Tongues Speaking

[Eurogal]

Choose Your Words Well

A certain good woman one day said something that hurt her best friend of many years.
She regretted it immediately and would have done anything to have taken the words back.
But they were said impulsively in a moment of thoughtlessness, and as close as she and her friend were, she didn't consider the effects of her words before hand.

What she said hurt the friend so much that this good woman was herself hurt for the pain she caused.
In her effort to undo what she had done, she went to an older, wiser woman in the village, explained her situation, and asked for advice.

The older woman listened patiently in an effort to determine just how sincere the younger woman was, how far she was willing to go to correct the situation.
She explained that sometimes, in order to put things back in order, great
efforts must be made.

She then asked, "Just what would you be willing to do to repair the harm done?"
The answer was heartfelt: "Anything!"

Listening to her, the older woman sensed the younger woman's
distress and knew she must help her.
She also knew she could never alleviate her pain by living her life for her, but she could teach, if the younger woman would first listen, then learn.

She knew the outcome would depend solely on the character of the younger woman.
She said, "There are two things you need to do to make amends.
The first of the two is extremely difficult.
Tonight, take your best feather pillows and open a small hole in each one.
Then, before the sun rises, you must put a single feather on the doorstep of each house in town.
When you are through, come back to me.
If you've done the first thing completely, I'll tell you the second."

The young woman hurried home to prepare for her chore, even though the pillows were very dear to her and very expensive.

All night long, she labored alone in the cold.
She went from doorstep to doorstep, taking care not to overlook a single
house.
Her fingers were frozen, the wind was so sharp it caused her eyes to water, but she ran on through the darkened streets, thankful there was something she could do to put things back the way they once were.

Finally as the sky was getting light, she placed the last feather on the steps of the last house.
Just as the sun rose, she returned to the older woman.
She was exhausted but relieved that her efforts would be rewarded.

"My pillows are empty.
I placed a feather on the doorstep of each home."

"Now," said the wise woman, "Go back and refill your pillows.
Then everything will be as it was before."

The young woman was stunned. "You know that's impossible!
The wind blew away each feather as fast as I placed them on the doorsteps!
You didn't say I had to get them back!
If this is the second requirement, then things will never be the same."

"That's true," said the older woman.
"Never forget. Each of your words is like a feather in the wind.
Once spoken, no amount of effort, regardless how heartfelt or sincere, can ever return them to your mouth.
Choose your words well and guard them most of all in the presence of those you love."

--Author Unknown

[7thwatch]

Nice story. I thought it was a good illustration of how hard it is to take back what you have said. Its almost impossible. No wonder the bible says if you can't tame your tounge, your religion is useless.

Peace
7thwatch

[Eurogal]

Matthew 12:34 states, "Out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks." When the heart is filled, it overflows (spills) out of the mouth. The words we speak tell us the true condition of the heart.

Let’s examine the tongue. In the book of James 1:26, the writer declares, "If anyone thinks himself to be religious (piously observant of the external duties of his faith) and does not bridle his tongue but deludes his own heart, this person’s religious service is worthless (futile, barren).

It does not matter how religious we claim to be, we may attend church, sing hymns, and do whatever it is church goers do, but if we do not keep our tongue under control, our religion is worthless and unacceptable to God.

Let’s look at the kind of religion God accepts. It is different from the practices of the average churchgoer. "External (Outward) religious worship (religion as it is expressed in outward acts) that is pure and unblemished in the sight of God the Father is this: to visit, help, and care for the orphans and widows in their affliction and need, and to keep oneself unspotted and uncontaminated from the world. For those who profess to be religious, allow me to suggest that you look in the mirror of God’s Word found in this verse. If you desire a religion worthy of God’s approval, it must be demonstrated first and foremost in caring for those who are in need: namely, the widows and the orphans.

When I reflect on this scripture, I am reminded of a story about a doctor in the desert who would ask his patients how they felt? The very next thing he would tell them is to show him their tongue. His examination of their tongues told this physician a great deal about his patients.

God judges us according to our ability to control our tongue. If we can exercise control of our mouth, we are also capable of controlling our lives. In the book of James, the author brings out the unique significance and influence of the tongue for the whole course of our lives. The first example he uses is bits in the horse’s mouth. Here, he emphasizes how something as small as a bit can turn this whole animal around. The horse is used to illustrate the strength of the mouth. The comparison of the tongue to the rudder of a ship is another illustration used by the author. A ship, which is a great structure, is controlled by a small device called a rudder that determines the course of the ship. If this device is not used properly, the ship is likely to be destroyed. In our lives, the tongue is the rudder. If it is used properly, we will make it safely to our destinations. If the tongue is not used correctly, we will likely be shipwrecked.

