Scripture reading: James 3:5-6
In order to become overcomers, we need the “Truth in the inward parts.” Open up and let the light of God shine in. We have been duped by Satan too long, and this is the time when Michael the archangel is casting him out of the temple of God. In Leviticus 11 we read of the “Abominable Fowls”. The first category speaks of the “predators”. There are predator spirits that are using men in the church, and before we can deal with this in the church at large we must deal with it in ourselves. “Speak the Truth in Our Hearts.”
Matthew 12:34-35, “O generation of vipers, how can ye being evil speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things; And an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.”
Sometimes we wonder why the gift of the Spirit does not work as it ought to. The wrong use of the tongue can be a hindrance to the gift of the Spirit, especially when it is a gift which uses the tongue – prophecy, interpretation of tongues, tongues, teaching, preaching, etc. The following scripture bears this point out:
James 3:11-12, “Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter? Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? either a vine, figs? so can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh.”
I have seen good beautiful ministry gifts corrupted by evil thoughts and evil speaking. In my many years of ministry I have seen many ministries destroyed by listening to the wrong people and talking when they should have been praying. The worst thing that could be done to a preacher is to tell him or her the business of the congregation he visits. In one memorable instance I saw a messenger sent of God to a congregation with a true message: “There is a house dog in this congregation,” said he, “that will bring havoc among you.” After the meeting, the very person who should have been corrected by the prophecy, took the prophet aside and showed him someone else as the “house dog”.
Like the story of the young prophet and the old prophet; the young prophet was completely deceived. This is the reason why a prophet is not just one who prophesies; a teacher is not just one who teaches; a preacher is not just one who preaches; BUT the prophet is one who attained a certain degree of excellence in God and has been called, trained, tried, commissioned and sent of God; so also in a lesser degree is the teacher and every other God anointed ministry. Men want to go before they are sent. What is the REWARD? Nothing but hay, wood, and stubble. Men are trading eternal things for trash. What does it profit a man if he should gain all the gold in the world and be a loser with God?
James 3:5-6, “Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: So is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.”
Colossians 3:5, “Mortify therefore your members which are on the earth…”
Romans 8:13, “For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.”
(Excerpt from The Omega Message, August 1983)
Thought for today: When a man is saved, his tongue should also be saved, for that matter every member of his body should be saved.
Sonlight Devotional 