THE TONGUE

Every human being has at his/her command a double-edged device. This device is one that can be used as a constructive tool or a destructive weapon. It is found among people all around the world, within every race, color and creed. It is found among the rich and the poor. It is found in our schools, on television and permeates every facet of our society. It is sometimes a protector of good, but at other times it destroys. It can build friendships but it also can devastate them. It is the tongue.

We witness the misuse of the tongue every day. What we put into our minds determines what comes out in our words and actions. The world does not understand that the Bible, God’s Word, teaches much about what we say, how we say it and when to say it. Words hurt people emotionally just as much as snake venom hurts people physically. Because of our human nature we are prone to using the tongue in the wrong ways and for the wrong purposes. Controlling the tongue is having the wisdom not to say everything that enters our mind. Self-control is an extraordinary virtue and the proof of self-control is that we control our tongue.

The tongue is dangerous and we must be beware of its dangers. We take poison into our beings when we say or repeat unkind things about people. Poison will either kill us or make us deathly ill. Speaking without thinking is tantamount to swallowing deadly poison. As the Holy Spirit purifies our heart, He gives us self-control so that we will speak words that please God and will encourage others.

There is something very significant about the way in which the Creator designed the head. We have seven openings in our head; the number seven in Scripture denotes completeness. We have three pairs of openings; two eyes, two ears and two nostrils. The Creator restricted the seventh opening to one, the mouth. This one opening causes us more problems than all the other six together.  If we take a Bible Concordance and look up all the words related to this one opening such as mouth, tongue, lips, speech and words we will be amazed how much the Bible has to say about this subject. It is with good reason. There is no area in our personality more directly related to our total well being than the mouth.

We must guard our mouth. The tongue is creation’s most lethal weapon. It is the source of all kinds of evil because of the damage it causes in the world. Razor sharp tongues have sent more people to the dark dumpsite of broken dreams and shattered expectations than any other cause. The tongue topples governments, wrecks marriages, ruins careers, destroys reputations and generates grief for innocent people. A few words spoken in anger can destroy a relationship that took years to build.  Our words have a tremendous impact in our lives and the lives of others. What we say and what we don’t say are both important. Control of the tongue is one of the greatest necessities in the Christian life. The tongue reveals either maturity or immaturity. Only a renewed heart can produce pure speech.

ADVERSITY

Adversity comes when we least expect it. Hours before, our lives seemed to be a sea of tranquility, now it resembles a horrific hurricane or tornado. Out of nowhere we are faced with circumstances we never dreamed would come our way. Our calm emotions are turned upside down as waves of emotional unrest sweeps through our mind as the raging winds tear at our heart. Without any warning our lives can be turned upside down in a split second. Had we known adversity was coming, we would have braced ourselves for the storm.

Adversity rarely announces its arrival. Instead, it attacks with fury through trials, heartaches or emotional setbacks. Adversity delivers the untimely news of a loved one’s death, a terminal disease, the loss of a job, satanic attacks against us from those that we believed were our friends, or the crushing reality of a spouse’s betrayal. None of us know how or when adversity will strike. All we can know for certainty is that one-day it will come and pay us a visit. The question becomes not when will adversity strike, but how will we handle its gripping reality?

Unexpected crises are a part of life. There will be times when there is nothing we can do to solve a problem or overcome an obstacle. It is gut wrenching to have to stand by and watch a loved one slowly die from cancer. The doctor’s have done all they can do. We have prayed for God‘s healing and yet the time comes when we have to accept the fact that our loved one is not going to live. We can choose to be bitter or we can put our faith in God knowing that His plans are far superior to ours. He will give us the strength and peace to get through any storm that comes our way.

Overcoming trials can produce the character God wants. God is more interested in our spiritual growth than a lifetime of comfort and pleasure. James wrote, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” (James 1:2-4) NIV How we handle adversity makes all the difference between success and failure in our lives.

Being a Christian does not make us immune to life’s trials and tribulations.  Adversity builds character and teaches us to have compassion for others. God also uses adversity to humble us. We either learn to depend on God by faith during our trials or depend upon ourselves and become emotional wrecks. God expects us to do our part. He wants each of us to use and develop the mind and ability He has given us and that requires first hand experience. We need to work like the solution depends on us while relying on God to direct our paths. “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go. I will counsel you and watch over you.” (Psalm 32:8) NIV This provides the added security and powerful backing only our Creator can provide. We have either just come out of a storm, we are in a storm right now, or we are headed for one. We can be over comers through our adversities. Apostle Paul wrote, “I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith.” (2 Timothy 4:7) NIV

BLOW THE TRUMPET

BLOW THE TRUMPET

God told the prophet Joel to blow the trumpet. “Blow the trumpet in Zion, sound the alarm on my holy hill. Let all who live in the land tremble for the day of the Lord is coming. It is close at hand.” (Joel 2:1) NIV Where did God tell Joel to blow the trumpet? Joel was to blow the trumpet in Zion among the people of God. The trumpet was not to be blown in the world among wicked people. The trumpet being blown is a warning or wake up call for God’s people to repent.

King Ahab & Jezebel were two very wicked people.  When Jezebel became Ahab’s queen, she began a relentless campaign to rid Israel of all evidences of Jehovah worship. She even ordered the prophets of God to be killed. (1 Kings 18:4) NIV Ahab was a Jew, but he allowed Jezebel to bring the pagan religion of Baal into the land of Israel. Baal worship required human sacrifice of children. These innocent children were sacrificed by fire to the pagan god Moloch. This awful concept of killing children was totally alien to the mind and will of the living God. “They have built the high places of Baal to burn their sons in the fire as offerings to Baal-----something I did not command or mention, nor did it ever enter my mind.” (Jeremiah 19:5) NIV God has never changed His mind. Ahab and Jezebel plunged Israel to new lows both spiritually and morally and judgment came upon the nation.

What is secular humanism? It is when a civilized society tries to function without God and His moral principles. If we look at America through our spiritual eyes we can see how this once great nation has gotten off track. Just like Ahab, we have stood by and allowed a ruthless campaign by un-godly people in America to remove God from our land and make a law that says it is legal to sacrifice our babies to the pagan god of secular humanism. God is no longer welcome in our schools, our government & public places. We have called right wrong and wrong right. We have substituted the wisdom of man for the wisdom of God.  The church has been asleep too long.  It is time for us to awake from our spiritual sleep, blow the trumpet and sound the alarm among God’s people. 

Throughout the Old Testament God used pagan countries to bring judgment on His people. The prophet aHabakkuk complained to God that He was silent in the midst of widespread idolatry and violence in the land of Judah.  God replied, that He was going to send the Babylonians through the land to plunder, steal and kill. (Habakkuk 1-5) NIV Habakkuk was shocked at this revelation. The fact that God would use a wicked, pagan nation against His own people seemed to shake the prophet’s faith to the core. However, his faith was actually strengthened with further revelation and he could rejoice in God no matter how much suffering lay along his path. (Habakkuk 3:16-19) NIV

Judgment delayed is not judgment denied. Just like Habakkuk we may be asking why God seems to be silent. Many Bible scholars believe America will be judged because no nation has turned away so much light in order to choose darkness. Jesus said, “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be required.”(Luke 12:48) NIV Our greatest gift to this country is to return to the Biblical principles of the Bible.