Watch Your Mouth!

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

James reminds us that the tongue–that little member–holds much power and the only person who controls it–is the person to whom it belongs.

With the tongue we can mend relationships or destroy them forever.

With the tongue we can construct greatness or ignite destruction.

With the tongue we can have peace or chaos.

With the tongue we can create an environment that brings about prosperity or fuel abject poverty.

With the tongue we can speak life–to our bodies and promote healing and wholeness or we can doom ourselves to sickness and disease.

With the tongue–we are responsible for all we say and we must watch what we say because once we say it–we cannot recall words out of the air as easily as we can recall cars that need repair. When we are foolish–we can apologize and ask forgiveness, but it doesn’t take away the sting and hurt of words that linger in the air and in our minds. We must watch our mouths.

When we speak positive things–our words are not often remembered, but the negative things we say, are remembered by others long after we have forgotten what we said.

We have an obligation to ourselves and others to make sure that before we speak, we have prayed and given much thought to how we want our tongues to function. We are to be slow to speak and quick to listen to all God has to say to us and if we listen and obey, we cannot go astray.

Watch your mouth! Think about how words function–to heal or hurt, to spring life or trip to death, the tongue–the tiny member over which we have complete control–must submit to God and only say those things that He says.

We are healed and whole, peacemakers and not peacebreakers, the head and not the tail, providers of those in need and not  manipulators of greed. We are His children, members of a royal priesthood, created to do good, not bad and we shall praise Him for His mighty acts as we live according to His Word so others might see our good works and praise Him,too.

We have shaken off the deeds of darkness and choose to live in the marvelous light of The Lord. We are encouragers to others to live by faith and will not discourage any to live the life God has destined for them.

We are more than conquerors and have victory in Jesus at every turn where the enemy has laid a snare.

We live according to the hope we have in Jesus, not in expectations of mere mortals for they have no power outside of His power to make a positive, lasting, difference in our lives. And we will watch what we say–speaking only as He speaks–so we can obtain what He has already planned for us.

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Conversing With Purpose!

Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth.Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.  But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness. James 3:13-18 NIV

As I review scripture, seeking a Word from The Lord, I often come across passages that speak to me more clearly from one translation to the other, but I also find that sometimes, one word–changed–can change the meaning of what is being said.

We know that James was conscious of what happens when we say the wrong things or allow our tongues free reign in our live. The 13th verse of this passage from the King James Version reminds us of this:“Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom.”

What we say should have a purpose–a purpose towards building and not tearing down. Yesterday, at a luncheon geared towards mentoring our young people, some were asked, “What do you want adults to know about kids today?” The more I thought about it, the more I realized that adults seldom consider what kids are thinking and we tend to dismiss their thoughts and feelings simply because they are kids.

We ask them questions, but our reactions to them inhibit getting a true response from them. This happens when we don’t give them time to think about what they want to say and since they don’t respond as quickly as we want them to respond, we dismiss their positions without hearing it.

I’ve concluded that many of us tend to “talk at” kids rather than “talk to” them. This conclusion is made based upon the fact that we if don’t know how to have a conversation with them and converse with a purpose, we are talking at them. When we interrupt them or cut them short–dismissing what they have to say before they have a chance to say it, we’re talking at them, not to them.

The kids are wiser than we are in this regard in that they simply shut down and have nothing else to say. Why? We have shown them we have no respect for what they have to say and then we wonder why they don’t respect what we have to say.

Truly, we need wisdom from above to give us purpose when we converse with our young people. The more we think about how God responds to us, the more we should attempt to be more like Him, no matter who we’re conversing with. If God cut us off whenever we attempted to talk to Him, where would we be?

We need to learn to converse with kids and others with a purpose–talking to them, not at them, and waiting patiently to hear what they have to say. Who is wise, with understanding?

Watch What We Say!

In order to accomplish anything worthwhile, we have to watch what we say–about what we do and others.  Words–when spoken aloud–have this uncanny way of becoming a reality.  They can impact negatively or positively depending on how we arrange them in the atmosphere.  I prefer an atmosphere of positiveness, an atmosphere of praise unto God, accepting and receiving all that He has said I can have and do.  I can do all things well that Glorify God.  I can see beyond the surface of people to see God in them.  I can watch what I say in order to have what I say. Are you with me?  Then give all glory to God and reach out receive all of His many blessings!  “I receive all of His bountiful blessings in my life.  I receive healing in my body and mind.  I receive success in all my endeavors that glorify Him.  I thank Him for all who also receive from Him, everything they need and desire!” Hallelujah!