Tongue of Fire

As many of us have learned as we have grown up “That sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me” is not true.  Words do matter.  Tone of the words matters.  In actuality words can hurt more than stones.  Bones can heal, but sometimes a person’s heart never heals.  James reminds us of how powerful and important our words are in James 3:5 & 6-

^“5 So too, though the tongue is a small part [of the body], it boasts great things. Consider how large a forest a small fire ignites.  ⁶ And the tongue is a fire. The tongue, a world of unrighteousness, is placed among the parts of our [bodies]; it pollutes the whole body, sets the course of life on fire, and is set on fire by hell.”

A little bitty spark leads to a flame.  A flame leads to a fire.  A fire leads to an out of control blaze destroying everything in its path.  Our words do the same.  A word or two can break a heart, damage a self-image, cause someone to lose a job, cause some one to get in fist fight, cause someone to hate another, cause someone to not receive the Lord as their Savior.  Our goal should always be the care and love of others leading to their salvation and growing relationship in the Lord.  We don’t want to be hindrance to someone else’s spiritual well-being.  We dont’ want to bring shame to God.  We want to glorify Him in all ways.  So remember how powerful your tongue is.  With these thoughts in mind it just makes common sense to think before you speak.

Better Than A Dozen Roses

What an encouragement the 23rd Psalm is!  It is an awesome power packed passage of encouragement.  Take a moment to read it:

“¹You, LORD, are my shepherd. I will never be in need. ²You let me rest in fields of green grass. You lead me to streams of peaceful water, ³and you refresh my life. You are true to your name, and you lead me along the right paths. ⁴I may walk through valleys as dark as death, but I won’t be afraid. You are with me, and your shepherd’s rod makes me feel safe. ⁵You treat me to a feast, while my enemies watch. You honor me as your guest, and you fill my cup until it overflows. ⁶Your kindness and love will always be with me each day of my life, and I will live forever in your house, LORD.”

Now take a moment to list off the points of encouragement from our Lord:

1.  I will never be in need.  That covers physically and spiritually.

2.  He will give me rest in a pleasant place.  Rest from the demands of life, rest from worries, and rest from the spiritual battles.  I only have to rest in Him or depend on Him and not myself.

3.  He leads me to peace.  I just have to follow Him there.

4.  He will refresh me.  I don’t have to do things on my own and in my own strength.  I don’t have to deplete my energy.  He will revive me and energize me.

5.  God is true to His name.  Have you ever read the list of God’s names.  A name tells about the character and we learn alot about God by the names He is called in His Word.  He is true to them all.

6.  He leads me on right paths.  If I follow Him, I will go the right way and get where I am suppose to go.

7.  In the bad times or even as I approach physical death, I don’t have to be afraid, because He is with me.

8.  He protects me and keeps me safe.  I just have to run to Him and seek His shelter.  I don’t have to fight the wolves by myself.  I don’t have to fight them at all.

9.  He provides for me and cares for me.  He shows the enemy that He loves me.

10.  He blesses beyond what we need.  We just need to open our eyes and see those blessings.

11.  God is with us always and will love us always.  Nothing can separate us from God, once we receive Christ as our Savior.

12.  God allows us to live eternally with Him.  Nothing can take away our eternal life, once we receive Christ as our Savior.  We are blessed eternally to be in His presence.

Are you encouraged?  I would say that the 23rd Psalm is better than a dozen roses from that special someone in your life.

Wise Moms Pass the Torch

There are many things that we receive from our moms.  They pass down special bits of wisdom and advice to us.  They teach us how to do things.  They warn us about the dangers in life, from playing with BB guns to cheating on tests to not marrying the right person.  The wisdom of a mom is best seen when she passes down the torch of faith in God.  What better love and guidance could a mom give a child then to lead them to Jesus who will far better provide and take care of the child? 

Especially today, we see many moms leaving it up to their kids to decide if they want to go to church.  They will even let them chose which religion.  Worse yet, they let them go out in to the world of myriad of faiths and let them try to determine what is true and false.  Then there are others that let the child chose activities such as little league over church on Sundays.  These moms think that a child will naturally find their way to what is right or that every road leads to Heaven.  They think if they raise their child to be the best person they can be that that is all that is really important.  This is the furthest from the truth.  A child has no earthly or spiritual wisdom.  They are young and uninformed.  Anyone could tell them what they think is right and they would believe them.  It’s up to moms to protect, lead and guide the child until they are old enough to know better.

