These words...

How often do we monitor the words that come out of our mouths? The Bible says that “Death and life are in the power of the tongue and those who love it will eat its fruits.” Proverbs 18:21

Recently I was sitting at a cafe eating breakfast and just enjoying the view. I couldn't help but pick up on some of the conversations going on around me. As I heard little snippets, I realised how much people had to complain about. I didn't consciously follow the conversations, but negative thoughts and complaints were all over the place. It is so sad that negative stories are made so much more sensational than all the good things and beauty around us.

I do realise that sometimes we just need to talk about the things that we are struggling with or dealing with in our lives. We confide in a friend, we encourage each other and we talk about solutions and this is all up building. When our conversations stray from solutions and struggles and only focus on criticism, slander and everything that is wrong in the world, we start sowing bad seeds and soon we will reap a negative attitude.

A negative attitude has never changed the world, needless to say changed the conditions surrounding our own lives. Attitude is everything and when we sow good seeds with our words our focus moves from everything that can be wrong or go wrong to the beautiful things in life and those things that we can be thankful for. A positive attitude cannot always change the issues in our lives, but it can help us deal with them in a better way.

There is so much power in our words. We have the ability to change our friends, family, children and the people around us by speaking life over them and encouraging them to be all that they can be by focussing on their strengths and appreciating them for who they are. When we start seeing them in this light, love will flow freely and relationships will grow stronger. It is too easy to spot the faults and it's a decision to move them aside and focus on the positives. Maybe your words of love are all someone needs to boost their confidence and initiate a change.

There are too many people in this world walking around feeling useless and worthless and most likely they didn't choose to have this attitude, but was told over and over again by people in their lives that they will never amount to anything. Consequently these feelings don't encourage them to take pride in their work or to love people around them, how could they if they don't even love themselves? My heart breaks.

But we have the words of life, we can make a difference, because when we speak, we speak life and Jesus flows through us. You can be the change that someone needs. Let's instead of criticise, speak life and encourage with love and change the conditions around us by our words. Let's lift our gaze to heaven and get a perspective of love and tame the tongue. Let's put on positivity and walk confidently in the abundance of love which Jesus gave to us. Let’s be the difference that we want to see in the world.

Photo credit: favim

Information overload!

Photo credit: vi.sualize.us

In the culture that we live in we often receive an overload of information. We have so many resources from books, television to the internet. All these are good and helpful, but can sometimes also be confusing especially since there are so many different opinions around. We gain so much knowledge and I often think that it is quite important to know what to say when. We often have so much to say, because we have so much information in our heads. The wrong words or right words at the wrong time can really hurt someone. I’m not saying that we should compromise, tiptoe around every person or conform to every other person’s view, but rather be wise and be led by the Holy Spirit when we speak.

It is so temping to just blurt out the answer or your view or what you have experienced lately and this can often leave someone with the wrong feeling of discouragement or hurt. We want to speak life into people’s lives and be supportive or helpful, not destructive. Often this takes self-control from our side and requires us to be sensitive to the needs of the people that we are speaking to.

We often have no idea what God is doing in someone else’s heart and what that person is going through. They are also on a journey with God and we need to meet them where they are at, not bombard them with knowledge which they won’t understand or just give our opinion because we can. Especially when their problem is vague and they are not sure what the root of the issue is. It is better to pray and ask God for clarity, instead of sending the person on a tangent, because you think you know what the issue is. It’s not very hard to find issues in ourselves or other people and it can be very tempting to just blurt out their issues which we can spot. This also can be hurtful and not helpful at all.

We need to approach the situation in a mature fashion and if you feel that God is not saying anything, then you also say nothing, rather listen and comfort.  We often have a generic list of things which may cause certain issues and emotions and feel tempted to start working through the list to obtain more answers. I have come to realise that when we approach these situations (people) with our own agendas, we often override God and don’t even give Him an opportunity to speak. This is so dangerous, because we immediately approach the situation with a religious mind-set instead of approaching it with insight from the Holy Spirit.

The same principle can be applied when we approach God, sometimes we need to put our agendas aside and just give Him an opportunity to speak. May we approach every situation with guidance from the Holy Spirit and set our own agendas aside and in so doing learn to hear His voice more clearly and help to address the real needs of people around us.  

“If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness.” James 3:3-6

“Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.” Proverbs 18:21

“Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger.” James 1:19