In the book of James, the tongue is a little member that boasts great things. Though compared to a spark, the tongue has caused fires that are uncontrollable. The damage caused by this small part of the body is inestimable. James 3:9-12, Jesus states, "If the tree is good, the fruit will be good." It also states that if the water that springs from our mouths is fresh, then the heart is fresh as well.

Our word is our bond.

Since what we say control our lives, it is imperative that we pray to God for guidance over our words

Written by By Naomi J. Brown
At:
http://www.gospelwarriors.org/picture_of_tongue.htm

[Eurogal]

How to keep one’s name written in the Book of Life after it gets written there, how to be prepared to get chosen to enter into heaven, and how to have that assurance of salvation after our cleansing by the Lord’s blood, is possible if we follow the spirit of prophecy through what

King David said in :
Psalm 15:1-5 “O LORD, who shall sojourn in thy tent? Who shall dwell on thy holy hill?

He who walks blamelessly, and does what is right, and speaks truth from his heart;

who does not slander with his tongue, and does no evil to his friend, nor takes up a reproach against his neighbor;

in whose eyes a reprobate is despised, but who honors those who fear the LORD; who swears to his own hurt and does not change;

who does not put out his money at interest, and does not take a bribe against the innocent.

He who does these things shall never be moved.”

Here is how to pray to Jesus :
Psalms 39:1 “I said, "I will guard my ways, that I may not sin with my tongue; I will bridle my mouth, so long as the wicked are in my presence."
Psalms 141:3 “Set a guard over my mouth, O LORD, keep watch over the door of my lips!”

To speak derogatorily of one's fellow is to degrade one's own status as a creation in God’s image. We are all sinners. The steps of repentance process is the same as for all when sins happen between any man and his Creator.

We need not use the tongue gift given by God to speak good for destroying the reputation of another. It is not shameful to focus on the shortcomings of a cruel and evil person. We are to give heed to how the evil One works, learn from what we hear, and avoid the sins done by his followers. However, one who as a believer in God among us who sins out of ignorance or falls into temptation is in the category of needing forgiveness, compassion and re-acceptance when the repentance is sincere.

Certainly an understandable possibility is when a person restrains himself from speaking disparagingly of his fellow believer and arousing bad feelings towards him, so as to hinder the Accuser who would go before the Throne to accuse us. Then when nothing is there of sin, he is unable to open his mouth to accuse.


Eurogal

[Eurogal]

:) Hello to you and you and you.... :)

We all are the sum total of our DNA, plus the outworkings of enviromental learned behavor patterns from social interactions, schooling, home/family life, and the usage of our native language. The culture we live also affects how we use the language tongue we learned. If we have grown in wisdom, we finally realize how we can steer with determination the usage of the gift of speech for either manipulating others for selfish gains or for healing others by nobleness of being kind with our tongue in our speach. The choice is ours.

The clue lies in the recognition what we are doing with our words. It is up to us to make decisions what comes out of our mouths into the minds of listeners or readers. Motivated with the best interests of another means avoiding certain negative speech habits i.e. embarassing remarks, words of defeat, character assasination.

Embarrassing Remarks

We convey information to another in conversation verbally or in written manner. What is gone out of us is gone out of our control. We can’t control what the one receiving messages from us will do with the information. It is a real risk that could prove dangerous for our reputation later in a crisis. We can’t have control over where the information will leak out to a third party. We can can’t control in what setting under what circomstances the information is related to the third part. If it will be in entirety or bits taken out of context that gives a slanted half-truth impression. What gets highly embarasssing, annoying and downright maddening is having the information one gave to another come back to oneself from a fourth party. And with a uncomplimentary twist to it.

Good rulings for the tongue in avoiding such embarassing situations coming up, is to think before sharing, and not to talk in presence of another about what they would feel embarassed about that you know about. Even if the information is derogatory. Why make a person we are talking to uneasy at the prospect we know bad about them even if we repeat something of the ordinary we learned about them from another source. They start suspecting the other source of gossiping the bad as well as the common or good done.

