Читать книгу Get a Grip on Your Lip - Beth Jones P. - Страница 7

Do you remember all those mathematical formulas and theorems you learned in high school and college? What about E=mc²? Or the mathematical-constant e, pi or the Pythagorean theorem (a² + b² = c²)? Mathematical formulas, equations and theorems work the same every time. There’s no second guessing, no hit or miss. You can count on it—E always equals mc².

In the same way, God’s Word reveals spiritual constants as well—that is, things that are always true. Jesus gave us an example of this, “For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks,” Matthew12:34. It’s a constant fact. Our mouths will always reveal what’s in our hearts. We can count on it. Our mouths cannot speak anything other than what is in our hearts. If we want to change what comes out of our mouths, we must change what’s in abundance in our hearts.

There is a huge heart and mouth constant we need to understand. If this were a mathematical formula, perhaps it would look like this: m = h + a. In other words, our mouth = our heart + its abundance. Our mouths are not independent—they are absolutely connected to our hearts.

When we understand this constant, we realize our ability to get a grip on our lip is actually a matter of the heart. To get a grip on our lip, we must start with our heart. So, before we go too much further in our study of words, let’s talk about our heart.

The Heart-Overflow Factor

Jesus said, “For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks,” Matthew 12:34. There is no question where words come from. Jesus said words come out of the abundance of the heart. In other words, our speech reveals what we really believe in our hearts. It’s easy to tell what’s in our hearts; we just need to listen to what we say.

For example, if you have an abundance of sports in your heart, then sports will come out of your mouth. No one has to pull it out of you. Sports will come out. Why? If sports fill your heart, sports will fill your mouth.

If you have abundant bitterness or self-pity in your heart, nobody has to pull it out of you. Everything you say is just going to sound bitter or pitiful because that is what fills your heart.

On the positive side, if you want kindness to come out of your mouth, you have to fill your heart with mercy, grace, love, patience and kindness. If you want godly wisdom to come out of your mouth, you have to fill your heart with God’s Word, godly knowledge, understanding, discernment and discretion. Whatever fills your heart in abundance is what will come out of your mouth. This is a constant.

Now, it gets even more interesting. Proverbs tells us the power of life and death is in our tongues. (Prov. 18:21.) That is, whatever comes out of our mouths has the power of life or death. So, if we want life to pour forth from our tongue, we must be certain that life fills our hearts. The only way to guarantee we experience life is to be certain life comes out of our mouths—and the only way to be certain this happens is to make sure life fills our hearts in abundance. Get the idea?

If we’re having trouble with our lips, the place to fix it is in our hearts. We have to load our hearts with the things we want to experience in life because our mouths will automatically speak from the abundance in our hearts, and the words we say will produce either life or death. Trying to exercise self-discipline with our tongues won’t do it. In fact, I am not suggesting people strain to have self-control over their mouths. It’s not possible to do unless there is a change of heart-content. We can’t discipline ourselves enough to tame the tongue; but if we will fill our hearts with the right things, our mouths will speak out of the abundance of our hearts.

The secret to controlling our mouths is our hearts.

More Than Positive Words

The idea of getting a grip on our lip is more than speaking positive words and using the power of positive thinking. Speaking faith-filled words is not just a matter of having positive speech or following metaphysical theories or new-age ideas—it’s much more than that. The secular world’s belief in the Pygmalion effect (i.e., self-fulfilling prophecies and the power of positive statements) is man’s attempt at creating counterfeits of a genuine, godly, biblical principle. The law of words is not a matter of coming up with magical phrases, passwords, formulas, humanistic words of affirmation or sentences that work like a charm.

God’s principles of faith and speaking power-packed words are based upon His Word. Living by the law of words is a way of life, not a magic bullet, new program or special event. To get a grip on your lip is to live a lifestyle where out of the abundance of your heart, you speak faith-filled words congruent with God’s Word and His will.

Let’s continue to look at what He says about this topic.

Bring Forth Good Things

Do you want to bring forth good things in your life? Here’s what Jesus said:

“Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit. Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned,” Matthew 12:33-37.

In this passage, notice the phrase “brings forth.” How do we bring forth things from the treasure of our hearts? We bring forth things through the words we speak: “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things.” On the contrary, “An evil man, out of the evil treasure, brings forth evil things.” How does that happen? By the words he speaks. The way we bring forth good or evil is through the words we speak from the abundance that fills our hearts. This is the law of words in operation.

So then if our spiritual calculations, formulas, theorems and equations are correct, and if we want to get a grip on our lips, we need to spend time meditating, soaking, saturating and marinating our hearts in God’s Word. When we let the Word of Christ dwell in us richly (Col. 3:16), we will fill our hearts with an abundance of good things; out of the abundance of our hearts, our mouths will speak.

When I was very new Christian, I didn’t know anything about spiritual constants, biblical principles or the law of words; thankfully, the Holy Spirit did, and He began to teach me the power of putting God’s Word in my mouth.

As a thirteen year old and the oldest daughter of four girls, when my parents divorced, I felt an extra responsibility to protect my sisters and help my mother. Somewhere along the way, without a father in the house and being raised by a single mother, I developed a bit of a rejection complex. I didn’t realize it at the time, and I didn’t know God wanted to change it, but He went to work filling my heart with His Word regarding His favor and approval.

One day, as I was reading the Bible, Psalm 5:12 seemed to leap off the page: “For surely, O Lord, you bless the righteous; you surround them with your favor as with a shield,” NIV.

I was especially drawn to the phrase, “You surround them with your favor as with a shield.” I started to repeat this phrase daily. I would say, “Thank You, Lord. You surround me with favor as with a shield. Everywhere I go, people like me; and I have good relationships with people. Thank You for special favors and advantages.”

Guess what happened? I noticed God’s favor and blessings surrounded me everywhere I went, and I enjoyed favorable relationships. I realized God’s favor had been brought forth because I got my words in agreement with His Word.

Are you ready to fill your heart with the good things of God’s Word so you can bring them forth with the words of your mouth? As you purpose to fill your heart with God’s Word, from the abundance of your heart, you will speak; and over time you will bring forth good things.

The psalmist David must have had some revelation on this subject when he prayed, “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer,” Psalm 19:14.