A man hath joy by the answer of his mouth: and a word spoken in due season, how good is it!
A fitting answer brings joy to the one who gives it, and a word spoken at the right time is good, while careful and wise use of speech has great power for good and helps a person live peaceably with others. A timely word meets someone in daily life with needed help and guidance before the opportunity is gone forever, and it can save a poor, erring and doubting soul by encouraging and enlightening toward understanding God's promises and coming to Christ for salvation and eternal life. It is like seed sown in a few well-chosen words from the heart, especially in the young, which the Holy Spirit and Christ and angels make productive until it springs up to an abundant harvest for eternal life. Aptly spoken words also bring peace and rest to sorely stricken hearts, giving hope, comfort and assurance to the suffering, the sick and discouraged, and to the poor and needy, sometimes saving both soul and body. The right moment must be watched for and seized rather than wasted, and those who abide in Christ with the Word in mind and heart and in living connection with God are made ready, with the Holy Spirit keeping them gentle and self-controlled to speak gently, lovingly and tenderly with discretion about when to speak and when to remain silent.
Words and Meaning
A fitting answer gives joy, and a word spoken in due season is good. The value lies in speaking at the right time, for a timely word can bring joy and do great good. To miss the moment is to waste a precious opportunity, and to neglect such speech is to lose precious opportunities for doing appointed work as a minister of righteousness. A well-timed word is good and brings joy, and even true facts should be shared only at a suitable time and in a way that will not offend, since censuring speech seldom helps those who are ill in body and mind. Those who abide in Christ are always ready to speak such timely words, sowing truth among unbelievers and offering hope and comfort to the suffering. Speaking gently and lovingly, while praying for help to find the right words, can bring a soul to salvation, so opportunities to speak should be sought and not neglected, and a word spoken at the right moment may give needed help and guidance to someone who may soon be beyond reach.
If this holds true of words from uninspired lips, it is far more true of words of infinite truth. The good and timely words are the gracious words spoken to Israel, promising that if they kept the commandments and diligently taught their children, they would be given the finest of the wheat, be brought honey out of the rock, be fed from the tree of life, and be given rest in love and dependence. Careful, judicious use of speech has great influence for good and helps a person live peaceably with others, for a well-timed, wise answer brings joy and is good.
Good That Follows
A fitting word at the right moment can give needed help and guidance to someone met in the course of the day who may soon be beyond reach, so it must be spoken and acted on while possible, with the heart opened for the Holy Spirit to carry it firmly and effectively to the hearer. Words and actions leave lasting impressions, for careless speech can start a chain of harmful influence, while words and example expressing divine love and goodness strengthen good purposes in others and help them do good in turn.
A timely word is good because in the minds of the young it may take root like seed and lead them in the right path, whereas a wrong word may lead them toward ruin. Even those who are spiritually indifferent may receive a fitting word spoken at the right time as seed falling into good soil. That timely word is truth sown in a few well-chosen words spoken from the heart, small in beginning but taking root and springing up to an abundant harvest of fruit. The Holy Spirit can make the seed productive when planted at the right opportunity, and Christ nurtures what is sown until it bears fruit for eternal life, with angels cooperating and the Lord watering and watching over it. This is the work of ministering to the soul as well as the body by speaking the precious truth of saving power in season, while human weakness in itself can do nothing and efficiency comes only by divine power through the Spirit rather than by might or power.
A timely and fitting word brings joy and may save a poor, erring, doubting soul, and every opportunity to speak words that encourage and help others win eternal life should be sought and not neglected. Spoken gently and lovingly with prayer for help to find the right words, and with wisdom and love toward those needing spiritual help, it can encourage, enlighten, lead toward understanding the promises, and draw toward coming to Christ. In the sickroom wise words can lead a patient to accept and confess Christ, and faithful labor that leads and draws souls to Christ and teaches them to love Him as Creator and Redeemer, repeating the Saviour's lessons to children in simple words and telling of His love and personal experience simply and earnestly from a heart overflowing with love and sympathy, reaches especially those who need to learn to love Jesus and who long for something to end the monotony of aimless life yet fear to speak of it.
