Out of the same mouth

"Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers (and
sisters), this should not be." James 3:10

Luke 6:45 says that the mouth speaks out of the overflow of what is in
the heart. So that leads us to consider what is in our heart!!

Recently, well I guess just a week or two ago, while doing a lesson on
the power of our words and the tongue in the "Believing God" study by
Beth Moore, I was challenged by the following thoughts she expressed,
"Ideally, our faith can become voice, and our voice can become power
when we're operating in God's will. When we're actively trying to do
what God says we can and we don't get the results God's Word says we can
expect, we need to ask what might be wrong....What if we are doing
everything we know to do and yet what we voice through faith often
proves ineffective? Unbelief may not be our primary obstacle on this
issue."(p. 116) The goal of this lesson was to "identify and remove
hindrances to practicing the powerful voice God's Word tells us we
can."(p.116) As some of the misuses of the tongue were listed, the one
that jumped off the page to me was "rudeness or unkindness". As I
thought on this and considered the ways the misuse of my tongue could
hinder me being a vessel God can use to display His power, I realized
how often unkind criticism of others in private comes across my lips
exhibiting "a misinterpreted sense of superiority" (p.118), and how it
effects my attitude toward a person, even if they are said only in the
privacy of "me, myself, and I", in my mind, or in the privacy of my own
home, as well as affecting the attitude of anyone else that hears those
words. "Whoever secretly slanders his neighbor,him I will destroy; the
one who has a haughty look and a proud heart, him I will not
endure.(Psalm 101:5); "Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth,
but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to
the hearers." (Ephesians 4:29) After being convicted of this improper
use of my words, and confessing to the Lord, I prayed for forgiveness
and to be changed to be truly kind in my thoughts, words, and attitudes
not just on the outside in public, but on the inside in private. For God
looks on the heart, and nothing is hidden from Him. My desire is to be
using my words in the power of the Lord, "to the praise of His Glory".

My challenge would be to you as Beth Moore challenged through this
lesson, "Let's allow the Holy Spirit to alert us to misuses of the
tongue that can diffuse its spiritual effectiveness: Gossip, Lying,
Profanity, Rudeness or unkindness, Inappropriate humor, misuse of God's
name." (p. 117)

Djm