Worship Wednesday - Speak Life

Our Spring Bible Study is 

The book of James is one that I have visited, yet never studied. There is something about going thru a study, pretty much verse by verse. James is a straight-forward character. NO beating around the bush. He says exactly what he means....and means what he says. 

With my children, they tend to nag, pick and put each other down from time to time. I tell them all the time, we need to encourage each other. Not tear one another down. Life & death is in words we speak to one another. With Chapter 3 James makes no bones about it ....our tongue can set a fire! 

True....huh? Harsh words can rip your heart out....or they can make you so angry that you can't see straight. (Well, maybe not you.....but that happens to me sometimes) The verse below is one that I use a lot with my children...but not until I used it on myself. I was convicted of my words over a year ago and I still have to repeat this to myself A LOT!

Whoso keepeth his mouth and his tongue keepeth his soul from troubles. Proverbs 21:23

Well, once again I have been convicted of my words through this study. Below is words from The Message..... as I dug deeper into this passage of scripture the words in the message just penetrated my mind and my heart. 

A bit in the mouth of a horse controls the whole horse. A small rudder on a huge ship in the hands of a skilled captain sets a course in the face of the strongest winds. A word out of your mouth may seem of no account, but it can accomplish nearly anything—or destroy it!It only takes a spark, remember, to set off a forest fire. A careless or wrongly placed word out of your mouth can do that. By our speech we can ruin the world, turn harmony to chaos, throw mud on a reputation, send the whole world up in smoke and go up in smoke with it, smoke right from the pit of hell. This is scary: You can tame a tiger, but you can’t tame a tongue—it’s never been done. The tongue runs wild, a wanton killer. With our tongues we bless God our Father; with the same tongues we curse the very men and women he made in his image. Curses and blessings out of the same mouth! James 3: 3-10(msg)

Father, please help me to chose my words carefully, and to speak life!