The Words matter what we say, but more than that; our thoughts matter even more. It is said, “from the heart comes evil or good” and “for out of the heart, the mouth speaks” - Lk. 6:45. This is why Paul urges us to, “pursue righteousness, spiritual gifts, and peace” - 1 Tim. 6:11, 1 Corth. 14:1 and Rm. 14:19, respectively. Paul’s message is the same for three different groups of people and it should be so for us. By pursuing and taking in all Paul is referring to and the things of God, we place ourselves in a position to control our thoughts, words, and desires. For if the eye is filled with light, then darkness has little or no ability to enter into it. As we pursue such Godly things, it may surprise you; when something of sin comes before you, whether in media, physical or spoken form; your Spirit has a way to block it out and even shed it from your person immediately. Your Spirit will also direct you from the things of darkness. It is why Jesus could and have walked this earth having no sin because He controlled everything He interacted with, using His Spirit and the Holy Spirit as His “advanced” guard to identify potential threats to His calling and divinity. Several times, Jesus is recorded as, “knowing their thoughts” - Matt. 9:4 and Lk. 9:47; and then addressing those thoughts. He being a man could only be able to that with the thoughts given to Him by the Spirit and those of God. By this, He was able to formulate His words towards these individuals.
Don’t strife your words or for that matter the Words of God. This is what ought to separate religiousness from Christianity. Now, to be clear, we “all have fallen short” - Rm. 3:23. But if Jesus could while here on earth, speak only the Father’s Words, or rather His thoughts, then, by all means, we ought to be able to the same. Jesus said, “I can do nothing by Myself; I judge only as I hear. And My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me”. - Jn. 5:30. Another way to say this is, “I surrender to God, He tells me how to deal with things (by thought) and it is Righteous for His will is my own”. God is in the thought business towards our minds for His perfect will. It's why although a Spirit, God is manifested through the “divine’” man for His Glory and the Holy Spirit is here for us. Alleluia! This means we are not alone to live through this life and world.
Just like a real American football game, the quarterback throws and sometimes without even seeing the ball; the receiver catches it; because he has the Faith that it will fall into his hands at the precise moment as he runs to the end zone. When we doubt God’s word, we are in effect stifling our own words and unable to receive the pass.
Words give life or death and it a manifestation of the thoughts, images, and creativity that our minds produce. The tongue may be the deliverer of such life or death, but is only the slave to our thoughts, beliefs, and Faith. God knows we will mess up and has provided for us His Grace that acts like a constant shower of redemption. I love Jesus not only for His sacrifice and my Salvation but more so because as a man, He showed that with God, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; I too by child-like obedience can and will speak life for peace and prosperity.
Flush it Out! - I am by my thoughts.
Although the bible doesn’t state it explicitly, God probably has a tongue or some form of it as we are made in His image and His first act is to speak a declaration, “light be” - Gen. 1:3. This sole act provides the example and direction of using one of the least components to determine any desire, regardless of its size and complexity it may have. It should also be noted that in creation, God is not only concerned with the big picture but also the details. He could have said, “every edible tree and plant” which would probably make our diet simple, but He detailed it into “herbs and fruits seeds” - Gen. 1:29. Throughout the Bible God declares stating “My Words do not return to Me void” - Is. 55:11. Besides the obvious meaning, it also indicates once words are said, they interact with the substance of Faith to produce and manifest their meaning. Ezekiel prayed, another way of using the tongue; to initiate the thoughts of the mind to “stop rain” and with the same method and intent “caused rain to fall” - Jm. 5:17-18
Controlling the mind’s thoughts of pictures and words, delivered by the tongue brings forth all that we see, hear, feel and interact with. Sounds unlikely and too far fetch to be credible? Ever see an ad on TV of a red car of a particular model and you have a desire for it. Then you talk about it and think about. Then a few days later that same model and color cross your path not once but several times. Coincidence or just your imagination? God says, “My thoughts are not your thoughts” - Is. 55:8. He could have said, strength or power; but specifically use the word thought as a prime way to administer His Will. Your mind has the capacity to hold and process information faster and more efficient than most computers without a sub-routine like typing code and can take random pieces of information and experiences and formulate it all into a vivid image, event or dream and most of the time you can’t tell if it’s just your imagination or it did really occur. Like having a dream that you are an active player in it, with feelings and even physical and vocal actions. Sometimes it’s so vivid, it seems to happen days later and then you experience a sense of deja vu. Every thought self-imposed or suggested to the mind has a practical potential to become a part of your life. God, Himself communicates constantly through dreams as with Joseph - Gen. 37, “listen to my dream”; which was God’s way of telling Joseph the role he was to play during the famine in Egypt. It’s one of God’s ways and has been used and counterfeited by satan.
Ever bit your tongue and have to endure the pain that resulted from it. A sharp excruciating pain that leaves you speechless as you hold your mouth in agony as to how something like that could happen. It can occur even if you are not eating and at times it seems to have a mind of its own. Sometimes it is so severe, the tongue bleeds and becomes inflamed so much that for awhile you can’t speak clearly for a day or so. How does it happen ever so often, even though the jaw and tongue are aligned perfectly. It's because your tongue has its own agenda and jumps out of sequence causing aggravation without considering the consequences.