Words of Defeat

In another cyberforum one of the participants, since a child living with a severe hearing impediment, broke the news to us readers that she will be loosing her job. In words of self-pity she painted a picture of not having benefits, expecting to give up her home for lack of money, having no where to go for help and probably never ever again finding another job. She is a commited child of God.

After reading her message I was so overwhlemed with grief for her because all was painted as a graphic picture in my mind. I mentally saw what she said as indicating she was going to sleep outside on the pavement and push a shopping cart along the street with her possession in it. No words of trust in the Lord to feed, clothe and house her in this coming crisis came out of her message or message afterwards. She did not seem to pick up faith right away in the Lord as we told her that God will take care of her needs.

Only after a spell did she type again on the bulletin board that because of her age then of 59yrs, and long life working record, she was entitled to a State Disability Insurance fund to live on. She turns 61 at the beginning of next year and goes over into getting a substantial Social Security Disability Insurance pay out to cover her basics of living expences until death. Reading that report caused us all to breathed a sigh of relief that she wouldn’t have to sleep under a bridge. She is doing alright now…as a matter of fact better than her wildest dreams. She has an old time girlfriend which she told about her perdicament and now that gal is renting her a wonderfully large mobile home at a great price on her property. She not only has a brand new mobilehome but a long time friend a stone’s-throw away now. Better than she has had it before, and all her needs are being met. She is free from the annoyance of petty tensions at work and can increase her knowledge and friendships with more daily online activity.

In the instant she got the bad news she turned to her online buddies in a moment of panic and spoke words of defeat before the battle was over. I learned a lesson from her reaction.l learned to be more cautious with telling others my bad news without thanking or praising God in the same breath. I leaned how downing it is for others to feel helpless when speaking out defeat and unbelief. This is not how God trained Joshua to talk. He kept giving the young guy words to put in his mind and heart to meditate on.
Words of victory to build strong his faith in God when the mind and eyes are directed on God.
Joshua 8:1 “And the LORD said unto Joshua, Fear not, neither be thou dismayed”
Joshua 10:8 “And the LORD said unto Joshua, Fear them not: for I have delivered them into thine hand; there shall not a man of them stand before thee.”
Joshua 10:25 “And Joshua said unto them, Fear not, nor be dismayed, be strong and of good courage: for thus shall the LORD do to all your enemies against whom ye fight.”

It is trust in God for overcoming the frustrations and threats in our life that is an act of giving Him honor and glory.

It is the use of our tongue to express faith in Him overcoming the present negative circumstances that brings our pride of wanting comfort into proper perspective. He gives us then the proper balance of enduring pain, discomfort, lack for a period of time for the sake of learning what is needed for growth in our characters. He gives us proper balance in values to make due with less, live with simpleness of food and possessions, and helps us to learn in times of duress that we can be more than conquers by overcoming our lustful appetites for the extras by being satisfied with the simple common things of life.

When using our tongues in saying thanks for the little blessings in life, it proves more God honoring than to turn our minds away from His ever-caring fatherly love for us. When we are being threatened in loosing our comfort zone’s objects of security WE put value upon, verbal praise to God of “You CAN” is the right way to react.

Character Assasination

Killing the influence of another is our 21st Century sport of the day. Unexpected talking revealing the sins, failures and weakness of someone to a third party destroys trust in the person of the talk. The one whom is being gossiped about as well as the gossiper. Malicious social chatting while devulging the negative behavior of another, brings even the speaker of such information into a bad light. Wagging one’s tongue to reveal secrets or intimacies is below the belt punching and shows how uncouth the gossiper is in their own character. The rumormonger’s scuttlebut is Satan’s workshop for forwarding his kingdom’s power over people. We who are of the kingdom of God must not only keep our light pure, burning and bright, but let it also influence the neighbor for good and not for bringing darkness of character assassination damage.

Eurogal

[Eurogal]

:hi: Greetings on you all...


New thoughts came in private meditation today.


Do you think making a statement about a product we bought and are dissatisfied with would discourage people from buying it ? Isn't that our aim? Isn't our small protest carrying a far reaching goal of harming the livelihood of the manufacturer or those who sell it ? Unknowingly our motive to hitback at those causing our disapointment constitutes speaking bad of the product or some person. A type of revenge on the small level. This condition seems petty and is shaping no lovely character in us. However, we need to really understand the special times when our tongue is to be used as a warning for others. That is a difference to just venting feelings of hurt.

