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Has there ever been a time where you weren’t paying attention to your words and said something you shouldn’t have? I’m sure there has been; we’ve all been guilty of thoughtless words at one point or another. Christianity is about loving each other greatly, and treating each other like you’d like to be treated.

The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.

Proverbs 18:21

Reading the verse above, how often have you chosen your words accordingly? So many times I’ve heard stories of people who are offended by the words others have said. Some have even chosen to avoid Christianity altogether because of words. Yet, I’ve heard so many state “I didn’t mean” or “it’s just talk, you know that’s not what I meant”. If it isn’t what you mean, why did you say it at all?

The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.

Luke 6:45

What does your heart reflect? Does it reflect life or death? Do you criticize more than encourage? Do you refer to God’s word more than your own wisdom? God gave you a mouth, not as a correctional facility, but as a source of encouragement and blessing to others. He gave you a mouth so that you could speak His Word and the Gospel. He gave the ability to speak so that you could say things that bring life to people! Yes, the Lord your God may ask you to say things that would reproach another, or correct behavior. But that is for God to lead you into doing, not for you to decide.

Sarcasm is another perfect example. Such hurtful words can be spoken, evil words, under the guise of “comedy”. If things said have the power of life and death, why then speak these things? Evil things? What about with your friends and coworkers? Does idle banter, and talking profanity become a daily habit? Do those words reflect the will of God?

So many times have I myself needed to catch my words before they are spoken. They could cause such damage and hurt so many people, they could kill – maybe not literally, but what of a person’s heart and soul? Killing the character is no better or worse than physically killing a person. You can destroy their lives and hurt them forever without even thinking about what you say. “Oh I was angry, I say things I don’t mean when I’m angry” – yet those words did damage, even if you didn’t mean them. The worst of all expressions I’ve ever heard was “go to hell” – words I’ve heard said in anger, and as a “joke”. Does the person saying it truly understand how horrible of a sentence this is?

My prayer today is for God to keep me accountable to my words, and to help me catch the words before they leave my mouth. I also pray for everyone to do the same so that words of life ill be spoken throughout the world today!

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In this day and age, you’d hardly expect to see people bowing down before statues or sacrificing animals to their Gods. Though it may still happen in many parts of the world, there is still an aura around the word “idolatry” that brings up this idea. However, is it really just this?

The best definition I ever heard was by John Bevere:

John said …

“Anything you like, love, spend more time with than God is an idol”

Pretty broad right? It’s scary to think that there are many things in my life that would fit this description! Take for example the very well known fact that many families spend a lot of time watching TV. Some watching it as much as 4-5 hours in a day! But then, turn around and say that they don’t have time to read their Bibles, or go out with the family. How about helping those around them who have issues? No time!

Other’s will have an idol of work, spending every waking hour trying to make money. They go out and start businesses, work overtime, get second, third or even fourth jobs, all so they can have money for the “quality of living” they want. Is that really quality living?

Even your family can become an idol. Concerning yourself only with them so that they can have the best of you, but neglecting the fact that God wants to spend time with you too! In the end, these people end up neglecting their family anyway because they don’t have God’s guidance and providence. They don’t have that peace inside to temper the storms and grow together as a family. Like building a house on sand is the family with no foundation in God.

How much time do you spend reading your Bible or praying each day? How much time do you take to seek God’s will in your life and grow in His wisdom? Do you spend more time watching TV, on the computer, reading novels, working, on projects, or with the family than with God?

This isn’t to say that you don’t spend time with God, or pray, or read your Bible, but is it a priority in your life? Yes, many people are forced to work overtime, or are so exhausted they can’t stay up to read or pray, but have you gone out of your way to spend at least 5 minutes with God?

God knows that we have many things in our lives weighing down on us. He also knows that He can help us find rest and deal with these issues. He’s out to love us fully and totally a midst all of our difficulties, so then why do we neglect Him?

If we were to take the example from John Bevere of a loving couple, and a wife came to her husband saying

Honey, I will love you forever! I’ll cook for you, clean for you, raise the kids, boast about you, give you everything you ever wanted in every area of life and make sure that you have the best wife on the face of the earth. But I only ask that for 1 day a year, I can go to all my ex lovers and have my way.

Don’t you think hubby would be ticked? Or if the wife was given the same speech, don’t you think she’d be annoyed? It’s flat out adultery! Idolatry is spiritual adultery, you’re cheating on God!

