More Glory! If I pay the price...

The Lord has been telling me to spend more time with him again.  He wants me to drop all the other good stuff and just spend time with him alone.  My family has been through this before so they are used to it, Thank God.  For all my friends that I should be calling this article will have to suffice for now.

I was asking the Lord why we are not seeing the breakthroughs we've been praying for and the Lord told me to get more control over my mouth.  I have been learning about slander but I never realized how common slurring people has become in our society.

A slur can be a number of things: an insulting or disparaging remark or innuendo or  words that have a shaming or degrading effect.  It can also mean to cast aspersions on someone or to depreciate a person's value.

The sad thing is that it's so easy to do, especially with family members.  Most of the time people don't realize they are doing it.  They have a stronghold of complaining and it leads to slurring their loved ones.

I asked the Lord what happens when I slur someone and the Lord showed me how my slurring someone puts a grey fog around them in the spirit realm so that the blessings of God are blocked and they have a hard time hearing God.  That woke me up!  Slurring by a Christian is tantamount to cursing them, plain and simple.

Now you do that to your husband, son or daughter once a day and you've blocked the blessings of God on them. The devil has used your mouth to stop God's kingdom from advancing.

This is serious stuff!  I need to get a better grip on my mouth and what I speak about!
I've been asking the Lord to help me recognize when this happens so I can repent out loud and get the person I'm talking to to agree with me for blessing our loved ones instead.  After all, it's only by God's grace that I am not doing ten times worse than them!

If complaining was all it took to stop the Israelies from entering their promised land, what makes me think that I will be able to keep complaining and enter my promised land?

Now you all know me and you know I've been working on my mouth.  This post is not meant to be hard on you but more of a self-confession so that you don't make the same mistakes as I have, lol.   If I can save you some pain or grief then I am all for it.

Here are some confessions that I've been renewing my mind with:

Lord, please give me more fear of You so I won't want to sin against you.  I know that the reverential fear of you leads to life. (ref. Prov. 19:23)

Thank You Lord  that the reverential fear of you is Life and that he/she who has it will rest untouched by evil. (Prov. 19:23 NEB)

Thank You Lord helping me to recognize when I am complaining or slurring someone.  I want to live by your standard, not the world's standard.

Thank You Lord for helping me to hate sin the way you do so that I won't want any part of it.  Show me how much you love my family members and the people I would tend to slur; politicians, bosses, leaders, pastors, etc., etc.  I choose to speak blessings over them instead, on purpose!

I am going to end with Psalm 15.  It's a special psalm for those who want to live in God's presence.

Psalm 15

A psalm of David.

¹ Lord, who may dwell in your sacred tent?
    Who may live on your holy mountain?

² The one whose walk is blameless,
    who does what is righteous,
    who speaks the truth from their heart;
³ whose tongue utters no slander,
    who does no wrong to a neighbor,
    and casts no slur on others;
⁴ who despises a vile person
    but honors those who fear the Lord;
who keeps an oath even when it hurts,
    and does not change their mind;
⁵ who lends money to the poor without interest;
    who does not accept a bribe against the innocent.

Whoever does these things
    will never be shaken. (bold highlights are mine)

Bless you!

Brenda Gale Thompson
p.s.  If this has blessed you please share!