say... do...

I don't like to mince words.  I like direct.  I like honest.  I like caring, concise, and creative.  I'm not a big believer in delivering feedback without feeling, or of being so rough and blunt around the edges that love and compassion are all but forgotten.  Also, I very much trust the rules of "do unto others"... "say unto others"... "speak about others" exactly the same way you would want to be treated, talked to, or spoken of.  I am quite certain that you can catch more flies with honey, and that sweet words refresh while sour words, lying lips, broken promises, and hateful speech destroy.  I know that a soft answer turns away wrath.  That grievous words stir up anger.  That a gentle tone combined with thoughtful timing is paramount.  That exactness is better than sloppy reiteration.  And lastly, that more often than not, silence is truly golden.

Today, I felt compelled to use my words specifically to share Psalm chapter 12.  Why?  Because it weighs heavily on my heart, and because I believe the Holy Spirit wishes for me to encourage you lovingly and particularly in this area.  Please take time to read each verse of Psalm 12 (below) and consider how actively you, as an ambassador of the Most High God, have chosen to treat, to talk, and to speak as His church.

Help, Lord; for the godly man ceaseth; for the faithful fail from among the children of men.  They speak vanity every one with his neighbour: with flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak.  The Lord shall cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaketh proud things:  Who have said, With our tongue will we prevail; our lips are our own: who is lord over us?  For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, saith the Lord; I will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him.  The words of the Lord are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.  Thou shalt keep them, O Lord, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.  The wicked walk on every side, when the vilest men are exalted. (Psalm 12)

Hmmm.  Who exactly is Psalm chapter 12 referring to?  Is it you?  Is it me?  Are we the godly that ceaseth?  Are we the faithful who are failing?  Are we filled up with a lot of thought provoking speeches each Sunday, but still do not aid the poor?  Are we sighing desperately together with a hope to see action, but sadly still forgo to help those before us in need?  As you meditate on this Psalm, please keep in mind what God's Word says in the book of James:

Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain. Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world. (James 1:19-27)

Lord, often we forget to choose our words prayerfully before we speak.  We loosen our lips and bla bla bla about absolutely nothing important... or perhaps about too much of everything that should be left unsaid.  I ask that you take control of our tongues.  For we desire to speak of Your righteousness.  In joyful praise, we want only to repeat Your promises, Your commands, Your holy wisdom - always surrendering our lives to your purified truth.  Help us to remember to love You first, and to love our neighbor as ourselves.

Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.  This is the first and great commandment.  And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.  (Matthew 22:37-39)

Lord, let us never be finished saying what You have definitively said.  And most importantly, let us never be finished doing what You have so definitely instructed us to do.  In Jesus' Name, amen!

Blessings!

~Victoria

© The Devoted Woman | Victoria Anderson