The Power of Speech

James 3 v 6 "The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell." v9 "With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness."

I was visiting Mrs Wibbz in cyberspace today, reading her blog that included a section about the appropriateness of how/when/how much of your life you share and thought I would follow that up with some thoughts of my own.

I never liked going to bible studies or group situations where people share part of themselves. I used to think it was pointless talking about the past. More recently I started to get jealous of people who were able to share their history, to share their story. I wanted to do the same, to be able to say...this is me! this is what I do! this is who I am! And yet I couldn't. I could never speak out anything about myself, about where I am coming from, even sometimes just my thoughts and opinions on things. For years I have never been able to do that, I get uncomfortable, even at home group situations. I used to think it was because of me, because I was basically rubbish that I could never share that same level of stuff. And yet now I realise differently. I just simply wasn't ready. God had to bring me to a place, put godly people around me and have His Holy Spirit show me, how and when to share. You see for me the time is now, the time to talk is now. I'm entering into a new place with God, with my friends, even with my husband.

I used to think that if only I could share, if only I could get it out, then I would be a better person, then I would feel better. It was all about me. Now I see and understand that yes, God does desire my healing, yes God does want me to be free...but its not about me. Its about glorifying Him. You see in my healing, I am free to serve God, I am free to worship Him, I am free to do His will. Thats what it is about. Not about me, not about you. I realise now that at some point in my life I had made a sort of pact with the devil (unconsciously!) not to talk about stuff that I'd been through....and over time this just covered more and more areas until I just didn't talk about anything beyond the weather (seriously!). Having spoken out I know already that bonds have been broken and that Satan has taken a huge blow. No longer will I remain silent, no longer will I allow the evil one to rob me. Yes there is more healing to come, yes there are layers upon layers of things to peel back, to pray through, to seek guidance from godly, wise people (Praise God that He put these wonderful people around me!). No doubt there will be more to share.

But in all this, I exercise caution. I only share because I know that it is God's purpose to refine me. One day I will stand in front of my Lord and Saviour and be accountable for my time spent on earth and I want to be able to say that in everything I did, I glorified God. I want to experience that healing in full to bring further glory to Him who has such abundant and everlasting love for me. Its in no way about me and it is in no way about other people. Thank you Jesus for bringing me to such a place!