Day 31- The Fasting Tongue

James 3:6-10 ' The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man, but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers this should not be.'
(Side note in case you have not come to this realization yet, no man can tame the tongue alone, but with God's help we can!)

This day of the tongue is my own addendum to Deborah Pegues book. Praise God He helped me to persevere and finish this blog series. In the past finishing well has not been my strong point.
I will not share the authors' appendices but instead encourage you to purchase this powerful little book. You will then have on hand the tools of the daily tongue evaluation checklist, alternative uses of the tongue and an arsenal of tongue scriptures.
I will share a poem she included, by and unknown author called, 'The Power of Words'
A careless word may kindle strife;
A cruel word may wreck a life.
A bitter word may hate instill;
A brutal word may smite and kill.
A gracious word may smooth the way;
A joyous word may light the day.
A timely word may lessen stress;
A loving word may heal and bless.

It is easy to read the words I have written and say Oh yes, I need to change that or think, that is where I need God to work. My friend gave me an interesting statistic the other day. We only retain 10-20% of what we hear, but we retain about 80% of something we discover. My husband also added we retain 80% of something we hear if its repeated 7 or more times.
Remember when I said we believe more of what we say to ourselves than anyone else? So I encourage you to go on a journey of discovery for the areas where you need a tongue fast.
If none of these areas seem to be an issue for you, pray and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal your truth. Find a strategy that works best for you to deal with these areas.
I am going to start in the areas that jumped out to me most. I will practice meditating on God's word about the issue.
Although it is good and sometimes necessary to pay attention to the things we do wrong. We would be farther ahead if we practice doing the right uses of our tongue in order to leave no room for the negative ones.
God 'just happened' to show me a Joyce Meyer teaching today that was entitled. '6 Things to Say on Purpose'. She also reminded me if it comes out of your mouth, it was in your heart. So I truly want what I say to be pleasing. Joyce's 6 things to say to ourselves are:
1. Stay busy blessing everything - start your day, my day is blessed in Jesus's name & proceed to speak that over your family and friends.
2. Be thankful and say so - as she said, you may have a thankful heart but open your mouth and speak it.
3. I was made to encourage.
4. I'm telling the truth - no matter what
5. God's word is in my vocabulary
6. I'm going to say just enough - As Deborah Pegues would say do not give in to loquaciousness. Be quiet enough to hear the Spirit's directions for your words to speak.

I think you have heard my heart if you've been following along. There were areas that spoke to me more than others. In all fairness and to encourage you to keep on this journey with me, these are the ones I'm starting on; the hasty tongue, the judgmental tongue, the doubting tongue.
I know there will be so much freedom if I learn to walk in doing the opposite of these tongue uses alone. Especially if I line up with God's word and trust Him for my outcomes, to not doubt how big & mighty He is and that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
Press on my friends in fasting this wild creature in our mouths. The more we starve out the evil by speaking life with it, the more joy, life and victory we will experience.
Thank you for joining me on this journey. Thank you for Deborah Smith Pegues God inspired teaching and permission to share some of it. Bless you all as God leads!!

Speaking the Truth
Colossians 3:12-17 ' Therefore as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitiude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.'

Psalm 71:8 'My mouth is filled with your praise, declaring your splendor all day long.'

Excerpted from 30 Days to Taming Your Tongue by Deborah Smith Pegues (Harvest House Publishers 2005). Autographed copy of the book and workbook available at www.confrontingissues.com.