My husband and I officially launched a new ministry on December 31, 2018 at our first Watch Night Service.  The vision for the ministry, as God gave it to my husband was to Encourage, Equip and Empower the people of God with the Word of God.  Basically, our mission is to help people mature in God by teaching them how to love God through the daily application of His Word.  The main thing we realized as we were preparing to launch was we had to be first partarkers.  Meaning, everything we teach we must be the examples! Many times, we as people do not merely do what others "tell" us to do but we do what others "show" us to do. Back in the day I learned in a psychology class that behaviors are learned so we mimic what we see and what we have been taught. Trust me this change in the life of my husband and I is requiring a heavy commitment from us and it is requiring some serious praying and studying of God's Word daily. We realized we could no longer be bound by the same issues that had us bound 15, 20, 30+ years ago.  If we want to be effective in helping the people of God mature, we had to mature first!!!

This brings me to the topic of Taming the Tongue. We need the Lord to help us tame our tongues because spiritual homicides and spiritual suicides are occuring rapidly and exponentially due to our untamed tongues. I do not know about you but one spiritual death is too many for me and I no longer want any part of killing someone else spiritually nor do I want to experience spiritual death from within me.  Therefore, as the Body of Christ, we have to do a better job of following Jesus' example when it comes to speaking to and speaking about others ourselves.  This even applies to people who don't like you and it applies to people who you don't like.  Watch what you say.  

James 1:26 states, "Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless." Let's just pause there for one second and reread that verse... Wow!!! This verse hits right to the heart of this matter.  This reminds me of several questions I heard a preacher ask a long time ago, "Are there any cussers in the house? Are there any gossipers in the house? Are there any liars in the house? Are there any backbiters in the house? You get the point... Just take a moment with me and say "Lord, help me with the things that come out of my mouth!!!" 

God with His Omniscient Power knew the small muscle in our mouths would bring us so many problems that He speaks about the tongue throughout the Bible. Let's take a closer look at some of the scriptures relating to our tongues or speech. Proverbs 20:19 "A gossip betrays a confidence; so avoid anyone who talks too much." How long ago was the Bible written? (rhetorical question...lol) This verse still holds true to today!!!  How many people are in your inner circle who talk way too much?  How many people in your inner circle can't keep a secret? How many people in your inner circle got an opinion about everything and everybody else but nothing to say about themselves or their own situations?  The Bible tells us to avoid those people yet, we continue to hang around with them talking way too much. 

Proverbs 18:6-7 says "The lips of fools bring them strife, and their mouths invite a beating. The mouths of fools are their undoing, and their lips are a snare to their very lives." The sad part of all of this is that we have become so comfortable with negative speech that we literally entertain and allow the spirit of pride to take residency in our temples.  Instead of seeking God for guidance or thinking before we speak, we just keep on talking foolishly.  Our children are learning these bad traits from us and it is going from generation to generation, house to house, church to church, city to city and having a huge impact on the Kingdom. 

Psalms 34:13 says "keep your tongue from evil and your lips from telling lies." We must do a better job of not speaking evil into the lives of our own children and most importantly God's children.  Furthermore, we must stop the lying!!! Let's just get a clear understanding,  a lie is a lie!!! There are no little lies compared to big lies.  There is no truth or reason for even telling a so-called little white lie.  The truth can stand alone all by itself it needs no assistance nor any fluffing.  Although it may be painful, the truth is necessary to set people free from the bondage of negative speaking.    

Now, I want to provide some practical and applicable ways we can tame our tongues.  First, stop hanging around people who mainly gossip and talk too much.  Simply change the company you keep and watch your speech begin to change.  Next, as you let go of the wrong type of people to keep company with, find some new people like you who are serious about Kingdom business and pleasing God. Ask them to hold you accountable for the type of language you use even when you become upset.  I must note, this type of company will tell you the truth and you may not want to hear it but you have to be prepared to accept it and make the necessary changes. Also, begin to read the many scriptures about the tongue and how powerful it is.  Read what God says we should do and what we should not do with our tongues and begin to make conscientious decisions to change the way you talk. 

Ladies, we may slip up every now and then with the words that come out of our mouths.  However, if we make a commitment to change,  the slip ups will be way less than the daily habits we formed from our old way of talking.  Thus, as I conclude just imagine the collective impact of starting a movement to change the way we talk? The world as we know it would be completely different.  If we spoke the Word of God more than we gossip, slander and lie, our families, churches and communities would become stronger and united.  Our husbands would show more love to us, our children would obey us more, our co-workers would have more respect for us and we would see an enourmous amount of growth in the Body of Christ.  Let's make it happen and together we can change the world!!!

Lady J