OUT OF A BROKEN HEART, THE MOUTH SPEAKS

                                                Part 3 in Be Clean in 2014

A Clean Heart

Recently we all had a good laugh at my two year old granddaughter Emelia. Christina walked into our guest room where she and the boys were playing. The boys had just come from the movie, Legos, and this was one of those rare occasions when the boys were actually letting her play lego’s with them. The legos, much tinier than her large, girly pastel colored legos, were considered a choking hazard and were not something Emelia was accustomed to having within her grasp. As Christina poked her head in the door Emelia immediately sensed the outcome and assuming her most threatening, I’m in control voice, pointed at the legos and stated robustly, (for a two year old little girl) ME PLAY”, pointing to the door she said, “YOU OUT”. Past experience clearly defined the words of her sweet little mouth! She was feeling threatened and taking a stance!

Do you find that there are times you are astounded at the words that come out and spew all over someone you love, when you open your sweet little “Christian” mouth? You are not alone!

Mathew 12:33-37

“Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit. “You brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak what is good? For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart. “The good man brings out of his good treasure what is good; and the evil man brings out of his evil treasure what is evil. “But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment.
“For by your words you will be justified,
and by your words you will be condemned.”

James 1:26 ESV

If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless.

We all have a past! Our past is riddled with all kinds of experiences good and bad. All of which are meant to give us a better grip on life! Experiences that God wants to take and weave into a beautiful testimony that will touch and bring hope and healing to others. Heart wounds are caused by addictions, emotional & physical abuse. Abandonment, rejection and verbal abuse can cause a huge crack in our hearts. Out of that crack will flow words that will either intentionally or unintentionally hurt others.

Brian Zahnd the founder and lead Pastor of “Word of Life Church” asks these questions in his book, “Unconditional”, “So what is your story? Who has been cruel to you? Perhaps bitterly cruel. What injustice have you suffered? How have you been mistreated? Perhaps miserably so. Who has cheated you? Abused you? Lied to you? Lied about you? Maybe it was last week. Maybe it was a lifetime ago.”

So often the pieces of our heart are held together by threads of un-forgiveness towards those who have hurt us, circumstances beyond our control and even anger toward God. Our broken hearts have not mended properly because consciously or sub-consciously we are still holding on to those hurts. Hurts we ourselves do not and will not ever have the power to heal. Sometimes we withhold our forgiveness because we actually think we can hurt the other person for hurting us.

Our mouth and what comes out of it is a barometer, if you will, of how healthy our heart is. If you find that you continually speak words that are opposing our “play by play” hand book, Gods Word, then I believe your heart needs His healing touch.
Lets look for a moment at some verses that help us to analyze if we have “heart trouble”.
Hebrews 12:15 ESV

See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled;

Roots of bitterness buried in a hurting heart will make their way to the surface of your life if not cut off at the pass. It may be today, it may be tomorrow. Scripture tells us you cannot bury a root of bitterness caused by unforgiveness. It WILL surface someday. It will surface because God desires reconciliation! Yes we may have been used, abandoned and abused in the past but if it is a Spirit filled life of loving others and being loved that you want for yourself you have to cut your way out of those tangled roots. How? How do you stop the onslaught of ugly verbiage that seeps out covering those we should hold near and dear with sludge? How do we face the one we haven’t spoken to for decades? Forgiveness is the answer. Forgiveness… Accepting Jesus forgiveness of your sins is the first step. Forgiving those who have hurt you is the second!

Mathew 6:14-15

“For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. “But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions”.

The key word in that scripture is “if”. Will you ask God to show you who it is that is holding you hostage to your past and not allowing you to step into a happy future. I will bet you already know without asking! Jesus loves you and wants to set you free.

It’s been said that to forgive is to set a prisoner free and then find out the prisoner was you!

The best reason of all to forgive is because God commands it! He knows the damage it does to us and the paralyzing hurt it causes those we love when the unforgiveness causes rejection and abandonment or the words of our mouths come from less than honorable hearts and rip and destroy those near and dear to us. The worse part of it all is that hurting people hurt people. So those we hurt will in turn hurt someone else and the dance goes on and on until Jesus cuts in!

Proverbs 18:21

Death and life are in the power of the tongue
and those who love it will eat its fruit

Mathew Henry had this to say about that verse.

