Hi Friends,
As we speak truth in love to others, as we speak words of Life to ourselves, as we continue to gain confidence in knowing the difference between the sources of the words that pop into our minds and as our words bring about a life of contentment, I hope we realize we are not able to achieve any of these goals by ourselves. We need the constant and unending power of the Holy Spirit to guard our words. Listen:
“Those who guard their mouths and their tongues keep themselves from calamity.” Pr 21:23
Lord, guard my mouth. Here’s the issue, if we could do this all by ourselves then wouldn’t we? The problem is that we are ALL broken humans. We do not have the strength within us, by ourselves, to consistently watch what we are saying to others nor to ourselves. But that is simply because we were not created to live life on our own. God always meant for us to be in union with Him. For HIM to be the Source of all that is good, healthy and loving in our world…this includes the words that we speak to others and to ourselves. Because of The Downfall, every human since has tried to live on their own…and this is why we are in the mess that we are all in. When we try to live in a way that we were not created to live, what else can we expect?
Live according to how we were created to live. So the other day I tried to put a piece of bread in my DVD player because I wanted toast. Do you know what happened? Well, I messed up the player and never got my desired toast! This is a silly example of what I mean above. When we try to live in a way that we were never meant to live, we mess things up and are never satisfied. All this to say, we cannot guard our mouths…the words we say…apart from the help of the Holy Spirit. We need His Wisdom, His Grace, His Love to be able to tell the difference between what will be helpful and what will be hurtful. We need His Timing, His Insight, His Omniscience to be able to know the right words to say, at the right time, with the right heart attitude. Once again, we were never meant to live any second of life apart from God, but when we try, things don’t work out the way we truly hoped they would.
Be Aware. First we have to think about what we are thinking about so we can become aware of the quality of the words we are thinking. If they are hurtful, then we need to drop them. If they are helpful, then we need to meditate on them. But how do we know the difference? We pass each thought through the Holy Spirit to see if the words are consistent with God’s Truth. We speak to Jesus as we think whatever we think, bringing Him into the “conversation” that is going on in our minds BEFORE it comes out of our mouths. We seek the Father’s Love so that we can discern what is right and good and lovely and…turn with me to Philippians 4:8. We can know for sure we are lining up the words in our minds with God as we center all our thoughts with those godly attributes. True, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable…when our thoughts, then our words, revolve around these uplifting, life-giving things, we are heading in the right direction. We are headed towards WHO we were always meant to be, children of God, made in His Image.
God is Love. And in case you haven’t figured it out yet, it is challenging to love the way He does! We say things to ourselves that we would never say to others! But then again, we say things to others that we should never say to them either. Words are powerful! I cannot emphasize this too much. Just look around at the world we live in today. Instead of speaking words that give life, we cancel each other’s voices out with words that kill, steal and destroy. Hey wait a minute! That’s the enemy’s agenda! Today decide NOT to be a part of all the hurt that is being perpetuated in this fallen, lost world. Choose your words carefully. Use them to bring about peace instead of war. And this starts in your own mind…then in your home…then with whoever you meet throughout your day. I know as I continue to learn to be aware of the words in my mind, as I seek God’s guidance as what to say, when to say it and how to say it, life becomes more peaceful, joyful and fulfilling. Do you want that too? Then won’t you join me?
Until we meet again, keep lifting your eyes to God, He’s closer than you think.
<>< Peace, Diane
