(All scripture from the World English Bible, ebible.org, all rights reserved)
“I considered the horns, and behold, there came up among them another horn, a little one, before which three of the first horns were plucked up by the roots; and behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking arrogantly. I watched until thrones were placed, and one who was Ancient of Days sat. His clothing was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool. His throne was fiery flames, and its wheels burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came out from before him. Thousands of thousands ministered to him. Ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. The judgment was set. The books were opened. “I watched at that time because of the voice of the arrogant words which the horn spoke. I watched even until the animal was slain, and its body destroyed, and it was given to be burned with fire.”
(Daniel 6:10-12)
“So the tongue is also a little member, and boasts great things. See how a small fire can spread to a large forest! And the tongue is a fire. The world of iniquity among our members is the tongue, which defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature, and is set on fire by Gehenna. For every kind of animal, bird, creeping thing, and sea creature is tamed, and has been tamed by mankind; but nobody can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men who are made in the image of God. Out of the same mouth comes blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. Does a spring send out from the same opening fresh and bitter water? Can a fig tree, my brothers, yield olives, or a vine figs? Thus no spring yields both salt water and fresh water.”
(James 3:5-12)
Daniel has a vision of the far future and what does he see? The devil’s attitude on display. Arrogant talk. It’s the language of hell. Arrogance. Saying whatever comes to mind. Language is the ONLY power the devil has left. All he has is talk. He has no authority. He has no dominion. He rules the world as a straw man. Jesus broke everything. We are NOT at the devil’s mercy. He’s not powerful. He can APPEAR powerful, but he has no teeth in that mouth. But boy, can he ROAR. Words. Arrogant. Deceitful. They are his weapon. They are his arrows. They are all he has and he can’t help himself. Anyone who is aligned with him speaks the same way. They may not realize they’re standing on his side, but arrogant talk is a hallmark of the kingdom of darkness.
Our tongues get us in more trouble than anything else. We speak before thinking. We speak before we check in with Holy Spirit. We say the first thing that comes to mind, not the first thing on our heart. We say it wrong. We say it without compassion. We say it – sometimes that’s the problem. It would be better if we learned to shut our mouths. If we learned that silence doesn’t always have to be broken. If we would learn to check in with Holy Spirit before we spoke. It takes a few seconds. That’s all. To check our spirit. To speak with His Fruit in our mouths. To speak from LOVE. That’s what Jesus always did. It doesn’t mean being a doormat. Jesus gave a few doozies of a speech. But it was always from love. Always meant to bring people into alignment with God. Always meant to help and save them. Love. It is the bridle we should all seek to put in our mouths.
Summary
I am a natural speaker. I can talk. But I have not always thought before I have spoken and I have hurt some real feelings. I have caused some real issues. It would have been better if I had been silent. We all face it. Every day. Are we speaking from love? Are we speaking life? Are we agreeing with the devil’s agenda? Are we speaking defeat? The world trains us to speak from the negative. It plants seeds. Every word is a seed. What harvest are you working on? Speak life. Be affirming. It doesn’t mean ignoring the negative. It means choosing to help bring the positive around. There is ALWAYS goodness to be found in God. We don’t have to staple a silver lining on things. We can simply choose to look at things from God’s point of view. To speak how God says we should speak. To make love our bridle. It takes effort, but it is the godly thing to do.
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