Blog

Though small, the tongue has value.

What value does my tongue have?

“The words of the godly are like sterling silver; the heart of a fool is worthless.”

‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭10:20‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Sounds to me like questions in a survey; e.g “From a scale of 0-10, rate the value of your tongue. 0 being worthless and 10 being choice silver.”

You see, I thought I was doing ok until God opened my eyes to see that I still needed to work with him more on my words.

I was in the middle of a personal study on listening. I wanted to improve my listening skills. Meanwhile, I listened to an episode by Nancy leading to the power of word challenge. I thought it was a good idea, but may be not now.
It was after that that I realized I had failed during a light conversation with one of my sisters. Of course, I signed up right after.

Silver in its pure state is found in the earth crust as an alloy (a combination of metals). Doesn’t look attractive. Has to go through a process to become that lustrous white metal. Has to be refined before the worth can be visible to all.
The tongue of the righteous is like silver. Yes, other elements must be removed in the refining process.

God is the refiner, his word is the refining agents (chemical agents needed and heat). Your old way of thinking & the way of the world are the other substances that must be removed. The situations you face each day represents the refinery and the final product is righteousness – Christ life.
This life is in you already (just like silver is in the crude version), it just needs to be the 100% silver.

Remember the value of your tongue is like silver because you are in Christ, however, the refining process is important and ongoing.

Dear Lord, keep working on me. To make me what I ought to be. I surrender again today that you will open my eyes to see what must go. And give me a clearer understanding of who I am in Christ.

In Jesus name, Amen!

Don’t forget to leave me a comment below.

I sang through my devotion this morning. What a blessing it is
To come into the inner chambers, into the presence of the Almighty.

His presence to me…refreshing
His words to me…invigorating

His name for me…powerful

His love for me…unconditional

His grace on me…empowering

His Spirit to me…boundless!

What a blessing.

I have received mercy from the Lord. My sins are no longer counted against me. He restored me to a position of love. The place I was originally designed to be.

Sounds weird, but I used to read Scriptures and feel it’s impossible to please God. I used to feel really far away from Him and His standards. The same scriptures now draw me really close. His words each day brings my spirit to life.

I am full of His love

When I discovered this word in Romans 5:1

“Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us.”

That’s when I found one word that had the most meaning to me. I have been made right in God’s sight because of Jesus.

It’s definitely honey to my soul and body.

I have got a lot of affirming words but this tops them all. And because of this word; I have hope and faith.

I have received mercy,

Lord help me to give it out as well. To everyone I meet. Let my words be honey to them. Mixed with your power, let it heal and deliver people from the pain of the past. Let my words bring hope to people I meet today. Let faith arise as I speak today.

• To my husband
• To my children
• To my sisters
• To my brothers
• To my parents
• To everyone far and near. Amen! 

“Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body” (Prov. 16:24).

I encourage you as well today; to chose your words from the place in your heart where Jesus is. Draw people closer to God with your words today.

Healing, joy, peace, comfort are a few of the results that people will have when you speak words like honey to their lives.

I am sure you have received words from man or from God words that gave you the push you needed. A word that transformed your thinking.

Pls, share one with us below.

Thanks and God bless!

“The average human tongue is four inches long. It contains eight muscles and weighs only two-and-a-half ounces. Yet this small part of the body has tremendous potential for good or bad”-Quote from power of word challenge.

It’s really interesting to reflect on how powerful the tongue is.

I know of very many times this small member of my body has been a huge blessing to people. A boost to many that I can’t even count. Many faded from my memory and maybe even theirs.

Sadly I also remember some times that I have used my tongue to send deliberately cutting remarks to people in response to a threat I felt from them.

I shared one incidence on my podcast here. 

On this particular occasion, I had felt judged and slapped by someone’s remarks and so I retaliated in a clean and smooth way, in a respectful way (whatever that means) I slapped them back. The truth is that I don’t even know if they noticed it but it felt good on my own flesh.

Immediately after that conversation, I heard God say to me- “If you really want to be like me, you need to turn the next cheek whenever you feel slapped.”

It’s really interesting that we get tempted to use the tongue as a weapon of war. I feel you abused me or disrespected me and so I attack you back.

This reminds me of the scripture that says “the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God…. 2 Corinthians 10:4

When you feel threatened by someone you must surrender your fears to God in that moment, this is what God thought me from that incidence. Don’t fight back. First of all, the person may have just been careless with their own words and not intending to deliberately hurt you so don’t fight back. Secondly, the Lord promised to revenge on your behalf so trust Him with this as well. It may look like God is not doing anything about it but trust Him. He knows what to do.

