Put Your Mouth to Work: Death and Life Are in the Power of Your Tongue

Are you sitting in the middle of a mess right now — and you haven’t said a word about it?

Maybe you’ve been quiet. Maybe you’ve been hoping things would just work themselves out. Maybe you’ve been thinking the right things but never actually opening your mouth. Today I want to show you why silence is the same thing as taking your hand off the rudder — and what happens to a ship when nobody’s steering.

Your tongue determines which port you end up at.

We’ve been looking at the tongue as a rudder all week. James 3 tells us the tongue turns the whole ship. But Solomon said it first — and he said it even more bluntly.

Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.

Proverbs 18:21 NKJV

Your tongue is going to determine which port you arrive at. The port of death or the port of life. Not God’s choice. Not the economy’s choice. Not your boss’s choice. Yours.

Now, a lot of people think God is the one who decides when they live and when they die, when they prosper and when they suffer. That is not what this verse says. Death and life are in the power of the tongue — not the hand of God. He’s given you the rudder. Where the ship goes is up to you.

If you don’t steer, you still end up somewhere — and it won’t be good.

I learned this the hard way. When I first started understanding the power of words, I believed God for a black Ford Probe. Every time I got in that car, I spoke over it: “You can’t hit anything, neither can anything hit you. You can’t be scratched, dented, dinged, or banged.”

One day a kid in a truck rear-ended me at full speed without ever touching the brakes. His truck was totaled. My Probe didn’t even have a broken tail light. My friend Russ, a car expert, looked at it and said, “That’s not even possible.”

Later I believed God for a Ford Explorer. Beautiful truck. But by that time, I wasn’t excited about speaking over it anymore. I’d gotten lazy with the rudder. Within a month, that brand-new vehicle had four dents.

I went to the Lord frustrated. “What is going on? I’m supposed to be blessed!”

He said, “It’s not My fault. You haven’t been doing with this vehicle what you did with the last one.”

I stopped ruddering. And destruction became the default.

The Anthony story — when I thought it but never said it.

Let me tell you about the day I learned that thinking it isn’t the same as saying it.

My friend Anthony came over to help me work in the yard. The moment he got out of his car, he said, “This is going to be a bad day. We should have never gotten out of bed.”

Now, in my head I was thinking, “Oh no, Anthony, I’m blessed.” But I never opened my mouth.

First, the riding mower got stuck in sugar sand. Anthony said, “Told you. Bad day.” I thought, “I’m blessed.” Still said nothing.

Then the tow strap broke and knocked a mirror off my truck. Anthony said, “We should quit.” I thought, “I’m blessed.” Still silent.

Then the mower got stuck again. The second tow strap broke and the buckle came through my back windshield.

I was done. I went inside furious at God. “I’m supposed to be blessed! What is going on?”

The Lord spoke clearly: “It’s not My fault. You never once glorified Me all morning. You never once declared My Word. You sat in neutral and this was the result.”

Death and life are in the power of the tongue — and I had my mouth shut the whole time. Thinking it doesn’t count. You have to say it. Take your hand off the rudder and you’re going to hit the rocks every time.

It’s not just what you say — it’s what you allow to be said over you.

Here’s something that changes the game for a lot of people. Some of you aren’t in the situation you’re in because of what you said. You’re there because of what someone else said over you — and you never did anything about it.

Your parents called you an idiot. They said you’d never amount to anything. They said you were worthless. And you sat there and absorbed every word without ever picking up the rudder and steering in a different direction.

Death and life are in the power of the tongue — not just yours. Other people’s tongues have power too. And if you let their words land on you without resistance, their rudder steers your ship.

That’s why I’m extremely watchful over what gets spoken over my daughter. She’s two years old. Every single day I speak over her: “The Owen family is free from tragedy. You will always be in the right place at the right time with the right people, doing the right thing, achieving the right result.”

People say, “She’s two. That sounds religious.” No, it sounds like a father who understands that death and life are in the power of the tongue — and I love it, and I will eat its fruit.

If your parents cursed you, your tongue can reverse it.

If somebody in your life spoke death over you — a parent, a teacher, an ex-spouse, a coach — and you never countered it, those words are still steering your ship.

But here’s the good news. Your tongue has the same power theirs did. You can open your mouth right now and reverse direction.

If they said you’d never amount to anything, you say, “I will fulfill the high calling of God. I press toward the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

If they said you were stupid, you say, “I have the mind of Christ. God gives me wisdom liberally.”

You don’t have to stay at the port their tongue sent you to. Grab the rudder and steer somewhere else.

A man’s stomach is satisfied from the fruit of his mouth.

Solomon also said this:

A man’s stomach shall be satisfied from the fruit of his mouth, from the produce of his lips he shall be filled.

Proverbs 18:20 NKJV

If your mouth produces no fruit, you will never be satisfied. If your lips have no increase, you will never be filled. The rudder only works when you’re actively using it — speaking direction, declaring the Word, confessing what God said about you.

And notice the progression. First, satisfaction — your basic needs met. Then, filled — abundance, overflow, more than enough. How do you get from satisfied to filled? By the increase of your lips. You keep speaking. You keep declaring. You keep ruddering toward the destination God has for you.

Grab the rudder. Steer toward life.

Your tongue is the rudder. Death and life hang on what you do with it. You can steer toward life by opening your mouth and speaking the Word of God over yourself, your family, your finances, and your future. Or you can sit in silence, take your hand off the wheel, and let entropy run its course.

I’ve done both. I promise you — one works and the other wrecks.

Put your mouth to work. Steer toward life. Fight To Win.