Learn of Jesus - Part 4, Overflow

(Matthew 11:29–30 KJV) “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye [you] shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Jesus is our teacher and coach in the area of knowledge, words, heart, and faith. He is also love, so he wants only what’s best for us. Yesterday, we saw that in the proverbs, God’s wisdom urges us to store up his knowledge in our hearts. Today, we see something else from the same proverb:

(Proverbs 10:14 NKJV) “Wise people store up knowledge, But the mouth of the foolish is near destruction.”

The other point this proverb brings out is that when we “store up” knowledge in our hearts, it will come out of our mouths. This proverbs states this with a switched parallel. In other words, it states the opposite of what happens when wise people “store up knowledge” The Holy Spirit follows this with a statement of the consequence of the overflow—but in the opposite sense: “The mouth of fools is near destruction.” Or you could say, fools store up foolish, demonic words, and they too overflow—but they cause destruction when they come out. Jesus confirmed this when he said:

(Luke 6:45 NKJV) “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.”

Whatever we treasure and store up in our hearts is sure to overflow out of our mouths. This is another reason God is so keen on us storing up his knowledge—his word—and only his knowledge. Because, as Jesus taught in Mark 11:23, we will have what we say if we believe it in our hearts. This is an absolute law of the spirit realm; it will either work for us or against us; but it will always (yes, always) work. Ultimately, whatever you feed into your heart in abundance is what you will believe in your heart: it’s designed to work that way. Let’s listen to Jesus explain this law. Note that he begins with the word, “assuredly”, confirming without doubt that this is an unchangeable law like gravity; it can work for you or against you, but it’s always engaged one way or the other:

(Mark 11:23 NKJV) “For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.”

Let’s put this spiritual law to work in our favour; let’s build a massive vault of God’s word into our hearts, pursuing and treasuring his knowledge until it overflows continually through our mouths. Then the law Jesus revealed will work in a positive way for us instead of against us. After all, if we are like the “fools” who reject God’s knowledge, and if we have an abundance of knowledge provided by the serpent in our heart’s treasury, then the self-fulfilling overflow will be evil and destructive:

(Matthew 12:34 NKJV) “Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.”

Without a doubt, and especially when under pressure (like under enemy attack, emotional stress, conflict, tiredness, or verbal attack), what is in our heart in abundance will overflow out of our lips. This can either be perfectly beneficial or extremely destructive, depending on whose words overflow.

To ensure you have an abundance of God’s treasure in your heart, today, I encourage you to imitate the “blessed” “man” of Psalm 1:

(Psalm 1:1–2 NKJV) “Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; {2} But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night.”

The “blessed” man delights in God’s word—he finds it valuable enough to treasure; moreover, he meditates in it day and night. If we do what he does, we too will be blessed. Why? because after a while, a continual stream of God’s word will overflow from our hearts—full of faith—out through our mouths. And … we will have what we say. Praise the Lord! We too will be blessed:

(Psalm 1:3 NKJV) “He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper.”