Don't, Don't, Don't...What about DO?!

Hang with me while I remind you of some fairly popular passages:

James 3:6-12 (Excerpts) "The tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell...no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing..."

Ephesians 4:29 "Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up..

There are many more, but for the sake of time, we'll leave it there. You get the point, and you know what I'm referring to. We hear all the time about the importance of guarding your tongue, watching your speech, how dangerous the tongue is, etc. All these things are true and I couldn't agree more. I'm a writer, I deal in the economy of words. But I feel like I have a little different perspective that most of us tend to overlook.

We are told our words hold the power of life and death, and we're cautioned to contain the death. What about the life?

One of the bigger frustrations you'll hear from a lot of believers is how we focus on the do not's (don't smoke, don't drink, and don't say the word sex) but we don't focus near as much on the do's.
 

If we're doing the "do's" we won't be doing the "do not's", it's a win/win.
 

Back to our words. Words were meant to have power. We see this modelled from our Creator. He spoke and things happened. Things were created. Life was started. Relationship was developed. Identity and purpose were given. Humans, being created in the image and likeness of God, are the only piece of creation to use words. Many things communicate in many ways, we alone have words.

How are we using our words? Not just how well are we containing our negative words, but how are we being intentional with speaking life and truth into those around us?
 

If our words truly hold the power of life and death, and if we are truly ambassadors of Christ, and if we really truly believe that we are surrounded by people who are dying and in need of the hope of the gospel- why aren't we using our words?

Maybe you struggle with containing negative words. Even though I'm an introvert, I get it. My words don't always vocalize, but they are always taking on a very LOUD thought form. Then there is the aspect of social media, it's so easy to 'speak' whatever junk is in my heart on that current day. Maybe you don't struggle with that at all but you talk about pointless things and never consider being intentional with your words. Maybe you're consistently speaking 'good' things, spiritual things, but you're not directing them into anyones life...they're just floating around out there.

We have to get intentional. Don't know where to start in being intentional? Intentionally pray. He will show you.

Where do you struggle most with words?

 

 

He Wrote Me In His Book

"Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them." Psalm 139:16

I'm a writer. I have a 'book'. To see my life put into these terms is so fun for me because I get it. I can see God opening a giant Moleskine, pulling out a ridiculously cool pen, and beginning to scribble down the details of the character that would be me. I can see Him afterwords speaking these words and as they fall off of His lips, I begin to be knitted together piece by piece.

When I write, I take a while and jot down different pieces of what I want to include. Every piece of poetry and every blog has a different feel. I'll write down a piece here and there and then come back to it when I have more. Eventually all the pieces fit together just write and I know it's right- it's finished. When it's finished I have a book that I copy it down into. When it's gone into that book, it's ready to be displayed and shared with the world. It was formed and written before it existed as it is now known.

Our very days were formed for us before we ourselves were formed. He gazed upon our unformed substance (whatever that means) and thought over what our life would entail. He thought through what characteristics we would have, what events would take place and how that would shape us, who we would cross paths with, what we would accomplish. He formed our days, He numbered them, and He gave them to us. Not one extra day will be added, not one taken away.

Some may take this in an offensive way. There are a hundred questions this could stir up. You're saying God's a puppet master and we're just pawns in this big game of the universe? How can we be held responsible for our actions if He's set into motion our very personalities and characteristics?

I don't know.

I do know this. The fact that my days were formed for me and written into His book before I existed brings me much comfort for two reasons:

1. I'm not in control. Maybe you're a control freak (I struggle not to be). But the thing I have to remind myself is that the more control I have, the more I have to worry about. Think about it. The more responsibility you have, the more things you are in sole control over, the more you have to hang on to and grapple with. The more you are at risk of losing control of. The more potential chaos and destruction. To know that my days were laid out and handed to me and that yes, I have decisions to make, but ultimately it's not in my hands...that brings me so much peace.
2. This concept brings an incredible sense of purpose to my life. Now, I don't always know the details of that purpose. But if you're like me, there are days were it seems like life is pointless. It feels like I have no purpose, like I'm not needed, like...honestly, I'm really screwed up and I'm the only person on the planet that has no idea what they are doing. These words bring everything back into focus- my days were formed. I have been allotted a specific span of time in which I will exist, and it was not an accident that I was created, but an intentionally planned thing. I have a purpose, my purpose was set into place before I was set into place, and it has all been written out into His book. Nothing but the very hand of God can alter these things.

Knowing that your days were formed, knowing that your days have been written into the very book of God, how does that change the way you see yourself? How does that bring a sense of purpose into your life? What steps can you take to live in a way that will more reflect these things?

Just A Journal Entry

Just a journal entry:

"God's hand is very evident in my life. By that I mean His faithfulness- to mold and chisel and pull back every layer that is in the way of me being fully His, fully free, fully surrendered. Still struggling. Still praying. Still learning. But I'm seeing that He is leading my through it all, and re-learning that He is truly trustworthy. I can rely on Him to look out for me. He will do whatever is necessary to keep me seeking Him, and often times it will hurt- that tearing me away from whatever it is that I'm holding onto in place of Him. But I know that He is for me. He is keeping me. And therefore I can give the hurt up to Him and ask for His help in pushing through and learning on the way. I find myself craving wisdom lately- wanting to be able to speak words of life into people and situations all around me- and realizing that this type of wisdom comes not from books or classes, but from walking through the hard things hand in hand with Him and allowing Him to speak into my life in such a way that touches on my deepest hurts and fears."

Come Quickly

Today is a day where I wrestly with my thoughts.

I know, Christians are supposed to embrace the joy of the Lord at all times and everything is supposed to be perfect and happy and fall into place all the time.

Let's get real.

Maybe I'm just that messed up, but more days than not I am struggling to simply keep my head above water and push forward.

Today is a day where I'm fighting to understand what in the world He is up to.

I feel like I have served Him faithfully and have been left in the metaphorical dust.

Life is very heavy.

 There is an incredible weightiness of responsibility to face, and to face completely on my own. Decisions to make that I have no clue about and no guidance or advice in making them.

I don't feel a sense of belonging or connectedness anywhere. There's no safe place.

It's all overwhelming and I don't understand why He has me here.

But I'm quickly reminded that He does in fact have me here.

I believe that with all that I am. The words that He has previously spoken to my heart are such that I choose to believe and cling on to, even when every current aspect of life makes them seem untrue.

I don't understand what He is doing, but I choose to believe that He is doing.

He is faithful. His promises stand strong. He completes what He starts.

For some reason far beyond my understanding, He chose to start something in me several years ago.

His is the truest and purest love I've ever known.

So I will keep wrestling.

Come quickly, Lord. Come quickly.

Invisible

You see this body
You hear these words
You know this person
But not me
I'm in here
Hidden beneath the surface
Kept inside of this cage we call flesh
Invisible