Month: July 2019

Change, Christian Life, Compassion, love

What’s in Your Mouth? Part 2

Kristiann

We use our tongue to praise God our Father and then turn around and curse a person who was made in his very image! Out of the same mouth we pour out words of praise one minute and curses the next. My brothers and sister, this should never be! Would you look for olives hanging on a fig tree or go to pick figs from a grapevine? Is it possible that fresh and bitter water can flow out of the same spring? So neither can a bitter spring produce fresh water.
James (Jacob) 3:9‭-‬12 TPT
https://bible.com/bible/1849/jas.3.9-12.TPT

We are spoken to so much in the book of James about the need to tame our tongues. We’re also told in the scripture that it’s evident what’s in our heart by what comes out of our mouth, to paraphrase. Furthermore, we are told to guard our hearts above all because out of it flow the issues of life. Circling back to our mouths, we are told that the power of life and death is in the tongue.

I just want to briefly say that I have learned that firsthand, specifically in relation to a situation referred to in the post entitled, Observe the Mouse. God spoke to me to change what I was saying, much of which was very factual to any objective observer who could review available evidence. But I started going with the scripture that talks about calling those things that are not as though they are. That doesn’t mean to just confess things like the kind of job you want or that you’re out of debt, although those things can be fine depending on the condition of one’s heart. But you can use that premise to speak life in the midst of death. Once I started speaking life into the situation, forgiving and loving my perpetrator and confessing on a regular basis that all of my enemies have to bless me and that I bless them and do not curse them, I saw dramatic change that I did not know how it would be possible or if I would ever see such change.

I challenge you to speak life and to do as the word says, to pray for your enemies, those that persecute you and say all manner of evil against you for the Lord’s namesake and to bless and not curse. Choose life and you’ll reap unfathomable blessings today!

boldness, Christian Life, Determination

Observe the Mouse

Kristiann

I could not find a photo of a mouse casting a shadow. So, I thought one with sticks of dynamite but in cartoon form could also help me convey this message that the Lord shared with me several years ago when I was going through a very tortured time in my life.

A battle had raged in my life for several years causing a lot of emotional upheaval and I wanted it to be over. I perseverated over my offender. My mouth was filled with comments to others about everything involved in the situation. I would show emails to some of my inner circle that I trust deeply. I would ask for prayer. Nothing but nothing worked to bring any alleviation.

The feeling of being so small and lorded over and controlled was part of my daily identity. One day the Lord showed me an image of my perpetrator standing only as tall as your average field mouse. He was trapped in a glass container that is much like you might find containing an old, small ornamental clock, such as might have set atop your grandmother’s piano. He kept scratching at the sides, trying to climb them and was yelling. And I saw his shadow cast which was something like 10 or more feet tall. Ridiculous I know, but that’s part of the point. Then I looked back at him and realized he had no traction and I couldn’t hear what he was screaming.

The Lord showed me that I had developed this individual into an idol not out of affection but because of my tremendous focus on the situation and the power that I ascribed to this individual. I had to repent of idolatry. I thought idolatry was only possible when you did have great affinity for something or someone.

I was so blessed and refreshed to realize that the shadow is what I had been perceiving as reality. It was a mere distortion; and I knew the one who had the ultimate power to deliver me from the pain and from my own perceptions.

To whom do you turn when you need a new perspective? Start the conversation today. You’ll be blessed and set free in Jesus’ name!