Words of hope, courage, and resolve are good when well timed because they can strengthen one drawn toward harmful habits, and firm commitment to good principles helps guide others toward what is right. A kind, well-chosen word can correct one doing wrong, encourage what is right, and help keep students from harmful actions, with older students speaking gently to younger ones and helping lead them to Christ, the Spirit carrying such words to the heart to influence others. In the same way older children can guide younger ones by speaking such a word and by setting an example that leads toward what is right.
Aptly spoken words bring peace and rest to hearts sorely stricken, and workers abiding in Christ are always ready to speak such timely words, sowing truth among unbelievers and offering hope and comfort to the suffering. Timely fitting words give assurance and spiritual hope to God's children whether poor and needy or in higher classes, especially to those needing encouragement. A timely assuring hopeful word to a sufferer relieves the mind and wins confidence, belonging to strict attention to caring for those seeking relief, refusing diversion, giving prompt consultation and examination rather than leaving the sick to wait hours or days, since delay pains the afflicted, aggravates the mind, injures the body, and drives away those who might have been helped and might in turn have helped others. Such a word gives hope and courage to the sick and discouraged and may save both soul and body, as Bible promises repeated in this way save many souls through the worker laboring in the fear and love of God with divinely given wisdom and success.
A word spoken at the right moment gives light and reveals ennobling principles of truth. It shares the light of truth with people ready to appreciate it, so such opportunities should be watched for. To speak such a word is to give needed light and instruction to those needing it as part of saving a perishing world.
The right words at the right time can arrest the attention of careless and indifferent people and awaken their interest in eternal realities.
A word spoken at the right moment, joined with faithful work, can help remove prejudice and bring beneficial results. Joined with careful and complete work, it can remove prejudice, counter harmful influence, and bring blessing to others.
Speaking up at the right time for those who are overworked or oppressed, offering counsel that can help preserve their strength, is what a timely fitting word being good means in that setting.
Speaking in season blesses those labored for and benefits the speaker's own soul, requiring personal acquaintance and interest in hearers, timely personal words to those needing help and light, prayer for them, and no neglect of personal effort, with habitual communion with God, growth in grace and knowledge, increased power for good and wisdom from above, exclusion of one's own spirit and cheap words that mingle common fire with the sacred, and a life as a living epistle known and read of all. Faithful work of drawing souls to Christ in wise fitting words lays up treasure beside the throne, does the work valued by the Saviour, brings great blessing to the helper, and leads to sitting with Christ on His throne.
A timely word from one bearing responsibility does good by creating an influence for faithfulness and truth in all cases, giving those connected with institutions clear conceptions for dealing justly with people coming from foreign countries, treating those precious souls as one wishes to be treated by Christ and doing as one would be done by, so they carry back right impressions and the school and sanitarium stand in the elevated noble position of good repute intended for them.
Watching for Moment
The fitting answer brings joy, and the word spoken at the right time is good, so the moment must be watched for and seized rather than allowed to pass unused. To neglect to speak is to waste a precious opportunity and to leave unused a precious talent that ought to produce a thousandfold. Such watching belongs especially to the physician in his appointed work as a minister of righteousness, whose wise words in the sickroom can awaken faith, lead to accepting and confessing Christ, and sow seed that Christ nurtures to fruit for eternal life. Opportunities of this kind should be watched for because they share the light of truth with people who are ready to appreciate it.
Souls seeking truth need timely words because Satan is speaking temptations to them, and laborers must speak truth as it is in Jesus to those who will listen, not heeding repulse. They must work while it is day, before the night comes when no one can work, sowing the seed in faith with an unsparing hand as under the gaze of heaven, since one soul saved is worth more than the whole world. Every worker entrusted with bodies and souls is to be always ready with such a timely word that wins souls to Christ through speech, actions, and association with unbelievers in faithful work for time and for eternity. He is to stay awake so the sudden coming of the Son of man does not find him sleeping. As laborers seek God in sincerity, believe His Word, and acknowledge His goodness, mercy, and love, asking wisdom from God in faith without doubting, living water flows from them to refresh and revive humble, contrite hearts, and all who are willing to examine and understand truth will find the precious, priceless, hidden treasure.
