Words Devotion

This is a devotion I wrote for our Ladies Meeting and I had a few friends say I should put it on my blog. So here it is! I hope it can be a blessing and encouragement to someone.

Psalm 19:14 “Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer”
God gave us a special way to communicate that no other creature has. We can use words to communicate. We can speak words, write words, and even sign words. And amazingly, other people can understand our words and communicate back with their own words. When you think about it, it’s an amazing thing!
With our words we can project our feeling, our passion, our love, our hate, and our annoyances. Most of the time our words are negative more than they’re positive. What does the Bible say about our words? What should the majority of our words be?
In Hebrews 10:24 it says “And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:” Our words should encourage others to do good, and to love. The word provoke is not always a negative word, but it means to persuade and push. When we speak, our words should persuade other to love and do good works.
The most important thing our words should contain are words of God’s love. Our words should be a sweet smelling savour (Ephesians 5:2) to God. We should use our words to be kind to others, to tell others about Jesus, and the share His love with those around us. We don’t have to constantly tell others about Jesus’s sacrifice and love for us, but our words should contain words about Jesus and His love for us.
Our words should also contain forgiveness. In 2 Cor. 2 Paul tells the Corinth church that if someone does something offensive or wrong, that’s it’s better to forgive them and comfort that person, that to hold it against them and cause bitterness in their hearts. He says that if you forgive that person, God will also forgive you, and it will be counted as a blessing toward you. Having a bitter spirit, and holding unforgiveness in your heart is shown through your words. People can hear your bitter heart, without out having to tell them it’s there. ii. We should be quick to forgive, and slow to judge. It’s easy to criticize and wonder why people do things, but it builds an unforgiving spirit and it affects the words you speak. It’s much better to learn to let things go, and to not let them bother you, unless you’re willing to face them and deal with the problem.
Eph. 4:32 “And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.” In whatever we do, we should be able to say kind words to others. Sometimes it’s hardest to say kind words to those we’re around all the time. We can be kind to the check-out girl, the bank teller, and the person who calls the wrong number. But it isn’t always easy to temper our words with kindness when we’re talking to our family, or those we see often.
Don’t let words with no benefit pass through your lips. Gossip isn’t always stretching the truth or telling lies, most of gossip is truth that doesn’t need to be spread. Decide whether the words you’re about to say are words that are yours to say. If it’s someone else’s story or event, let them tell it themselves. And if it isn’t going to spread a kind spirit in the person you’re telling, keep it to yourself. Not all information needs to be shared. “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all.”
Along with Kindness, our words need to contain truth. Eph. 4:17 “Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.” There’s always debate about whether or not a “little white lie” is bad. While we shouldn’t go around saying everything that’s on our mind, and giving every opinion we might have, it’s also not good to keep the truth hidden in your heart. Don’t lie to yourself and say everything is fine, when there’s something that needs to be dealt with; either between you and God, or between you and someone else.
Our words should not involve twisted truth about others. Sometimes it’s necessary to discuss an event that’s happened, and sometimes you need to talk to a trusted friend about something that’s bothering you. But make sure that the words you speak are truth, and not a twisted truth. And speak ALL of the truth. A lot of times we’re good about leaving out our part of the fight, or downplaying what we did to cause the disruption. Be as honest about your involvement in the problem, as you are about the other person’s involvement. Speak the truth.
God gave us the ability to use words, and he gave us the ability to communicate with them. Make sure that the words you speak are the words God wants you to use. Imagine using God as a filter and consider if your conversations and words would pass His test of approval.

Big Changes!