A man may do a great deal of good, or a great deal of hurt, both to others and to himself, according to the use he makes of his tongue. Many a one has been his own death by a foul tongue, or the death of others by a false tongue; and, on the contrary, many a one has saved his own life, or procured the comfort of it, by a prudent gentle tongue, and saved the lives of others by a seasonable testimony or intercession for them. And, if by our words we must be justified or condemned, death and life are, no doubt, in the power of the tongue.

The real key to verses 19-21 lies in the preceding verse, Proverbs19:18

“A brother offended is harder to win than a strong city, and contentions are like the bars of a castle”.

Your rejection of another or your tongue could be setting up those around you for a life of destruction for which you will one day be held accountable for.

Mathew 12:36 says, “But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment.”

Forgiving someone does not mean they are or were right or justified in their words or actions. It means that you have made a choice. A very noble and a very wise choice to admit your hurt to God and tell Him you choose to forgive. You no longer want to be held captive to your past. It takes a lot of courage and guts to face this truth but you can do it! You can do all things through Him who gives you strength! Sit with God and tell Him how that person hurt you and how it made you feel. Tell Him that you choose to forgive him/her. Then walk out that forgiveness.

You may or may not share what you have done with that other person. Do what God leads you to do. It is very freeing for you to tell that person “you really hurt me but you know I just want you to know I forgive you”. Or to go to another and say, “You know I really hurt you by saying so many awful things. Will you forgive me?” Please remember- No Buts! No details! Short and sweet! Dont allow those roots to re-tangle. You are sincerely just being obedient to Christ! He will in turn be faithful to bring healing!

Another thing is crucial. When the enemy comes with his negative, lying thoughts (and he will whisper sweet nothings in your ear to get you riled up) stand firm in the decision you made, NO MATTER WHAT! Tell him, “I have been forgiven and I have forgiven”! There will then be “fruit” of that forgiveness somewhere, somehow!

Forgiving does not mean forgetting. So many respond when I share this, “How can I forgive when I can never forget?” You are choosing to walk in God’s truth by forgiving. Leave the forgetting up to Him! To intentionally hold back your forgiveness of another person is to directly oppose God’s Word!

Mark Twain said, “Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.”

Jesus wants to take the broken threads of your heart and weave them into a beautiful testimony of what His love can do. A testimony of freedom, and a heart that overflows with life. Like the crushed violet, allow Him to make you a fragrant offering to God and to those around you!

Mathew 12:33-37

33“Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit. 34“You brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak what is good? For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart. 35“The good man brings out of his good treasure what is good; and the evil man brings out of his evil treasure what is evil. 36“But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment. 37“For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

Do You Feel Like A Donkey in A Pit?

In the fitness industry there is a very common saying that’s used to encourage those who are experiencing misery after a workout.  When your legs feel like-rubber-bands and your maximus gluteus screams when you try sitting after a buns of steel class, it’s with little sympathy our instructor will perkily declare “No pain no gain”… and while we would all like our pain to grow wings and take flight whether after boot camp, a fab Abs class, or blow to our emotional well being. That pain never just flies away!   It takes pain and suffering to have buns of steal or six pack abs!  It takes patience, time and dedication. Muscle fibers must be torn down and experience  little microscopic tares which your body then repairs building stronger muscles.  Physical pain that causes us to become stronger physically  can be compared to the emotional pain we experience.   it is through those trying times of adversity that God, like our bodies, builds us up, growing us stronger and firmer in our faith!

Emotional pain can be inflicted on us by others, from circumstances beyond our control, stress from a job situation, death of a loved one,  cruel words or abusive treatment, etc.  Sometimes the “others” are those we love and care about.  There is little if any pain if a stranger abuses you verbally.  While we don’t like it and hope to avoid it in the future, It hurts a whole lot less than being verbally abused by someone you love and whose relationship you value.  While we can’t always control the pain that “comes knocking the wind out of our sails” we can remember the principle of “no pain, no gain”.

Long ago I heard this parable about a donkey and a farmer.  It always helps to recall the story when life gets painfully tough!

One day, a donkey fell into a pit. The animal cried and whined for hours while his owner tried to figure out what to do. Finally, the farmer decided that since the animal was old, and the pit needed to be covered up anyway, he’d just bury the old donkey right there. He got a shovel and started filling in the pit. The donkey kept up its wailing, but then fell silent. After an hour of furious shoveling, the farmer paused to rest. To his amazement, he saw his old donkey jump out of the pit and trot away!