Readiness to speak means being ever on the watch for willing listeners at any time and in any place. Christ is the example, for He proclaimed His message from the mountainside, from the fisherman's boat, in the desert, and in the great thoroughfares of travel, opening the treasure-house of truth wherever He found those willing to listen. His followers are called to the same consecrated evangelist work, speaking with the same loving sympathy with which He spoke.
In work for the Lord there is need to be on watch to speak the right word at the moment help is needed, and not to speak on the wrong side. The timely word helps a fellow laborer, while carelessness hinders instead of helps, so the speaker must keep in mind the power to help and be very cautious not to hinder. Hindering comes when the mind is swayed by wrong influence and then passes that influence on to affect another, opening a door for Satan to work, so both must be on guard. Trials borne well do not lose the reward, for the Lord's eye is upon every doing and sees every influence.
Speaking in season includes personal labor with interested families, visiting them in their homes to watch for their souls as those who must give an account. Such visiting reaches them better than public meetings can and helps minds over a perplexing point. It also includes speaking wonderful truths to those met in travels on the cars and to chance acquaintances. Doing this requires having faith in the Word of God and studying the Word as the voice of God.
Places to Speak
The fitting answer that brings joy belongs in a special way to the physician in the sickroom, for his appointed work is that of a minister of righteousness. Watched for as a golden privilege that will pass if neglected, the wise and timely word there awakens faith suited to the need of the sick and dying and may lead a suffering one to rely on Jesus and to accept and confess Christ. At the bedside this means pointing the dying to the Saviour and speaking of repentance, faith, and the Redeemer's love, without introducing creed or controversy, while Christ Himself works with the helper and nurtures the seed sown until it bears fruit for eternal life. To fail to speak at the right moment wastes a precious opportunity and leaves unused a talent that ought to produce a thousandfold. Those who fear God and know how to speak such a word present health reform to those reached through caring for them in sickness.
In sanitariums the same timely speech is a spiritual influence shown in prayer and in refreshing ministry that draws souls to Christ and brings restoration to the afflicted. Workers there bless others by learning to speak words at the right time, made too plain to be misunderstood. Helpful words and Bible promises repeated to the sick are afterward remembered as lessons that the Holy Spirit impresses upon the mind, with converting power and unseen agencies ready to make the right impression on sin-sick souls. A word of encouragement spoken in season to those met in daily life is one of the many ways of laboring for the salvation of perishing souls who lack such personal labor. In workshops and in every phase of physical labor the timely word represents Christ and His medical missionary work, cautioning and warning and adapting itself to the situation people are in.
In commerce, where work requires mixing with worldly men and with those who do not respect Christ, words in season are spoken under constant guard and prayer, with grace according to need and special wisdom, so that every transaction reveals Christian faith, true courtesy, and control under God's discipline. Timely words are also the needed warnings given in the church and in the home when eyes are opened to wondrous things out of God's law, when devotion to Christ is the object of life, and when divine light fills every corner of the soul and then flashes out to the world. They are the special work of those in the institutions established to give through influence and example the last message of mercy ever to be given to a fallen world, who keep the soul in connection with God so they can give the Word in season. When that word is given, an angel stands close by to impress unbelieving hearts so they carry it away and in time take their stand upon the truth.
Even lowly service can bring such timely, helpful words to others from anyone who remains in touch with Christ. Believers serve God by speaking fitting, joyful words of this kind to one another. Every worker entrusted with the bodies and souls of others is to be always ready with such a word that wins souls to Christ, exerting every influence through speech, actions, and association with unbelievers in faithful work for time and eternity.
