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Friday, 11 July 2008

Blessings or no-blessings -- via the Power of our Tongue
Mood:

chatty
Topic: Sense of the Mysterious

Just two days ago, several of us were in a neighbouring country with the aim of enjoying a sumptuous and delicious meal, when a brother-in-Christ spoke, without thinking (as is his usual style), of the traffic situation.

When reminded to speak only of what is to be called into being (“… God ... calls those things which do not exist, as though they did” -- Romans 4:17, NKJV), he went into a tirade, harangue and diatribe -- that is, speech characterised by strong feeling and expression, as well as uncontrolled bitterness and abusiveness.

If ever there was a display of a lack of manifestation of the Fruit of the Holy Spirit, that was it -- there were clearly zero "love, joy, peace ... patience, kindness, goodness ... faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control" (Galatians 5:22-23).

But then this brother-in-Christ has often displayed (through speech -- AND body language, such as facial expression) an utter contempt for anybody who professes in the faith -- despite having declared himself to be a follower of the Way, the Life and the Truth (i.e., Christ).

As Jesus Himself once explained, it is not what enters into a person's mouth that condemns ("defiles" - NKJV) him -- it is what comes out of a person's mouth that condemns him! (Matthew 15:11)

Hence, the Power of our Tongue!

I fear that, like Jude pointed out in Jude 5, NKJV ("... I want to remind you, though you once knew this, that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe"), this brother-in-Christ -- while not quite in the same position as "vessels (or objects) of His wrath, marked (or prepared) for destruction", like the Pharaoh and his soldiers, whom God initially raised to power and greatness, with lots of blessings, but whom God had beforehand marked for subsequent destruction, which the Egyptians subsequently experienced -- may be saved but to be destroyed subsequently, like the Hebrews were subsequently destroyed by wandering, without blessings, "in the wilderness (desert)".

That is, the Hebrews were saved from a situation without blessings (slavery, bondage, beatings, persecution, poverty, no wages or gold or silver -- while in Egypt), but because of their subsequent unbelief after having been saved (similar to the contempt that this brother-in-Christ showed, and continues to show, about anyone professing in the faith, despite declaring himself to be a Christian), the Hebrews were condemned to wander in the wilderness (desert -- no blessings!) for 40 years ... until this older generation died off, and a newer generation were raised under the leadership of Joshua and Caleb (the two spies out of ten who believed in God's promise) to take over the Promised Land (i.e., situation of blessings).

In the past, we have been on the receiving end of such expressiveness, from this brother-in-Christ ... let us pray that God in His Mercy, would continue to grant His Grace to this brother-in-Christ. In Jesus' mighty name, God, we claim for this brother-in-Christ, your Promise as written by your Apostle Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, that "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus ..." (Romans 8:1, NIV).

Before signing off, let us firstly renew our faith by declaring our love for our God, in all 3 Persons of the Godhead. Secondly, let us ask to receive blessings continually from God, by His Grace. Finally, let us recognize that it will be instructive to deepen our understanding of the Power of the Tongue, by reading up on some articles on this topic ... so here are some writings that I have culled from the Internet ... Enjoy!

Jenna Robinson, writing as the 'Bible Basics Editor' @ BellaOnline -- her article is entitled "The Power of the Tongue", quoting both the Old Testament and the New Testament -- reminds us that:

The Power of the Tongue

Proverbs 18:21 says, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue; and they that love it shall eat of the fruit thereof.” As Christians, do we plot the ‘demise’ of our dreams, [our] visions and our blessings with what we allow to come out of our mouth? Are we seriously watching the things that we say, not just about ourselves but also about our circumstances, situations and others?

Even more so today ... we [must] closely critique the things that we say before we say them. If it was ever a time to ‘think before you speak’ truly it is now! Many times we are speaking things that have put delays on our prosperity, promotions, blessings and we haven’t even realized it. When we fail to speak ‘continuous strengthened faith’ about what we are waiting on for others or ourselves, we delay their route to the manifestation realm.

Often times we are too quick to say the things that come into our mind without evaluating if they are edifying or not. There’s a process to speaking mature strengthened faith on a continuous basis to your situations. First, you must have firm and solid faith; next your attitude must exemplify your non-wavering faith and thirdly, you must stand strong in your conviction to believe beyond all doubt. When all these things are in spiritual sync then your mindset parks in the ‘critique mode’ for the things your mouth tries to utter.

You will begin to arrest your thoughts and frisk them thoroughly to see if they are carrying doubt of any kind. II Corinthians 10:5 says, “Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing captive every thought to the obedience of Christ.”

