The Surplus Sets You Free

O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh (Matthew 12:34)

Jesus did not soften His words when He needed to make something clear. In Matthew 12, He addressed religious leaders who should have known better and told them that what comes out of your mouth reveals what is in your heart. That is not a suggestion. It is a spiritual law. The Greek word for abundance here is perisseuma, meaning a surplus, what is left over, what is overflowing, what is in excess.

Jesus said that whatever you have in large quantity in your heart is what comes out of your mouth. You can manage your words for a while. You can be careful and controlled under normal circumstances. But when life squeezes you, when the pressure comes suddenly, when you are caught off guard, what is in surplus is what comes out.

Then Jesus used the word stoma for mouth. Stoma also means the front edge of a weapon. A sword or knife has a cutting edge. What comes out of your mouth in a moment of pressure can either cut you free from what had you bound, or it can cut the one who wields it if handled improperly. It depends entirely on what is in surplus in your heart. If you are bound by something and enough Word is in you, what comes out of your mouth will cut you free. But if what is in abundance is fear and doubt, you’ll cut yourself.

Your mouth is a weapon. The question is whether it is loaded with the Word of God or with fear and doubt. When the enemy brings something against you and you do not have time to think, the surplus that has been building in your heart through daily time in Scripture is what will rise up and speak. And that Word, spoken from an overflowing heart, has the power to cut through whatever the enemy puts in front of you.

Practical Application

Pay attention to what comes out of your mouth when you are not thinking about it, in casual conversation, in frustration, in passing comments about your own life. That will tell you more honestly than anything else what is currently in surplus in your heart. Let it prompt you to increase your time in the Word until the overflow changes.

Matthew 15:11; Psalm 49:3