BE POSITIVE: You Must Speak It Out

"Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers."~Ephesians 4:29

I am an avid facebook user. I'm very active on it. Living far away from home and family, and being alone where I am, I try as much as possible to keep in touch and facebook comes very handy. It helps me connect with family, old friends and even new ones. So whenever I'm not using my phone to make calls or texts, I use facebook to catch up with loved ones. This is the beauty of technology, the beauty of computer intelligence. It gives a great feel of outstanding experience!

Being an active facebook user, I have read some amazing posts that have blessed my heart so greatly. I have some friends on this social media whose timelines I visit each day to glean some encouraging words from their posts. If facebook timelines can track the accounts of visitors, some of these people will get lots of hits and majority of them will be from me. I am a sucker for awesome posts!

Verse 29a Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth:- In the above verse, Paul, talking about speech, says that we should be very careful with what comes out of our mouths. Words are potent! If you have nothing good to say, you may say nothing at all. Evil or corrupt communication cripples faith, it breaks hearts and kills hope. It messes up relationships and destroys lives. Therefore, unless your words have the potential to positively influence, please keep them to yourself and do not add to the mishaps bad words have caused to the lives of many. Think before you talk. Speak wisely!

Knowing what to say and the time and place to say it requires discipline. It is not one of the things that come natural to people. It cannot be inherited genetically. It requires hard work, consistency and discipline.

A question to ponder: If a friend talks to you the way you talk to yourself daily, will you still be friends with them?

Verse 29b But that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers:- Meanwhile, if you have something good to say, you must speak it out! Do not keep it in, do not keep it to yourself, because someone probably needs to hear it. You must speak it out, let it encourage someone, please speak it out, let it revive cripple faiths; you must speak it out, let it restore dead hopes, please speak it out, let it mend broken hearts. You must speak it out, so it can destroy the effect of evil words in the lives of many. Please speak it out and let it minister grace to its hearers.

Instead of speaking evil words and destroying the lives of those around you or even your own life, why not decide today to start speaking positive words. You can never have a good day if you always have a bad attitude every morning. Likewise, your words have a great influence on your life, unless you stop speaking negative things to yourself daily, you can never live a positive life much less have a fulfilled one. Think before you talk, speak wisely.

You Will Never Go Astray

“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”~(Psalms: 119:105)

The decisions you made yesterday, whether consciously or otherwise, have greatly influenced what you are experiencing today, also the decisions you make today will have an effect on the outcome of your tomorrow and future. In life there will be lots of decisions to make and many actions to take. Your life and future depends heavily on the decisions you make and the actions you take, whether directly or indirectly. No one can escape that.

Many factors determine our decisions in life. We make decisions based on gain, pleasure, pressure or coercion. But whether we choose to make decisions based on our feelings, on God's word or on any other reason, we must not forget that these decisions will determine our actions and in turn affect the outcome of our experiences tomorrow and ultimately our future.

The story of Samson and Delilah is a very popular one. Growing up as a Christian, in my children Sunday School class, we had a series on the notable stories of the Bible. Almost every year, we were told the story of Samson. Apart from his strength, we learned that he was arrogant and he made some pretty bad decisions.

Now Samson went down to Timnah, and saw a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines. So he went up and told his father and mother, saying, "I have seen a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines; now therefore, get her for me as a wife." Then his father and mother said to him, "Is there no woman among the daughters of your brethren, or among all my people, that you must go and get a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?" And Samson said to his father, "Get her for me, for she pleases me well.(Judges 4:1-3)

Samson was a strong man but his decisions were not in accordance with God's (Word) command. He made wrong decisions in his life, especially in marriage relationships. He got married to the daughter of the Philistines, enemies of Israel. In which he was later betrayed. As if that was not enough, he entered into another relationship with Delilah and this was the relationship that cost him his life. He was captured, after making another wrong decision of telling Delilah the source of his strength. He was blinded and made a laughingstock. Eventually he died in his prime. Conclusion: his life was cut short because of the decisions he made based on his feelings rather than on God's Word. 

