FROM THE GENERAL OVERSEER,
Pastor (Dr) E. O. Abina
GOFAMINT

CONTROL YOUR TONGUE  (PART TWO)

Sunday 21^st June, 2015.

“Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof” (Proverbs 18:21)

Since creation, words have always played an important role in the affairs of mankind. God began the process of creating the heavens and earth when he spoke: “Let there be light and there was light”. What He spoke, He saw. If you want to change what you have been seeing, change what you have been saying.

The tongue is a gift from God, a steering wheel to drive our destiny to a positive destination. God has shown this to us, in Genesis 1, where the entire earth was in chaos and without form and void. Yet he spoke positively, not minding the condition of the earth and created a beautiful world. What is the condition of your life today? Does it seem chaotic? Are there things that you don’t like about the nation, your family or even the church? Speak positively! Decree and see it come to pass. When you use your tongue as a tool of blessing yourself, things, places and others, you will reap the benefits that come with it.

How can we control our tongue? Firstly, we must walk in the spirit Gal 5:16 “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh”. Secondly, we must walk in love; love must be the underlying motive of all we say. I Corinthians 13 gives us a list of what love does. Cloaking malicious words with seeming spirituality is a sign of a deceptive heart. Let our hearts be ruled by love.

Thirdly, we must speak with grace Colossians 4:6  “Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man”. Salt has purifying, cleansing, and flavouring power. It changes the environment where it is introduced. When your words are seasoned with salt, you will seek to preserve that which is good and not to destroy, just as salt preserves.

Another word here is “seasoned” which means just the right quantity. Knowing not just what to say but how to say it, in the right way and manner. And there is also the word “always”. Which means all the time. Not just when you are in the church or engaging in spiritual activities, not just when you are feeling happy but always. Fourth, be disciplined and self-controlled by controlling what you say “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.” (Eph. 4:29) Your words can produce or activate grace in the hearers. It can lift up their spirits, provide solutions for them, encourage or empower them. Proverbs 10:20-21 puts it this way. “The tongue of the just is as choice silver: the heart of the wicked is little worth. The lips of the righteous feed many: but fools die for want of wisdom.”

Let us continue from the points raised previously:

1. Your words reveal your level of spiritual maturity and depth. James 3:2 anchors perfection and the ability to control the whole body on the use of the tongue.
2. Associating with people of unclean lips can contaminate your tongue and block your blessings. People pray and fast for lengthy periods but their inability to secure the gates of their mouth may prove to be their greatest undoing.  Psalms 1:1  “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful”.  Isaiah realized that his tongue was unclean when he saw the Lord and lamented Isaiah 6:5  “Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts”.
3. Where people are not speaking with the same tongue, true progress, success and advancement will elude them. At the tower of Babel, God saw that the people were bent on building the tower and he concluded that the best way to undo them is to confuse their language (Genesis 11:6-7).

Beloved in this month of a new song and beyond, ensure that you speak gracious words that tend to life, to your situation, to people around you and you shall eat good fruits. Now pray this prayer, Dear Lord, cleanse my lips and remove from me all uncleanliness; let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O God of my salvation.

“Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things” (Philippians 4:8)