How to Grow Good Relational Fruit
ICS Daily Devotions

Proverbs 18:21(NKJV) Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit.

Words are powerful. They are loaded with the power of life and death. Are you satisfied with your relational fruit? If not, what have you been saying about your relationships? Have your confessions sounded like, “I’m single and lonely”, “I don’t have any friends”, “nobody calls me”, “this person is so irritating/boring”, or “I am so mad about so-and-so”? If so, you shouldn’t be surprised by the relational pains and dysfunctions in your life because you are eating the fruit you sowed.

3 John 1:2 (NKJV) Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.

Instead, we need to say it like we believe it. For example, we should say, “God’s desire for me is to have good friends so that my soul will prosper through fellowship”, “I can be a friend who encourages and blesses”, or “God wants my soul to prosper”.

We also need to speak words that build up, strengthen, edify, and bring joy to one another. How is the fruit in your marriage and family? What kind of words have you been saying? Have you said things like, “I don’t know why I ever married him/her”, or “my husband is so lazy/my wife is such a nag”. If so, you’ve been producing rotten fruit and killing your marriage with your words. What are you saying about your kids? If you have been saying something along the lines of, “my kids are so disrespectful”, or “they just don’t listen to me”, you are producing the fruit of rebellion and exhaustion which explains why you are never satisfied.

There is power in our words. Therefore, we need to get a grip of our lip by choosing to build up, bless, strengthen, and edify others through our words, and refuse to speak words that tear us or others down. We must not give the authority over our lives to the devil through speaking negative words. Because we will reap what we sow through our spoken words, we need to speak in line with the Word of God, and choose to frame our world with God’s help through our spoken words.

So let’s agree with the Word of God and speak from the conviction of our hearts. For example, we can say, “God has blessed me with a good spouse through our covenant marriage”, “he/she is my wonderful partner in this marriage to build up the family, and a good parent to our children”, “our marriage is blessed by the Lord and we will watch over our marriage covenant till death do us part”.

Sermon Series: Cell Group Campaign 2023