The Power of the Tongue-A Heart Issue

God morning! It's 3 am and for some reason insomnia has crept in on me and invaded my sleep. I know better than to fight it...it only becomes worse if I try to force it. The good news is whenever I am awake, God is either dealing with me personally or He is giving me some nugget to share with others. This time, it is a little of both because it is an issue that I still struggle with...taming the tongue.

This issue only came up AGAIN (seems to keep coming up) because a friend asked the question "The word says that the power of life and death lies in the tongue and we say that the children are our future, then why do 'we' curse our children and talk down on them???"

My response to her was "Because we do not truly understand the impact. And we are repeating what was done to us as children. Doing what we know, instead of doing what we know is right. The words that come out of our mouth are (1) a heart issue and (2) a God issue. We speak these words (words that wound, words spoken in anger, words that are hurtful and ugly) because they are in our hearts. The bible says in Matthew 12:34… that out of the abundance or overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks. We need a transplant. The good news is as the old folks say, He is a heart fixer and mind regulator".

I shared this same message in bible study several months ago (I told you, it keeps coming up). To elaborate a little, our hearts or what is in our hearts tells us the words to speak and even what tone to use with a family, friends, and children. In Matthew 12 (Message) the bible tells us that it is our heart that gives meanings to words, not the dictionary.

We have to ask God to search our hearts (Psalms 139.23) and clean them up (Psalm 51:10). We also have to know when to remain silent or when and how to respond Proverbs 15:1 (New Century Version) Proverbs 15 1 A gentle answer will calm a person's anger, but an unkind answer will cause more anger.

If we knew the damage words caused to the spirits of our children, the self esteem of our family, and the confidence of our brothers and sisters, we would be more careful to tame our tongues.

When we are confronted with a situation that can cause us to say something we do not mean or that we will regret, we have two choices. We can either react or respond. Reaction implies that we speak without thinking. Like a spontaneous combustion...like a volcano. Responding implies that we have taken the time to gather are thoughts and respond intelligently and calmly. When we wound with words, when we have gone too far, we cannot take it back. It is like trying to put toothpaste back into the tube. It is difficult and very messy.

I feel a little sleepiness coming on and I am up in 3 hours. So I am out for now. We will talk more later. If you are struggling with your tongue ask God to search your heart and give you a clean heart so that the words you speak with bless, honor, exalt, and encourage. Night!