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. A person’s conduct may often give others the wrong impression, view, and judgment of him, but it is very easy to know a person through his words because no one can easily restrain or control his own 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 before God will be exposed. After we believe in the Lord, we must undergo a fundamental training in the way we live and speak. Our past ways and walk must be completely laid aside. From the day we believe, we have to start everything anew, even the way we speak. We must take care of and pay attention to the way we speak.
There are four or five portions in the Word that tell us how to speak.
John 8:44 says, “You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks the lie, he speaks it out of his own possessions; for he is a liar and the father of it.”
When Satan speaks a lie, he speaks out of his own possessions. He is a liar. Moreover, he is the father of liars. This world contains more lies than anything else on earth. Satan has as many liars as those who are called his. He has as many people lying for him as the number of subjects under his hand. 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. We will not know how much we lie until we try to reject lies. When we try to reject them, we will find out how many there are. There are too many lies in the world, and there are too many lies in us. It is sad that lies seem to be unavoidable even among God’s children. It is sad that lies occupy such a place among us. The Lord’s Word is both serious and clear. Everyone who lies is a child of Satan, and Satan is the father of all liars. The most unfortunate thing in the whole world is for the satanic seed of lying to remain in the hearts of God’s children. We cannot remain believers for years yet remain indifferent toward our lies. It will be too late if we wait for many years to deal with them. We have to learn to speak accurately as soon as we believe in the Lord.