Many people could be very useful in the hand of God; they could be a powerful vessel to the Lord. Yet they remain useless to God, or they are used by Him in only a limited way. One of the main reasons for their failure is a lack of restraint in their speaking. We must remember that careless words are often the source of a leakage of power. Our words are like holes: They can be an outlet for God's power, or they can leak away His power. Our mouth can be the outlet through which God's power flows, or it can be a hole through which the divine power leaks away. Unfortunately, many people leak away God's power through their speaking.
James 3:11 says that a spring cannot "gush forth the sweet and the bitter" at the same time. A worker of the Lord should send forth sweet and living water; he should be a conveyer of God's word. A water bucket cannot be used both for carrying drinking water and for dumping sewage. If the bucket for sewage is used to carry drinking water, it will become hazardous to health and life. In the same way, if our lips are consecrated for the utterance of God's word, then a solemn obligation is upon us to guard our lips for His service alone. If we employ our lips in things other than God's word, we cannot employ them in the utterance of God's word. Many people cannot be used by God, or they can only be used by God in a limited way, simply because their spring produces two kinds of water, sweet and bitter. They speak God's word with their mouth, and they also say many things which have nothing to do with God.
Brothers and sisters, before the Lord we should realize that once we consecrate our mouth to be God's oracle, we have a great responsibility upon our shoulders. It is a grave responsibility for God to entrust His word to us. In Numbers 16 we are told how Korah and his associates banded together to oppose Moses and Aaron. They took their censers filled with fire and presented them to the Lord. They all perished for their sin, but the censers remained holy and were beaten into plates for a covering of the altar (vv. 16-18, 33, 38-39). Whatsoever has been offered to God and used by Him is set apart for Him and cannot be put to common use afterwards. Some brothers and sisters have a wrong concept; they think that they can speak God's word one minute and Satan's word (lies being of Satan) the next. Brothers and sisters, this cannot be our practice. Once a brother opens his mouth for the Lord, his mouth is forever the Lord's. Many people leak away their power through the words they speak. Some brothers could have been very useful in the hand of the Lord, but because they spoke many things that were not for God, their inward power leaked out through their speaking. We must remember that a spring can bring forth only one kind of water. If our mouth has once spoken God's word, we have to realize that we have no right to speak just anything when we open our mouth again. Our mouth has been sanctified; it is separated already. Once something is consecrated to God, it becomes God's possession forever; we can never take back what we have given to Him. If we take it back, we become like Balaam's donkey; we are no longer God's prophet. We have to see the strong relationship between God's word and our word. Our mouth is separated; it belongs to God, and it can only speak God's word.
It is unfortunate that many otherwise useful men have become useless in the eyes of the Lord simply because their mouths have become a gaping hole through which God's power dissipates. Once a mouth speaks the wrong kind of words, power is gone from such a mouth. The trouble with many people is that they have too many words. In a multitude of words we can detect the voice of a fool (Eccl. 5:3). Many people lose their power through the multitude of words. They like to say such-and-such to So-and-so. They always have something to say about everything. Not only do they have much to say, they like to pass on what they have heard to others. Brothers and sisters, we have to pay attention to guarding our mouth. We have to guard it the same way we guard our heart. This is particularly true for those who serve as God's oracle. God is using them to be His mouthpiece and to convey His word. Their mouths are sanctified for His service; they are holy, and their mouth should be guarded as jealously as one guards his heart. The mouth cannot be loose.