Spirit That Speaks
Abiding in Christ keeps a person always ready to speak a fitting word at the right time, sowing truth among unbelievers and bringing hope and comfort to the suffering. Keeping the word of truth in mind and heart prepares one to speak a word in season, and a mind filled with the elevating themes of God's Word is made ready to speak such a word to those within its influence. Habitual communion with God is essential to maintain an even course, and growth in grace and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ gives increased power for good and wisdom from above. Even lowly service can bring a timely, helpful word to others when one remains in touch with Christ, and every teacher is to become acquainted with those who hear and become interested in the truth in order to speak a timely personal word to those needing help and light, with prayer for them and with personal effort that must not be neglected. Those appointed in the institutions God has established to give the world by influence and example the last message of mercy ever to be given to a fallen world must keep the soul in such connection with God that they can give the Word in season, and when that word is given an angel stands close by to impress unbelieving hearts so they carry it away and will at last take their stand upon the truth unless influence is utterly refused.
The Holy Spirit's power keeps the worker's spirit gentle and self-controlled and enables speaking the right words at the right time. Timely, tender words spoken under the Holy Spirit's influence make the right impression and bring help and strength. A word spoken at the right opportunity can plant the seed of truth in the heart, and the Holy Spirit can make that seed productive so it takes root and springs up. The Spirit of God can carry a kind, well-chosen word to the heart and use it to correct wrong, encourage what is right, and influence others toward Christ.
God helps those who seek wisdom and keep their hearts uplifted in prayer to speak the right word at the right time. Those who remain prayerful and seek heavenly wisdom from God can through Christ's grace speak such a word to people they meet and help them learn truths that lead to eternal life. Workers are to ask God in faith for wisdom to speak to people who need help with words suited to their circumstances, making known Christ's grace to those in spiritual poverty and darkness to draw them to Jesus. Speaking gently and lovingly while praying for God's help to find the right words can bring a soul to salvation, so opportunities to speak should be sought and not neglected.
The right words at the right time must be spoken with the right spirit, for such speaking can soften the heart being helped, while lack of skill and wisdom in speech can turn people away. Discretion is needed to know when to speak and when to remain silent, since those seeking truth need timely words while Satan is tempting them. The tongue is to be trained to encourage people and share what will benefit them, so that fitting, timely speech helps others. Even true facts should be shared at a suitable time and in a way that will not offend, since censuring speech seldom helps those who are ill in body and mind.
Timely words must be made too plain to be misunderstood, and helpful words spoken to the sick are afterward remembered as lessons the Holy Spirit impresses upon the mind. That timely word is the seed of truth sown in a few well-chosen words spoken from the heart, small in beginning but taking root and springing up to bear an abundant harvest of fruit. It means repeating the Saviour's lessons to children in simple words and telling others of His love and of personal experience simply and earnestly with a heart overflowing with love and sympathy, especially for those who need to be taught to love Jesus and who long for something to end the monotony of aimless lives yet fear to speak of their longing.
In themselves people can do nothing and are weak and insufficient for this work, but when they make the most of the entrusted talent, divine power gives efficiency, for the work is not by might nor by power but by His Spirit. Those who keep a living connection with God, make Him their trust, and believe He will guide become His channels through whom God works upon others, so their words savor not of self but are a savor of life unto life. Self-importance, the feeling that no one else is so well fitted and that self must do the work, with the spirit to be first, wraps the life in self-sufficiency and acts as a nonconductor through which the Spirit cannot flow, while councils full of self with much speaking, much reticence, and uncertainty displease the Lord instead of carrying out His will without loss of time or waste of words and strength. Growth in grace keeps out one's own spirit and cheap words that mingle common fire with the sacred, and makes workers living epistles known and read of all men.
Speaking such words is ministry work that requires keeping a reserve of spiritual strength to carry heavy responsibilities, trusting God to sustain and uphold, and avoiding physical or mental exhaustion and being overburdened when others can share the load. Those whose work requires mixing with worldly men in commerce and being with those who do not respect the Lord are to stand constantly on guard, keep strict watch over themselves, and pray always lest Satan take them unawares, and they are given grace according to need and special wisdom for such company so that every transaction reveals Christian faith, courtesy, and control under God's discipline. A small word of kindness offered while helping someone is precious service to Christ and is valued by God even when the speaker does not regard it as a great achievement. Kind, sympathetic words and right instruction are to be spoken to people who need spiritual help, giving needed light and instruction as part of working to save a perishing world.