At first, when the donkey realized what was happening, he cried even more piteously. But then the wise animal hit on a plan. As each spadeful of dirt hit his back, the donkey would shake it off and take a step up on the growing mound of earth. Eventually, the mound grew high enough for him to jump out of the pit.

Life is going to shovel dirt on you, all kinds of dirt. At times you may feel you are being buried alive! Rest assured that God will not waste one shovel full of that dirt! Only you can choose to waste it! We can get out of the deepest of pits by stopping the whining and crying and looking for God in the suffering and pain of adversity.   Know that Jesus’ hand is always reaching down for you as you make your way out of the pit.  Sometimes His hand may be in the form of a friend, counselor or coach but it is always there and you will come out of the pit.

God tells us in His Word that no weapon formed against us shall prosper.  His exact words in Isaiah 54:17 (NKJV) says it very clearly…

No weapon formed against you shall prosper,
And every tongue which rises against you in judgment
You shall condemn.
This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord,
And their righteousness is from Me,”
Says the Lord.

As we seek to grow in the light of His presence… change will come!  Ask yourself and God some tough questions, like could I have handled things differently?  Is there something I need to learn?  What is the lesson in this for me?  Do I need to learn to love more, forgive more, laugh more, judge less?  Am I, have I reacted to my circumstances or reflected my Lord?  And harder still, “Am I a true servant of Christ?”  We need to be bold in our assessment of our situation… Yes sometimes circumstances are beyond our control, however, very often God is shining His Holy flashlight on areas of our life that need a little attention, a little refiners fire!

David wrote in Psalm 40:1-4…

I waited patiently for the LORD;  And He inclined to me and heard my cry.

He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay,

 And He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm.

He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God;

Many will see and fear, And will trust in the LORD.

How blessed is the man who has made the LORD his trust..

Some of the wisest people I know have lived through horrific circumstances and yet many of them will tell you today, “If I could go back in time and do that part of my life all over, I wouldn’t change a thing”  Why?  Because it was that very pain that sharpened their character and made them the loving caring compassionate person that they are today!  It was that very pain that taught them how to love God and others, to forgive and grow more like Jesus!

 We can stand at the cross road and choose to wallow in the muck when hit with a shovel of dirt or like my friend the donkey… we can choose to step up and shake it off not allowing the pain or our past to define our present and future.  We can choose to not let the past steal our joy and affect our relationships but to look at those areas in our lives that have caused hurt and ask ourselves the tough questions.   Remember it took some work on the donkeys part to get out of the pit.  He had to keep stepping up.  It takes some pain to have buns of steal or six pack abs.  And it will take some patience, endurance, and perseverance from you.  Jesus will pull you out of the pit but it starts with a choice!  Step up and shake the past off and move forward towards a better future!

Big MIKE… little mike!

Father forgive them for they know not what they do!

Some of Jesus last words as he hung on the cross.Truer words have not been spoken!  Jesus fulfilled His destiny.  We too are destined by God to fullfill our purpose if we believe! God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us.

Sitting at a Seder table, celebrating the Passover on Holy Thursday a couple and their little boy sat down across from us.  My friend said to the little boy, “Whats your name?”  “Mike” he said. As we introduced ourselves to the couple, they in turn introduced their selves as Amanda and Mike.  Oh, Judy said, your “big Mike”.  Quickly and loudly so everyone would hear, the little guy proudly piped up and said, “And I’m LITTLE MIKE!”  I sensed that had his name been Charlie or John he wouldn’t have been quite so proud.  But he had been called by his fathers name.  Mike.  It was evident that he was elated to have the same name as his daddy.  Throughout the meal he would listen to the Seder readings and instructions and then turn to watch “Big Mike”.  When “Big Mike” broke his matzoh so did little Mike. When Big MIke dipped his parsley in salt water to represent the tears shed by the Hebrews during slavery, so did little Mike.

1 Peter 1:3-5 (NASB) says,

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

Nothing we did!  Nothing we do will ever deserve what God did for us!  It was all grace!  It was all mercy!  Just as His birthday was a gift to us, likewise His dying and resurrection was an even greater gift of grace.  Through the death and resurrection of Jesus we are given a living hope and, if we admit we are sinners – believe – and commit to trust Him with out lives, doing life His way, not in our own ability but in the power He has given us, we are given ETERNAL life.

