Good morning and happy Tuesday, 66 degrees and a wonderful heavy rain is falling, the wind is swishing the tree branches from side to side and the sky which was gray and salmon streaked this morning is now dark and unsettled! I love a good rain storm! I am sitting "behind the glass" listening to the drops tap on my window, and the rolling thunder in the distance. As I sit in the dark, the window shade drawn up watching the dance of lightening and smelling the fresh clean goodness I am so thankful for this roof over my head and the comfort it provides!
This morning as I sat in prayer, with much to pray about, many to lift to our Heavenly Father for special blessings and favors, many who have made special requests for themselves and many who have come with special requests for others I thought, Father God, what a wonderful gift the blessing of prayer is, we can openly and freely, through the name of Christ come to you with any problem, none to large or small and "plead our case" we can come with faith and belief to you, and ask for miracles to be given, and when we are done we know that you have heard us and that you will produce according to your plan. After lifting prayer I sat in the quiet darkness, with only the sound of rain and thunder outside the window! I sat for a long time and let my mind totally relax, I began to think about facebook and what a wonderful tool it is for sharing our lives with those we love, what a wonderful vehicle of re-connect it has been for me, having lived away from family and friends for almost 19 years. I thought about the blessing it is for us to be able to share the need for prayer with one another and for one another! An amazing tool...but as in all earthly things, the good has a flip side and the bad slithers in! Do you remember as children we played the "tell a secret" game, I don't know the true name of the game but you get the jest! One child would whisper a secret into another's ear and it would be passed in whispers around the circle, when it got back to the originator of the secret it would be twisted, words changed and hold a whole different message? I see this more often than not on facebook, on phone conversations, in face to face conversations, in text messages and it has come to a point where I really do not like to share anything with anyone for fear of it being twisted and coming back at me in a totally different context. Sometimes it is best just to keep the message between you and God, he never twists anything you have to say, never takes it and shares behind your back and never, ever, allows a situation where you are have to explain and make it right! I do not like gossip at all, sometimes I fall into it without even thinking, I like to give my opinions and many times they come back as if it were not my opinion but that I was the instigator, I try never to be a party to listening to gossip and one of my favorite sayings is, "if they are not here to defend themselves, then why are you using their name in your conversation?" In my lifetime I have been on the gossip wagon at times and always, I am here to tell you ALWAYS, it gets twisted to a point where you do not know who to believe! Sickening I say, it is just sickening, especially when you think you have a friend that you can share your thoughts and feeling with and then BOOM, your thoughts and feelings are turned around by someone else and what you were trying to share developes into something really not good! I do not think God likes gossip, I do not think he is pleased when we fall into a situation that we are spreading word about something we have no part in. If you hear it from someone other than the one who said it, let it go, if you feel offended by what you heart but it is not from the one who supposedly said it, let it go! Believe half of what you see and none of what you hear is my motto. Be the person that everyone wants to be friends with for the lack of gossip that spills from you mouth, don't be the one who has to format gossip just to have something to talk about. If you get into a situation where someone is being talked about without their knowledge, say God bless them and walk away, don't fall into satan's web of what you know is wrong! Be the one that a friend in need can come to with cares and concerns, who can talk to about fears and anxieties knowing it will go no further, we all need an earthly ear! Be the ear someone so desperately needs and then if you must, hit the delete button to keep from gossiping...do it! Remember the word character that I have had need to chat about the last few days! Be a friend you would want to be friends with! If you look in the mirror and see someone you would not want to share feeling and worries with, then it is time to make some changes. Don't fall victim to gossip as it comes straight from the world of satan! Remember the golden rule? Do unto others...it is time we start living by this, I dont' think God put it in there for only a few people, he meant it for all mankind! God bless you this day and may you have peace in your heart !
“Put away perversity from your mouth;
keep corrupt talk far from your lips.”
Proverbs 4:24
Proverbs is full of commands and insight that I never knew exist in the Bible. I originally thought that the only commands in the Bible related to speech was “thou shall not use the Lord’s name in vain” and “thou shall not lie” and maybe “don’t slander against your neighbor.” I know gossiping is bad, but only because everyone told me so. I know we need to watch our words because the Bible says the tongue is a powerful weapon, but I never really think about it in my day to day life.
When I saw this verse, it was another sign of how much God cares about everything that comes out of our mouths. In school, there are people who cuss and swear with every sentence, and over time, we got used to simply brushing that aside. Whatever, we think, it’s harmless, just their way of expression. However, if you think about it, the Bible repeats over and over again, “watch what you say, watch what you say.” It warns against not only the most obvious wrongs but little things, too. In the MSG version of this verse, “corrupt talk” is replaced by “careless banter, white lies, and gossip.”
“avoid careless banter, white lies, and gossip”
Avoid careless banter. I don’t know about you, but I never thought playful teasing is all that harmful. (By the way, for those – like me – who aren’t quite sure what banter means, I looked it up, and banter means playful, teasing remarks). What could be wrong with playful teasing? I thought that was just what people do. I hear it all the time; I’m guilty of it all the time, too. I thought about that problem for a while when I finally realized the verse says, avoid careless banter, not just any banter. Teasing can easily go too far without us realizing it, especially with people we don’t know very well and sometimes even with our closest friends. Most people don’t show when they are hurt from what we say, but just because those words we say won’t hurt us, how do we know they won’t hurt others? We can playfully joke around, but don’t make it a habit and don’t do it without thinking.
We should be more considerate and more careful about what comes out of our mouths. I know that we can’t change over night just because we want to. God’s not going to come down with a bar of soap one night and wash out our mouths, but we can try to change slowly: keeping away from perverted jokes, talking bad about others, and not cussing. It’s not easy, we’ll slip many times, but we will also pray to God to help us control leaves our mouths because, of course, we can’t change without God’s help.
God is amazing, he is the best friend you will ever have and when you tell him something it will never get twisted , he can help you with answers to all questions and will never ever give you bad advice, find your quiet, still, place and have a chat, it is both cleansing for the soul and refreshing to know that you have someone of such character in your corner!
I love you each and every one and pray for a great day!!!
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