Watch Yo' Mouth

The Bible says the tongue is sharper than any two-edged sword!  I was studying Ephesians and reading Ephesians 4:29-32.  I have heard vs 30 quoted a lot by preachers (And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.)  Usually referring to sin in general.  But when read in context with vs 29, 31 and 32, it reads slightly different than the way I'd always heard it preached!
Ephesians 4:29-31  Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. 30And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. 31Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:  
When read in context, it sounds like the words of our mouth are what grieves the Holy Spirit!!  A lot of people (preachers) take scripture out of context to fit what they are saying when they need to fit what they are saying to scripture (the Bible changes not!).
We grieve the Holy Spirit when we MISTREAT others or TALK to them in a certain way.  Verse 29, says for edifying.  
You know what is in the heart does come out of the mouth in ABUNDANCE.  If your heart is full of praise and worship, it will come flowing out.  If it's full of bitterness and strife that will come flowing out too.  You might be thinking well my heart is clear, I don't cuss, I don't gossip, I don't lie, I don't tell dirty jokes, BUT, the Bible says out of the mouth proceeds blessings and cursings. Have you ever seen someone with a perpetual frown, so much so that it looks frozen in place?  If you can't think of one good thing God has done for you, it will put a frown on your face!  If you have joy and praise in your heart, you can't help but smile!  It will not only come out of your mouth, it will show ON your mouth!  Ever notice though, when we are down, there are times we DON'T WANT to be lifted up.  People come up smiling and we just want to snap their heads off so they are as miserable as we are.  Come on now, we've all been there, right?  What's in the heart?  Blessings or cursings?  What about putting curses on our lives, our children's lives, our spouses lives, our parents or even friends?  You know we can even curse or bless our children's children?  Any momma's reading this ever said to their child - "someday you are going to have kids just like you" when your children were acting up?  How many of us get up in the morning and when our feet hit the floor say, "I can already tell it's going to be a bad day"?  Well sure it is NOW, you just spoke it, the devil ran with it and what you said you now have!  You get what you asked for.  How many of us get up in the morning and say Good morning Lord, or is it good Lord it's morning?  Who do you want running with your words?  God or satan?  If it's God then speak blessings on YOUR LIFE and the lives of others.
How many compliments do you give in a day?  To your spouse, children, parents, friends etc.  How many compliments or blessings do you give your cranky old neighbor, that person that took your seat at church or worse yet your parking place!  How many blessings do you give those thorns in your side that not only stick you but literally rub you the wrong way?  Do you speak blessings on those who hurt or irritate you?  It's not what goes into the mouth that defiles the temple, its what comes out of the heart.  Philippians 2:14-16a says, Do all things without murmurings and disputings: 15That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world; 16aHolding forth the word of life;  We can speak life, through Jesus!  1 Thessalonians 5:18 says, 18In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.   and Hebrews 13:15 has this to say, "By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of [our] lips giving thanks to his name."    Sacrifice of praise.  We are to continually praise, pray, uplift and edify.  If we do that we won't have time for cursing, back-biting or inappropriate joking - Amen!
Did you know the Bible is very clear on what we should do and say?  Nothing is left out!
2 Timothy 2:16 But shun profane [and] vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness.  That means no off color jokes and jestings!  That may sound strange but God knew that a little leads to a lot.   Pretty soon you think there's nothing wrong with it and soon it drags you right back out into the world!  We are to refrain from anything that is not uplifting and edifying.  Giving thanks at all times.  We don't have to praise God FOR our storms but we need to praise Him THROUGH them!  Give thanks and praise to God at all times,  in every circumstance, "for this is pleasing to God".   This will NOT grieve the Holy Spirit.  Praising and thanking God through our storms will give us a new attitude of gratitude. 
To change the mouth, we have to change the heart.  We must feed not only the body  but our mind and soul.  Garbage goes in, garbage comes out.  If you take in filth and corruption, you will spew filth and corruption.  If you want -- notice I said if you WANT -- God won't force you to do anything.  If you want to change your heart, stay in the Word, read it, listen to it, absorb it.  Surround yourself with Godly people, like minded people who love the Lord.  (I heard an old saying once, "you are the company you keep").  We need to scrutinize what we read, what we watch, who we talk to, spend time with.  "let no corrupt communication" get into your ears and into your heart.  Guard your heart first then guarding your mouth won't be such a problem.  We've all said things and been convicted immediately.  It's a choice, just one of many that we must make. If our hearts are clear and we stay in communication with the Lord, the devil will flee.  Now listen carefully - if you are a child of God and trying to live acceptable and righteously before the Lord, the devil will try to attack you again.  We should rejoice in that also because we are a threat to him, he is NOT a threat to us.  When he finds out he isn't getting to you, he will back off.  He will come back with a new tactic but again staying in the Word and close to the Lord will keep him at bay.  As christians we should be full of praise, belief, understanding, and thankfulness.  That is what should flow from our heart and our mouths.  Words are powerful -- How we use them reflects our relationship with God.  Nothing identifies us more as christians than the ability to watch what we say -- at the same time, nothing can destroy our witness faster nor more permanently!!  You can speak blessings every day for 20 years but say one thing wrong and THAT is what people will remember.  
When we accept Jesus and ask Him into our hearts, He starts a new work in us.  We become new, BUT some things we must WILLFULLY change.  Proverbs 4:24 says to avoid all perverse talk, stay away from corrupt speech.  That doesn't take much interpretation, it's pretty plain.  What we have to remember is the devil can't read our thoughts but he can hear our words.  Everything that comes out of our mouth should be uplifting and edifying, not only giving praise to God but uplifting each other.  God can't stand gossip, back-biting, lying - if you don't believe that, read through Proverbs!  If someone isn't acting the way we think they should or doing things the way WE think they should, it's not our place to judge or COMMENT, it's our place to pray and let God take care of them.  We need to pray to remove curses from our lives and the lives of others NOT speak cursings. God wants us to be clean, pure and Holy acceptable.  That starts in the heart.  He loves us so much, He sent His Son to die for us, He is preparing a place for us.  He wrote a whole book of instructions just for us, He left no detail out.
Have you been grieving the Holy Spirit?  Have you said something lately you need to repent of?  God knows.
Have you spoken curses over your life, or someone else's?  Maybe you did and didn't realize it until you read this blog.  Maybe you just need to give God some praise.  Whatever it is, He's waiting to hear from you.  Speak positives over your life.  Pray the scriptures, speak the scriptures, watch your life turn around by the words of your mouth.
Until next time,
God bless
tawanab