Similarly, we use our speech to make cynical comments about a speaker or author with the intent to either discourage people from attending his sermons or lectures, or weaken the impact of his written message. There is a way of speaking negative truths about an issue without slandering a human speaker, or author. Our words of bible study can’t settle down in our heart and mind rightly to achieve the desired results when we have harden both mind and heart against others.

It is so exciting for me to view craftmanship of rare beauty. I have spent much time viewing the handiwork of people of the past which are to be seen in museums here in Germany. Especially the jewels of the Kings and Queens in settings of fine works of art impress me. The tongue is our work tool for making fine works of art to delight the listeners. Let’s not offer others sloppy, hastily put together, low quality produce of formed thoughts.

E-gal

[Eurogal]

Let whatever is good, pure, holy and of good report come from our tongues. Let our tongues be rivers of living waters for others to have their soul thirst quenched. It is not good to pour into the mind of others negatively wrong items in vast amounts.
The potential to discourage others is temptingly near.
The enemy destroys; a friend builds up.

Only the person himself has the power to correct his past mistakes through proper repentance and a firm resolve to live by the laws of proper speech. If a husband is not loving his wife his prayers will not be heard in heaven.

1 Peter 3:7 Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with your wives with understanding, giving honor unto the wife as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers be not hindered.

The words of a husband have enormous effect on the well-being or mental unwellness of a wife. The male is more visually dominate in attraction to the opposite gender, the female more in the words of sweet-talk and gentle kindness. Audiably a gal is very sensitive and the entrance to her soul goes through her ears first then the touch.


For sins of the tongue against another, one must approach the person offended and beg forgiveness. Condition on only if they know what was said. This only applies to a situation where one's speech has already caused damage. Experience has shown it only causes unneeded pain to tell someone that you have damaged them when you know they don’t know a thing about it. It is waking up snakes that should stay in hibernation. If a potentially damaging statement was made but no actual harm has resulted as of yet, it is the speaker's responsibility to do his best to prevent this from happening. It is best to go to the party who heard the negative talk ‘first’ to explain it was inaccurate, rather then first to go to the subject of the talk asking for forgiveness when that subject-person was naively without knowledge of the whole matter.

Why rattle their cage of trust in you unnecessarily?

Why subject them to harbor seeds of doubt in you if you could avoid it?

Eurogal

[2tim]

Below is a sermon I delivered regarding our words. May it be a blessing to you. I have changed nothing, so you will see notes I made for myself to remember.

Let Jesus Hold Your Tongue

When my great uncle, who we called ‘Uncle Red’, was a boy he and his brother, my great uncle Harry, played a trick in their local church. The day before services they sneaked into the church and up into the organ loft.

(Explain organ loft)

Once in the loft, they took each pipe out of its place and set it back in the wrong spot. The following day, an organist of some renown had been invited to play during services. “When the music started,” my uncle told me, “it was a terrible, terrible sound.”

To be in tune all of the parts of an instrument – be they pipes, strings, or even the skins of a set of drums – must be in harmony with each other.

Dissonance is the opposite of harmoniousness. The word dissonance is defined as a mingling of discordant sounds or a lack of agreement, specifically – inconsistency between one’s actions and one’s beliefs. Isn’t it interesting that even in our language, there is a correlation between discordant sounds and hypocrisy?

It is important to understand that Red and Harry needn’t have moved all of the pipes to ruin the music of the organ. Even one pipe out of place would have caused dissonance.

(Example of guitar – one string out of six)

Notice that your perception is not that one of the strings is out of tune, but that the whole guitar is out of tune. I ask you with as much gentleness as I can to consider what the perception of our church as a whole by any visitor off the street might be when just one tongue is out of tune with God’s Word.

(Example of guitar, reverence and praise – irreverence and discord)

There is no place in God’s house for the dissonant sound of an organ out of tune. What I am calling an organ, James called a member.

“If a man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able to bridle the whole body. Behold, we put bits in the horses’ mouths, that they may obey us; and we turn about their whole body. Behold also the ships, which though they be so great, are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the governor listeth. Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, what a great matter a little fire kindleth! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.”
(James 3:2-6)

A bit and bridle would fit in my hands, yet with them I could control an animal much greater than I am. The wood in a ship’s rudder is a very small part of the overall vessel, yet with it I can direct the whole with one hand. With a spark, a thousand acres are consumed.