Surrender the control of your tongue to him. You won’t fight with your tongue if it doesn’t belong to you. The more we surrender our tongue to be used of God, the more of God’s image we display.

This little member has great potentials for good and bad but I trust God for good.

So help me God!

Let me know what you think….

The boys had been playing in the yard on this particular evening. They had so much fun playing and left a new book I got for them on the deck outside.

I found the book where they left it; all soggy the next morning while they were at school. Of course, you can imagine the emotion I felt next wasn’t calmness. It was more like furious.

Why do these boys do these? This is where I add the really angry emoji😡😡😡

They got back and by then I had forgotten about the story until the next day when we found another important item on the grass in the yard. Events had repeated itself. This is a moment of double jeopardy for them.

They were now in hot soup. I was ready to teach them an important lesson in life. Things are expensive and they need to learn to care for their things now. I am angry and my temper is mounting up…

All of a sudden I remember a similar event in my childhood.

It was inter-house sports season at SDA primary school and I was the one selected to lead the matching squad for the green house. I was the queen of the house. I needed to have nice outfits.

My mom had given me money to buy the new sports wares from school. But I still needed new white tennis shoes. I remember begging her for that and she wanted me to use an old one I had. I begged and begged until she eventually got them for me.

The day was fun, I can’t remember my house’s overall position but I had so much fun. I got back home and continued the fun till late. It rained that evening.

The next day my mom found my new tennis shoes in the mod in our compound. The color was now brown and it was wet from the rain.

Oh, she was furious.

She made me kneel down that day and was going to teach me a lesson. This is one time I remember my mom giving me a serious punishment. I will never forget.

After a few minutes of kneeling, I was already crying. I couldn’t really beg her to let me go but my tears were tears of regrets. She kept me there until God sent an angel to plead for me.

This angel was Daddy Olufayo (of blessed memories). A family friend and a gentleman to the core.

He was the one that convinced my mom that I have learned my lesson and would never do it again.

And I never did.

And now back to Bluffwood Avenue, the boys were still in front of me in distress, really begging me and wondering what their punishment was going to be; knowing they had done wrong.

Then I decided to tell them the story above and told them God reminded me so I can show them mercy. And I did.

They were both shocked and grateful at the same time. They always remind me of this incidence as a show of mercy. And I truly hope they learned their lesson.

We can choose to use the steering power of our tongues.

The problem is that many time we tend to leave our tongues in the auto pilot mode. And of course, like the car or ship left in autopilot mode for too long, a crash is ahead and mighty.

Many times we just let our mouths go, with the assumption that; “he knows, she knows, they know”.

I have left my mouth on autopilot mode many times and the result is not usually good. Then I need to repent and apologize and trust God to steer things back to the right course.

We must learn to trust God with our words. And trust Him to practice silence and not talking or reacting in haste.

“Consider ships: They are so large that strong winds are needed to drive them. But pilots direct their ships wherever they want with a little rudder. In the same way, even though the tongue is a small part of the body, it boasts wildly….”

‭‭James‬ ‭3:4-5a‬ CEB‬‬

We may feel like someone pushed us to react in a certain way and that may be true. However, we have the responsibility of choosing to behave the way we want to.

We have an idea where we want our lives to head, we must continue to choose our words to steer things in the right direction.

The main issue here though is to actually remember to use that steering power of our tongue.

So help us, God!

What about you? How easy is it to remember to use your tongue’s steering power?

Pls, leave your comments below.

Photo by San Diego Air & Space Museum Archives

Oh yes, it is true; a small spark can cause a wildfire. I remember a time I heard a complaint about how some of our members had been perceived to be dressing immodestly….

I got to church the Sunday after and reacted to the way a lovely sister of mine was dressed. As soon as I saw her that day,  I thought in my heart  ‘this is why that person was complaining about our dressing’. And as the pastor, I must do something about it and NOW! And without thinking further, I just made a remark right there. Obviously, I had taken the comments personally.

And boy did I kill her spirit that day.

My reaction obviously was to protect my reputation and my church’s. Funny right? The fighting-for-Jesus-syndrome.

This was a wildfire that my words caused. It wasn’t easy afterward because the lady felt really discouraged and disconnected. That wasn’t my intention but it exposed some other things in my heart like; I could help build a reputation for Jesus and His church and that her dressing was an issue. This is one experience that God used to teach me so many lessons.

One of the lessons I got from it was that I can not protect Gods reputation, at least not by killing other people’s desires to joyfully serve God in the moment. Another lesson I learned from it was to give everyone a benefit of doubt, do not assume I know but to listen first to know why they do what they do.

