Two Lips
By Shirley Mitchell
"I will extol the LORD at all times; his praise will always be on my lips."
Psalm 34:1
When Mikayla was very young, she told the same joke over and over, day after day. She asked me, "What flower grows between your chin and your nose?" Even though I had heard the joke multiple times every day, I played along with her every time and said, "I don't know, Mikayla. Tell me." Each time she would giggle and say, "Two - Lips, Mama. Two - Lips. Get it? You know the flower - tulips."
Now that she is older I'm teaching her about the power of those two lips. I'm known for having a list of Bible verses on a colored, usually laminated, sheet in my Bible, by my computer, by my mirror, and sometimes in my car for the dead time at stoplights or busy traffic. So I'm making a red, lip-shaped sheet with Bible verses that talk about the purpose and power of our lips in honor of her favorite childhood joke.
God's Word is filled with people using their lips to praise Him. Psalm 34:1 tells us about the heart of David who exclaimed, "I will extol the LORD at all times; his praise will always be on my lips." My favorite verse in the Old Testament is Psalm 63:3, "Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you." Oh, my, it just gets me every time. His love is better than life itself and every part of living so that I can't help but praise Him! Because God had taught one psalmist His decrees, his lips overflowed with praise (Psalm 119:171). He valued God's instructions so much that he could not remain reserved but spilled praise about how wonderful our God is!
God's Word tells us the value and the benefits of having lips of His character. Proverbs 20:15 says, "Gold there is, and rubies in abundance, but lips that speak knowledge are a rare jewel." I didn't know that when I'm speaking something with some knowledge that I'm making some rare jewels. I must have put a few good words together to get a small jewelry box together for heaven. Truthful lips endure forever (Proverbs 12:19). We win God's delight with truthful lips while He detests lying lips (Proverbs 12:22). I would much rather choose to win His delight than the Mighty God's detest! Proverbs 10:32 says "The lips of the righteous know what is fitting, but the mouth of the wicked only what is perverse." Since I've stuck my foot in my mouth so many times, I know the value of being able to speak what is fitting and appropriate instead of really stupid. Proverbs 13:3 says, "He who guards his lips guards his life, but he who speaks rashly will come to ruin." I can attest that rash words bring ruin, and guarding my lips sure does make my life simpler.
God deals with people who use their lips for evil. God silences lying lips (Psalm 31:18). God cuts off flattering lips (Psalm 12:3). God catches prideful lips (Psalm 59:12). We are to not let the names of other gods be heard on our lips (Exodus 23:13). Lips can be a person's undoing, prove she's a fool, and snare her soul (Proverbs 18:6-7).
When Nebuchadnezzar boasted of his great wealth, power, glory and the city of Babylon that he had built, God humbled him while his arrogant words were still on his lips. God stripped him of his authority and gave him a disease where he had delusions of being a wild animal. When he learned to use his lips to honor and glorify God who had dominion over him, God restored his sanity and his throne.
God also has a message to us if we think our lips just get twisted, fall all over themselves at the wrong time, and that God could not use them. When Moses told God he was too scared to confront Pharaoh about letting the Israelites go, he told the Creator of his lips that his lips were faltering and questioned whether Pharaoh would listen to him. God gave him Aaron to speak for him, but if you read the story of Moses, God also used those lips of Moses many times in the deliverance of the Israelites from bondage, to the desert, and to the edge of the Promised Land.
Lastly, it doesn't do us any good to have unfaltering lips that flow with praise if our hearts are far from Him. In Matthew 15:8, Jesus says, "These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me." The point is that the lips should stem from motivations to be close to our God and have an intimate relationship with Him.
Pray with me: Oh, Almighty God, You are worthy of praise! Bring our hearts near to You so that when we honor You, it is real because we are intimate with You. Help us to guard our lips and to say only what is fitting. We don't want to be eating the leather of our shoe inserted in our mouths anymore, but we want praises of You to overflow from our lips. Give us lips that speak knowledge, a rare jewel. You created our lips and have the power to use them for Your glory. So Lord we say aloud with our lips, "We praise You, God Most High, the God of all power, authority, and dominion. We exalt You above all other gods." It's in the Name above all names, in Jesus' Name, Yeshua's Name, we pray. Amen.
