Day 19

An accurate barometer of our hearts is what comes out of our mouths.

‘All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.’ (Acts 2:4)

If you want to know what’s going on in somebody’s heart, just stay around and listen to what comes out of their mouth – especially when they are off guard. What happens in the heart will find its way out through the mouth. In all ten post-Pentecost references to people being filled with the Spirit, something immediately happened to their mouth. On the day of Pentecost they spoke in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. On other occasions they spoke the Word of God boldly, or on one occasion issued a rebuke: ‘Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked straight at Elymas and said, “You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right!” (Acts 13:9-10).

After Paul tells the Ephesians to ‘be filled with the Spirit’ he immediately says, ‘[Speak] to one another with psalms, hymns and songs from the Spirit,’ (Ephesians 5:18-19). When the Holy Spirit fills us, there will be something to talk about and something to sing about. Singing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs is an expression of the Holy Spirit’s presence in our hearts. Therefore to not speak and to not sing will be to grieve the Holy Spirit, and quench the outworking of His fullness.

Is there evidence of the Spirit in what comes out of your mouth?