Archive - October 2012

“Do you have trouble controlling your tongue?” She read the question twice, stuck her tongue out, twisted it left and right, and began to write in response, “No.”

I stifled a chuckle. “That’s not what it’s asking. The question should say something like do you ever say mean words to people without realizing it.”

She nodded, crossed out her answer and scribbled, “yes.”

I wish controlling our tongue was as easy as controlling the physical muscles. When my ice cream starts melting, I can lick the sides. If I’ve got something stuck in between my teeth, I can pry it out with my tongue. (I cannot curl my tongue, but that’s more of a genetic thing.)

And yet, without thinking about it, I can spout off every last one of my opinions in a moment of frustration or snap at someone who has worn down my patience.

James, the brother of Jesus, tells us in James 3:7-8,

Every sea creature, reptile, bird, or animal is tamed and has been tamed by man, but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

If you were to catch on fire, what three steps are you supposed to take to extinguish the flames? 1. Stop 2. Drop 3. Roll

We need to follow a similar pattern with our words.

1. Stop. Does this need more explanation? Stop talking. Shut your mouth. No matter how upset you are. Stop even if you’re mid-sentence.

2. Drop. Think about why you just spouted out ugly words. Drop them. Ask for forgiveness from both God and the person you either said them to or about.

3. Roll. Rolling on the ground extinguishes the flames. We must actively become fire fighters when our tongues cause sparks. The best way for me to fight my words is to memorize Scripture and repeat it in my head. When I am immersed in the Word of God, I am less tempted to fall into bad habits.

You probably don’t know this about me, but I have Poptart magic. Or, at least, that’s what I called it a couple Sundays ago, and the phrase stuck. Because when all the Poptarts seem to have been eaten, I can make a couple appear as if from thin air.

Let me tell the story of this past Sunday in reverse chronological order. Sunday night, I attended the Beth Moore study of the book of James. Verse 15 and 16 of chapter 2 hit me with a new intensity:

If a brother or sister is without clothes and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well,” but you don’t give them what the body needs, what good is it?

Sunday morning I realized that our church is a place for hungry people to come be filled – spiritually AND physically, depending on the need.

In Sunday School, there was a physical need that I could meet with Poptarts. Not for a kid who didn’t take the time to open up their fully stocked pantry. But for a kid who had next to nothing in their kitchen.

What good is our faith if we shovel the Gospel down a kid’s throat without realizing that they are starving? Even Jesus fed the multitude fish and loaves of bread before he taught. Father, give us faith, armed with actions, for the glory of Your kingdom.

During prayer request time in our Sunday School class, the girls get so excited and eager to share that we occasionally have to revert to the “raise your hand” rule. One day, we had to go so far as to institute the “talking frisbee” (only the girl holding the frisbee could talk).

But as soon as we ask someone to pray, they clam up.

Do they not want to talk to our Heavenly Father?

Do they not want to bear each other’s burdens?

No. Our girls want to pray. But they don’t know what to say or how to start or even how to end. They are intimidated by the fancy, well-worded prayers that preachers and parents rattle off, even at mealtimes. I believe the problem is stage fright.

Who hasn’t had this same fear? There are times in my own personal quiet time that I don’t know what to pray or even that my prayers sound stale. I started asking myself, “What am I praying?”

One beauty of Scripture is that we can read the prayers of saints who have gone before us. And, for all intensive purposes, we can “steal” their prayers.

I am memorizing passages like Colossians 1:9-14 and adapting them into my own prayer:

I am asking that she may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding,  so that she may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to You, bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God.   Please strengthen her with all power, according to Your glorious might, for all endurance and patience, with joy  giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled her to share in the saints’ inheritance in the light.  You have rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son You love. We have redemption, the forgiveness of sins, in Him.

The Scripture is full of prayers to our Father. Let me know if you find one that you are going to start using.