A fitting answer brings joy to the one who gives it, and a word spoken at the right time is good, while careful and wise use of speech has great power for good and helps a person live peaceably with others.
A timely word meets someone in daily life with needed help and guidance before the opportunity is gone forever, and it can save a poor, erring and doubting soul by encouraging and enlightening toward understanding God's promises and coming to Christ for salvation and eternal life.
It is like seed sown in a few well-chosen words from the heart, especially in the young, which the Holy Spirit and Christ and angels make productive until it springs up to an abundant harvest for eternal life.
Aptly spoken words also bring peace and rest to sorely stricken hearts, giving hope, comfort and assurance to the suffering, the sick and discouraged, and to the poor and needy, sometimes saving both soul and body.
The right moment must be watched for and seized rather than wasted, and those who abide in Christ with the Word in mind and heart and in living connection with God are made ready, with the Holy Spirit keeping them gentle and self-controlled to speak gently, lovingly and tenderly with discretion about when to speak and when to remain silent.
Words and Meaning
A fitting answer gives joy, and a word spoken in due season is good. The value lies in speaking at the right time, for a timely word can bring joy and do great good. To miss the moment is to waste a precious opportunity, and to neglect such speech is to lose precious opportunities for doing appointed work as a minister of righteousness. A well-timed word is good and brings joy, and even true facts should be shared only at a suitable time and in a way that will not offend, since censuring speech seldom helps those who are ill in body and mind. Those who abide in Christ are always ready to speak such timely words, sowing truth among unbelievers and offering hope and comfort to the suffering. Speaking gently and lovingly, while praying for help to find the right words, can bring a soul to salvation, so opportunities to speak should be sought and not neglected, and a word spoken at the right moment may give needed help and guidance to someone who may soon be beyond reach.
If this holds true of words from uninspired lips, it is far more true of words of infinite truth. The good and timely words are the gracious words spoken to Israel, promising that if they kept the commandments and diligently taught their children, they would be given the finest of the wheat, be brought honey out of the rock, be fed from the tree of life, and be given rest in love and dependence. Careful, judicious use of speech has great influence for good and helps a person live peaceably with others, for a well-timed, wise answer brings joy and is good.
Good That Follows
A fitting word at the right moment can give needed help and guidance to someone met in the course of the day who may soon be beyond reach, so it must be spoken and acted on while possible, with the heart opened for the Holy Spirit to carry it firmly and effectively to the hearer. Words and actions leave lasting impressions, for careless speech can start a chain of harmful influence, while words and example expressing divine love and goodness strengthen good purposes in others and help them do good in turn.
A timely word is good because in the minds of the young it may take root like seed and lead them in the right path, whereas a wrong word may lead them toward ruin. Even those who are spiritually indifferent may receive a fitting word spoken at the right time as seed falling into good soil. That timely word is truth sown in a few well-chosen words spoken from the heart, small in beginning but taking root and springing up to an abundant harvest of fruit. The Holy Spirit can make the seed productive when planted at the right opportunity, and Christ nurtures what is sown until it bears fruit for eternal life, with angels cooperating and the Lord watering and watching over it. This is the work of ministering to the soul as well as the body by speaking the precious truth of saving power in season, while human weakness in itself can do nothing and efficiency comes only by divine power through the Spirit rather than by might or power.
A timely and fitting word brings joy and may save a poor, erring, doubting soul, and every opportunity to speak words that encourage and help others win eternal life should be sought and not neglected. Spoken gently and lovingly with prayer for help to find the right words, and with wisdom and love toward those needing spiritual help, it can encourage, enlighten, lead toward understanding the promises, and draw toward coming to Christ. In the sickroom wise words can lead a patient to accept and confess Christ, and faithful labor that leads and draws souls to Christ and teaches them to love Him as Creator and Redeemer, repeating the Saviour's lessons to children in simple words and telling of His love and personal experience simply and earnestly from a heart overflowing with love and sympathy, reaches especially those who need to learn to love Jesus and who long for something to end the monotony of aimless life yet fear to speak of it.
