26 If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless. James 1:26 (NIV)
Today I’ve got mixed reviews. Like yesterday I started out great determined to bless and encourage wherever I went-and I did. But at days end I found myself in a tricky conversation where I really could have handled it better. Upon reflection, I believe I listened poorly and thus answered poorly. I hate that! (Oops did I just gripe?) I'm not perfect for sure but today is a new day and I hope to honor God in speech all day today.
After spending four days meditating in scripture concerning the importance of our words and realizing their incredible power, I am deeply convicted that I must allow God to produce even deeper changes in me. I now see more clearly than ever that our words are anything but neutral. Each one released is a revelation of what is in my heart and has untold power for good or evil. Spending time reflecting on conversations throughout the day and asking for forgiveness where I fall short is helping me a lot. Starting my day in heart surrender and thanksgiving is even more important.
Jesus spoke often of words. Words come from our hearts and go directly into the hearts of others. It is of utmost importance to understand the nature and power of our words because Jesus said they have eternal implications.
35 A good person produces good words from a good heart, and an evil person produces evil words from an evil heart. 36 And I tell you this, that you must give an account on judgment day of every idle word you speak. 37 The words you say now reflect your fate then; either you will be justified by them or you will be condemned." Matt. 12:33-37
Help me with idle and careless speech Lord. May good come from my mouth God. May my heart be yielded to the work of Your Spirit. May Jesus be Lord of my lips and may His love be a filter for all that flows from them.
14 May the words of my mouth and the thoughts of my heart be pleasing to you, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer. Psalms 19:14 (NLT)
Today I’ve got mixed reviews. Like yesterday I started out great determined to bless and encourage wherever I went-and I did. But at days end I found myself in a tricky conversation where I really could have handled it better. Upon reflection, I believe I listened poorly and thus answered poorly. I hate that! (Oops did I just gripe?) I'm not perfect for sure but today is a new day and I hope to honor God in speech all day today.
After spending four days meditating in scripture concerning the importance of our words and realizing their incredible power, I am deeply convicted that I must allow God to produce even deeper changes in me. I now see more clearly than ever that our words are anything but neutral. Each one released is a revelation of what is in my heart and has untold power for good or evil. Spending time reflecting on conversations throughout the day and asking for forgiveness where I fall short is helping me a lot. Starting my day in heart surrender and thanksgiving is even more important.
Jesus spoke often of words. Words come from our hearts and go directly into the hearts of others. It is of utmost importance to understand the nature and power of our words because Jesus said they have eternal implications.
35 A good person produces good words from a good heart, and an evil person produces evil words from an evil heart. 36 And I tell you this, that you must give an account on judgment day of every idle word you speak. 37 The words you say now reflect your fate then; either you will be justified by them or you will be condemned." Matt. 12:33-37
Help me with idle and careless speech Lord. May good come from my mouth God. May my heart be yielded to the work of Your Spirit. May Jesus be Lord of my lips and may His love be a filter for all that flows from them.
14 May the words of my mouth and the thoughts of my heart be pleasing to you, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer. Psalms 19:14 (NLT)
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I have been doing so well. Even in the middle of my step-son's breakdown about his mother and their lack of relationship, i did my best to be encouraging and loving. I didn't complain about his mother and I encouraged him to not complain either. This morning we had another great morning. AND THEN...3 days into this and I say something like I hate my internet connection, it's so slow today. It wasn't moving fast enough for me, after all, I have work to do, year end to finish off, I have to get it done by my own deadline and my internet connection was not helping me. Well, the truth is, I type really fast and although it was slower than usual, I also had an insane number of windows open and programs that take up a lot of cpu usage. I was just being impatient. The truth is I should be grateful that I have a laptop and an internet connection. i should be grateful that I can work from the comfort of my dining room while my kids are doing their school work. Then it was the phone, it hasn't stopped ringing since 5:30 this morning. Nothing bad, just a lot of calls, so finally a few minutes ago, my phone rang...yes again. and I sighed and muttered to myself, what now. None of the phone calls i've gotten have been bad, they've just been slowing me down. Here i go again, impatient. To top it all off, it was my darling husband calling to let me know he was on his way home from South Carolina. Definitely something to be thankful for. So, I am repenting today! I am repenting for my words and I am repenting for my impatience. I think i'll take an extra half hour or so at lunch and just meditate on Jesus and rest in his peace. I apparently, need to slow down a bit today. So that's what I'll do.
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