Copyright 2009 © Christ Compels
"For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again." 2 Corinthians 5:14-15
Showing posts with label speech. Show all posts
Showing posts with label speech. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Love and Communication
Love and Communication
“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”
1 Corinthians 13:13
If marriage was designed by God, then why is it so hard? Are you like me and have thought this so many times? Marriage is not for the faint-hearted, the naïve, and quitters. It is only for the resolved, determined, and the tenacious. I don’t know of any other thing in life that has as much influence on our fulfillment and joy. Frankly, I don’t know how marriages without God as the center survive. They must be less than fulfilling. It causes many dear sisters much pain and anguish. Yet, a godly marriage gives us glimpses of God.
God’s Word tells us in 1 Corinthians 13:13 that out of faith, hope, and love, that the greatest thing that we could experience is love. Love involves connecting with another human being. Connecting requires communication. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t think they need to improve their communication skills. I was astonished in my college communication class when I learned that communication was made of three parts: words (8%), tone of voice (38%), and body language (55%). Additionally, communication is listening, as well as sharing. Only love could motivate us to want to communicate with someone so different from us. Only love would make us to want to overcome these barriers. Only love would make us want to be more patient. We can’t demonstrate love without having been filled with Christ’s love. Someone who has been filled with Christ's love cannot stop herself from giving it to others.
No other human has the power to hurt us like our mates. Likewise, we wield the same power to hurt them. Remember James tells us the power of our tongues. They are like the bits in horses’ mouths that can turn the whole animal, like a rudder to a large ship, or a small spark that sets off a forest fire. They can set our lives on fire (James 3:1-7). Proverbs 18:21 says that “death and life are in the power of the tongue” (NASB). It may take duck tape on our mouths sometimes, but we need to catch ourselves when we nag, belittle, condemn, get angry, or criticize. We can pray for God to prick us when destructive words start to roll off our tongues. Our tongues are the most influential and most powerful tool that we have. They can unleash great potential, creativity, and joy, or they can destroy and change the whole course of life.
I’m not telling you anything that God hasn’t already pressed into me. Maybe you know all of this but needed a reminder to be more encouraging, supporting, and uplifting. Our mates need cheering. I know you may be thinking like the parents at my daughter’s recent soccer team when the kids asked the parents to cheer for them. One parent said what we were all thinking aloud, “You need to give us something to cheer about!” It may take some time and creativity, but an ounce of encouragement goes a long way to motivate the human soul.
Some of us may be thinking, “Is it too late for my marriage?” or “This all sounds wonderful and I know it is right, but my marriage is too far gone.” Many times, we don’t know how it became “too far gone.” The love that we had our wedding day just slipped away. We may not know, but God knows, and He can reveal to us where things went wrong. However, we must be open to Him telling us our part in it! Some of us may have been the unwise woman who has torn down her own house. Some of us may be angry with him for the mistakes he has made – career, financial, parenting, or spiritually. Some of us may be so frustrated with him that we have stopped talking to him and just give him some fierce looks. Or maybe he has hurt us so badly we just give him a rejected or guarded look.
So how do we get past this? How do we have a marriage that gives us all that God designed for it to be? We turn to the God of hope. We turn to the God who resurrects marriages from the dead. We turn to Him in deepest prayer. Nobody is going to pray for our own marriage like we will. Will you join me?
Pray with me: Almighty God, thank You, Lord. You are amazing. You are still the truest love of our hearts. Thank You for those of us whom You have brought into marriage. Marriage is under such an onslaught, full scale attack by the enemy. We desire that You raise up godly marriages in the church as Your bride prepares for the return of her Groom.
We realize, Lord, that we need Your help in communication. Teach us to bridle our tongues. Do not let any unwholesome word come out of our mouths except words for edification (Ephesians 4:29). We bring You all the hurts of our marriages and relationships. We consecrate our thought life to You. We know that if we think bad thoughts, that we will speak bad words. Teach us to bring our thoughts captive. Help us to walk moment by moment in the Spirit. It is in the Name above all names, Jesus’ Name, Yeshua’s Name, that we pray, Amen.