Words of hope, courage, and resolve are good when well timed because they can strengthen one drawn toward harmful habits, and firm commitment to good principles helps guide others toward what is right. A kind, well-chosen word can correct one doing wrong, encourage what is right, and help keep students from harmful actions, with older students speaking gently to younger ones and helping lead them to Christ, the Spirit carrying such words to the heart to influence others. In the same way older children can guide younger ones by speaking such a word and by setting an example that leads toward what is right.
Aptly spoken words bring peace and rest to hearts sorely stricken, and workers abiding in Christ are always ready to speak such timely words, sowing truth among unbelievers and offering hope and comfort to the suffering. Timely fitting words give assurance and spiritual hope to God's children whether poor and needy or in higher classes, especially to those needing encouragement. A timely assuring hopeful word to a sufferer relieves the mind and wins confidence, belonging to strict attention to caring for those seeking relief, refusing diversion, giving prompt consultation and examination rather than leaving the sick to wait hours or days, since delay pains the afflicted, aggravates the mind, injures the body, and drives away those who might have been helped and might in turn have helped others. Such a word gives hope and courage to the sick and discouraged and may save both soul and body, as Bible promises repeated in this way save many souls through the worker laboring in the fear and love of God with divinely given wisdom and success.
A word spoken at the right moment gives light and reveals ennobling principles of truth. It shares the light of truth with people ready to appreciate it, so such opportunities should be watched for. To speak such a word is to give needed light and instruction to those needing it as part of saving a perishing world.
The right words at the right time can arrest the attention of careless and indifferent people and awaken their interest in eternal realities.
A word spoken at the right moment, joined with faithful work, can help remove prejudice and bring beneficial results. Joined with careful and complete work, it can remove prejudice, counter harmful influence, and bring blessing to others.
Speaking up at the right time for those who are overworked or oppressed, offering counsel that can help preserve their strength, is what a timely fitting word being good means in that setting.
Speaking in season blesses those labored for and benefits the speaker's own soul, requiring personal acquaintance and interest in hearers, timely personal words to those needing help and light, prayer for them, and no neglect of personal effort, with habitual communion with God, growth in grace and knowledge, increased power for good and wisdom from above, exclusion of one's own spirit and cheap words that mingle common fire with the sacred, and a life as a living epistle known and read of all. Faithful work of drawing souls to Christ in wise fitting words lays up treasure beside the throne, does the work valued by the Saviour, brings great blessing to the helper, and leads to sitting with Christ on His throne.
A timely word from one bearing responsibility does good by creating an influence for faithfulness and truth in all cases, giving those connected with institutions clear conceptions for dealing justly with people coming from foreign countries, treating those precious souls as one wishes to be treated by Christ and doing as one would be done by, so they carry back right impressions and the school and sanitarium stand in the elevated noble position of good repute intended for them.
Watching for Moment
The fitting answer brings joy, and the word spoken at the right time is good, so the moment must be watched for and seized rather than allowed to pass unused. To neglect to speak is to waste a precious opportunity and to leave unused a precious talent that ought to produce a thousandfold. Such watching belongs especially to the physician in his appointed work as a minister of righteousness, whose wise words in the sickroom can awaken faith, lead to accepting and confessing Christ, and sow seed that Christ nurtures to fruit for eternal life. Opportunities of this kind should be watched for because they share the light of truth with people who are ready to appreciate it.
Souls seeking truth need timely words because Satan is speaking temptations to them, and laborers must speak truth as it is in Jesus to those who will listen, not heeding repulse. They must work while it is day, before the night comes when no one can work, sowing the seed in faith with an unsparing hand as under the gaze of heaven, since one soul saved is worth more than the whole world. Every worker entrusted with bodies and souls is to be always ready with such a timely word that wins souls to Christ through speech, actions, and association with unbelievers in faithful work for time and for eternity. He is to stay awake so the sudden coming of the Son of man does not find him sleeping. As laborers seek God in sincerity, believe His Word, and acknowledge His goodness, mercy, and love, asking wisdom from God in faith without doubting, living water flows from them to refresh and revive humble, contrite hearts, and all who are willing to examine and understand truth will find the precious, priceless, hidden treasure.
