Showing posts with label Words. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Words. Show all posts

Monday, March 11, 2013

The Word Is Near You


Psalm 32:3-5 - When I kept silent, my bones grew old through my groaning all the day long. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; my vitality was turned into the drought of summer. Selah  I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD," and You forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah 

Nearly every scripture has something to speak to us. Maybe not so much the "begats" or numbering or some chronicling! I've known for a long time, though, that even what we read one day will have another meaning the next time it is read. There is a message even between the lines and words that we don't know until God reveals them to us.

That is the very power of the truth of His Word. And taken into a heart and meditated on they bring life. His Word will not return void if one takes the time to read and take it in. His words are near you. If you hear His Words being spoken today, listen. If they elicit a move of your heart, respond. You are only a step away from the greatest gift given to man...salvation and forgiveness, which bring spiritual life.

In Deuteronomy 6 God tells His people that ...these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and you shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way; when you lie down, and when you rise up. Command may seem like a hard word, but when we are obedient it is an easy yoke. In this context command means to appoint, give charge to, send, as with a messenger, put in order. That definition alone speaks to a message between the lines. God appointed His words and those who hear and understand those words are then appointed to be sent as messengers to speak such words, words of life.

And order! His words bring order to our lives. God does not cause confusion; only the devil does with his deception. Things seem to fall into place nicely if we do God's will and do it His way. We can muck things up. He brings the order.

If our words are focused on the Lord, He tells us it is a sweet incense to Him...a form of worship. So our thoughts and our daily communication with Him is worship.

God truly means what He says all throughout His Word. Imagine the peace in this world if everyone believed in this amazingly awesome God, if everyone acknowledged their need for Him and rather than try to hide their sins (which are not hidden from the One who really matters) but confessed their sins, not to a friend, stranger or even a pastor/priest, but to God Himself that He might forgive them. Imagine. Bones growing old, His hand being heavy on us, vitality gone...all signs of life without God.

Life in Christ is a worldly yoke and burden removed. It is peace in a heart. It is freedom, life, joy, peace, contentment, fearlessness in times of trouble. Are we all there 100% of the time? Not necessarily. But the closer we draw to Him, the more His Words penetrate our hearts, the more we meditate on those words, the more we are at peace.

Meditate on His Word. Listen to the voices that speak them. Act on what you hear. His words are like living water, words that never cause thirst. They are like a garden fountain, a well of flowing water...water that comes from the wells of salvation (Song of Solomon 4:15, Isaiah 12:3). Our hearts can be like a well-watered garden, filled with His words.

Romans 10:8-10 - But what does it say? "The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart"  (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

Monday, January 3, 2011

Words

James 3:5 - ...the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. 

I received a bitter reminder about words the other day. Not just words, but thoughts. The words we say either speak life or death. Ouch. Big ouch. I know one person who will agree that's a big ouch on my part! It's an area I need to work on.

There have been experiments done on words, either spoken or not, on the life of rice! I'm doing my own experiment to see if it works! Two jars of cooked rice were placed into a refrigerator. On one a note was written, as best as I can recall: I love you. Rice is nice. I hope you live a long time. The other jar contained the note stating: I hate you. Rice is awful. I hope you die. Well, you don't need to guess which one lasted the longest. And these words were not spoken but written. The nice rice lasted 81 days without mold where the other one was covered in disgusting black. 

Another experiment was done with water by Dr. Masaru Emoto. Depending upon the  word spoken, the water drop would take on a certain shape.  Some were ugly when unpleasant words were spoken. Other drops took on the shape of beautiful snowflakes. 

I don't doubt these experiments but it also brings up the point of words and not only what the words are but how they sound. I have to admit my words can be brittle. Not all the time, but enough. It's something I truly need to work on. And thoughts, the same thing. And let's not even get into gossip! Why are our words a troubling issue? Why do we do this?

I think it's pride. We try to bolster our own image to make ourselves look good, to boost our self-esteem. As I have pointed out on numerous occasions, there is no one who is good. God does not look at anyone as better than the next. We so easily get ourselves so puffed up. Admit it, we all do it. Even humility in some is false. Oh, there are some who truly are humble in the eyes of God. I'm sure, though, there must still be moments of pride. It's what we do when we notice it that is important.

James 3 has a whole study on the tongue. A very hard word. We cannot bridle our tongue, he tells us. If we were able to we would be perfect. But we are not perfect. Only Jesus was. But what are we called to do? Be more like Christ. And yet we will never be just like Him because we will always struggle with sin. So the words...how can we combat this desire to speak unwholesome words? I guess for starters we bite our tongues...and let the words remain thoughts. James tells us that if we can control our tongue we can control our entire body. So, does that mean if we control our tongue we can control our thoughts? What a pleasant thought!

The tongue boasts of great things, he tells us. It's a fire that is a world of iniquity and defiles the whole body. This fire comes from hell itself, and of course, that means Satan is involved. We can tame birds and animals, even ships, but not our own tongue! It is full of poison. We both bless God and curse men with it (and some curse God with it as well). Blessing and cursing come from it. It brings nothing but evil.

I looked up scriptures about the tongue. Way more than I wanted to see. Briefly, a rundown:

Our words will either acquit or condemn us - 
Matthew 12:37
Many words equate to sin; it's good to hold a tongue - 
Proverbs 10:19
Guard your lips, guard your life or else you will come to ruin - Proverbs 13:3
Tongue brings life or death - Proverbs 18:21
Man will give account to God for careless words - 
Matthew 12:36
The words we speak come from our heart - 
Matthew 15:18

Yes, what a wretched man I am! I'm speechless. Perhaps that's for the better! I mentioned last week how complaining does not bring good. Don't we complain with words and thoughts? Oh, what a wretched man am I? Who will rescue me from this body of death? (Romans 7:24) This is where Jesus comes into the picture. He covers those sins...yet we are to make some attempt to overcome these faults we have. We can only do this through the power of Christ so that's why we need Him. So what will my prayer be? Lord, help me to hold my tongue and bring only the good, true and just things to mind. A difficult task ahead! And yet the good things in store at the same time. He can tame our tongues.

1Peter 3:10 - For he who would love life and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips from speaking deceit.