Leadership, God’s way: governing in the fear of the Lord.
Please read James chapter 3
James 3:1 ¶ My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation.
2 For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able
also to bridle the whole body.
Controlling the Tongue
NLT James: 3 Dear brothers and sisters,[a] not many of you should become teachers in the church, for we who teach will be judged more strictly.2 Indeed, we all make many mistakes. For if we could control our tongues, we would be perfect and could also control ourselves in every other way.
Want to be perfect?
I do like this verse in James, because the Word of God shows us how to do it.
We know that as we grow in the things of God, and are promoted and given resource and responsibility, we are expected to continually remember that we are but stewards of God over the things He has given us, and we are wise to seek Him diligently, humbly, often for His help to continually do right.
Here we see a faithful, productive leader described:
Mt 24:45 Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? (meat today equals food, jobs, opportunity, justice and truth for starters)
Mt 24:46 Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.,
Notice here that Jesus himself watches over our work. We are His children and ambassadors in the earth, but there is clearly an Almighty throne in heaven that speaks and judges the affairs of men.
Ps 82:1 God presides over heaven’s court;
he pronounces judgment on the heavenly beings:
That would be us, saints..
Then there is the selfish, self centered leader:
Luke 12:48 But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.
We will give an account of our leadership, and will be judged for it.
Sure God is love, and is raising us up to be set in position, and when in position, is still growing, promoting, and expanding us, for the sake of the harvest!
Yet, I see here one of the ways we can measure our own development: our words.
We cannot bridle our own tongues, the Scripture states, but the Holy Spirit can!
He can help us shut our mouths, and will purify our hearts and motives, if we let Him.
Lu 6:45 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.
We see that the words that we speak, reflect what is in our hearts, and if we want to do what Jesus said:
Mt 5:48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
How can any person be perfect? It’s impossible!
No! It is not!
Mt 12:36 But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.
The word idle here means: non working, or non productive.
We should be living lives of purpose, and using our words on purpose, to work both in the Spirit, and naturally. All of our words, should be working words, productive words, words of faith, that God can use to get things done here in the earth.
Mt 6:34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
This is the season of life I find myself in, one day at a time, looking at what words I am speaking that day, and how well am I bringing them to pass.
Don’t waste your words, use them on purpose to declare the promises of God, and tighten the reign on what you promise people that you are going to do.
Application:
1. If you have made promises that you cannot fulfill, confess your sin before God and trust Him to clean up the mess you’ve made. Ask Him for favor with the people you have let down.
2. Contact the people, wherever possible, and tell them. Ask for their forgiveness, and offer to do what you can to fix the mistake you made. If you cannot fix it, do not commit! Leave your case before God.
3. Separate yourself from people or situations that continually cause you to break your word. Negative people, places, and things need to go in your life. You do not have to respond to every telephone call or email, but can quietly obey God and be led by the Holy Spirit as to what to do about creditors, painful relationships, or abusive situations. The servant of the Lord does not strive,
2Ti 2:24 And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient,
If someone is offended, determined to pick a fight, and unreasonable, quietly eliminate them from your life, gently, with no rancor, bitterness, nor wrath, our primary responsibility is to walk right before God, not them.
Eventually, God will do one of two things with them, Pr 16:7 When a man’s ways please the LORD, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.
Along the way, He may need to get their attention, and Ps 110:1 «A Psalm of David.» The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.
We are called to love our enemies, when He delivers them into our hands, we must be humble and seek to restore them, for our motive is never self vindication, rather, the expansion of His kingdom!
4. Deliberately keep an account of our words, each day! Whether in morning devotion, take a pen and paper, and write down your personal directives from the Lord, and the things you SAID you were going to do the day before. If you got them done! Glory! If not, repeat steps one through three as required, and then do what you need to do, that day!
5. When you are not sure what to say, or are radically tempted to say something you know you cannot, pray in other tongues. Emotions are powerful things, but they must come under the Lordship of Jesus! Bridling our tongue is a work of the Holy Spirit, and He gave this gift, not as a badge of spirituality, but as an enduement of power to get things done in the earth. Remember, when we pray in the Spirit, our heart of hearts, our human spirit, is speaking directly to God, the exact and perfect will of God for our lives, personally. Some of things that need to be said, you do not have enough knowledge or understanding to pray yet, so Holy Spirit comes along and does for us, what we cannot do for ourselves, and prays through us, perfect, Holy prayer. Holy Spirit prayer must be a part of our daily walk with Jesus, for only He knows the times, seasons, relationships, and reasons for the circumstances we face daily.
https://chrisaomministries.wordpress.com/2014/11/27/is-speaking-in-other-tongues-of-god/
https://www.chrisaomministries.com/2016/05/04/another-look-at-speaking-in-tongues/
He wants to help, reveal, deliver, work miracles, and provide myriad other tapestries of grace into the earth through us. We truly need Him and His wisdom to do this.
Perfection means perfect words, each day!
One day at a time!
Let’s Pray:
‘Father, I fully surrender to you again, today! Set a clamp on my mouth to NOT say things that are wrong to you. Help me to know what I must say, and what I must only Pray, in Your name I pray Lord Jesus. Amen’