The story of Samson, just like other Bible stories, was written for us to read and learn from it, so we know to make the right decisions, based on God's Word and not our feelings. If Samson could make such bad decisions in his life, we are not exempted. We also can make similar mistakes or even ones that are more serious that his.

So before you start judging him, think about all the wrong decisions you have made and the wrong lanes you have turned into in the journey of life, and ask yourself this: Am I better than Samson? The fact is that you could be much better than him, if you will learn from his mistakes and apply the lesson learned to your life. Feelings are like spoiled children: the more you indulge them the more they will control you. You should not suppress your feelings or deny them, but you must not indulge them either. Do not let them lead you.

The Word of God is the written heart of God. You have to learn to trust in it. When you do this you will be holding unto His hand and walking side by side with Him as He leads you to your desired end. 

Let the Word of God rule your life, let it lead you. Make the Word of God your consultant, that which you can confide in to help you make every decision of your life. Let His Word be your light and make sure you walk in that light. Simply trust God's Word and not your feelings. Rather than let your feelings ruin you, let God's Word rule you. If you do this, you will never be misled, much less, go astray.

Relationship Advice for Singles

Draw Nigh To God

If there is one attribute of God that I love to declare tirelessly, it would be this: God is amazing! 

He walks with us and reveals His deepest desires to us in amazing ways. Whenever we come into His presence, He is ever ready to fellowship with us. He created man to have fellowship with him (Genesis 3:8). When man sinned, this fellowship was broken, but because God so loved us and His desire was to fellowship with us, He sent Jesus Christ to go through all He went through to bring us back in fellowship with Him. This ought to give us a revelation that God is not against us, He has never been against us, He is always for us. God wants to be our companion. He is forever faithful. Whenever we look back at the past, when our fellowship with Him was severed, we would realize that the fault has never been from God but from us. We are always the ones who stray away. God is constant, never changing.

James 4:8:- The song, "Draw Me Close" is a very interesting one and it has an amazing message. I love it! I play it on my Spotify every now and then and I sing along. Thank God for technology, thank God for apples, thank God for computer intelligence, music is now made readily available and easily accessible. 

One day, while listening to the song, my mind went off to the passage of the scripture I've quoted above. It says, "Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you." As that thought came to mind, I got my Bible and went on to open to the passage. But while I was doing that, another track in the album I was listening to began to play. The title of the song was, "The Heart of Worship." Immediately, a seed was sown into my heart---If I want God to "Draw Me Close," then I must come to Him with "The Heart of Worship."

When I got this in my mind, I realized how amazing our worshiping and praising God is. I began to imagine how God stirs up the minds of Christian artists to write great spiritual songs. What basically happened with these songs is this: The first song asked, "God please draw me close to You", and  the other replied to the previous song, in the same album, "You have to come back to Me with the heart of worship." Such an amazing revelation!

Do you want God to draw you close to Himself, then you have to come back to Him with the heart of worship. He has said it, and He always keeps His own end of the bargain. That's His nature, He is faithful and true. "If you draw nigh to God, He will draw nigh to you."

Also Verse 8 went further to say to "cleanse your hands." This implies that whatever you have been holding unto that is destroying your fellowship with God, you have to let go of them. Relationships, emotional attractions, lusts, wicked motives among other things, let go of them. Give them up. By so doing, you are cleansing your hands and are ready to receive from God.

Finally, it states that you have to "purify your heart." How do you purify your heart? You do this by placing it in the realm of worship. How do you worship? You do not worship only by singing hymns or songs. You do worship also by reading God's Word and obeying it. By taking care of those you have the opportunity to take care of, and by serving others, that is worship. Let God speak to your heart through His Word and let His Spirit have full effect in your life. Purify your heart with the Word of God.