GENTLENESS IN SPEECH
Talking God for giving you the ability to gentle with your words. Ask Him to help you choose your words carefully so they are not hurtful.
DRIVING IN
List five words that descrive you best friend. Now list five words that describe someone you don't get along with very well. Say each of the 1-10 words out load and consider how you'd feel if each of those words were used to describe you..
Words are powerful. " The tongue has the power of life and death" ( Proverbs 18:21 ). Wow! What you say--- and how you say it --- really does matter. Words can hurt, or they can heal. When you respond to hurtful words with more hurtful words, you only make things worse. If you answer with gentleness, you can soothe angry or bitter feelings and restore broken relationships. Our gentle words show people that they have value, whether you agree or disagree with them. Proverbs 12:18 says, " Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.,..Blessed Sunday....
No More Screw Ups
Rev 21:4 "And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away."
This is after Satan is thrown into the bottomless pit for 1000 years and then cast into hell. This is after God creates a new heaven and a new earth. This is what it is going to be like. No more tears. (That is not just the name for a baby shampoo…that is going to be reality.) No more death. No more sorrow. No more crying. No more pain.
The new heaven and the new earth where God Himself lives with people, where God the Father and God the Son illuminate the place, will eliminate everything negative that we can imagine, and will be filled with only goodness and grace and life and joy.
As I think about it, if there are no more tears, if there is no more sorrow, if there is no more crying, if there is no more pain then there are not going to be any more screw ups on our part. After all, a lot of the crying and pain and sorrow that we experience on this earth is because of our sin. Because we don't listen. Because we don't obey. Because we want to go our own way…and the consequences are tears, and sorrow and crying and pain. In the new heaven and the new earth, there will only be perfection. Only perfect lives. We humans will not act like humans any longer…that is we will not be imperfect. Every decision we make will be right. Every word we say will be proper. Every thought we have will be pure. No more doubt. No more guilt. No more screw ups.
Everything
2 Pet 1:3 "His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue."
This blows me away. God's divine power, His awesome strength, His dynamic ability has done a work in my life…in every believer's life and this is the work: He has given to each one of us everything that we need to live life and to be godly.
As I sit here and think about all of the junk we seem to struggle with: Habits, attitudes, motivation, conflict in relationships, fear, doubt, anything that you can imagine that may be a negative pull in our lives…God has overcome it all. His divine power, His awesome strength, His dynamic ability has given us a gift. He has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness. We are not empty. We are not wanting. We are not bankrupt. We are victorious. We are conquerors. We are able to rise above. Frankly, we have it all. He has given us not just a few things to live life and be godly. He has not given us just some things to live life and be godly. He has given us everything that is necessary to live life and be godly. This is a "great and precious promise" (v4). This is something that we can claim. This is something that we can throw in the enemy's face when we are struggling, when we are tempted, when we are conflicted, when we don't know if we can make it. We can make it. We will make it. Because He has done it.
How? Through the knowledge of Him who called us by or literally for the sake of glory and virtue. As we get to know God, as we draw near to Him by getting to know Jesus, because Jesus is the exact representation of His nature, we are going to live godly lives and these lives will reflect His glory and virtue. Now that is heavy stuff. It just shows the importance of building my relationship with Christ. It just shows how centered I should be in getting to know Him better, in spending time with Him, in listening and talking to Him. As this occurs a transformation takes place and I will be begin to see the things that God has given me to live a godly life.
That is why it is sad when I or any other believer falls for the trap of being stuck. Stuck in an attitude or a habit or a sin. This is not necessary and it is not what God has called us to. He has called us to live life, live it abundantly and live it Biblically. We have victory. We have everything…literally everything we need for life and godliness.
So get out of that stinking rut and live.
