THE FAITH LANGUAGE

By Clinton White

The Bible says, "Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying" (Eph.4: 29). This is a faith secret, a victory secret that most people do not know or understand. Many Christians are like eight cylinder automobiles, chugging along on one weak cylinder because they do not understand this. Hidden in those words, which the inspired Apostle Paul wrote to the Ephesians, is a power plan, a way to the possession and maintenance of abundant spiritual energies.

"Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth." What is corrupt communication? We think of it as foul language, profanity, which certainly is corrupt communication, but there is something else that corrupts a Christian's language. Many Christians who would never, never dream of uttering a profane word speak corrupt communication every day. Corrupt means, according to Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, "To change from a state of uprightness, truth, to a bad state; to be polluted, contaminated, or spoiled; perverted." Many of God's children are not edified--built up in the faith--because of their corrupt conversation, not only in their daily conversations but in their prayer conversations with God.

Unlike any other people on the face of the whole earth, we Christians have been called to a faith life. We do not walk by sight but by faith. We strive toward invisible goals. We stand fast with absolute confidence in an unseen God, like Moses who "endured, as seeing Him who is invisible" (Heb.11:27). We have entered the sacred, precious, faith life. We are faith children, and "without faith, it is impossible to please Him" (Heb.11:6). Our walk is a faith walk, and our language is faith talk. It is a special language. The world does not understand it. It is spiced with hope and charged with life. It is based on things the world spurns, the words in a beloved book called The Bible. The Christian's conversation has its roots in this book. I do not mean that he quotes it all the time; in fact, I know many who quote the Bible liberally, yet do not know the language of faith. But the real Christian speaks the faith dialect; this is his calling.

A baby born in China is raised to speak Chinese. A baby born in Egypt is raised to speak Egyptian. A baby born into the spiritual kingdom of God has to learn the language of the kingdom, and this is a faith language. I do not mean hackneyed old Christian phrases. I do not mean the pat answers and platitudes of so many over zealous and over opinionated people who speak in the name of God, yet are deluded into believing that faith language is really their doctrine. The language of faith is the utterance of praise in the face of an adverse situation. It is a shout outside the wall before it falls down. It is the song in the night. It is refusing to murmur and express doubt when everything seems to be happening just the exact opposite of what we think the Bible promises. It is the widow standing by the fresh grave looking into heaven, tears streaming down her face, saying, "Lord, I do believe!" It is all the men and women who have walked a crushing, bewildering, confusing pathway first blazed by Job. It is all the children of God who have gone this way who can look up through their pain and say, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust in him" (Job 13:15).

This is what Job did. He spoke the faith language, and he was ultimately delivered. Never forget that. This is the whole object of the story. This is not the tale of a man who was destined to a lifetime of misery and bad fortune. No, this is the powerful lesson of a man who blazed a trail through the wilderness of trial and tribulation and found a way out. I have heard people say, "I'm like Job," or "I'm walking the same road that God made Job walk." Then, my brother or sister in Christ, praise His name, for you are on your way to blessing, to abundance, to healing and to spiritual knowledge, because this is the trail Job took. Look where it led. Do not just talk about poor suffering Job; read the last chapter in the book.

There is power in the faith language, and Job knew how to speak it. A man in a dilemma can confess his doubts and express his fears. He can murmur his complaints; he can blame his situations. He can give way to despair and he will talk despair; he will talk defeat, and he will come to believe fully that there is no way out. The Bible says, "Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering" (Heb.10:23). Do not talk doubt talk; it will become like a bridle or a bit in a horse's mouth, leading you onto the doubt path that soon leads down to the despair path. The Bible says, "If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body" (Jas.3:2). He is able to chart his course. He may sail through a storm, yes, but he is at the rudder. He is not being driven about; he knows where he is going. Your conversation can turn your whole being into misery, fear and defeat, or like Job it can bring you through.

