Keeping our mouths / The importance of our words
Ladies, it is time to stretch ourselves. It is time to get out of our comfort zones. It is time to walk through the door of opportunity. It is time to let go of inhibition, and run after Jesus!
For many years now, it has been commonplace in the church to have one foot in God’s kingdom, and one foot in the world. To half heartedly follow Jesus, and obviously still fit in and not let things get too weird, right? To attend church on Sundays, but to make sure that life stays the same and we don’t let ourselves become ‘too christian’ that we lose friends and have to change our lifestyle.
I don’t know if you have noticed, but life has changed. The world changed in 2020 and I don’t want to burst anyone’s bubble…but I don’t think life will ever go back to the way it was. But before you get upset, let me say that I see that as a huge blessing and invitation! You see, when you are comfortable, when you have all your needs met, the tendency is to just fall asleep, to not take eternity seriously, to just rest and focus on having fun. But when you wake up one day and your normal has all the sudden been flipped on its head, your needs are not fully met, and you have to modify your day to day unwillingly, well that has a way of waking you up. It has a way of bringing life into perspective and bringing your focus to more important things in life.
When I read the new testament, I see a fully devoted, surrendered and faithful people following Jesus. I see people who see the freedom in Him, see the love & grace, see His power, and turn from their old ways and never look back. I see full devotion or no devotion at all. The half hearted version we have seen in the church in America, let me just be blatant, is actually no devotion disguised as full devotion. I know that sounds harsh, but we have to wake up! We have to welcome Jesus into every facet of our lives, we have to fully surrender every part of our life to Him, and we have to be willing to establish HIs kingdom wherever we go.
And now to this week's topic (that was a long introduction!), this full devotion includes our mouths. The way we speak has a profound impact on not only our lives, but also on the way people perceive us. When people hear us speak, do they see someone who is living in the light or the dark? Do we proclaim the name of Jesus but then talk like everyone else around us? Or do our words show that He brings freedom and life change and beauty into ugly situations?
There is no shortage of verses about the importance of our words in scripture. Some of the verses are intense too, like James 3:5-6…our tongue sets the course of our life on fire! Take a moment and sit in that truth. Are you speaking life or death over your life and your loved ones lives? Are you speaking life into your husband and kids? Or are you speaking discouragement, negativity, frustration and overall death into their life? Ladies, our words have a significant impact on our families!
Today, let me encourage you to be wise in the way you speak. Don’t be afraid to look different. Don’t be afraid to change. And recognize the importance of your words! Take time today and in the next few days and evaluate your words. Evaluate the situations in your life and how your words are impacting those situations. Are you speaking life into a hard situation or making it worse by speaking negatively about a hard situation? Seriously, it matters!
So, ask Jesus for help. Ask Him to be renewing your mind, filling you with a heavenly mindset, and changing your words to reflect the freedom, love and grace found in Him!