 One great example is found in II Timothy 1:5 -

 “…clearly recalling your sincere faith that first lived in your grandmother Lois, then in your mother Eunice, and that I am convinced is in you also.”

Both Timothy’s grandmother and mother had passed on the torch.  As a result a child grew in to a fighter for the faith, a preacher, a leader in God’s church.  If they had just accepted Christ, but didn’t share, where would Timothy be?  I can think of two such examples of Christian moms who did not teach their child about their faith.  One felt the child would grow up and figure it out.  That child has grown up and still does not know Jesus as their personal Savior.  Another child was allowed to go to whatever religious school or church they chose.  The child was in a variety of denominations due to relative’s church’s and local area ministries.  Eventually that child stumbled in to faith in Jesus in a Biblically founded denomination and is now a minister.  The minimal guidance the second mom provided help set the child on a right path, but with a little more regular guidance the child wouldn’t have taken years and a variety of churches to come to the faith.

As Christian mom, true wisdom would be to make every effort to pass the torch of your faith in God on to your child.  Protect and guide the child in love to Jesus.  Don’t leave them to the world and its ruler.

Thank you to all the Christian moms who have passed the torch.  Keep up the great work for the Lord!

Wisdom Speaks Encouragement

The last few devotionals we have spoken about speaking.  First we spoke about having the ability to actually speak words of wisdom that everyone will want to listen to.  This would be a great blessing to us and to those who listen.  Next we spoke about actually speaking to Wisdom itself.  In other words, take time to communicate with God.  He is wisdom and our source of wisdom.  Then we spoke about having wisdom not to speak.  Too often we speak before we think.  It takes true wisdom to guide our tongue.  Lastly, today we will speak of wisdom speaking encouragement.  A wise person will know that some of the best words they can speak to others are words of encouragement.  There is one set of words of encouragement that it is vital that we speak to all who will listen.  In Acts Chapter 13 we read about the Apostle Paul going to the synagogue.  After he arrives the leaders ask him to speak words of encouragement in verse 15:

^“ After the reading of the Law and the Prophets, the leaders of the synagogue sent [word] to them, saying, “Brothers, if you have any message of encouragement for the people, you can speak.”

Paul responds with the wisest words of encouragement he could tell them.  He uses the history and knowledge they are familiar with to lead them to the Savior.  What better words of encouragement could someone speak to another who needs the Lord.  What wiser thing could be done with our words than to speak words of encouragement such as these to a lost and hurting world.

 

Tongue of Fire

As many of us have learned as we have grown up “That sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me” is not true.  Words do matter.  Tone of the words matters.  In actuality words can hurt more than stones.  Bones can heal, but sometimes a person’s heart never heals.  James reminds us of how powerful and important our words are in James 3:5 & 6-

^“5 So too, though the tongue is a small part [of the body], it boasts great things. Consider how large a forest a small fire ignites.  ⁶ And the tongue is a fire. The tongue, a world of unrighteousness, is placed among the parts of our [bodies]; it pollutes the whole body, sets the course of life on fire, and is set on fire by hell.”

A little bitty spark leads to a flame.  A flame leads to a fire.  A fire leads to an out of control blaze destroying everything in its path.  Our words do the same.  A word or two can break a heart, damage a self-image, cause someone to lose a job, cause some one to get in fist fight, cause someone to hate another, cause someone to not receive the Lord as their Savior.  Our goal should always be the care and love of others leading to their salvation and growing relationship in the Lord.  We don’t want to be hindrance to someone else’s spiritual well-being.  We dont’ want to bring shame to God.  We want to glorify Him in all ways.  So remember how powerful your tongue is.  With these thoughts in mind it just makes common sense to think before you speak.

Powerful Prayer

 We all have so many things to do, priorities to set, needs, concerns, burdens, dreams and desires that we need to put the instructions in James 5:16  in to practice, “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.”  First we need to know the Lord as our personal Savior.  He is the only one that can make us righteous.  Next we need to find some one to be accountable to.  That person is someone that is mature in the Lord.  We will be able to share what is going on in our lives with them and we can have them pray for us and our weaknesses (our areas of sin).  This accountability and prayer for each other will help to “heal” us spiritually.  We will find ourselves sinning less.  When we are righteous through Christ and this process of accountability and growing in the Lord we have the ability to go boldly before God’s throne and pray.  If we devote ourselves to prayer, we will see how powerful and effective our prayers are.  We will see the Lord work mightily through our prayers.