WORDS affect our worship!

"The tongue of the righteous is as choice silver." - Prov. 10:20

^"The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit." - Prov. 18:21

My mom used to say to us when we were children, "If I was not a Christian and I saw how you are acting, would I want to become a Christian?" She had high expectations of us and for that I am very thankful. One of those expectations was in our words. What sort of words proceed from our mouths? Words that encourage, words that inspire, words that are positive and faith filled, or words that pull down, words that criticise, or words that are negative! We must realize that what we allow to reside in our hearts will eventually come out of our mouths. Matt.12:34......"For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks."

It starts with our thoughts – whatever thoughts we take on board and accept as truth, will become a part of our lives. The foundation we build in our own lives, will be the foundation we pass on to others. If we build thoughts of negativity into our lives, we will build negative words into our children. If we build criticism into our lives, our conversation with others will be based on criticism.

Some people, as soon as they open their mouths, speak negativity and criticism. I don’t want to be one who sits in the seat of the scornful. It is easy to fall into a habit of being a faultfinder where we seem to always major on the faults instead of the positive elements. This can become a pattern in one’s life. When others are being critical, do we join them in their criticism? Paul says to the Ephesian church in Ephesians 4:29 – “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.”

You and I have so many opportunities of speaking into people’s lives - opportunities of speaking spirit and life to our children, our grandchildren, our friends, our partners, the man in the street, and our neighbors. The question is, do we seize the opportunity? King David said “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart, be pleasing in your sight O Lord”.

"Lord, help me to think about the words I allow to proceed from mouth. Help me to guard my heart so that what I speak brings healing, strength and growth to people's lives. Help me to draw away from those that are bitter and critical and let my words be sweet and those that will build up and edify. Amen."

You know I love ya - Don