16. THE MOUTH. PSALM 34. 11.13. and others

We are all familiar with what James has to say about the tongue, however it is interesting to notice a few aspects of the head. For example there are seven openings in the head, (Biblically the number of perfection) two eyes, two ears, and two nostrils, but only one mouth. I don’t know anyone who would like to have two mouths, we seem to have enough trouble controlling the one we have. If we’re honest, we’ve all had that horrible experience of self recrimination, “Why did I say that?” We can’t retract it and an apology is not only difficult, but also sounds and often is hopelessly inadequate. So, I’ve put together a few words hoping to show us how and why to shut the door before the horse has bolted. I was amazed, when consulting my Concordance just how many references there are to this one opening in our face:- mouth, tongue, lips, speech, words etc. And with good reason. There is no other area in our personality more directly related to our total well-being than our mouths and tongues. The first Scripture I’ll use is (Psm 34. v11-13 which says,”Come My children listen to me; I will teach you The Fear of The Lord. Whoever of you who loves life and desires to see many good days, keep your tongue from evil and your lips from telling lies.(NIV) At this junction, I’d also like to point out there is nothing in all Scripture to which is attached greater blessing than “Fear of The Lord”.so when we are being offered a teaching on that subject it is often something of infinite value and well worth taking up. Also in Scripture fullness of life and fear of the Lord are always associated; and well worth taking heed of because, the measure in which we have the fear of the Lord is the same measure in which we enjoy true life both spiritual and physical. So what is, and how do we achieve the “Fear of The Lord” The Fear of The Lord is ;--Knowing who Almighty God is, What He has done for us. And How we should approach Him. This is very important for us to know, and there are several books available on the subject, “Knowing God”, by J.I. packer is one of the best I’ve read on this subject. However the psalmist, in the quote given tells us in simple, practical terms, “Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from telling lies.” that’s a good start. The first area “The Fear of The Lord” manifests its self in our lives, will be through our speech, this is also a good way to evaluate very quickly, people who come into our lives, I maintain, “Play with dirt, you will get dirty.” So we see how it’s all tied together, out of The Fear of The Lord comes life, good days and proper use and control of our tongues and lips .I would venture to say, we can’t possibly have good physical or spiritual lives if we can’t control our mouths. In my experience, unfortunately, this is a problem with both Christians and Non-Christians alike. In proverbs 13. 3 we read; “He who guards his lips guards his soul, He who speaks rashly comes to ruin.” It’s black and white:-- because my soul is the real Me, and it’s there my personality is first manifest. that’s where the enemy will first gain access. The alternatives are clear, if we guard our lips we guard our souls, if we speak rashly we are heading for calamity and putting our souls in great danger. Calamity is a strong word and I believe the Bible uses it deliberately. I urge you to read the book of Proverbs, it’s full of such principles eg (Prov 15. 4) and Prov (18-21) These are two very good examples. Once again the alternatives are quite clear. It’s either life or death, they are both tied up in the power of the tongue. We need to remember whichever way we use our tongue we can be sure we’ll eat its fruit. Good or bad, God has ordained life that way. Derek Prince relates a story of when he was a Medic in the British Army during W.W.2. He says the first thing the Senior Doctor would ask the patient was “Show me your tongue.” Derek says the doctor could tell more about the soldier’s health and or illness by looking at his tongue than by talking to him directly. He said metaphorically speaking, God would know more about us by looking at our tongues than we’d possibly like to admit. The state of our tongues is a sure-fire guide to our spiritual condition. Many Scriptural passages show the connection between our heart and mouth, In (Mat 12. 33-37) Also in (Mat 7. 17-18) We read the nature of the tree determines the kind of fruit it will produce, so when we see the fruit we know what kind of tree we have, I believe the tree represents the heart and the fruit the mouth. So when the heart is good, what comes out of the mouth will also be good and vec-vercer., there is an absolute connection between heart and mouth which is the indicator. If the mouth indicates unrighteousness in any form, our own or anyone else’s alarm bells should ring. If what comes out of the mouth is corrupt, then the heart is also corrupt, there is no other conclusion. In (Mat 12.34) Jesus speaking-; “Out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.” In Jam (1. 