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Did you know that you are a leader? That’s right, everyone on the face of this earth is the leader of at least one person. You lead yourself. You choose to coach yourself in the things you wish, learn the subjects you want, act the way you feel, or control yourself. If you aren’t willing to lead yourself, who will?

Let’s face it, most people these days just let their emotions and bad habits run wild. They say “I can’t help myself” and think that by saying sorry, it’s ok. But the reality remains that you are just giving up the responsibility to lead yourself.

Leading isn’t always about having a team of people that you guide to completing a project. Leading is about being a good steward of the things that God gave you!

This can apply to your spending habits, eating habits, exercise routine, daily devotions, God moments. How are you leading your life? The Bible is more than just a way to learn about God, and grow closer to Him in a real relationship. It’s also a guide to life. In it, you’ll find so much information on how to live right, and have a good life. It also explains how we are witnesses to the World.

I may say that you are at least a leader of one, but in reality, you may lead many more people than that. How many people around you in a day? How many family members, neighbors, co-workers, friends, classmates, etc do you have contact with? Do you have a blog or are part of an online community like Facebook or Twitter?

In all of these areas you can be a leader, for good or bad. You can lead people to wanting that which they may not have, such as a good relationship with God. You can also lead them away from God because of the way you act.

Yes, in the end, the decision to act is theirs, but how are you influencing that decision?

Having been in management roles for many years, I know that those who work with me are entirely responsible for their actions. However, how have I helped achieve the correct goals with my behavior and leadership? Have I demotivated them? Encouraged them? Been there to help? How have I led my team?

You should also do the same examination in your lives. How is my life a good example of Godly behavior? How am I affecting those around me? Am I misrepresenting God in my daily life?

Think about these things, and concern yourself with the fact that not only can you hurt your own relationship with God with bad decisions, you can also affect those around you and cause them to stumble!

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For Yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever.

We once discussed what the meaning of “The Kingdom of God” was. As we’d discussed, Kingdom living was not only about the life after death, but about our current life here on earth!

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And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil.

This verse has often times been misunderstood. Would God “lead” us into temptation? James 1:13 teaches that God cannot be tempted, and He Himself tempts no one! Then what are we praying this line for?

The word temptation here can be translated a few different ways, one of which is “Trial” – If we were to say “lead us not into trials or difficult times” then the meaning is the same.

God knows we will be tempted, we’ll sin, and we’ll make mistakes. He knows this and helps us grow. But what’s the best way to grow in Christ? The best times to grow are when we are in hard times. Jesus went to the desert; this was a trial led by God. In the desert, He faced hardships and pains for 40 days. Temptation however was not done by God, but by the devil. Satan tempted Christ through these trials.

When we pray this, we are not asking God to not “tempt” us. He never will. We are asking God to have mercy and not lead us into difficult times. We are asking God to strengthen our character so that when hard times come, they aren’t so bad.

So remember, God may have brought your through hard times to strengthen you, but it’s the devil that tempts you. Know your enemy, know yourself and let God carry you through!

And as far as “deliver us from evil” goes – I think it’s pretty self-explanatory ^_^

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In our Forgiveness in action post, there was an interesting comment that I thought I should address prior to moving forward in the Our Father prayer.

Lexie Lane said…”Forgiving is not forgetting” really is tricky because I would think that in order to really forgive, you must learn that art of forgetting. It’s the only way to get past whatever it is you have to forgive. Otherwise, you would most likely always get bothered by it. Thank you for enlightening us with this post.

I thought this was an interesting response, mainly because many have this frame of mind. The word forget here can have two meanings:

• We cannot remember the event, as though it never happened (I totally forgot)
• We remember that the event took place, but choose to look past it (ah, forget about it)

God is not a God who is imperfect, thus, never forgets anything. He knows all, so cannot forget something that occurred. The Bible also teaches that God “Removes our sins from us, as far as the east is from the west”.

God choose to look at us through Christ’s eyes. He look past our sin. He knows we made mistakes, and He knows we’ll make more, but our loving God choose not to hold it against us!

I believe this type of forgetting is what we should practice on a regular basis. The event occurred, it’s a reality, but as Christians we do not hold it against our offender. Also, we can use these experiences as learning experiences. Character building exercises to grow us in faith and in patience. If we literally forgot these events, how then would we know what to do next time? How would we learn from others’ mistakes so as to not repeat them? Do unto others as you would like done unto you. But you have to know what is right and what is wrong; experience and the Bible is what teach us this the best.

Let us not forget the event, but let us also not hold it against the person who hurt us. What is meant for evil can still be used for God!