James‬ ‭3:5-6‬ ‭CEB‬‬

“In the same way, even though the tongue is a small part of the body, it boasts wildly. Think about this: A small flame can set a whole forest on fire. The tongue is a small flame of fire, a world of evil at work in us. It contaminates our entire lives. Because of it, the circle of life is set on fire. The tongue itself is set on fire by the flames of hell.”

I don’t know what the other people affected learned from the experience but I learned to think a bit clearer before addressing issues, especially major ones.

This incidence happened at least 5 years ago. I recently reminded the lady affected about the issue and she didn’t naturally remember the incidence.

Oh, I remember it like it happened yesterday.

But I thank God that He used it to open my eyes to know I am not in charge. He is and I must consult with him every moment.
So help me God.

Lord help me to listen to you before any comment.

“The righteous heart reflects before answering, but the wicked mouth blurts out evil.

Bright eyes give joy to the heart; good news strengthens the bones.”

‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭15:28, 30‬ ‭CEB‬‬
What do you think? How easy is it to reflect before speaking?

Pls, leave a comment below.

Less than 3 hours to go – get on the – 30 Days Power of Words Challenge. This taming your tongue adventure will be a great one.

Each day as I prepare to start this challenge I see why I definitely needed it.

This morning as I fellowshipped with God; reading his word, I recognized the deep connection between the tongue and the heart.

The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. Luke 6:45 ESV

Have you ever been in a situation where you said something and it wasn’t received well by the other person and then you told the person that’s not what I meant?

Hmm…really, what did you mean?

Well, the truth is that sometimes what came out of your mouth is exactly what was in your mind. You just didn’t have enough time to frame it properly- in a more refined way.

Again I am joining Revive our hearts for their 30 days power of words challenge. I believe about 20000 other people are on this challenge. If you want to work with God by allowing him to control your tongue like me, I want to ask that you come along and register here. 

From tomorrow, July 1, you will get an email devotional daily with scriptures. Trust God to work with you on this.

I will be doing a journal on the progress (at least 5 days a week) and would love your participation as well. To participate in the discussion with me all you have to do is to make a comment below each post. Share your difficulties and progress here. I pray that my heart with change through this 30days challenge and I pray the same for you. And that our words will become more powerful and impactful.

That we all will be moved to repentance from our old ways. And become more like Jesus.

Amen!

By the way, I did an 8-hour drive with my guys today. It was fun but hectic. Not so easy driving on smaller roads for that long. I love action when doing long distance, wasn’t too bad though. Now I even respect my dear Dr. Bola some more. So nice to be with her.

Here is a picture we took at Val-d’Or, Quebec. Very nice sceneries.

So I went to pick up a few outfits the other day. I love getting new outfits. Well, who doesn’t? 

Usually, before I go shopping I have something in mind I want to get. I have a range of colors, a set design, and the fit. Though it’s not that I saw this outfit before, in my subconscious my intending outfit is real.

Then I go store to store looking for my lovely outfit. This process of searching is the part I don’t really love. Asides tracking my steps, I don’t love the treasure hunt.

I love shops that already have outfit selections on display. That way I get ideas to polish mine.

Anyway, after the long process was over, I was at the cash making a payment when a small message dropped into my spirit.

Wow! That’s true. That’s very true.

You see, God always uses scenarios to teach me subtle lessons.

In my last post, I talk about how I have discovered that talking less is essential, read the previous post here. 

What did He use this time? I suddenly realized that I only pick a few pieces from that store out of so many nice outfits. Many of which will suit me so well or my hubby or my boys or my Neighbours, or my friends or… I only picked I needed for now.

My thinking prior to that experience was, well, say whatever God drops in my mind. But no, I was wrong.

Just like I couldn’t pick every piece of clothing even though they were good for me, the same way I must keep some words in for the appropriate time and moment. So help me God! 

So help me God!

So again I am joining many others around the world on this 30 days challenge. It starts on the 1st of July. However, you must register by June 30th.

Join the challenge here. 

Also here are some scriptures about talking less that I have been thinking about:

Psalm 141:3 ESV Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips!

Proverbs 10:19 ESV 
When words are many, transgression is not lacking, but whoever restrains his lips is prudent.

Proverbs 21:23 ESV 
Whoever keeps his mouth and his tongue keeps himself out of trouble.

James 1:19 ESV 
Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger;

Proverbs 18:2 ESV 
A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion

Proverbs 17:28 ESV 
Even a fool who keeps silent is considered wise; when he closes his lips, he is deemed intelligent.

Proverbs 29:20 ESV 
Do you see a man who is hasty in his words? There is more hope for a fool than for him.

Lord help me.

I wanna be like Christ, Amen!