26-27) We see there is a kind of religion which God does not accept. We may go to church, prayer group, give away money and know all the songs etc. But if we don’t keep our tongues under control all that is worthless and unacceptable to God. On the other hand James points out the kind of religion that is acceptable to God. Again it is different from the average church goer today. In fact the first positive requirement of religion is not church going or even Bible reading. So let me suggest that if we want to have a religion that is acceptable to God it must be demonstrated first and foremost by caring for those in need, I am not talking money here, although financial help is sometimes needed there are several other needs just as important and often less visible eg your time, your expertise, food, clothing or heating and sometimes just a shoulder to cry on. It’s often too easy to put our hands in our pockets, thus relieving us of all responsibility. Often the poorest of people can fulfil the greatest need. James uses a number of illustrations from the natural world, from which he brings out the unique significance and influence of the tongue for the entire course of our lives. If we consider the examples James uses; The bit in the horses mouth, The Rudder in the ship, The spark that starts a forest fire and a poison that is injected into a life-stream, the underlying principle is the same. The tongue is a small part of the body but can cause tremendous damage which may never be undone. In James (3.9-12) He once again points out the inconsistencies of Religious people, James is saying the exact same thing that Jesus said, What is in your heart will come out of your mouth, fresh and dirty water cannot come out of the same spring, an interesting point to consider here is, fresh water will never make dirty water fresh but it only takes a little dirty water to pollute fresh water. So we always have to be aware of the pollution of the world in our speech. Because we know that which comes out of our mouth indicates the true condition of our hearts. We need to really understand how Death and Life are tied up in the power of the tongue and how our words determine our destiny and why we need to keep our hearts visibly pure. Interesting isn’t it? How we settle our own destiny by what we say, Take a look at Joshua and Caleb going ahead to inspect the Promised Land. Those that said “We are not able.” were not able to go there and those that said “We are able” were able to get to the Promised Land. If we speak our assent with faith and courage on a particular promise of God and focus on the promise and not the problem which may or may not arise, then as Joshua said “We will be well able to receive God’s promises” Returning to Derek Prince, he maintains there are six diseases of the tongue, if kept unchecked could prove fatal, I will list them. 1. Excessive talking. Proverbs 10:19. Beware of the chatter 2. Idle/careless words Matthew 12;36 Think before speaking. 3. Gossip. Leviticus 19;16 Closely connected to jealousy 4. Lying. Proverbs. 6:16 Be careful not to slander. 5. Flattery. Psalm 12:1-3. Weigh up the compliments 6. Hasty speech Proverbs 29: 20 Peter had this problem. There are three practical steps I believe we can take to deal with the problem of our tongues. 1. We must acknowledge that we have a problem and call it by its correct name “SIN” As long as we use some fancy psychological terminology to cover, condone, excuse, or even pretend that our problem doesn’t exist, nothing will happen. We must come to the moment of honesty with ourselves and with God. When we do that, only then can God move. I have done quite a bit of counselling over the years and have found with myself and with many others, the only currency God deals in is TRUTH . As long as we try to cover up or misrepresent our problem, God does nothing. Then we say “God why don’t you help me in this area?” His answer is “I’m waiting for you to be honest.” 2. We must confess our sin and receive God’s forgiveness and . Cleansing. Read John (1;7-9.) again and see the importance of being honest, God’s blood does not cleans in the dark.”If we say we have no sin we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us,” so we are operating in the dark where God’s provision doesn’t work. Two words are used in this Scripture “Faithful and Righteous” God is Faithful because He has promised and He will keep His promise. God is Righteous or just because Jesus has already paid the penalty for our sins, therefore he can forgive us without compromising His justice. Now, because He is more interested in the state of our hearts towards Him than anything else in the Universe, after forgiving us He scrubs up our hearts (Cleanses us) But if experientially we keep committing the same sin, I would like to question the forgiveness, because the same God who forgives also cleanses. The same Scripture that promises God”s forgiveness also promises God”s cleansing. God never stops halfway, if we meet the conditions we get the whole package. If we don’t meet the conditions we don”t get half, we get nothing. “If we confess our sins God is faithful and righteous to forgive our sins and cleans us from ALL unrighteousness.” Once our hearts are cleansed the problem wont be there. The condition of the heart determines what comes out of the mouth. A clean heart cannot produce unclean speech. So it follows Unclean speech indicates an unclean heart. 3. We must say NO to sin and YES to God -; In Romans (6:12-14 ) Paul says: When next we get challenged by sin, we have to say “I will not submit to you that part of my body which I cannot control, but I will submit it to You Holy Spirit of God at this time to control it for me, help me now in my greatest need.” or a similar prayer. For my final word on this matter, I would recommend you read(James 3: 7-8. To sum up, I’ll go briefly through the three steps again. 1. Call the problem by its name “SIN” 2. Confess the sin and receive God’s Forgiveness and Cleansing. 3. Refuse to Yield to sin, and by Faith determine to yield to God the Holy Spirit . That is the climax of the process of deliverance and healing of that member of our bodies which according to James WE cannot control. Thank you for reading my thoughts on this subject May Almighty God direct our speech to His Glory. Phaline. -------------------------