Taming your tongue will improve your
relationships and your life. #1
The Christian should learn two things about his tongue –
how to hold it and how to use it.
If you can master this your life will improve greatly
By: Pastor George Lehman
Story of butcher:
The mother was waiting for the butcher, who was late. This was back in the days when butchers made house calls. She told Johnny, “I’m going upstairs, if the butcher comes, let me know. I want to talk to him.”
Johnny forgot who his mother wanted to see, so when the minister called, he shouted upstairs, “Ma, that man’s here now.” The mother answered, “I can’t come now, give him the money out of my purse, and tell him we didn’t like his tongue last week, and we’re going to change!”
Story of the Board meeting:
The pastor announced that there was to be the Board Meeting at the conclusion of the service. When he saw a complete stranger standing in the front of the pulpit shortly after the closing prayer, he asked him if he could help him in some way. “I’m here for the meeting,” he announced. The pastor replied, “Oh, that’s only for the Board members.” The answer: “If there’s anybody more bored than me, I’d like to meet him.”
Well I trust you won’t be bored with this word BUT CHALLENGED
We need to know this, “We cannot consistently perform and use our tongues in one way and expect a different result.
Our lives need to be in a constant process of change for the better.”
How true – some people have eyes that see not, ears that hear not, but there are very few people who have tongues that talk not.
It’s said that teachers often teach what they need to learn themselves.
Well, I am firstly speaking to myself. I don’t know about you, but I want a tongue that always speaks what is pleasing to God.
Psalm 19:14 (LB) – May my spoken words and unspoken thoughts be pleasing even to You, O Lord my Rock and my Redeemer.
James 3:8-10 (Amp) – But the human tongue can be tamed by no man. It is a restless (undisciplined, irreconcilable) evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse men who were made in God’s likeness! Out of the same mouth come forth blessing and cursing. These things, my brethren, ought not to be so.
Our only hope for the tongue is the Spirit of God. It must be brought into subjection by Him on a daily basis.
We need to actively ask God to help us become sensitive to any negative uses of our tongue.
Unless you make an active, wilful decision to having something in place to guard your tongue, you will never taste victory or fully develop into what God has purposed for your life.
Isaiah 50:4 (Amp) – [The servant of God says] The Lord God has given me the tongue of a disciple and of one who is taught, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him who is weary…
A changed heart should house a changed tongue.
Words are the vehicle through which we communicate our thoughts and attitudes. The tongue is the driver.
Therefore, moving into spiritual maturity requires that we learn to speak the right words in the right season and for the right reason.
If you find you are constantly at war with your tongue, then this word on the tongue is especially for all of us who want to become spiritually empowered; to transform our tongue into a God pleasing wellspring of life.
How we choose to use our tongues will have consequences:
Proverbs 18:21 (Amp) – Death and life are in the power of the tongue; those who love it will eat its fruit.
It can make or break;
Create or destroy;
Encourage or discourage;
Build up or break down;
It will either propel you into your purpose to soar like an eagle or it will cause you to crash land and be like a turkey.
Over the next few weeks, we are going to discuss important aspects of taming our tongue.
#1 The lying tongue.
Proverbs 12:22 (Amp) – Lying lips are extremely disgusting and hateful to the Lord, but they who deal faithfully are His delight.
As God’s children everything we say and do must be based on truth. Lies make a shaky foundation for our relationship with God and others.
1 Peter 3:10 (NIV) – For whoever would love life and see good days must keep [operative word] his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech.
Why do people practice ‘deception’ Lies, half truths, exaggeration?
Many do it for financial gain – you lie on your tax return;
For social advantage – you lie about who you are to try to impress people – you make out to be something you are not;
To hide some sinful act – you lie to cover up sin so you won’t be caught out;
Or to obtain other benefits – lying to get any advantage, i.e. a job application.
In Genesis 27 we see Jacob, whose name was “trickster”, deceived his father to get his brothers’ birth right blessing.
Engaging in deceitfulness is a slap in God’s face and has dire consequences.
Here’s a truth I don’t think we really want to know – God has sealed the
destiny of every liar.
Proverbs 12:19 (Amp) – Truth’s lips will be established forever, but a lying tongue is only momentary.
Revelation 21:8 (Amp) – But as for the cowards and the ignoble and the contemptible and the cravenly lacking in courage and the cowardly submissive, and as for the unbelieving and faithless, and as for the depraved and defiled with abominations, and as for murderers and the lewd and adulterous and the practicers of magic arts and the idolaters (those who give supreme devotion to anyone or anything other than God) and all LIARS (those who knowingly convey untruth by word or deed)–[all of these shall have] their part in the lake that blazes with fire and brimstone. This is the second death.
The Psalmist knew the consequences of lies and deceitfulness. He asked God to deliver him out of this pit:
Psalm 120:20 (Amp) – Deliver me, O Lord, from lying lips from a *deceitful tongue.
*bedrieglik
Are you really trusting God through the inner working of the Holy Spirit by always speaking what’s pleasing to God? Or do you need to join in this prayer? Ask God to help you so that this proverb will become a reality to you.
Proverbs 8:6-8 (Amp) – Hear, for I will speak excellent and princely things; and the opening of my lips shall be for right things. For my mouth shall utter truth, and wrongdoing is detestable and loathsome to my lips. All the words of my mouth are righteous (upright and in right standing with God); there is nothing contrary to truth or crooked in them.
Psalm 12:1-4 – Help, Lord, for the godly are no more; the faithful have vanished from among men. 2Everyone lies to his neighbor; their flattering lips speak with deception. 3May the Lord cut off all flattering lips and every boastful tongue 4that says, “We will triumph with our tongues; we own our lips -who is our master?”
