WEEKLY BIBLE STUDY 8/10/12 TAMING THE TONGUE

TAMING THE TONGUE (PART 1/3)

Who would want to be a Christian if there was no joy, no praise, nothing to be thankful for?  When all you are doing is complaining and griping and dissatisfaction and criticism and self-pity.

James 3:10: "Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing..." And, as James goes on to say, "This should not be." When praise and cursing come out of the same mouth, it just isn't right; something's wrong!

And of course I immediately realized that I'm guilty of the same thing sometimes. Blessing and praising God one minute, complaining, worrying and criticizing the next. Can you relate to that? But James says if we can learn to control our words, we can keep our entire personalities in check. Everything about us is affected by our tongues—our relationships, our performance, our attitudes. That is the power which resides in this little thing called a tongue.

I want to remind all of us of how critical it is to learn to tame our tongues. Quite honestly, most of us need to do a better job of that, don't we?

In James 3 we are told that if we can control our tongue, we can control our whole body, our entire personality.

Now, how is that true? Well, in order to control my words, I have to control my thoughts. After all, I say what I think. In order to control my thoughts, I've got to practice Philippians 4:8, which teaches me to think only what is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, and admirable. In order to practice Philippians 4:8, I have to spend time in the Word, time in prayer. I have to be controlled daily by God's Spirit. I have to be others-focused, not self-focused.

So, it's a logical progression: By controlling my tongue I will learn to control all aspects of my life and bring them under the control of God's Spirit.

If you are a believer, but your mouth came words of complaining, griping, criticism and self-pity,  James says that praise and cursing coming out of the same mouth should not be so.

If your words show what's in your heart is bitterness,  "You better not step on my toes" attitude; or “I've been cheated"; and “Poor me." You'll never change your words until your heart changes.

James goes on to tell us in the third chapter, verse six, that the tongue corrupts the whole person. When you say these kinds of words, they feed back into your mind, reinforcing all the wrong thoughts, and corrupting your mind.

So, how do we control this tongue? Make it a matter of daily prayer. Begin by praying:

Psalm 141:3: "Take control of what I say, O Lord; and guard my lips." Here are some other verses on words and the tongue to write in your prayer journal and pray into your life daily:

Proverbs 10:21 “The lips of the righteous nourish many, but fools die for lack of judgment." - Lord, may my lips nourish people today.

Psalm 17:3 “Today I have resolved that my mouth will not sin.”

Philippians 4:8 “Whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent and praiseworthy, may I think on these things today.”

I Tim. 4:12  May I set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.

James 1:19  Help me to be quick to listen and slow to speak.