Let the words of my mouth and the
meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my
redeemer. Psalm 19:14
We are currently going through a sermon series on The Prayer
of Jabez. In our devotionals this week
we are looking at another person in the Bible that had a special prayer like
Jabez - a man named Agur (awgoor). Agur
selflessly asked God for two things: (1) To Remove all falsehoods and lies and
(2) for God not to give him poverty or wealth.
Yesterday we looked at his request for God to remove falsehoods from his
mind and his motives. Today we focus on
God removing falsehood from his words.
From the mind to the motives falsehood can quickly travel to
our mouths. Agur prays for God to remove
far from him lies, the untruth spoken by the mouth. When we fill our minds with untruth and our
motives shift, it comes right out the mouth, filter off. There is much power in the spoken word. Once you declare something, it gains
tremendous momentum.
Proverbs 6:16, 17, and 19 talk about how the Lord hates falsehood - These six things the LORD hates … a lying tongue (vs.17)
… a false witness who speaks lies. (vs.19)
Falsehood is never to be the measure of our lives, but
truth. Agur realized how important it
was to get rid of falsehood when he prayed to be loosed from falsehood so that
what is true could be released in his life.
When the world comes knocking and attacking at our hearts door where do
we go for help? No other place than
where Agur was looking … to the word of God.
Proverbs 30:5-6 says Every word of
God is pure; He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him. 6 Do not add
to His words, Lest He rebuke you, and you be found a liar.
Few of us realize the awesome power of words. After all, God created the world using only
words. The bible tells us in Proverbs 18:20-21 20 From the fruit of their mouth a
person’s stomach is filled; with the
harvest of their lips they are satisfied.
The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will
eat its fruit. Those are
very powerful words about a little part of our body that holds much power –
even the power of life and death. It
takes great self-control on our part to manage what can become the culprit of
much pain. As said above, once something
is said it can gain tremendous momentum but also, it cannot be taken back. We should guard our mouths carefully and
completely give our tongue over to God, daily asking for His help with what we
let through our “filter”. Literally tell
God Here are my lips, let me speak for
you. Here is my mouth, let my mouth speak the words that you want.” Proverbs 16:1 says,
To a man belongs the plans of the heart, but from the Lord comes the reply of
the tongue. That verse
means the tongue can be put under the Lord’s control. That is great news. Where we are weak…He is strong!
Scripture to Claim:
These are the things that you shall do: Speak the truth to one another; render in your gates judgments that are true and make for peace. Zechariah 8:16
These are the things that you shall do: Speak the truth to one another; render in your gates judgments that are true and make for peace. Zechariah 8:16
