Out of the Mouth

"The Spirit never leads us astray but around the potholes of life and through the valleys ahead into wide open spaces where we can breathe free."

UNDER THE OLD COVENANT there were sacrifices to atone for sins of ignorance. These were things committed which, for a time, the person who committed it was not aware of. Note both that there were sins committed without knowledge of it and that God provided a sin covering for it. Under the New Testament, all sin is washed by the blood of the Lamb. Jesus’ death was the sacrifice to fulfill the Old Covenant. No more sacrifices need to be given but our behavior is to be submitted to God’s Word. When we commit sin, despite our salvation, we ask for forgiveness and His blood washes it away. But amongst such sins, there are still sins of ignorance, and one of the greatest involves our words.

We are told to guard our words because out of the mouth comes both life and death. This is compared to a stream. Can it be both freshwater and saltwater? The tongue is compared, in another place, to the bridle in a horse’s mouth. It will lead us where it will and often this is not where we want to be. We rail against unanswered prayers but take no time to stop our negative words. The pressure of sickness and frustration, our lack of a peaceful outlook, is often the issue. The devil keeps bringing up how we feel and what we cannot see of our healing and so we speak the circumstances instead of the truth of our future.

There is a key. What are we speaking, how things are or how God desires them to be? What picture have we formed of the ending of this? Do we see ourselves well and living in freedom or is the picture painted by the enemy much larger and more colorful? We speak words of ignorance. We don’t understand what we are saying but repeat it anyway. We speak in complete ignorance, carelessly to “vent” as it were. There is a need to let off steam at times. We should do it in the spirit, WITH the Spirit of God, and not have what I’ve heard called “a fit of carnality.”

The carnal mind leads us astray and carnal actions will produce carnal results. We are, instead, to be led of the Spirit, to walk in the Spirit, and live in the Spirit (Galatians 5). Our every word and action should be chosen because it pleases the Spirit and brings us further into connection with the ways of God. This sounds difficult but is not meant to be. What habits we form in daily life come by repetition. A child learns to brush his teeth because his mother keeps after him on how brushing is done. So it is to walk in the Spirit and to follow where he leads. He never leads us astray but around the potholes of life and through the valleys ahead into wide open spaces where we can breathe free.

In Him, there is liberty. This is our promise. But that liberty comes because of obedience. We must ask ourselves if we want to be truly free in word and thought and action, or if our need to speak out whatever is on our tongue is truly worth the cost of it. God forgives all our sins, ignorant or willful, but our goal should be to not commit either of them, and this can only be achieve by leaning on Him who was given to us from the Father through the Son of God.

“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. And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:” (Ephesians 4:29-31)


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Suzanne D. Williams, Author
www.suzannedwilliams.com
www.feelgoodromance.com