Daily Devotionals
Daily Devotional: Psalms 141:1-5a
Ps 141:1-5a
1 O LORD, I call to you; come quickly to me. Hear my voice when I call to you. 2 May my prayer be set before you like incense; may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice. 3 Set a guard over my mouth, O LORD; keep watch over the door of my lips. 4 Let not my heart be drawn to what is evil, to take part in wicked deeds with men who are evildoers; let me not eat of their delicacies. 5 Let a righteous man strike me--it is a kindness; let him rebuke me--it is oil on my head. My head will not refuse it.
Col 3:8-11
8 But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. 9 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.
Have you ever said something and by the time it left your lips, you wished you had not said it? I am sure all of us have done this at one time or another. James says that the tongue is a small member of the body but it is the most difficult to control. It may be a curse word or something hurtful to someone or just what we call a small vulgarity but these things come out at times and we wish we could pull them back into our mouth. But why do we do this?
Jesus said that what comes out of our mouth is what is in our heart. He is talking about our minds, the center of our thoughts. While our hearts are a reflection of our character, it is not true that every thought represents what we are. We may have evil thoughts but not be evil – that is called temptation. My grandfather used to say that we cannot keep a bird from landing on our head but we can keep it from making a nest in our hair. This is why we are to guard our hearts.
We are tempted by Satan and the world around us to think all kinds of bad things. We are pressured by our culture to think like and be like those who are filled with hate and anger but that is a part of the old person that is now dead in Christ. We are to be different because we are filled with love and patience. We want to see the best in everyone and every situation and not look for the worst.
Heavenly Father help me guard my heart with all diligence and help me put a gate on my mouth so I never allow evil to come from it. Give me patience so I will think before I speak and then speak in kindness and in a way that builds up and never in a way that tears others down. Help me remember that life is not about this world but is about being with you in eternity so that I do not fret or worry about the things that happen around me. Forgive me when I fail. Please be with your people wherever they are. Protect and sustain them. I pray in Jesus name.
Robert
