To Speak or Not to Speak?

Set a guard over my mouth, O LORD;

keep watch over the door of my lips

Psalms 141:3

      Do you ever have difficulty knowing when to speak and when to keep quiet? I do. I haven't always had that difficulty. There was a time when I chose not to speak no matter what. It was just too risky, and I was afraid to take risks.

       When I open my mouth now, people don't know all the work God did in my life to pry my lips open. They don't know the fears He freed me from, and how He taught me to trust Him when He asks me to take risks. My words may sound to them like just words, but to me they have become a testimony of God's goodness and a demonstration of His power over the strongholds in my life - like fear.

      The older I get, the more I want to jump in with my "words of wisdom," especially when I see someone heading down a dangerous path that I've traveled down before. Isn't it my duty to save them from pain and suffering if I can? Well, perhaps sometimes it is, but more times it's not. Often the only words God wants to hear out of my mouth are prayers, as I lift the situation or person up to Him. That's the hard part of freedom - knowing the difference.

      It was easier when I was afraid to talk, because the choice was already made. But there was no growing or stretching involved in that, no discernment learned. Now I am responsible for my words...all of them. As a mater-of-fact God is keeping a journal and He will hold me accountable for every silly one I speak. Since God is keeping an account, I need to make sure my words count for something more than filling the air or a notebook. I need to keep a guard on my lips, not out of fear but out of obedience.

      The kind of words I'm sure God never tires of hearing are those of love that exhort and encourage others, and bring praise and glory to Him - spoken from the heart.

 

Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy - meditate on these things.

   Philippians 4:8

 

      When we meditate on these things it's amazing how they travel from our mind to our mouth and help us speak those words which are pleasing to God.

 

Buttoning my lip...for now.

Charlotte

 

Getting caught up in the headlines...

Come on over to Laced with Grace where I'm posting a devotion,

"Getting Caught Up In The Headlines"

Joy in Trials?

     I was looking forward to Beth Moore's new Bible study on the book of James...but then I got my study guide and read this ~

"Count it all joy when you fall into various trials." James 1:2

      What? Is that what it really says, I'm to be joyful in the midst of trials? But trials are hard and I don't really like them...how can I be joyful when I fall into them? I wasn't sure I wanted to go on. After all, if James starts his letter with these words what could possibly be next.

      I've been through a few trials lately and am actually in the middle of a couple at the moment. I can't say I have counted them all joy. But perhaps that is the very reason I may need this particular Bible study at this time in my life. God is good about giving us what we need when we need it, and I can plainly see that the joy has been missing from my trials. So I read further...

"knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience." v.3

      OK...now it makes more sense. I can count it all joy when I fall into various trials BECAUSE when my faith is tested, it will produce patience. But it didn't stop there, it went on...

"But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing." v.4

      Perfect and complete...lacking nothing? Wow, that's a tall order. No wonder it takes something hard like trials to fill it! I can see how faith and patience have worked together in the trials to strengthen my trust in God. When things get hard I pray, I cry, I ask God why, I question, I fight...then I remember...who He is, what He's done for me, what He can do...that He can do all things. Then my faith grows stronger, the trial that was once huge becomes very small and insignificant in comparison to who He is.

      I think it will take an entire life time to let patience have its perfect work. And for being perfect and complete, lacking nothing ~ that sounds like Jesus doesn't it? If the trials in my life make me more like Him, then they are all worth it and I truly can "count it all joy."

I think God is going to teach me a lot in the book of James!

Are you finding joy in your trials?

"Untested faith is unreliable." ~ Charles Stanley