Having and un-bridled tongue is one of the easiest ways to sin and I think most of us are ignorant to it in our lives.
Often, when we leave a spiritually intense situation: like a good church service, or an awesome prayer meeting, or whatever, we leave and then the natural ‘exhale’ is to have conversation and speech that is not pleasing to the Lord.
In 1 Chorinthians 14:3 it says that prophecy is for encouragement, edification and comfort.
Think about if we were people who encouraged one another, spoke edification and comfort. We would have prophetic speech without even ‘prophesying’.
Some Verses:
“In everything give thanks…this is Gods will…Do not quench the Spirit” (1 Thess 5:18-19)
“Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. Do not grieve the Spirit…neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting but rather giving thanks.” (Ephesians 4:29-5:4)
“For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thougts…all these evil things come from within and defile a man.” (Mark 7:21-23)
nick gray said:
I love this series you are doing!
This one hit home with me, I have a hard time controlling myself when it comes to driving. It only happens when I’m by myself though, I yell at other drivers… a lot. I know I shouldn’t but I do. It’s hard, I guess driving is a stressful thing, and it’s hard to control your mouth when you are in a stressful position.
Posted on December 5, 2006 at 1:32 pm
Shawn said:
This is a great series. I love it too.
You know, recognizing the problem is half the battle.
Posted on December 5, 2006 at 1:48 pm
Ronalfy said:
@nick gray,
I can relate to frustration while driving. I’ve found my anger and frustration while driving has a lot to do with expectations and control. I’ve realized that I am the only driver on the road I can control, so I try to focus my time and energy on that.
I wrote a little about expectations and driving in my post about unrealistic expectations.
Posted on December 5, 2006 at 6:55 pm
Hollie said:
This one is a topic that is near and dear-or is it too close for comfort?-to my heart lately. I keep running into how I cheapen words and carelessly throw them around.
I read through Proverbs yeserday and marked all the verses that pertain to speech. Astounding. When I line that up next to my normal speech as compared to really edifying the brethren by “accidentally” prophesying and having a message to my generation, I suddenly feel the weight of every syllable. It’s no wonder to me that bridling our speech is one of “the big 5.”
Posted on December 5, 2006 at 8:07 pm
Jerry James said:
Grahm Cooke teaching . . .
He said he used to be upset at red lights.
God suggested to him that he use that time to pray for the person next to him.
So . . . don’t yell - pray.
Posted on December 6, 2006 at 8:42 am
Shawn said:
@ Hollie - you feel the weight of every syllable. That’s awesome.
Matthew 12:34-37 says
Our idle words and speech isn’t necesarily bad, it is a revealer of what’s in our heart. Our words will condemn us because of the evil we held on to in our life or our words will justify us because of the truth that we allowed to live inside of us.
Posted on December 6, 2006 at 11:16 am
Ruth said:
straightforward verse. Really clear. I wonder why it is so hard to tame your tongue. Maybe it is good to do silence fasts every once in a while. I did it once (when I was at IHOP) but i found it so much harder than fasting food. I don’t know why. On the other hand..like you said shawn, our words reveal what’s in our heart and therefore the problem lies deeper (in our heart). I liked your post about praying in tongues whenever you’re not talking or anything some time ago. I try to do that, sometimes it is really hard, but if you do that it’s so much to watch your words. Because praying in tongues is speaking mysteries to God I believe He settles amazing things in your heart you don’t even know about.
Posted on December 6, 2006 at 11:47 am
Hollie said:
Amen and amen to that verse. It puts the fear in me.
I just wish I really felt it all of the time so that I would be more careful. I’ve been much more conscious of it in the last two years. I was always rather tactless in the way that I communicated things to people. And I always copped out with “other people are just too sensitive.” These days, I can’t stand the thought of unkind words coming out of my mouth. Proverbs 31:26 stays in the back of my mind. I want to have the wisdom to have the Word become a part of me so that that’s what is the most prone to come out.
Posted on December 6, 2006 at 11:52 am
Blogging Challenge: Apostolic Stewardship » Fighting to Stay Awake said:
[...] An earlier conversation on this blog touched the topic of prophetic speech. If we will speak encouragement and truth on our blog we are already tapping into the prophetic testimony of Jesus. And that is just a starting point. [...]
Posted on January 9, 2007 at 3:16 pm