When I get strong impressions in my heart about something, I usually
listen fast because I’ve learned that if you don’t fix it now, it will come back
to bite you. We go through different seasons of our lives and God provides
anointing for each season. This applies to our habits, values and day-to-day
decisions. God has dealt with me with a number of things ranging from my use of
make-up to my attitude towards my education. He has broken down walls in my
heart about forgiveness and submission and the place of the woman. Things I’ve
ignored have cropped up at later times and then I began to wish that I had dealt
with it once and for all.
My entire first paragraph leads to this: God is dealing with my very
caustic tongue. I’m very sharp and witty and sarcastic. I dish my words bluntly,
no sieve to strain them through. Also, my habit of confessing the realities of
God’s word for me has been on the down low. So the Holy Spirit nudged and nudged
and I finally listened. I picked up my bibles: The Everyday Life Bible by Joyce
Meyer (Amplified Version) and The Message Bible by Eugene Peterson and my pretty
journal and I searched for scriptures concerning the power of the tongue and
confessing God’s word. Here are some of my lessons:
1. If you want to enjoy the fullness of life and live long: shut up,
no lies, no deceiving, no manipulating. There’s a very big deal in using swear
words. (Psalm 34:12-13)
2. There are things in our conversations that offend God. We must consciously guard our mouths on purpose. Discipline is a choice; not an easy one, but a quality one. (Psalm 141:3)
3. Your mouth should be a deep, life-giving well. People should come around you and leave watered. (Proverbs 10:11)
4. Shut up if you don’t have anything to say. If it’s not going to bless the next person, keep quiet. Keep shutting up unless you mouth becomes like a perverse stagnant swamp. (Proverbs 10:31)
5. Your mouth is
your life. If you let your lips runs, you’re opening yourself to ruin. If your
guard your lips, your life is guarded. (Proverbs 13:3)
6. You can either choose wisdom or the hard way. There’s no point in proving anything with angry, clashing words. It’s like a lawn mower that wants to prove to its friend, the grass that it can cut. Yeah it cuts, but his friend the grass is dead. Gentle clarifying speech will bring you great return that your strength and skill will never dream of. Soft speech will break the most rigid defenses. (Proverbs 15:1)
7. It’s what you put in your heart that’s going to come out of it. You're saying and thinking rubbish because rubbish is in your heart. If there's no good in you, no good will come out of you. Remember the popular saying: 'judge by actions not words?' Its not entirely true. Judge by both. You're going to give account for every idle, inoperative, non-working word you speak. Your words either acquit or condemn you (Matthew 12:34-37).
8. #mouthcheck (Ephesians 4:29)
- Is it good and beneficial to the spiritual progress of the listener?
- Is it fitting to the need and occasion?
- Is it a blessing? Is it graceful?
This was the footnote I put in my journal: girl, you've a lot of shutting up to do!
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