Words

Hosea 14:2 Take words with you and return to the LORD. Say to him: "Forgive all our sins and receive us graciously, that we may offer the fruit of our lips."

There are some silly statistics out there that I have heard at least a dozen times about words. I'm sure you have heard this one as well...that during the course of a day, a woman speaks thousands of words more than a man. I tried to find some validation for this but couldn't find one. It really doesn't matter how many words either you or I use per day. What does matter is...how are we using the words we speak on a daily basis either to one another or to God?

Our words can share love or hate. They can be used to build up or tear down one another. Words can be used to lie or speak the truth. Our words can instruct or teach one another. When we've hurt someone with our words, more words are necessary to ask forgiveness. At other times someone else's words have hurt or cut us deeply and we can offer the gift of forgiving words to them.

Words are necessary; words are needed in every aspect of our lives. When we go to the Lord in prayer, we offer words of praise and thanksgiving, we ask our Father to hear the cries of our afflictions. And when we sin, the Lord wants us to humbly go to Him...and to "take words" with us. The Lord already knows our sin but wants to hear the words of repentance from our lips. It's not easy to go to another and admit our wrong and ask forgiveness...it is a humbling experience...and it is what we are called to do in scripture.

Hosea 14:2 (Amplified Bible) Take with you words and return to the Lord. Say to Him, Take away all our iniquity; accept what is good and receive us graciously; so will we render [our thanks] as bullocks [to be sacrificed] and pay the confession of our lips.

In the Amplified Bible "the fruit of our lips" is rendered "bullocks" which is a young bull. The King James Version says "calves of our lips." This seems rather strange but I believe that what the Lord is requiring of us is a "sacrifice." In the Old Testament there could be no forgiveness of sin unless there was a sacrifice. When we "take words" of confession and repentance to the Lord we are actually sacrificing the "fruit" of our lips.

It is clear the Lord puts an emphasis on our words and how we use them in interacting with God and other people. He doesn't want idle words or words full of excuses. He wants words that come from deep within our hearts.
The Lord is waiting for the fruit of our lips...for our "sacrifice."

What are we waiting for?

MaryAnn

MaryAnn and John Kiernan have been married for 36 years, have 2 grown/married sons and are the proud grandparents of 3 grandsons. She serves at America's Keswick as a Biblical Counselor and also as Intake Coordinator for the Colony of Mercy. Her life verse is Romans 8:28.

DIGGING DEEPER
Psalm 51:10 Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me.

UPCOMING EVENT
May is fast approaching and we will be hosting our 2nd annual Family Freedom Walk on Saturday, May 8th. You can help in two ways. 1. walk - call guest services to obtain a walk package, solicit sponsors and come to the walk. 2. (this is a fun one) Sponsor Victory Call for the walk. We are having a friendly competition between the 2 groups of devotional readers (Freedom Fighters and Victory Call). Our goal is to raise more funds for the Victory Call team than the men raise for the Freedom Fighter's team. If you would like to join the fun, simply go to this link on our website https://01.secure.elexio.com/donations.aspx?id=366346&websiteurl=http://www.americaskeswick.org&siteid=2184 fill out the information and indicate in the "DESIGNATION" area : Family Freedom Walk: Victory Call or if you prefer make your check out to America's KESWICK and put in the memo line: FFW/Victory Call and mail to : America's KESWICK 601 Route 530 Whiting, NJ 08759. ALL DONATIONS MUST ARRIVE NO LATER THAN WEDNESDAY, MAY 5TH in order to be counted for our TEAM. Come on ladies, we can do it!!!