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Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: Insulted (07/11/24)
I didn’t purposely hurt Him. I didn’t know my bad habits would flare back up so quickly since I started walking with the Lord, especially since I promised Him before that I wouldn’t do it again. I knew better. I still know better all these years later. Even so, my tongue gets the best—or worst—of me sometimes. How is it that life and death are in the power of the tongue (Prov. 18:21)?
How is it that simple and foul words can flow out of my mouth so quickly? How is it that I do it even more when I think no one’s watching? My heart knows the answer: It starts with my thoughts. My emotions. What I feel. That’s why we’re not supposed to base decisions off of our feelings—they’re not always truthful.
What I think about, dwell on, tell myself in the dark is what comes out in the daylight. Isn’t this exactly why I need to dive deep into my Bible even more during those times? To overcome everything with Truth? Remembering His Truth allows me to speak Light when the darkness comes, in whatever form that darkness is.
The Lord knows my heart, and He knows what I say and do, and I will have to account for all of that. But, right in the here and now, on this side of Heaven, I want to be accountable, too. I want to be obedient to the Lord. I want His favor and blessings. I want to know my conscience is clean. I don’t want to keep offending Him then asking for forgiveness over and over.
I know His grace covers me by His finished work on the cross when I do confess my sins to Him, but I don’t want to abuse His grace. So how can I be sure I’m not? How can I be confident that my mouth won’t wallow in the mud over and over, no matter the circumstances? For me, it starts with surrender. In the moment. In the midst of the trial, the bad news, the hurt, the insults, the unexpected offenses from others. Actually, it requires a sweet surrender even before the moment begins, not just after the situation happens. Surrender in advance. Doing so is my being proactive versus being reactive.
I must proactively give it all away: My anger, resentment, fears, betrayal—whatever it is. Give it away. The Lord can take it. The Lord knows what to do with it. The Lord knows how to turn it around. Just lay it down at His feet.
Beforehand, in the every day, I need to be mindful of the words I use, grab hold of what isn’t pleasing to the Lord, and lay down all of my defenses and instincts to fight back verbally at the feet of Jesus. And cling to those feet. Hold on to Him. He is my Defender. With His Spirit living in me I have supernatural power to overcome my tongue. At the same time I can also use my tongue to speak life over situations that I have no control over. In Him my words of Truth can be flames of fire being thrown at the enemy, since I know I deal with rulers and authorities in the unseen world (Eph. 6:12).
In Him I am pure. My faith in Him makes me so. I cannot do it on my own, since my flesh is weak. I must focus on:
…Whatever things are true,
whatever things are noble,
whatever things are just,
whatever things are pure,
whatever things are lovely,
whatever things are of good report,
if there is any virtue
and if there is anything praiseworthy
—meditate on these things (Phil. 4:8).
I must constantly be in His Word, so when I am triggered, my natural instinct will be His Word and not mine.
Let the words of my mouth
and the meditation of my heart
Be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord ,
my strength and my Redeemer.
Psalms 19:14
This is guarding my heart, for it determines the course of my life (Prov. 4:23). I want the Lord to know I love Him and want to honor Him back for all He’s done for me. I don’t want to keep insulting Him. He’s had enough of that already.
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This article has been read 262 times
Member Comments
Member
Date
Terry R A Eissfeldt 
07/18/24
Powerful, vulnerable and TRUE!
Just one suggestion:
Spaces between paragraphs make it easier to read.
Blessings
Shann Hall-LochmannVanBennekom 
07/19/24
You have a great message here. I can feel your passion as I read this piece. In the beginning, there were a lot of questions to yourself. I enjoyed a few, but then it started to lost my interest just a bit. At one point you had three in a row. Mixing up sentence structure is a great way to pull the reader in. I could definitely relate to many of the questions. And they are thought-provoking ones too. Make sure you put Bible verses in quotation marks and add a footnote to show what translation you are using. You did an excellent job. You were spot on topic, picked great verses to prove your point, and delivered a powerful message. I truly enjoyed it.