4o Days of Teshuvah🙏

Psalm 15

A psalm of David.

During our prayer call this morning, Michele boldly and gently dealt with a topic that so many of us sneak out of the avoidance window to "avoid".  It's family "powwow" time, so pick a stump and join us at the campfire.

Proverbs 13:3 clearly instructs us concerning derogatory and cruel talk:

"He that keeps his mouth, keeps his life, but he that opens wide his lips, shall have destruction."

( I think I saw this posted at a dentist office years ago)

These 40 days of Teshuvah, with prayer and fasting, is about returning to our Father in heaven. Turning away from our unrighteous acts, and returning to Him, requires genuine repentance, not lip service.  "Destruction" as used in this verse of Proverbs, is a strong word of warning, and therefore must not be taken lightly.  As we seek the face of YHWH, in repentance, we must understand that we do not have a choice as to what sins we repent for; it is all or nothing.

One dreadful act of sin is our lack of control of our tongue.  That act includes hurting someone by humiliating them publically, or privately without their knowledge.  This can be done in many ways,  including announcing  what we concieve to be their shortcomings.  As Michele said, this is wrong and can bring harm to someone; harm done to a person is very very hard to mend.  She goes on to say that speech is compared to an arrow;  once the words are released, like an arrow, they can't be recalled.

Leviticus 25:17 says you should not wrong one another.  

We should never put another person down, either privately or publicly.  And we must repent for the hurt we embed in another person's heart.  The damage done can be devastating to a life, especially emotionally and spiritually.  If you have been treated in such a manner, you know the deep rooted pain it causes.  If you are a sensitive person, it can affect your ability to trust and love. 

"When we speak, our lips, with our teeth, need to act like a gate, controlling whatever flows out" MB

"Purpose not to do this again" MB

"Slam the gate on evil words" MB

"Once the words slip by our mouth, teeth and tongue, there is no taking it back" MB

We must do whatever we can to make right, the wrong we placed on a soul. We can move forward in genuine love, once we recognize the sin of evil utterances, and honestly repent for that sin.

How very sad this is.  My eyes well up with tears as I tap away at these letters. Words really do matter; they can bless or curse.  They can lift up, or pull down.  They can bind, or they can loose.  They can leave a smile in the heart, or a tear in the eye.  They can leave a legacy of hope, or a legacy of despair.  

 YHWH is faithful to forgive, if we are earnest to repent.

♡

Power of Words 

Oh, the power of words.  

Someone in my young adult life, someone I loved in the LORD very much, said something that stung me like a scorpion.  Those words wrapped around my soul like a ball and chain around a leg.  I have never forgotten them.  I had to put those words away from me, as the years passed, and seek the LORD for healing and forgiveness. The mere remembrance of those words still bring tears; I must stand in the Holy place and remember who I truly am before my Savior, a delight! 

Because I delight myself in Him, He is delighted in me.

I was never angry, just broken.

Years later, it would be the words of my daddy that would paralyze my heart in grief.

"Your mother should never have had all you kids"

Those would be some of the last words I would hear from him, before he closed his eyes in sleep a few weeks later.

Life is hard. 

YHWH is faithful.

I still believe in His goodness.

🙏🏼

Forgive ME, Father, for every word that breached the gate of life behind my lips, and ushered in a hungry death to the soul's ears of another - intentionally or unintentionally.

I would never want to hurt anyone or anything, LORD,

especially YOU.