Great question to ask ourselves on a ..................well all the time basis!!!! I have found myself asking this question lately as I have well been hurt over the last few months over careless words spoken to me. Are our words pure, gentle, peaceable, full of mercy grace and good fruit, unwavering and without HYPOCRISY?? Wow thats a tall order to fill uh however with God's help we need to be filling this order daily. What a great world we would live in if we all just thought about our words and how and what to say before saying them. I would love to ALWAYS measure up to these attributes above myself but it is hard to do this everytime we open our mouths I have to admit I fall short to many times more than I would like to admit sadly enough. There are 2 important scriptures I am reminded in the book I am reading 1) "speaking the TRUTH in LOVE" Eph. 4:15 NOW THIS MY FRIENDS is a very touchy subject you see we have to be careful to not come across as holy rollers and go up to people saying all kinds of truth and claiming to say your doing it in LOVE. I THINK we need to be REALLY CAREFUL the truth we speak to one another and make sure you have prayed to the Lord and have His ok to share.
I have had people speak things to me that later they even realized themselves should NOT have been spoken to me .. and even though it was truth it was not the time nor the place so I ask you to just be wise and use discernment before speaking the TRUTH in LOVE with someone make sure that is what the Lord would have you do at that moment. 2) "Never forget to be TRUTHFUL and KIND" Prov. 3:3 Love ,or kindness, and truth must be inseparable.
A passage from Words that Hurt Words that Heal is great it says; Unfortunantly, at times we think we are being loving by not speaking the truth. At other times we speak the truth , but are unloving as we do so. I wish I could place love and truth deep in my mind to filter every word I speak. Amen to that!! If we can ALL (myself included) just realize the power of our tongue the good and evil that falls off of it "The tongue has the power of life and death" Prov. 18:21
for me I am making it a must to think before speaking and ask myself these few questions
1) Is what I am about to say Glorifying to God?
2) Is it uplifting and encouraging to the hearer?
3)If it were posted for all to see I wouldnt be worried/ or would I????
If I have answered yes to the first 3 then I may say it if not yes to all three it doesnt need to be shared. I encourage us all to be more aware of what and how we speak to others starting today
and may our words be filled with God's love and encouragment.
Father I pray you would forgive me for every unkind, unGodly thing spoken from my mouth I pray Lord you would give all of us the awareness of what comes off our tongues and may we only speak truth in Love when you appoint for us to do so with one another. May we be the iron that sharpens iron and again only in LOVE. Father help us to think before we speak and ask for your wisdom and discernment. Father I ask this in Jesus Name Amen.
Friends I believe as we spend more and more time in the word of God we will be filled with Him and able to speak as Jesus did to those around us . As we spend time drinking from the river of His delights we will be filled to overflowing with His love, joy, and peace which shall then spill over into our speech God Bless you my friends!!!
until next time,
Cindy
5 comments:
Wow Cindy! Thanks for those words. Yes, we all need to pray for that more often. Thank again for sharing.
Love,
Leslie
Amen Sister!! That is sooo true!! We really need to think about what we say and do before we do it. Words can and do hurt. It's hard at times but with God all things are possible. Thank you for sharing this, I'd like to say that I do this all the time, at least I try too. But we all fall short of God's glory. Thank God we have a forgiving God. But I totally know what you mean, sometimes people dont' think about what they say before we they say it. I liked those quesitons you had asked, those were good, got to start using that it's a good filter.
God Bless you girl!
((Hugs)),
Adrienne
Hi Cindy!
I basically agree with your post, for the most part.
In the past I have indeed said things, intended for love and loving correction, that may have backfired because people take it the wrong way.
True friends must at times rebuke each other, in love:
Proverbs 27:5
"Better is open rebuke than hidden love."
We must also be God-pleasers, not people-pleasers. If something that God wants us to say to someone won't make them happy, then so be it. I'm about to confront someone who is a teacher, who has hundreds of people under them (nobody you know) on false and unbiblical teaching (please pray for me and him). What I say, I can guarantee they will not like...and it will make them sad, and it might indeed hurt our relationship if THEY allow it...but if the godly sorrow leads to repentance...it could save hundreds of souls. I have to obey God not man...
It is crucial to approach people in the right manner (with a ton of gentleness and compassion, maybe mixed with fear and trembling if this is what God wants). There is a sorrow the Bible speaks of called "Godly Sorrow". But, you are absolutely right, we must CHECK AND EXAMINE OURSELVES FIRST, not being self-righteous, "holier than thou"!
Let's always pray first and get God's guidance before going forward just based on our feelings.
I like steps 1 and 3 but I politely disagree with step 2:
1) Is what I am about to say Glorifying to God?
2) Is it uplifting and encouraging to the hearer?
3)If it were posted for all to see I wouldnt be worried/ or would I????
Sometimes, when we speak the Truth in Love, it's not uplifiting or encouraging to the hearer. When God speaks to us through His Word, often it does not result in happy thoughts. It may produce convicting thoughts or "Godly sorrow" but we should not lose heart, because He corrects and disciplines those He loves. And a true friend should do the same but only within God's guidance and gentleness of spirit.
We need to be careful when seeing and approaching a sinful thing in others...that we don't have a critical spirit and to take a good hard look at ourselves and our own condition:
(Matthew 7:3 "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?)
In light of this, sometimes, if God leads, there is a time to gently and tenderly confront and rebuke a person, always in love and respect and gentleness.
This must be a "compassionate rebuke" with honesty, compassion and humility. Our motive should be of real restoration for the other person, and not of self-righteousness or condemnation.
Galatians 6:1-3
"Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself."
We each must realize that we ourselves have sin and examine ourselves before examining others. But if we must confront others, if God leads, make sure it's done in love, with a lot of loving confirmations!
If a person approaches you in a humble way (admitting they themselves are sinners) and not in a "holier than thou" type of way, this probably means that they are humble and not judgmental!
We as believers are called to judge those who are believers (everything in love)...not to judge unbelievers:
1 Corinthians 5:10-12
"not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat." What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside?"
I love you Cindy! Thank you and may God bless you today!
I love you Cindy!
Everything I say on here is for the good of all the readers and directed to everyone who reads...I hope I can encourage others with biblical scriptures...
I never ever mean to be critical or anything like that, hope I wasn't??? Hmmm....hope my last comment was okay??
I am praying for you and your family. I love you Cindy.
oh sis... yes my number 2 I guess I need to clarify I see what you are saying and I so agree wholeheartedly with you however the context in which I ask that question is just in general not when I am having to deal with a sis in love over a hard issue you are right if we are led by God and do so lovingly we cannot control how the other will respond they may not be encouraged or uplifted.
the meaning of my one thru three is just to make sure I am no longer speaking about others and in an ungodly manner so if I have something to say about another it is only for the purpose of edifying and encouraging and lifting them to the Lord and yes even in doing that the other party may not recieve well and that is on them. So two is good just misunderstood sis and you are so tight and yes scripture is the only way to go for sure.
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