your words, you change your life.

Your words matter. Use them wisely.

 

The information expressed above is excerpted from the sermon “IS YOUR MOUTH WORKING AGAINST YOU” preached by Dr. Lee A. Simpson. You can listen to the complete sermon on our YouTube channel.