James writes, so too our tongue. We can follow our noses all we want, we will be lead by our tongues like a horse by the bridle or a ship by its helm.

God has put in my heart a desire to hang weight upon my bridle and my rudder, to moisten the tinder of my lips lest I sin with them. I would that my speech was slow, and holy.

James wrote, “Every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind: But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.”
(James 3:7,8)

So we ask, as the Psalmist did, “wherewithal shall a young man (or woman) cleanse (their) way? By taking heed thereto according to (the Word of God)”
(Psalm 119:9)

Keep one eye on Jesus and one eye on my path…That should be easy if we walk the same roads.

Keep your eyes on Jesus. “Offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.”
(Hebrews 13:15)

“…Be filled with the Spirit; speaking to yourselves in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your hearts to the Lord…”
(Ephesians 5:18,19)

Jesus said “that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give an account thereof in the day of judgement. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.”
(Matthew 12:36,37)

There are no less than 154 proverbs dealing with the things we say.
The Lord keeps two before my eyes…

“Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.”
(Proverbs 18:21)

“Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise: and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding.”
(Proverbs 17:28)

Friends of mine, loved ones, might tell you that I have a “rapier wit”. A rapier is a thin and wicked blade – capable of inflicting terrible wounds. It was the preferred blade among the nations of old with the knowledge and skill to produce it. Such is my tongue. Quick, often sharp. And like the rapier – two edges.

“There is that speaketh like the piercings of a sword: but the tongue of the wise is health.”
(Proverbs 12:18)

Three of the seven things that the Lord hates start right (here).

Isaiah went in vision to the heavenly tabernacle. As Matt pointed our in Sabbath School back in march, Isaiah was suddenly and acutely aware of his own unworthiness.

“In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts. Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.”
(Isaiah 6:1-7)

Isaiah equated his very nature and that of the people with unclean lips. So did the Seraph.

Which brings us to the scripture that Ed read before we began. “Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do evil. Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few.”
(Ecclesiastes 5:1,2 – scripture reading)

Here we are, in the house of the Lord. We knelt while Ed prayed, inviting Him here to see our worship. I believe God answers such prayer. We’re here. God is here. What will we say?

“The Lord is in His temple: let all the earth keep silence before Him.”
(Habakkuk 2:20)

Otherwise, “Let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God…the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.”
(Hebrews 13:15)

The adversary of the King, any king, does not waste his attacks on the people of some other nation – but concentrates his every available asset on the people of that king.

Where do you suppose the greatest concentration of aggression by the adversary of our King falls – on the civilians or the soldiers? Satan turned from his war of attrition centuries ago. Today his artillery falls here, in this house. Today his traps are spread here, in these lives.

I am telling you these things because I have perceived a trap in my life – set by Satan. Perhaps there is one like it in your life. The trap is as simple and as subtle as this: Sometimes I am fooled into refusing the power of heaven to effect change in my life because of the big issue those around me will make of it. My wit is an excellent example. Those at home and at work who know me for my quick tongue will likely not understand when I let Jesus hold it.

But he has promised to bless me if I do.

“If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.”
(Isaiah 58:13,14)

I want to claim this blessing.

“Nor speaking thine own words.” I have yet to keep the Sabbath that way. And that’s okay – we’re growing you and I, right? What does love do? All that it can and then it looks for more.

I am going to take advantage of the opportunity that delivering the message to you here today affords me to disarm this trap of Satan’s.

I’m going to pray – here and now – for the wherewithal to take heed to my way according to the Word of God.

(Prayer)

God willing you will see a change, hear a change in my life.

There is no place in God’s house for an organ out of tune, especially (this) one. I don’t want to speak my own words on Sabbath anymore.

When I think I might, I’m going to smile and wink – and that will be a sign between you and me that God is working in my heart and in my life. It will be a sign that I am chiseling. It will be a sign that I am letting Jesus hold my tongue.

I don’t want to be the organ out of tune in this house. And the best that this bit of flesh in dirty rags could ever do for you is to let you see the work our Lord does in my life.

Let Jesus hold your tongue.

[Eurogal]

So shall it be. Praise God!

Prayer:

For these appropriate words that we all can so readily and easily understand, I pray to You, our almighty Father Creator in Heaven, through the authority of Jesus your Son, that the adversary evil one will not be able to take the seed from our minds.

