Speaking occupies a great part of a person's life. It is, in fact, a very crucial part of his life. The Lord Jesus said that out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks (Matt. 12:34). A person's words express his heart; they reveal the things in his heart. It is not easy to know a man through his conduct, but it is very easy to know a man through his words.

Out of the depth of a man's heart the mouth speaks. A man speaks from the fullness of his heart. If a man lies and deceives with his mouth, it means that lies and deceits rest in his heart. When a person does not open his mouth, it is difficult to know his heart. Once he speaks, his heart is exposed. When a person is silent, no one can know his spirit. Once he speaks, others can touch his spirit through his words. His condition will be exposed before God.

Satan has as many liars as those who are called his. He needs lies to establish his kingdom, and he needs lies to overturn God's work. Everyone who is born of Satan can lie and is engaged in the work of lying. Once a person is saved and becomes God's child, the first lesson he needs to learn is to deal with his words before God. We should reject all lies. We also should reject inaccurate, exaggerated, or distorted words. We should reject all conscious or unconscious lies. God's children must rid themselves of all lies. As long as some lies remain, Satan will have the ground to attack us.

A person never knows how well he lies until he tries to reject lies. The more he tries to reject lies, the more he will find out how well he lies. Even the inclination of his heart is toward lies. There are more lies in this world than we can imagine. There are also more lies in us than we can imagine. Lies seem to be unavoidable even among God's children. It is sad that lies occupy such a place among us. The most unfortunate thing in the whole world is for the satanic seed of lying to remain in the hearts of God's children.

A person is lying when he first says one thing and then turns around and says something else, when he first says yes and then no, when he first says that something is good and then says that it is bad, or when he first agrees that something is right and then says that it is wrong. This is not just a matter of a wavering mind but a matter of lying.

Many people do not speak according to truth and reality, but according to their own likes and dislikes. Many words are not based on facts but on sentiments. Such people speak certain things because they like to speak them, or they speak about certain persons because they like them. They change their tone when the conversation turns to people or things they do not like. This kind of speaking is totally according to one's likes and dislikes. It is speaking according to one's emotion, not according to truth and reality. 589

Many words today represent hopes rather than facts. A person often reviles a sister or a brother according to his sentiment rather than according to fact. He only hopes that a sister is as bad as he thinks, yet he speaks as if the sister is indeed that bad. Or he only hopes that a brother will fall, yet he speaks as if the brother has fallen already. Often a person speaks according to what he expects in his heart. His words do not convey what has actually happened.

Why is it that many words are altered when they pass from one mouth to another? A statement often is changed completely after passing through three or four mouths. Why? This is because each person adds his own thoughts instead of finding out the facts. This is lying. If we are giving our opinion, we need to make it clear that this is our opinion. When we are speaking a fact, we need to state that this is a fact. We must separate our opinions from facts. We should not mix facts with our opinions.

Another type of lie that is very prevalent in the church is exaggeration. Please bear in mind that inaccurate numbers and inaccurate words, as well as strong words, or exaggerated words are different forms of lies because there is falsehood in all of them. If you want to know where a saints' heart is before the Lord, all you have to do is tell him something and ask him to tell others about it. A frivolous, deceitful, and dishonest person will add many words of his own and withhold words that should be spoken.

Exaggeration is lying. We magnify others' mistakes and minimize our own. We exaggerate others' errors and try the best to reduce our own.

A person must continually reject all kinds of lies. Whenever you find yourself speaking something inaccurately, you have to repudiate it relentlessly. If you practice this, perhaps you will become an honest person after three or five years. Lies and inaccuracies are common maladies among Christians. Some people are slow, while others are smart, but everyone lies. Some lie without skill while others lie with skill, but everyone lies. We need to deal with the Lord constantly as soon as we lie or touch the spirit of lying.

A problem among God's children today is that they cannot judge others by the words they speak. They cannot judge, because they are the same. The Lord tells us that the good man, out of his good reassure, brings forth good things, and the evil man, out of his evil treasure, brings forth evil things. The mouth speaks out of the abundance of the heart. By its fruit the tree is known.

The Lord said, "And I say to you that every idle word which men shall speak they will render an account concerning it in the day of judgment" (Matt. 12:36). Whatever is spoken carelessly today will be repeated again in the future. It will be repeated in full, sentence by sentence. When it is repeated the second time, we will be justified or condemned based on it. We will have to render an account on the judgment day for every idle word we have spoken. I hope that God's children will learn to fear Him.

Another kind of word which should never come out of a Christian's mouth is evil words. What are evil words? Evil words are words of reviling, words of cursing. A child of God cannot render evil for evil or reviling for reviling.

A new believer must learn to speak words of blessing from the very beginning. Do not allow reviling or cursing to come out of your mouth. We cannot render evil for evil or reviling for reviling, even if another speaks first.

A person's words are not controlled if his temper is not controlled. Many evil words come out of a person's mouth because his temper is not controlled. On the one hand, these words do not glorify God. On the other hand, they deprive a person of any blessing from God.

Many people like to be teachers and counselors. When they are among others, they always have a great deal to say. Do you see the problem here? A Christian must not only stop lying, gossiping, and speaking evil words. He should not even be wordy at all. No matter what kind of words he speaks, he is wrong as long as he speaks too much. As soon as a man speaks too much, he loses all of his blessing before the Lord.

If God can deal with your speaking, He can deal with you. If God can deal with your speaking, He can deal with your whole being.

The tongue is a world of its own, a world of unrighteousness. Many people are redeemed; they have experienced God's mercy, yet their tongues have never been bridled. Man's wrath, flesh, temper, and anger can all be ignited by the tongue. There is transgression in the multitude of words. The more lessons a person has learned before God, the more steadfast he is and the fewer words he has.

Once cannot bless God with his tongue and use the same tongue to curse the man created by God. A spring cannot gush out two types of water. A fig tree cannot produce olives. The fruit reveals the tree. The water reveals the spring. God's way of salvation today is to install a new spring and a new tree in us. If I am a fig tree, I will surely not produce olives. If I am a vine, I will surely not produce figs. If God gives me something new, if He places a new life in me, surely I will produce sweet water.

There are so many defiling words, criticisms, evil speakings, slanders, double-tongued speakings, because many people want to hear them. Man's heart is deceitful, wicked, and defiled. Because the heart wants to hear these words, someone is always ready to speak them. If a person is saying something improper to you, perhaps you should walk away quietly and leave the speaker to himself. This will kill his interest in you the next time.

"But I, like a deaf man, do not hear; And I am like a dumb man, who does not open his mouth." When others speak unbecoming things, we should act like a deaf man who does not hear anything. "Who is blind except My servant, and as deaf as My messenger, whom I will send?" When the Lord was on the earth, there were many words He would not listen to.

We need to spend much time to develop the habit of speaking accurately. Psalms 141:3 says, "Set a watch, O Jehovah, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips." We need to have such a prayer. One thing surprises me greatly. Many brothers are bold to speak carelessly, and many people listen to them with no sense of fear at all. This is a great sickness among us! Whenever we lend our ears to improper words, we are sick! It is a serious sickness for anyone to accept words without reservation or discretion!