If the thought in your mind is not supporting your faith, ‘you don’t speak it!’

What we must continually remind ourselves about faith is that, it's what we do ‘not’ see naturally, so no matter what we see visibly, faith sees the opposite and it is on this sight we process our belief. As we believe what we see through our faith, we speak only those things that promote, support and encourage the forward progress of the blessing of the manifestation to us [and others]. We must talk faith to our circumstances at all times -- just as it says in Romans 4:17, “… Even God, who quickens the dead, calls those things which be not as though they were.” If we wait until we ‘see’ the visible results of what we are asking for, this is not faith!

We have to do something with the span of time between when we have it in mind and when it tangibly becomes ours. If we don’t ‘speak’ strengthened faith to ourselves, the thoughts in our mind will keep us on an endless emotional roller coaster .... We must always ‘choose’ to speak life to everything that is of a concern to us [and others] and believe what we say until complete manifestation.

(Adapted by Paul Quek, for this Blog ... thanks to Miss Jenna Robinson! May God's Grace be upon her ... and everyone else.)

Here is another piece, with less biblical (and more contemporary) language -- from Chris Widener (URL -- http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Power-of-the-Tongue&id=10319):

The Power of the Tongue

There is an old proverb with a lot of wisdom. It says, "The tongue has the power of life and death, and whoever loves it will eat its fruit."

It is so true. What we say has the ability to create situations, emotions, and thoughts in others. A kind word helps people, negative words hurt - sometimes for a very long time.

Most of the time we think of this concept in relation to how we treat others and that is good. In fact, I wrote an article in the last month or so called "The Power in Praising People." If you missed it, you can get it at the website. [URL -- http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Power-in-Praising-People&id=10310]

But here I want to talk about this concept in relation to ourselves. How does what we say affect us? Tremendously. There is a simple principle here. Only say things that will create in you positive emotions, thoughts, feelings, and ultimately, actions.

Let me give you a good example. We do not allow the words "I can't" in our house. Why? Because we CAN! The very minimum is "I'll try." We ask our kids to say "I'll try." If we allow our kids, or ourselves, to fall into the trap of saying "I can't," guess what? We won't! And that's not good, is it?

Do you tell yourself negative thoughts during the day? Most of us can fall into that temptation, can't we? I was working the other day and I was brewing over something bad that had happened and I was just getting bent out of shape. So I stopped, realized I had the power to choose what I was saying to myself and began to think about and tell myself good things. And my day changed for the better.

Have you ever been in your backswing on the golf course and said to yourself, "I am going to shank this one." What happens? You shank it. This actually happens to me. So what do I do? I stop my backswing, reset myself, and tell myself I am going to hit it straight down the fairway. What happens? About half the time I hit it straight, the other half, I shank it .... At the very least I increase my chances of performing better. Bad thoughts almost guarantee my failure, while good thoughts increase my chances for success dramatically.

A salesman may see someone walk through his door and say to himself, "I'm not going to be able to make this sale." I can't. I won't.

Some of us aren't even aware that we talk negatively to ourselves. Take some time today to think about what you say to yourself. Maybe ask a close friend if you have this habit. If you find yourself doing this, it is time to change!

Now, don't get me wrong. Self-talk is not a substitute for effort and ability, but it is a strong helping factor. Find some simple phrases that will help you get through the day with more success. Whatever your situation or work is, I am sure there are specific things you can say that will build you up and stick you on the road to success!

The words that you use and the conversations you have with yourself create things in you. They can create positive things or negative things. It is our choice. The tongue has the power of life and death. This is why it is so important to be diligent in using the power of the tongue to create a positive force in our lives.

Remember, your tongue has power. Use it!

(Adapted by Paul Quek, for this Blog ... thanks to Mr. Chris Widener)

There are numerous other writings, of course ... MAKING YOUR MOUTH A SHARP SWORD, from "MESSAGES OF WARNING - From The Loving Heart of God", by Rev. Archimandrite Fr. Eusebius A. Stephanou, Th.D., Brotherhood of St. Symeon the New Theologian, Miramar Beach, Florida. You may want to delve into his ARCHIVE to see whether his "pastoral messages" are useful to you -- if nothing else, to receive blessings from the Lord! Amen! (So be it!)

Have fun!

Cheers!

Halleluyah
(Praise "the LORD our God" / Praise "YAHWEH our Father")!

-- Paul Quek

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Posted by paul.quek at 10:58 PM EDT

Updated: Saturday, 12 July 2008 12:19 PM EDT

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