Praying Scripture for our Words

Hi Friend!

May is Speech-Language-Hearing Awareness month, which is near and dear to my heart as my older son has a neurological speech disorder called Apraxia, as well as a profound hearing loss in his right ear. My younger son also has a speech delay.

Both of my sons (now teenagers) have been in speech therapy for as long as they can remember, and likely will continue to be in speech therapy for several more years.

I compiled a list of my favorite scriptures related to speech that I pray over my boys for their speech and language development. I hope they encourage you, especially if you know someone who is non-verbal, pre-verbal, or speech delayed.

Praying for Our Own Speech

In honor of May being Better Speech and Hearing Month, let’s focus on praying over our own words, speech, and language, as well as hearing the hearts of those around us. The words we say have the power to build up and tear down, to encourage or to discourage the people who are closest to us.

Jesus who came in the fullness of grace and truth (see John 1:14), demonstrates through His interactions with individuals that speaking both words of truth and words of grace matter.

It’s a hard balance of speaking with both truth and grace. In our sinful nature we tend toward one extreme or the other.

Some of us find it easy to share God’s truths with others and sometimes we can do so without speaking love, which only pushes people away from us and from God.

Some of us find it easier to share grace and avoid speaking words of truth out of fear that their words might cause division or hurt feelings.

Scripture offers us hundreds of verses and passages that show the power of our words, the importance of wisely selecting our words, and why we should speak words of truth, encouragement, and love to those around us. I’ve collected a few of my favorite scriptures for our own speech that you can pray:

Here’s TWO scriptures to pray over your words today:

Jesus, help me to speak to others more like You, that my words would be full of grace and truth. (Based on John 1:14)

Thank You Lord that in You I have been enriched in every way, including my speech and knowledge. May I speak words to those around me that confirm that Christ is in me. (Based on 1 Corinthians 1:5-6 BSB)

If you’d like to learn more about the power of our words and praying for them, check out chapter 16 of my book On the Same Page with God.

Here’s to embracing life and praying Scripture together,

Jenn