Mouth and Tongue Management

UV 4188/10000 Mouth and Tongue Management Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; Keep watch over the door to my lips ( to keep me from speaking thoughtlessly). Psalm 141 The secret of happiness, good relationships, good reputation, good fortune, success lies right inside our mouth. How to manage our mouths and our tongues is a lifelong challenge that (I have yet to master or overcome). We cannot do mouth management without the Lord’s help, the grace provided by the Holy Spirit. About Jesus, it is prophesied in the Psalms, that there was no guile or deceit in His words. Hence, such a man is deemed to be perfect in the sight of God as James says. We need to model ourselves on Jesus. He never spoke a thoughtless word. Hence, Jesus said, “ Learn from Me as I am humble and gentle.” Words that are called the fruit of the lips are meant to save people,help them, build their faith and not to destroy it. We need to learn to bridle our tongues or ride it as a man rides a horse. In other words, the tongue has ten times the power of the rest of the organs like the horse to shape our days and our lives. We need grace or divine anointing on our mouths. We need to pray constantly, asking the Lord to help us in this regard, to set an effective guard over our mouths. Our mouths should not become “open sepulchres” that bury our future. Our default mode should not be an open mouth but a tight lipped one if we are to be wise. We must have a word of God always riding or connected to the tongue like the reins of a horse. To take the metaphor further, the word says that we should muzzle ourselves like a horse in the presence of the wicked, lest a word we speak affects our well being or the wicked take a word out of us and use it against us. The tongue has power both for good and evil, life and death and we must harness it as a force for good and not evil, for life, abundant life and not death. Many of the things we say often leaves the door wide open for the enemy to act in our lives, against our best interests. Believers need to keep confessing positive things, not the things we see and hear but what we believe or see with our inner eye, the eye of faith. We need the Holy Spirit to anoint our mouths, lips, vocal chords, the powerful speech center in the human brain, our emotions so that the words that emanate therefrom bring glory to God, share His grace, His love, the other fruit of the Spirit with the hearers. The mouth speaks what the heart and mind are full of and so we should not only guard our mouths with the help of the Lord but be mindful of what occupies our hearts and minds. Not only does the Psalmist in the above uni-verse plead with Jehovah God, the Lord to set a strong guard at the door of his mouth but he asks the Lord Himself to watch over it. It is almost as if he believes that only the Omnipotent One is potent or powerful enough to rein in the reckless tongue, that spark that incites violence, evil, lies, abuse, negativity all round through speaking ill of others, gossip, slander, boasting, vulgarity and so on. The source of much conflict in human relationships, whether at home or in the workplace or even in the public places and streets is an undisciplined tongue. The first line of defence is keeping a tightly closed mouth with intent not to speak unless it is warranted. The second line of defence is to allow the specific word of God connected with communication to be always under, over and at the tip of the tongue. Before speaking a single word, we can run it through the Holy Spirit for it is written that the Holy Spirit will teach us what to speak. We must always endeavour to speak a wholesome word that does not harm others but is helpful, encouraging, positive, joyful, edifying. Running our words through many scriptural filters will keep us from faltering. Another effective antiseptic for the mouth is to fill it with praise and words to honour and thank the Lord all day long.