Daily Bible Reading with DragoNate #142

Lips, Mouth and Tongue

Wise Words 2

Proverbs 18

I pray blessings on you as you read.

(v. 4) "The words of a person's mouth are like deep waters. The fountain of wisdom is an overflowing stream." (v. 6-7) "By talking, a fool gets into an argument, and his mouth invites a beating. A fool's mouth is his ruin. His lips are a trap to his soul." (v. 13) "He Who answers before listening--that is his folly and his shame." (v. 20-21) "From the fruit of his mouth a man's stomach is filled; with the harvest from his lips he is satisfied. The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit."

My Thoughts

So this is what stood out to me most while reading Proverbs 18: that we have to be careful with our words. It is definitely true that the tongue has the power of life and death. You see it all the time. Enemies speak death, friends speak life. That saying that words can never hurt you is false. It is so very false.

Every year it seems there's another teenager who commits suicide. The reasons are all different for each scenario, but still similar. It has to do with some kind of bullying or abuse. A huge part of either (or both in some cases, unfortunately) is verbal.

Have you ever heard that it takes seven positive things said to a person to counteract one negative thing said to them? I don't know how 'set in stone' that is, but I do know that when someone is told that they are worthless or stupid or ugly or any number of other things, it's not going to take one positive opposite to fix it. The more negative things said to a person, the longer it will take for them to recover from it and the harder it will be.

Everyone says things they don't mean because they are jealous or angry or something else. I have before, and I felt horrible for saying those things, especially when the person found out about it. I wanted to do everything I could to fix it. Thankfully, more often than not, people do understand and forgive.

For those of us who follow Christ, we should be extra careful about what we say. It doesn't even matter to who you say it, really, because if it isn't something nice, it shouldn't be said at all. You can talk about how you feel about someone, but you don't have to call them names in doing so.

Our words should bring life to others. And strength and courage and hope and joy and peace and truth. If our words hurt other people, then we need to seriously think about what we are saying and how we say it and all that. As God's people, there is no way that others should be hurt by what we say to them. If someone is convicted by what we say, that's different because they are hearing the truth and don't want to admit it. God will work in them after.

Don't let your tongue speak death. It has the power to do so and it is very easy for it to. Control it and use it to speak life.

Prayer Time

Now you talk to God about what you read, and you can even read this chapter of the Bible for yourself before you do.

Let me know your thoughts on this reading as well.

Thank you for taking the time to read, I pray that what you have read blesses and inspires you! Godbless!

Daily Bible Reading with DragoNate #88

Be Careful of Your Words

Matthew 12

I pray blessings on you as you read.

(v. 34-37) "You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. The god man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgement for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned."

My Thoughts

This is a longer post, and I apologize for that. Usually when my posts are long, it's stuff that is important to me so I hope you don't mind!

You know that saying "sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me?" That's not really true, you know. Words can definitely hurt. There have been times where I'd rather have hit with a log than hear what was said to me. We really have to be careful and watch what you say sometimes. We don't always realize or think about how what we say may hurt the one we say it to.

Not only when we are physically speaking, face to face with someone, do we have to watch what we say, but also over the phone, over text, email, and even in a letter. Over the phone, sometimes you don't fully understand what someone says and you also don't have visual cues in their facial expressions and body language, which are both a huge part of communication as well.

In a text, we often use abbreviations like LOL, TTYL, OMG etc... to communicate because it is easier than typing it all out. Sumtimes we evn omit certn letrs or use nums 4 da same reasn, like I did here. Both of these make it easier to read faster, but not necessarily understand emotions attached to what is being sent. In an email, we don't normally shorten words, but sometimes they can be lengthy and often times they can taken the wrong way, depending on the words you use. I kinda think that may be due the fact that emails are usually a more formal type of communication, and sound a lot more serious than is actually intended.

Over the phone, you might try to be sarcastic, but the other person cannot see your body language or facial expression, so again, it can be taken the wrong way. One time, I was texting with my cousin and he was telling me of his possible plans for the year after he graduated. He wasn't sure whether he was going to school or going on a missions trip somewhere for a few months. He told me that he was praying a lot and wasn't what God wanted for him, but that he wanted whatever God wanted. I said, "Yes that is true, but what do you want to do? What do you want more?" He told me again, "Whatever God wants." I said, "Yes, but maybe God is leaving this choice up to you." He wasn't sure about whether the missions trip would actually happen or not, and I told him to just keep acting like it will. if that is what you want to do, keep saying that it will happen, not that it might or that it won't, but that it will. I wanted to encourage him because this is what he wanted more, but he wasn't sure. He took it completely the wrong way and wouldn't talk to me for the rest of the night.