May the truth spoken here be given life to our souls so that it grows and takes hold of our hearts and minds.

I pray we will be repentant and confess all the sins we have committed with our tongues.

May you influence the spirit of repentance in us.

We want to dedicate that member of our bodies for your honor and praise.

We ask you to help each one of us in this matter.

Amen.

[Eurogal]

May God bless you all today in a special way :)

When one of us defiles our power of speech by speaking that which is said in hate, anger, or is hurtful or dirty, to a great degree we have dangerously shut our spiritual door to spiritual light when we right afterwards go to do bible study. The very desire for the Word is quenched.

There is a process of sanctifying our tongue being managed for our own good by the Spirit of God we have claimed to dwelling in our hearts by faith. We grieve Him and defile ourselves when we have the habit of using words of mockery, words of strife, words of slander towards others. It is like an act of murder when we are responsible for ruination of spiritual growth in another child of God during the times we are attacking that brother or sister in the Lord.

How oh how can we finally learn to resist derogatory communication or harmful information going through our mouths into the minds of others? It would be best to pay close attention to the wee foxes spoiling the grapes. Avoid using emoticode signs online or body language expressing the same things (e.g. a cynical smile, he’s nuts, or rolling eyes upward in exasperation) that communicates something negative or harmful.

When a Christen studies his bible, he perfects his entire being. The process of reading inspiration from God acts a a medium for drawing upon oneself a spirit of sanctity. The act of reading with concentration gives vitality to our being in this world and add sanctification to our character of soul for the next world. It is worth it to learn discipline of tongue usage because then we have control of our whole body and mind like as a rudder mechanism for a ship.

Thought needs to be taken when we relate an amusing incident that would cause embarrassment to any of the people involved who are present listening. Many a humorous situation for us is actually quite painful to the person involved. Even when the information is true and accurate to laugh at someone else’s expense is unkind.

Slander is always twisted information that is a great percent not true of the person. To relate derogatory information that is essentially true but includes either exaggerations or even slight altering of facts is also considered a breach of loving your neighbor as yourself. It is rebellion against agapè as God is love and won't ever condone our not showing love to our neighbor, friends, relatives, partners, workmates, and other church members.

Eurogal

[2tim]

I would like to add that I can find little that needs to be added.

In other words, Amen.

The power of prayer is important on this matter. Dedicating your life to the Lord each day as you wake up. Speaking to the Lord in your thoughts, singing hymns to yourself. Pray continually. Will we forget sometines? Sure. But we will remember sometimes too...

Thanks for this thread Eurogal.
2Tim.

[Eurogal]

:rose: :) ....and thank you for your thankful expression.

Here where I am is rest-day afternoon, Alfred is gone off somewhere, so finishing my morning worship with others, I wished to log on to you all here at TReview. Not to write much. Just to have the sense of reaching out to others who love Jesus.

:hi: God bless you faithful ones real good today!

Eurogal

[Eurogal]

There are times when you or I make a positive statement about some person, intentionally being sincere as such, but negative and harmful information can be inferred from our words by those twisting what was said . They then become peddlers of gossip opening up the flood gates with mischief intent. We gave serious praise from our thankful heart but flattery, flirt, sexual innuendo’s or making a come-on is implied by a third party hearer who then gossips later and which hurts the reputation of the one speaking out what was meant to be just a nicety.

Is it also possible to sincerely praise another but it be taken as alluding to the shortcoming of that individual? For instance when we say "Who would have believed that he would have come this far?". If taken in the false vein it would clearly suggest something negative about the person. There are a lot of idioms used in speech that can get us in hot water of trouble. Look before you leap….think before you speak.

Some of us just don’t like seeing one who has influence publicly being lauded and liked. We start berating and belittling them. "Just as he inflicted a wound upon a person,so will be inflicted upon him" is a Jewish saying. Such persons using belittling and berating have no objective understanding that they themselves become an object of contempt in the eyes of their listeners. Woe to them for excepting the slander as truth. However, woe to the one speaking slander because his listeners will forever suspect that he might one day speak ill of them.

The same goes for story-tellers who take pains to omit names but speak derogatorily of groups, race, religious persons and political leaders. Also speaking critically about an unnamed church member reflects upon the entire church body in general. Bashing one member of a religious group doesn’t help the mind of the listener to trust the whole group of which that person in slander is a member of.

e-gal