Readiness to speak means being ever on the watch for willing listeners at any time and in any place. Christ is the example, for He proclaimed His message from the mountainside, from the fisherman's boat, in the desert, and in the great thoroughfares of travel, opening the treasure-house of truth wherever He found those willing to listen. His followers are called to the same consecrated evangelist work, speaking with the same loving sympathy with which He spoke.
In work for the Lord there is need to be on watch to speak the right word at the moment help is needed, and not to speak on the wrong side. The timely word helps a fellow laborer, while carelessness hinders instead of helps, so the speaker must keep in mind the power to help and be very cautious not to hinder. Hindering comes when the mind is swayed by wrong influence and then passes that influence on to affect another, opening a door for Satan to work, so both must be on guard. Trials borne well do not lose the reward, for the Lord's eye is upon every doing and sees every influence.
Speaking in season includes personal labor with interested families, visiting them in their homes to watch for their souls as those who must give an account. Such visiting reaches them better than public meetings can and helps minds over a perplexing point. It also includes speaking wonderful truths to those met in travels on the cars and to chance acquaintances. Doing this requires having faith in the Word of God and studying the Word as the voice of God.
Places to Speak
The fitting answer that brings joy belongs in a special way to the physician in the sickroom, for his appointed work is that of a minister of righteousness. Watched for as a golden privilege that will pass if neglected, the wise and timely word there awakens faith suited to the need of the sick and dying and may lead a suffering one to rely on Jesus and to accept and confess Christ. At the bedside this means pointing the dying to the Saviour and speaking of repentance, faith, and the Redeemer's love, without introducing creed or controversy, while Christ Himself works with the helper and nurtures the seed sown until it bears fruit for eternal life. To fail to speak at the right moment wastes a precious opportunity and leaves unused a talent that ought to produce a thousandfold. Those who fear God and know how to speak such a word present health reform to those reached through caring for them in sickness.
In sanitariums the same timely speech is a spiritual influence shown in prayer and in refreshing ministry that draws souls to Christ and brings restoration to the afflicted. Workers there bless others by learning to speak words at the right time, made too plain to be misunderstood. Helpful words and Bible promises repeated to the sick are afterward remembered as lessons that the Holy Spirit impresses upon the mind, with converting power and unseen agencies ready to make the right impression on sin-sick souls. A word of encouragement spoken in season to those met in daily life is one of the many ways of laboring for the salvation of perishing souls who lack such personal labor. In workshops and in every phase of physical labor the timely word represents Christ and His medical missionary work, cautioning and warning and adapting itself to the situation people are in.
In commerce, where work requires mixing with worldly men and with those who do not respect Christ, words in season are spoken under constant guard and prayer, with grace according to need and special wisdom, so that every transaction reveals Christian faith, true courtesy, and control under God's discipline. Timely words are also the needed warnings given in the church and in the home when eyes are opened to wondrous things out of God's law, when devotion to Christ is the object of life, and when divine light fills every corner of the soul and then flashes out to the world. They are the special work of those in the institutions established to give through influence and example the last message of mercy ever to be given to a fallen world, who keep the soul in connection with God so they can give the Word in season. When that word is given, an angel stands close by to impress unbelieving hearts so they carry it away and in time take their stand upon the truth.
Even lowly service can bring such timely, helpful words to others from anyone who remains in touch with Christ. Believers serve God by speaking fitting, joyful words of this kind to one another. Every worker entrusted with the bodies and souls of others is to be always ready with such a word that wins souls to Christ, exerting every influence through speech, actions, and association with unbelievers in faithful work for time and eternity.