I will explain what I mean, but first I want to make sure you realize the power of conversation. I am not dreaming this up; I am speaking from God's word. When I say that faith language corrupted by doubt and unbelieving talk will harm you, I say this standing on scripture. I stand on the same solid ground when I tell you that faith talk will bring faith results. The Bible says, "Death and life are in the power of the tongue" (Prov.18:21). Think about that. The Bible also says, "With the mouth confession is made unto salvation" (Rom.10:10), and that "To him that ordereth his conversation aright will I show the salvation of God" (Ps.50:23). Your own tongue can tear you down or build you up.

Let me give some examples of how a Christian--a faith child--corrupts his conversation, how he harms himself beyond measure with his own tongue. One way is to talk about your fears. This conversation only makes things more real, blows them all out of proportion, distorts them and makes them into a giant and you into a grasshopper. They will grip your imagination. They will rule your life, but you gave them the power they have over you. You talked them into this position. What you say becomes very real to you. Talk fear and fear will become your reality. Talk about devils and you will think that you are surrounded with them. Talk about spirits and you will hear them in the wind. Talk about the phantoms of your imagination, and they will come to life before your eyes. Discuss your fears about disease, and pain will begin to creep through your body. You must realize that conversation is creative. It can create illusions that will destroy you, or it can build a living faith in your heart.

Another destructive conversation habit is murmuring. The expressions of a spiritual malcontent will keep him in bitter bondage. You can become irritated about little things that go wrong. They happen again and you say, "Why does this always happen to me?" Soon you are convinced that they actually do always happen to you. You think life is just a bit harder for you, that things somehow complicate themselves in a special way for you. Instead of praising God for your blessings, you mutter about your misfortunes. This is corrupt communication and it is devastating. If something goes wrong with something you have, then thank God you have it anyway; many are without. If something hard crosses your path, thank God that you are on the path; many are not. Try this and see how it begins to affect your life. Begin to hide your troubles behind a smile; share them only with God.

Whatever you do, do not indulge in self pity conversation, talk designed to get the sympathy of others. This is corrupt for a faith child. It is not faith talk, and it is very harmful. Do not talk about yourself, about your ills and your problems. Come face to face with the fact that most people really do not want to hear them. Sometimes this is a hard thing to face, but the problems of others bore many people. We need to live in fact, not fancy, deluding ourselves into thinking that for some reason others are interested in our symptoms. Take your troubles to God.

If you need help, by all means, seek help from another Christian. The Bible says, "Bear ye one another's burdens" (Gal.6:2). I do not mean to advise you against seeking help, but do not make all your conversation center around your troubles. Do not get on that shallow level of living where your emotional needs are satisfied by trying to draw love from others by telling them about your problems. The more you talk about them, the more real they will become. Do not talk about yourself, and, above all things, do not talk about others.

Be positive in your conversation at all times. I am not advising you to become some sort of a saccharin lipped Polyanna who smiles and says everything is all right when she is being swallowed by a boa constrictor. There is a time to cry for help. Positive conversation is not denying the existence of any trouble; it is refusing to blow the trouble out of proportion by expressing your fears or by describing the magnitude of your tribulations. The Apostle Paul in the storm is the best example I know. He was in a deadly, horrifying storm. He did not deny the existence of this storm and treat it as an unreal thing. It was very real and the threat of death was real, but Paul did not talk about the storm. He did not fill his conversation with his fears; he confessed his faith: "Be of good cheer: for I believe God" (Acts 27:25).His faith conversation was like oil on troubled waters; the waves began to subside. Talk faith talk and watch the waves become stilled in your heart. Feel the winds of anxiety become hushed.

Christian, your conversation is corrupted by many of your "ifs" and "whys." Cast them away from your tongue. Do not look at your troubles and say, "If" or "Why?" Let your mouth become filled with faith language. Look right into the complex, bewildering, awesome, towering problem that you have and say, "God is my refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore I will not fear" (Ps.46:1, 2). This is faith talk. Confess aloud what is really a spiritual fact: God is with you, God is for you, and if God is for you, who can be against you (Rom.8:31). Be positive--or be silent. Try it and you will become lifted to a new level of faith and a new place of power in prayer. You can prove this to yourself. Just leave all corrupt communication off your lips and talk the faith language for one week. You will never be the same person again.