Almost a year ago my husband came to me and said he thought God was calling him to be a Pastor. I was less than thrilled. I was also skeptical. I admit, I was growing tired of living in a fifth wheel, traveling, and not having a home. But taking a church? That was a little bit much for me.
We didn't talk about it much after that, he would just casually mention it every once in a while. I told him I would follow him wherever he decided to go, but I didn't feel like God wanted me to be a Pastor's Wife! I didn't feel properly equipped.
When we went to Mississippi everything went wrong. Caleb kept getting hurt or sick, our children were fighting like crazy, Noah has started to have problems with sharing a room with his sisters, and I started to feel claustrophobic living in this trailer.
So I started praying about it, and God started to speak to my heart and He showed me a lot of things that I would like to share in a later blog; too much for right now!
In January we visited a church near where we were working in Mississippi and the Pastor preached on serving God and one of his main points was that we need more men to step up and be a Pastor. I just KNEW God was talking to my husband. And I couldn't deny God's working power, so that night I quietly told God that if Caleb talked to me about it again, I would be open and willing to follow him.
Well, he did, and I did, and we started praying that God would work things out, and that He would give us clear direction in leaving NTCP, USA and looking for a church to Pastor. Our burden was for small churches that would close if they didn't get a Pastor. We didn't want a cushy Pastor's job where we could relax. We wanted to serve and be used by the Lord.
When we came home the end of February we immediately took our Pastor (Caleb's Dad) and wife our for dinner. We told them that we wanted to look for a church to Pastor and Mom started laughing and said "I knew God wanted you to do that last time you were here!" That confirmed it in our hearts, that this was what God wanted. We had to go through a process of speaking to people in authoritative positions over us, and Caleb's knee injury gave us a good excuse to be home for a month or so, and not be doing any work. Everyone we talked to was on board and excited, and we just kept getting more and more excited! When we told our kids, it was like we were telling them we were going to Disney World! Kayla said "I've always wanted to be a Pastor's Kid!!"
We started praying about where God would want us, and Caleb and his Dad called different men to see if they knew of a church that needed a Pastor. We felt like God wanted us to stay in the Midwest, but we weren't limiting ourselves to that.
At the beginning of April a Pastor friend gave Caleb a number of a church in Missouri that needed a Pastor. He called, and they asked us to come candidate that Sunday! So we drove out there for the weekend and it was not what we expected. The church was extremely friendly but it didn't seem like the "struggling church" we had pictured in our mind. Plus it seemed like everyone was really eager to vote us in and it scared me. Was this too fast? Do we want to take the first church we candidate? Are we sure this is what God wants? We went home very unsure of what God wanted. They were going to vote that weekend, one week from when we had first heard of the church.
In my heart, I was hoping they would vote no because it was too fast, and I was too unsure. They ended up voting to have us come back for another weekend, so we did. The second weekend we went was completely different, in my heart. A few families were more open, and they shared with us some struggles the church is going through. The church decided to have us stay through Wednesday with preaching every night, and we had meals with the members before service.
I had a few questions, and some concerns, that I was praying God would settle in my heart. Some of them are personal, but some of them I might share in a later blog. And some of them, I didn't even know I had, but once it was discussed, I felt a huge burden lift. I'll just tell you that after Tuesday night, I went to bed knowing 100% that this church was where God wanted us, and I went to bed excited and overflowing with God's love and peace for where He was leading our family!
Wednesday night I was a ball of nerves, the church was going to vote on whether or not to call us. I could barely eat dinner, and I was having a hard time talking to anybody. It was like the huge elephant in the room that nobody wanted to discuss. The service was amazing and Caleb preached an awesome message, finalizing his Facing and Defeating Your Giants series he did that week. We left the auditorium and they had their meeting, and when they called us back in, I thought I was going to faint!
One of the things we were praying for was that we would get voted in 90% or more. We had several people tell us that number was impossible, that maybe we should consider a lower number. Caleb said if the vote was yes with a smaller number, we would still consider, but he really wanted that number. Well guess what, we got 92%! God did more than we asked, just to prove that He can!
Our last Sunday at Lighthouse Baptist Church in Mustang, OK is June 10th, and the next day we are going to officially move to Mound Baptist Church near Oldfield, MO. It's in the middle of nowhere, in beautiful Ozark, dairy country. I will give more details later.
Never doubt what God wants you to do. And don't be afraid to ask for confirmation either. God doesn't want us stumbling through life, unsure of what He wants, trying one thing after another. He is willing to give us perfect peace and rest, and He won't ask you to do something He won't equip you to do!