August 9, 2013 Mini-Blog
My BB brain is all over the map today. I want to talk about it ALL! Here is what's on my heart. I'm almost 30 years old...give or take a decade, and I want to go find the person that said, "sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never hurt me," and punch them in the nose. Words do hurt. Ya know that love language stuff. Words are mine and when someone says something ugly, it cuts me to the CORE.
After getting my feelings hurt, I quickly...or slowly because I had to sulk a little and pray and be a baby... turned to the Word. I started reading about what the Word of God says about our tongue.
He who guards his mouth and his tongue keeps himself from calamity. Proverbs 21:23
(I think this can be said for our hearts too. Guard yourself BBs. There is a ripple effect to everything we lay out there. Just read more about spiritual warfare! We can open ourselves up for a lot of destruction... or set ourselves up for success)
Next ones a doozie. Don't miss it because it's a lot of words. Read it over and over!! THIS is the ripple effect... both good and bad. I want to duct tape my mouth... and yours too!
Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell. For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water. Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. James 3:4-18
After I had a period of repentance, I moved to some other thoughts about the tongue. Who did God choose to lead HIS people on one of the greatest missions of ALL time? The great Exodus? The period of learning to live WITH God that still applies today? MOSES peeps, MOSES! The man that proclaimed that he was "slow of speech and tongue" in Exodus 4:10. I wonder if God did this for a reason. He knows how damning our tongue is. Moses had to rely on God here... and God alone.
The last thing that calmed my heart, was this... so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:10-11
We are back to the spiritual warfare thing again (mentioned yet again in James 3)! Don't forget BBs, we are for God or against Him. Hot or Cold. God's will or our will. Those demony nasties can make us say all kinds off things, and they can make us feel unworthy, stupid, hurt, anxious, etc. when people throw daggers our way. But in the end EVERY knee will bow... don't miss this... on heaven, earth, and UNDER earth and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is our Lord... Our original beautifully broken Savior.
Dear Father, tame my tongue today. I know that when I speak, I become open to a host of consequences... good or bad. Allow me today, Father, to bear good fruits. Help me sow a harvest of righteousness and peace. Father, I want your will to be done... not mine... as hard as that is. Help me remember that satan loves to make me feel inadequate and anxious, but all good things come from You. You are greater. Keep me strong in your name. Amen
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