Choose Life

Proverbs 18:21
Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.

Deuteronomy 30:19
I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live.

Also Read chapter 3 of James. The tongue is mentioned around 160 times in scripture and in most of the verses listed it talks about both good and bad coming forth from our mouths. I have listed two scriptures above and could list many more but I will let you look them up yourself. The two that I have mentioned I believe are very important because the more that I seek the will of God and His purpose in my life the more He shows me areas that I myself need to correct and we as Christians need to correct. I have heard a lot of Christians quote... "Life and Death are in the power of the tongue..." I have even done it myself, but one day while studying God took me to Proverbs 18:21 and had me to slow down and really read it. It says, "Death and life, not life and death are in the power of the tongue." I thought it was interesting that it was written that way instead of the way that we generally quote it and I believe that God showed me that it is written that way because we, His people, have a tendency of speaking cursings first and not blessings. We speak death before we speak life.

I know that this is hard to read, especially if you have a problem in this area, it was hard for me too. However, I believe that we have to get a grip on this if we ever plan to succeed in the things of God. God tells us in so many scriptures that we are healed, we are to forgive, to serve, to be kind, to be longsuffering, etc. etc... Even though we are told this, half the time we spend arguing why we are still sick, why we can't forgive and why we can't serve and the list just goes on. Here is an example, which if you have read my blogs for very long you know I love examples. Let’s say someone walks in the church, they haven’t been in church in a while and as a matter of fact they come in and out of the church a lot. They are walking one day with God and the next they are walking in the world. Do you know what a lot of people would say “Oh great here they come again and they are still drinking or still partying, they never stick around long enough to change, I don’t even know why they try.” Let me guess you would never say that, well maybe you would and maybe you wouldn’t but can you say you have never thought it? You have to take those thoughts captive so that they do not turn into words but that is another message for later.

You see if we speak these words about someone then we are speaking death into their lives. God never intended for it to be that way. When God created the Heavens and the Earth it was by speaking it into existence. We are made in God’s image and we have the power to speak death or life into a situation. We have the power to pray and ask God to deliver a person from their bondages and one day see them in church. You never know whose life you will affect by your words. Pastor once said that words, once they are out there can not be taken back. They become part of the sound waves and due to that scientists have proven that those sounds waves from times past are still in the air today. Transmissions that where played back in the 60’s could still be heard today if we had the scientific gadgets to hear them. We can affect change but we need to control the change we affect. We need to speak life into people’s lives. Instead of assuming that a person is going to be that way forever because that is the way that they have always been, why not speak that we see God working in that person’s life and that they are becoming the man or woman of God that God has designed them to be. You never know if your positive words in the air could bring forth the next Billy Graham, Joyce Meyer, Rod Parsley or Smith Wigglesworth. I will take it one step further, you never know what positive words were spoken about you that brought you to where you are today with God. My challenge for you today is this, speak life into people. Guard every word that proceeds out of your mouth and make it word of edification. Bring Glory to God through the words that you speak and ask the Holy Spirit to help guard your heart and your mouth so that what you say will change the world. I leave you with this:
Jesus said in James 3:8-11, “But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be. Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter?
Let’s us strive together to speak the words that God would have us speak, knowing that through the power of the Holy Spirit we can do all things through Christ which strengthens us.

Is your line busy, or are you disconnected?

Have you ever tried to call someone on the phone and just get a busy signal or find that the line had been disconnected? What if you really needed to get in contact with the person and you could not find a way to get through. Sometimes I think God feels the same way about us. He would really like to talk to us but a lot of times He can't get through because we are so busy with every day life or we just don't recognize His voice. In 1 Samuel 3:1-10 it tells the story of when God called Samuel. Samuel, like many of us, did not recognize God's voice when He called him.

1 Samuel 3:1-10

1 The boy Samuel ministered before the LORD under Eli. In those days the word of the LORD was rare; there were not many visions.
2 One night Eli, whose eyes were becoming so weak that he could barely see, was lying down in his usual place.
3 The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the LORD, where the ark of God was.
4 Then the LORD called Samuel. Samuel answered, "Here I am."
5 And he ran to Eli and said, "Here I am; you called me." But Eli said, "I did not call; go back and lie down." So he went and lay down.
6 Again the LORD called, "Samuel!" And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, "Here I am; you called me." "My son," Eli said, "I did not call; go back and lie down."
7 Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD : The word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him.
8 The LORD called Samuel a third time, and Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, "Here I am; you called me." Then Eli realized that the LORD was calling the boy.
9 So Eli told Samuel, "Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, 'Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.' " So Samuel went and lay down in his place.
10 The LORD came and stood there, calling as at the other times, "Samuel! Samuel!" Then Samuel said, "Speak, for your servant is listening."


My husband and I were talking about scriptures the other night and one thing popped into my mind, when we want a strong relationship with someone, what should we do? We find out more about them, their likes and dislikes, we spend time with the other person and we get to know them. I believe that we as Christians need to find more time to spend with God. We are all so busy and we get so involved with things that when God calls us, we can't even hear Him. One other thing that I have observed is that when we want to spend time with someone, we will usually lay everything aside and make the time. I would like for each of you to stop and think about something for me. How many times in a day do you start to pray or meditate on something and right when you sit down to do it the phone rings? It is not by coincidence that this message is titled like it is. Or, you sit down to read and someone walks in and starts talking to you, you get a knock on the door and your children start calling. We have to make God a priority in our lives and spend time with Him if we are ever planning to know Him well enough to hear His voice when He calls.

This is an area that we all need to work on. It doesn't matter how long you have been a Christian or a minister for that matter. It doesn't matter how much you have learned over the years. Any good relationship takes time and effort and sometimes crying in order for it to be a good strong relationship that you can count on. When we are in a marriage and we see that other things are taking up all of our time together we go out on a date. I know that I have probably mentioned this before but this is a very important point. The other day my husband got up from eating to go into the kitchen and without even turning around to see what he was doing I said, "Can you bring me some peppers too?" First he laughed and then his comment was, "How did you know I was getting peppers?" I said, "Simple, I know you." Do we know God that well? Do we know what He is thinking and what He is doing? We need to spend as much time with God as possible, whether it is through prayer and fasting or reading. I try to talk to God constantly throughout the day. It is not something that is really hard for me since I have been doing it for years, but to someone that didn't know me and definitely someone that was not a Christian they would think that I had lost my mind. If I am driving down the road I talk to Him and when I am in the shower I talk to Him. I know that He knows everything that is going on in my life but I talk to Him about it anyway and cast my care upon Him. I do have to say one thing though...even though I might have conquered this one area of talking to Him all the time, the one thing that I still struggle with is the listening. See when we are talking all of the time it makes for a one sided conversation and we are not learning about the other person that way.

It's time to hang the phone up (metaphorically speaking) and sit still and wait for God to call us. Let's be quite for a while and listen because it is hardly ever a loud sound like when your phone is ringing. It is usually soft like the wind blowing and unless you are alert and listening for it, you might just miss it. Let's be like Samuel in the end...

Go back to your room and lie down and listen...if He calls to you say, "Here I am Lord, speak, for your servant is listening.