Daily Devotional: Monday, Oct 12
Speaker: Ben Sigman
Theme: Being Wise With My Words
Weekend Music links on iTunes: Your Grace is Enough by Chris Tomlin; Sing to the King by Passion Worship Band; Hallelujah to My King by Paul Baloche; From the Inside Out by Hillsong United.
Read: Luke 6:44-45; Proverbs 18:21; Proverbs 21:23
Proverbs Challenge Chapter of the Day: Proverbs 8
Think: Pastor Ben talked about a lot of good things when it comes to our words this weekend, but there's one part that keeps coming back to me... It's the passage he quoted from Luke 6: For out of the overflow of (my) heart (my) mouth speaks.
Think about the words you've spoken over the last few days? What might they reveal is in your heart? If you're feeling anything like me, my words are definitely showing I'm in need of a heart checkup (maybe even surgery)! When I first gave my life to Christ I remember my Campus Life leader always saying the phrase "garbage in, garbage out." It's true on a lot of levels, but especially when it comes to our hearts. Whatever we allow in, we can expect to make its way back out - to overflow - in our attitude, actions and especially, our words.
The best way to control what comes out of our mouths it seems is to control what comes into our hearts. Philippians 4:8 gives simple framework to help us out: "Whatever is honorable whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, dwell on these things."
Chuck Swindoll, a great Christian author and pastor, gives this great roadmap on what we can do to carry out this Scripture. He says "Think about:
- Not unreal farfetched dreams but things that are true
- Not cheap flippant superficial stuff but things that are honorable
- Not things that are carnal, smutty, and obscene, but that which is pure
- Not things that prompt arguments, and defense in others, but those that are agreeable
- Not slander, gossip and put-downs but information of good report that is kind, which builds up and causes grace to flow."
Do: Be on guard today over what you allow in your heart and mind. Pay close attention to what you read, watch, listen to, and think about. Get rid of anything that will contribute to an outflow of words that is anything but honoring to God.
Pray: God I want to speak words that build up others, that honor You, that are full of your grace. Show me anything that I am allowing in my life that is producing an overflow that isn't what You would want for me or for those in my life. Amen.
The eDevotional is written each week by a team of volunteers from Timberlake Church. |
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