I still don't understand what happened there, but the point is that I either worded something wrong or he was just frustrated for whatever reason. Right now, I put it down to being both our faults and that it really doesn't matter. We are still close, so that conversation doesn't mean anything anyway. I know that sometimes when I send emails, I can be short and to the point, but I don't mean any disrespect whatsoever. I usually say so as well because I've had experiences where it has been taken as rude or disrespectful, and I am totally shocked by that because that was not my intent.

My personal advice to avoid bad situations and possible ruining of relationships is this: Do not send a text, email or PM or even phone someone if you are angry with that person. Chances are, you will only make things worse. If you really feel like sending a message or a text or email during that time, then either write out what you want to say on a piece of paper or type it in a document so that you don't accidentally send it. Type out everything you want to say, let your frustrations out, and when you are done, read it over, out loud if you have to, just make sure no one can hear you. Hopefully that calms you down even a little bit.

Next thing you do is type out what you want to say and have someone else, who isn't a part of the situation, read it over to you. If you are truly comfortable with sending it, and you can't talk to this person face to face, then once you have prayed about it of course, go ahead.

The best thing to do, after you have calmed down a bit, is talk to the person face to face. That's the best way to avoid further miscommunication. I am telling you these things because I have had personal experience, being on both sides of the equation. It is not pleasant at all and, if I can help it, I don't want anyone else to have to experience that, on either side.

If you read all that I had to say here, thank you. That really means a lot to me and I hope that this has helped you in some way. Godbless!

Prayer Time

Now you talk to God about what you read, and you can even read this chapter of the Bible for yourself before you do.

Let me know your thoughts on this reading as well.

Thank you for taking the time to read, I pray that what you have read blesses and inspires you! Godbless!

Daily Bible Reading with DragoNate #48

False Prophets

Jeremiah 23

I pray blessings on you as you read.

(v. 25) "I have  heard what the prophets say who prophesy lies in my name. They say, 'I had a dream! I had a dream!' " (v. 28) " 'Let the prophet who has a dream tell his dream, but let the one who has my word speak it faithfully. For what has straw to do with grain?' declares the Lord." (v. 30-32) " 'Therefore,' declares the Lord, 'I am against the prophets who steal from one another words supposedly from me... who wag their own tongues and yet declare, 'The Lord declares.' ...who prophesy false dreams." (v. 36) "But you must not mention 'the oracle of the Lord' again, because every man's own word becomes his oracle and so you distort the words of the living God, the Lord Almighty, our God."

My Thoughts

There will be people who will lie about what God says. They will prophesy lies in order to try and deceive you. Do not listen to them. Especially when someone says the words 'oracle of the Lord,' because God was very clear on what would happen to those who use these words. He said that He would forsake them; that He would forget them and cast them away.

Ask for wisdom from God so that you can discern between those who speak God's word faithfully and those who tell lie, speaking words that they claim are from God. Be very careful of who you listen to, and make sure that you listen to their words. If you are ever unsure, then talk to God about it. He will not deceive you. Be careful also of those who prophesy their dreams and visions. As God has said, let them tell their dreams, but that does not mean that they have received word from God.

The words of these false prophets will lead you only to destruction and separation from God. Do not allow this to happen to you. You do not want to be far from God, especially if you are already close to Him. Let yourself grow closer to Him and take advantage of opportunities that allow you to.

God will not lead you astray and neither does He want you to be led astray. If you choose to listen to the lies, it will be detrimental. Listen instead to the voice of truth that comes from God. Even if it isn't people who we hear lies from, it can be Satan. Satan speaks to us and tempts us and tries to lie to us. Don't listen to him, but listen to the truth that God has for us. God's truth is powerful and utterly destroys the lies of Satan.

So again, listen to God's words, not the words of Satan or the words of men. If you are ever unsure of something that someone has said, then you need to pray about it. Until you do, do not consider it. You may be taking a chance on it, which is not a good thing when it comes to your spiritual well-being. Just be careful of what people speak over you. Their words may not be of God and you need to talk to God about it before you listen to them.

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Prayer Time

Now you talk to God about what you read, and you can even read this chapter of the Bible for yourself before you do.

Let me know your thoughts on this reading as well.

Thank you for taking the time to read, I pray that what you have read blesses and inspires you! Godbless!