“But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart and this defiles a person.”
– Matthew 15:18
Well, that verse will make you examine every word you speak. “What comes out of the mouth,” Jesus says, “proceeds from the heart.”
Matthew 15:18 Teaches that our Words expose our Hearts
Wow, our mouths, our words, our language, things we write even proceed from our hearts. Our words expose our hearts, and so many times our words can expose sin and wickedness in our hearts, selfishness in our hearts, anger in our hearts. Or our lack of words can expose things that are missing in our hearts. I think about sharing the Gospel. The illustration I often use is when you meet a grandparent, you don’t have to be around them long before they start talking about their grandkids. What’s in their heart overflows from their mouth. They don’t need training to talk about their grandkids. It comes pretty naturally to them.
And so with sharing the Gospel. If Jesus and the Gospel are filling our hearts, then Jesus and the Gospel will overflow in our mouths. So if we’re not speaking about Jesus and speaking about the Gospel to people around us, if God’s word is not overflowing from our mouths, it’s likely that we need God’s word, God’s grace, Jesus, and the Gospel to saturate our hearts more.
Matthew 15:18 Encourages us to Consider everything we Say
So, God, we pray for hearts that are full of your word and full of your grace and holy and pure, and pleasing to you in such a way that our words are all of these things. Full of your word, full of your grace, pure, holy, pleasing to you, edifying to others, glorifying to your name. God, we want our words today to reflect a heart that loves you with everything we have.
So we pray for that. God, help us to examine our every word today to consider everything we say, everything we write in an email or post on social media, and we pray that our words today would be a reflection of a heart that loves you supremely and loves others selflessly.
God, we pray for that kind of a language flowing from us. And God, we pray specifically that you would give us boldness today to share the Gospel, to speak about your love and your grace to someone around us who needs your love, your grace, your mercy. God, we pray that our words today in a Colossians like way would be seasoned with salt and filled with Gospel grace.
Praying for the Wolof Muslims
And God, even as we pray that, we pray for people around the world, people groups who don’t have the Gospel accessible to them right now. We pray for millions of Wolof Muslims across West Africa who don’t know a Christian who can speak the Gospel to them. God, we pray that this would change. We pray that you would raise up more laborers to go into the harvest field of the Wolof and we pray that they would speak the Gospel, and the Gospel would spread with power through the lifts of your people. Lord, we pray that disciples would be made and churches would be planted among the Wolof.
We pray that you would bless our Christian brothers and sisters all across West Africa for the spread of the Gospel among the Wolof. God, help us to proclaim your word to the nations, to people right around us today, because your word, your grace, your mercy, because your son, Jesus, is saturating our hearts. God, help us to honor you today with our hearts and our words. In Jesus’ name we pray according to Matthew 15:18. Amen.
David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder of Radical, an organization that makes Jesus known among the nations.
David received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and M.Div., Th.M., and Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Some of his published works include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Don’t Hold Back, and How to Read the Bible.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.
