Commandment No. 9 Speak Only to Build & Firm Up

Commandment No. 9     Speak Only to Build & Firm Up

Love-Relationships with Your Neighbors

Our study module on Commandment No. 9 tackles the use of the spoken word in relation to our neighbors.

We communicate (send a message across) in many different ways: through writing, picture, illustration, sign language, facial expression, body language, music, voice projection, the way we dress, the movies we watch, the materials we read, the things we treasure… But the most popular medium of communication is the spoken word.

The Power of the Spoken Word

The entire universe was created out of nothingness through the power of the spoken word.

⁹ For [God] spoke and it came to be; He commanded, and it came to be. PSALM 33

³ God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. ⁹ And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. ¹¹ Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed on it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. GENESIS 1

¹⁷ God… calls things that are not as though they were. ROMANS 4

¹⁵ By the words of the Lord His works come into being, and all creation obeys His will. ²⁶ …All things hold together by means of His Word. ECCLESIASTICUS 43

Man was created through the power of the spoken word.

²⁶ Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all creations that move along the ground.” GENESIS 1

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us (John 1:1, 14). He demonstrated just how powerful the spoken word can be. 

¹⁶ [Y’shua] drove out the evil spirits with a word and healed all the sick. MATTHEW 8

²⁶ Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm. MATTHEW 8

²⁸ [Peter said,] “Lord, if it’s you, tell me to come to you on the water.” ²⁹ “Come,” He said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water, and came toward Y’shua. MATTHEW 14

At a time when leprosy was incurable, Y’shua said “Be clean!” and immediately the leper was cured of his leprosy (Mark 1:41-42).

³² [In Decapolis] some people brought to Him a man who was deaf and could hardly talk, and they begged Him to place His hand on the man. ³⁴ He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, “Ephphatha!” (which means, “Be opened!”). ³⁵ At this the man’s ears were opened, his tongue was loosened and he began to speak plainly. MARK 7

¹⁴ He said [to the dead man], “Young man, I say to you, get up!” ¹⁵ The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Y’shua gave him back to his mother. LUKE 7

⁴⁶ Once more He visited Cana in Galilee, where He had turned the water into wine. And there was a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum. ⁴⁷ He went to Him and begged Him to come and heal his son… ⁵⁰ Y’shua replied, “You may go. Your son will live.” ⁵¹ While [the man] was still on his way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was living. ⁵² When he inquired as to the time when his son got better, they said to him, “The fever left him yesterday, at the seventh hour.” ⁵³ Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Y’shua had said to him, “Your son will live.” So he and all his household believed. JOHN 4

God created man in His own image; therefore, in each of us is the power of the spoken word. You may not be aware of it but yes, you have it and you can wield it.

¹² I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in Me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. JOHN 14

Examples of the Power’s Use in the Old Testament

⁴ When king Jeroboam heard what the man of God cried out against the altar at Bethel, he stretched out his hand from the altar and said, “Seize him!” But the hand he stretched out toward the man shriveled up, so that he could not pull it back. ⁵ Also, the altar was split apart and its ashes poured out according to the sign given by the man of God by the Word of the Lord. ⁶ Then the king said to the man of God, “Intercede with the Lord your God and pray for me that my hand may be restored.” So the man of God interceded with the Lord, and the king’s hand was restored and became as it was before. 1 KINGS 13

Prophet Elijah was a man with a nature like ours (James 5:17 nkjv). He too wielded the power of the spoken word.

¹ Now Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead, said to king Ahab, “As the Lord, the God of Isra’el, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word.” 1 KINGS 17

And there was drought throughout the land of Isra’el.

¹⁷ Elijah prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. ¹⁸ And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruits. JAMES 5 nkjv

In Zarepath the only son of a widow died and she sought Elijah’s help.

²¹ Then he stretched himself out on the boy three times and cried to the Lord, “O Lord my God, let this boy’s life return to him!” ²² The Lord heard Elijah’s cry, and the boy’s life returned to him, and he lived. 1 KINGS 17

³⁵ By the Word of the Lord one of the sons of the prophets said to his companion, “Strike me with your weapon,” but the man refused. ³⁶ So the prophet said, “Because you have not obeyed the Lord, as soon as you leave me a lion will kill you.” And after the man went away, a lion found him and killed him. 1 KINGS 20

Examples in the New Testament

⁹ Peter said to [Sapphira], “How could you agree to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also.” ¹⁰ At that moment she fell down at his feet and died. ACTS 5

³³ [In Lydda Peter] found a man named Aeneas, a paralytic who had been bedridden for eight years. ³⁴ “Aeneas,” Peter said, “Y’shua the Messiah heals you. Get up and take care of your mat.” Immediately Aeneas got up. ACTS 9

⁴⁰ [In Joppa Peter sent all the people] out of the room; then he got down on his knees and prayed. Turning toward the dead woman, he said, “Tabitha, get up.” She opened her eyes, and seeing Peter she sat up. ⁴¹ He took her by the hand and helped her to her feet. Then he called the believers and the widows and presented her to them alive. ACTS 9