The tongue is a muscle and for the most part, has no governor being attached to the bottom of your jaw, and like a wagging tail swings as it pleases, while attending to your needs to taste, sense and to be used in various ways. As James says, “the tongue is like a ship's rudder”, having literally full control of a body - Jm. 3:4. But in many ways, the tongue is unfairly charged with crimes based on circumstantial evidence. Like someone caught at the crime scene holding the smoking gun is quickly judged to be the perpetrator. The tongue is really an innocent bystander and is unjustly accused, by just being there.
The real criminal for the tongue's guilt is the mind for that where every form of imagination takes seed into manifestation by the use of the tongue, just like any other appendage of the body. It is enslaved to the mind. The tongue has no choice whether to speak or not. Unfortunately for the tongue, it cannot avoid its association with the mind. Like a bullet to a gun; once fired, the bullet has no choice towards its target. It is why the tongue used in the wrong manner, can be a deadly force to be reckoned with. The tongue cares not what it delivers, but is faithful to deliver by speaking whatever is conceived in the mind. That being said, “the tongue cannot be tamed” but the mind can be. If life or death lies in the actions of the tongue, then we must make sure the tongue only speaks life. We must control the thoughts, thinking, and the creation of the mind.
The tongue is like that rudder steering the ship towards an end. By losing control, being rudderless, the ship travels chaotic, often damaging itself on other ships or rocks. When we strife or conflict our words we end up the same way as this ship. Many say they have Faith and with confession agree with others for their health, and then as soon as some form of symptom appears, they degree with their previous Faith confession saying, “I am feeling sick” or worst “I am dying from this flu”. As the ship travels, there may be obstructions in its path like other ships, sand bars, but a steady captain looks ahead; plans his course and avoids these obstructions, being aware of the journey. Can you imagine if the captain just traveled without acknowledging possible interferences with his journey; many lives would be lost. We must acknowledge our journey not as a passenger but as the captain of our journey. For with every Faith confession, you can be sure a trial is going to pop up to enter into our minds, to produce thoughts for our tongue to speak and importantly for our ears to hear.
For Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word. The word being anything into our ears to produce Faith. The mind converts words and things seen, into pictures that the brain comprehends and tells our body what to expect. This produces bodily as well as mental manifestations. There is a story of a lion being caged in a ten by ten foot enclosure and after years the enclosure was removed and the lion now had more than enough space to roam. Yet, the lion never exceeded his original enclosure space. Being a low form of life, the lion could not step across the imaginary lines of his enclosure. For us, we are a divine creation and have been given no such limits, but only to the extent, we ourselves set. The lion doesn’t comprehend words as we do, but through physical senses, it frames its world. Whenever we say something positive that lines up with what God says and we run with it with expectation, God being the quarterback throws us the ball and with open arms we receive it.
Spiritual Awakening
When satan tempts individuals as he did Eve, it is not with a threat or a direct weapon as with a gunman, but as a suggestion into the mind of the person. A thought continuously suggested becomes truth to the mind. And when that happens, then it usually results in some form of action. It has been said, “Say a lie long enough it becomes truth”. The infamous words of one of the USA presidents stated, “Read my lips” has been immortalized. What he really was stating is, “listen to my thoughts”. That’s the basis for communication. People of all ages confess to hearing other thoughts in their mind. Some for good, others for evil. They say, “the person (thought) inside me,” told me to do it.
Aug. 24, 2016.
Don’t Strife your Words.
There is a story of a mother speaking to her unborn child in her womb about architecture and how great that child would be in that field. Years later, that child grew up and became a famous architect with many of his buildings still being enjoyed today as when they were first conceptualized in his mind. It's also been said, “Train up a child in the way he should go and he will not depart from it” - Prob. 22:6. In other words, fill the child’s mind with what, you (the parent) desire. It matters not whether it is evil or good thoughts; just fill it. Of course, for Christians, it should be the latter. We are programmed from an early birth with the tongue of others, then as we age by others who we allow to influence us; as well as by our own thoughts as we take charge of it. It’s been said “sticks and stones may break my bones but your words can do no harm” is a popular statement but it’s a lie from hell; just like sickness is God’s way to teach you something. Anything that interacts with us either by force or by subversion has the potential to demean or kill us. More people today have psychological issues due to abusive parents, teachers, and caretakers or the lack of proper mentoring as they are being taught by whatever the media displays; causing unfulfilled, disturbing and inaccurate relationships among men, women, and families resulting in divorces, separation or worst. It all has to do with the minds definition of the words and situations. That is the world.
Christians should grapple with this reality as God, Jesus and His apostles did. Yet, most churches never address the practical applications of living your Faith and as Paul says, “renewing the mind” - Rm. 12:2. Paul of all the apostles not only saw the challenge of ministering to three different groups of people, including the Jews, Gentiles and the Romans; not to mention the Greeks and all the other philosophies of the day; had to educate them in taking steps to renew their mind putting aside all their religion, laws and mythology. For most of us, all we have to do is to just control our mind and encourage the church to do the same. By this, we can restrain the potential anti-words of the devil from ever having an opportunity to come to life and spreading its deadly impact on the world.