1 Thessalonians 5:4-11

…for you are all sons of light and sons (and daughters!) of day. We are not of night nor of darkness; so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober. For those who sleep do their sleeping at night, and those who get drunk get drunk at night. But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with Him. Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing.

Searching the web I found hundreds of video’s of babies and children caught on camera imitating their daddies sneeze, smile, mannerisms and yes unfortunately even curse words!  Just like little Mike children grow up to be imitators of their parents!  While this tells us that we need to be careful what little eyes hear and see, it is also a great example of how we too should imitate our Heavenly Father!

Like little Mike, we are called by our Fathers name!  We are Christ followers!  We have inherited His Spirit!  Are we watching closely to see what our Heavenly Daddy does?

He tells us, to those who believe He has given us power- incomparably great power, power that is like the working of His mighty strength!  The same power that raised Christ from the dead!  (Ephesians 1:19)

He has given us the power in Christ to say of those who have transgressed against us… who played a part in the drama of our life, who have despised, abandoned and rejected us… lied and caused us pain, tears, and anguish, “I forgive them for they know not what they do.”  Just as He, Jesus, said of those who crucified Him, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”  Amazing!  Maybe its time we get out of the boat!  Maybe its time we do what seems like the impossible and be imitators of our Heavenly Father!

NEW EASTER OUTFIT FROM GOD…with LOVE

Amazing that God the Father of the universe, the One who spoke the sun, moon and stars into existence, the creator of the mountains rivers, streams and oceans, the inspiration for all living creatures, Author of the Word of truth, the giver of the breath of life…CHOSE YOU! He chose YOU… and even more unbelievably He chose me!

Today as I think about the cross and His intense love for us I am humbled to tears!  I am so unworthy of anyone loving me so much, let alone dying for me.  So underserving.  Yet while we were still wearing the garments of sin, He chose the nails and He chose us!

Colossians 3:12 tells me that not only did He choose you and me but it calls us holy and dearly loved.  Hard to believe isn’t it?  That we can be called holy and dearly loved by the Master of the Universe that knows every breath we take and every word we utter?

Clothe yourself with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience, He tells us.  Then in His tender loving way in verse 13 He tells us why.  Because we are a difficult people to live with. We are not always dressed to the nines!  We sometimes forget, “Whose we are” and “Who it was that CHOSE us.  Our clothes are tattered and torn.  We wear the cloak of pride and selfishness.  The soles of our “shoes of peace” are worn, our toes threaten to break through at any moment and claim their independence.  We forget we wear the helmet of salvation and our breast plate is cracked.  The belt of truth is much too loose and our Sword of the Spirit should be as sharp as our tongue!  Our new clothes of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience are dirty and need to be cleaned and pressed.

Yes we can be a difficult people. We forget that GOD is the One who has chosen our circle of family and friends.  He is in control of the old man driving 10 miles an hour in front of us when we are late for our appointment!  He who is in control of the earth turning and tides ebb and flow, places each and every person in our lives just where He wants them… and yes we can be difficult to do life with.  I know this because why else would Paul write for us to “bear with one another” and forgive one another whatever grievances you may have against one another..  Forgive as the Lord forgave you and me! “  He knew how hard it would be to voice those two little words “I’m sorry”-  to put aside our pride and answer, “it’s okay.  I forgive you”. To bear with one another!  To “bury the hatchet”.  Yes bury the hatchet and quiet the tongue.  Recently someone said those two little words with the BIG impact to me.  And out it wanted to come, chop, chop, chop!  Our sinful nature wants to just keep chop chop chopping at those we’ve hurt and those who have hurt us.  But Christ put to death our sinful nature on the cross, now we are to pick up our little crosses, put on our new clothes and follow HIM! 

Christ tells us to forgive as the Lord forgave us.  To take our dirty laundry to the Laundromat of the cross .  On Good Friday, the day we remember what He did for us, I encourage you to think about who you may need to simply say “I’m sorry to… Who may have said it to you  and you chopped with the hatchet of your tongue.  Put on the Easter outfit Christ bought for you today!  Let us clean and wash our tongues and dirty clothes in the blood of Jesus;

Forgive as He forgave us… And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in PERFECT UNITY and let the PEACE of Christ rule in your hearts…  Colossians 3:12-15  Remember, He chose the nails and He chose YOU!

Colossians 3:12-15

(NIV)

 ¹² Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. ¹³ Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. ¹⁴ And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

 ¹⁵ Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.