June 22 Prayer

There is something that happened to me. I didn’t do it. I didn’t not do it. Yet, it happened.

See, before I was regularly in the Word, I approached my faith like the $16.99 buffet at Golden Corral. I loaded up on what I liked, and what I thought suited me and my circumstances, and disregarded the rest that told me to change how I reacted to life. It took a long time for me to understand what God says about our speech.

The thing is, when I surrender to Jesus as my LORD, I am surrendering it all. My mind (thoughts and feelings), my soul, my spirit, my body. ALL IS HIS!

So back to when I said, “I didn’t do anything”, I guess I kind of did in a sense, by choosing to surrender and accepting Jesus as Lord of my life. I can’t recall a battle over my speech, yet I can recall a few times hearing words come out of my mouth and recognizing that I wasn’t comfortable speaking that language anymore. The words I spoke just didn’t fit me. I remember many times when the conversation I was surrounded by was so draining and I was not interested in taking part in it. I remember apologizing for curse words and stepping away from gossip. I remember no longer desiring a slew of individuals that would bask in misery, and wanted to be surrounded by those who would speak life into me and I into them. And as time went on there was less and less cursing, less gossip, less complaining, more praying, more life being spoken, and more conversations about the characteristics of God. Many times, returning to the beauty of His Grace. Fewer conversations discussing the demise of life’s circumstances and more around the power of God and the Holy Spirit in us.

Paul tells us to speak graciously and seasoned with salt. God gave us speech and He knows the power it has. He wants us to speak in a way that affects others. Salt can burn an open wound or add flavor to a bland meal. How gracious is God that he provides us instruction on how to talk. Psalm 141:3 says “Lord, set up a guard for my mouth; keep watch at the door of my lips.” Believers have a duty to walk in our righteousness, we are set apart! We are called to not be of the world and that absolutely means in the way we speak along with many other aspects of our being.

Lastly, Paul instructs Christians to know how to respond to each person. One statement I often think of is “If Jesus was right here would I say it?” I must remember that my words have the power to turn someone toward Jesus or away from Him. What am I choosing today?