Spirit That Speaks
Abiding in Christ keeps a person always ready to speak a fitting word at the right time, sowing truth among unbelievers and bringing hope and comfort to the suffering. Keeping the word of truth in mind and heart prepares one to speak a word in season, and a mind filled with the elevating themes of God's Word is made ready to speak such a word to those within its influence. Habitual communion with God is essential to maintain an even course, and growth in grace and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ gives increased power for good and wisdom from above. Even lowly service can bring a timely, helpful word to others when one remains in touch with Christ, and every teacher is to become acquainted with those who hear and become interested in the truth in order to speak a timely personal word to those needing help and light, with prayer for them and with personal effort that must not be neglected. Those appointed in the institutions God has established to give the world by influence and example the last message of mercy ever to be given to a fallen world must keep the soul in such connection with God that they can give the Word in season, and when that word is given an angel stands close by to impress unbelieving hearts so they carry it away and will at last take their stand upon the truth unless influence is utterly refused.
The Holy Spirit's power keeps the worker's spirit gentle and self-controlled and enables speaking the right words at the right time. Timely, tender words spoken under the Holy Spirit's influence make the right impression and bring help and strength. A word spoken at the right opportunity can plant the seed of truth in the heart, and the Holy Spirit can make that seed productive so it takes root and springs up. The Spirit of God can carry a kind, well-chosen word to the heart and use it to correct wrong, encourage what is right, and influence others toward Christ.
God helps those who seek wisdom and keep their hearts uplifted in prayer to speak the right word at the right time. Those who remain prayerful and seek heavenly wisdom from God can through Christ's grace speak such a word to people they meet and help them learn truths that lead to eternal life. Workers are to ask God in faith for wisdom to speak to people who need help with words suited to their circumstances, making known Christ's grace to those in spiritual poverty and darkness to draw them to Jesus. Speaking gently and lovingly while praying for God's help to find the right words can bring a soul to salvation, so opportunities to speak should be sought and not neglected.
The right words at the right time must be spoken with the right spirit, for such speaking can soften the heart being helped, while lack of skill and wisdom in speech can turn people away. Discretion is needed to know when to speak and when to remain silent, since those seeking truth need timely words while Satan is tempting them. The tongue is to be trained to encourage people and share what will benefit them, so that fitting, timely speech helps others. Even true facts should be shared at a suitable time and in a way that will not offend, since censuring speech seldom helps those who are ill in body and mind.
Timely words must be made too plain to be misunderstood, and helpful words spoken to the sick are afterward remembered as lessons the Holy Spirit impresses upon the mind. That timely word is the seed of truth sown in a few well-chosen words spoken from the heart, small in beginning but taking root and springing up to bear an abundant harvest of fruit. It means repeating the Saviour's lessons to children in simple words and telling others of His love and of personal experience simply and earnestly with a heart overflowing with love and sympathy, especially for those who need to be taught to love Jesus and who long for something to end the monotony of aimless lives yet fear to speak of their longing.
In themselves people can do nothing and are weak and insufficient for this work, but when they make the most of the entrusted talent, divine power gives efficiency, for the work is not by might nor by power but by His Spirit. Those who keep a living connection with God, make Him their trust, and believe He will guide become His channels through whom God works upon others, so their words savor not of self but are a savor of life unto life. Self-importance, the feeling that no one else is so well fitted and that self must do the work, with the spirit to be first, wraps the life in self-sufficiency and acts as a nonconductor through which the Spirit cannot flow, while councils full of self with much speaking, much reticence, and uncertainty displease the Lord instead of carrying out His will without loss of time or waste of words and strength. Growth in grace keeps out one's own spirit and cheap words that mingle common fire with the sacred, and makes workers living epistles known and read of all men.
Speaking such words is ministry work that requires keeping a reserve of spiritual strength to carry heavy responsibilities, trusting God to sustain and uphold, and avoiding physical or mental exhaustion and being overburdened when others can share the load. Those whose work requires mixing with worldly men in commerce and being with those who do not respect the Lord are to stand constantly on guard, keep strict watch over themselves, and pray always lest Satan take them unawares, and they are given grace according to need and special wisdom for such company so that every transaction reveals Christian faith, courtesy, and control under God's discipline. A small word of kindness offered while helping someone is precious service to Christ and is valued by God even when the speaker does not regard it as a great achievement. Kind, sympathetic words and right instruction are to be spoken to people who need spiritual help, giving needed light and instruction as part of working to save a perishing world.