Copyright ©2009 Christ Compels
“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”
1 Corinthians 13:13
If marriage was designed by God, then why is it so hard? Are you like me and have thought this so many times? Marriage is not for the faint-hearted, the naïve, and quitters. It is only for the resolved, determined, and the tenacious. I don’t know of any other thing in life that has as much influence on our fulfillment and joy. Frankly, I don’t know how marriages without God as the center survive. They must be less than fulfilling. It causes many dear sisters much pain and anguish. Yet, a godly marriage gives us glimpses of God.
God’s Word tells us in 1 Corinthians 13:13 that out of faith, hope, and love, that the greatest thing that we could experience is love. Love involves connecting with another human being. Connecting requires communication. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t think they need to improve their communication skills. I was astonished in my college communication class when I learned that communication was made of three parts: words (8%), tone of voice (38%), and body language (55%). Additionally, communication is listening, as well as sharing. Only love could motivate us to want to communicate with someone so different from us. Only love would make us to want to overcome these barriers. Only love would make us want to be more patient. We can’t demonstrate love without having been filled with Christ’s love. Someone who has been filled with Christ's love cannot stop herself from giving it to others.
No other human has the power to hurt us like our mates. Likewise, we wield the same power to hurt them. Remember James tells us the power of our tongues. They are like the bits in horses’ mouths that can turn the whole animal, like a rudder to a large ship, or a small spark that sets off a forest fire. They can set our lives on fire (James 3:1-7). Proverbs 18:21 says that “death and life are in the power of the tongue” (NASB). It may take duck tape on our mouths sometimes, but we need to catch ourselves when we nag, belittle, condemn, get angry, or criticize. We can pray for God to prick us when destructive words start to roll off our tongues. Our tongues are the most influential and most powerful tool that we have. They can unleash great potential, creativity, and joy, or they can destroy and change the whole course of life.
I’m not telling you anything that God hasn’t already pressed into me. Maybe you know all of this but needed a reminder to be more encouraging, supporting, and uplifting. Our mates need cheering. I know you may be thinking like the parents at my daughter’s recent soccer team when the kids asked the parents to cheer for them. One parent said what we were all thinking aloud, “You need to give us something to cheer about!” It may take some time and creativity, but an ounce of encouragement goes a long way to motivate the human soul.
Some of us may be thinking, “Is it too late for my marriage?” or “This all sounds wonderful and I know it is right, but my marriage is too far gone.” Many times, we don’t know how it became “too far gone.” The love that we had our wedding day just slipped away. We may not know, but God knows, and He can reveal to us where things went wrong. However, we must be open to Him telling us our part in it! Some of us may have been the unwise woman who has torn down her own house. Some of us may be angry with him for the mistakes he has made – career, financial, parenting, or spiritually. Some of us may be so frustrated with him that we have stopped talking to him and just give him some fierce looks. Or maybe he has hurt us so badly we just give him a rejected or guarded look.
So how do we get past this? How do we have a marriage that gives us all that God designed for it to be? We turn to the God of hope. We turn to the God who resurrects marriages from the dead. We turn to Him in deepest prayer. Nobody is going to pray for our own marriage like we will. Will you join me?
Pray with me: Almighty God, thank You, Lord. You are amazing. You are still the truest love of our hearts. Thank You for those of us whom You have brought into marriage. Marriage is under such an onslaught, full scale attack by the enemy. We desire that You raise up godly marriages in the church as Your bride prepares for the return of her Groom.
We realize, Lord, that we need Your help in communication. Teach us to bridle our tongues. Do not let any unwholesome word come out of our mouths except words for edification (Ephesians 4:29). We bring You all the hurts of our marriages and relationships. We consecrate our thought life to You. We know that if we think bad thoughts, that we will speak bad words. Teach us to bring our thoughts captive. Help us to walk moment by moment in the Spirit. It is in the Name above all names, Jesus’ Name, Yeshua’s Name, that we pray, Amen.
Copyright ©2009 Christ Compels
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