His Encouragement #129

Welcome to His Encouragement Thursday! I don’t know about you, but Thursdays are my struggle day of the week. By Thursday, I have already been working hard at school and at home, and I just wish it would hurry up and be Friday already. LOL! I definitely need a little extra Jesus time on Thursdays.

Trisha, my blogger friend at Joy of Reading, and I decided on calling this post “His Encouragement” because our real source of peace, strength, and security can only come from Jesus Christ. He and He alone is our constant! We pray and hope that these Thursday posts become a real encouragement to you and help you end your week strong in God’s love and purpose for you. God bless!

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Today’s Thursday Encouragement comes from:

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.

Ephesians 4:29 (ESV)

I have a wicked tongue and I know A LOT of words. I have the gift for using words to hurt others. I’m not proud of it, and I work exhaustively hard every day to overcome it, but that is one of my truths.

With the way the world is today, I find myself struggling more and more with my words. Some days I wish God would just take my voice away for a while so the words wouldn’t come out of my mouth. But that really doesn’t solve anything, which is why He hasn’t taken my voice. Words that come out of my mouth illustrate what’s really in my heart. Turning off my voice isn’t enough to make my heart better.

One thing that does help me remember to check my heart before I speak are the words Jesus spoke in Matthew 12:36-37 (ESV): “I tell you, on the day of judgement people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

Choosing words that build up rather than tear down is a lot easier to do when I keep in mind that one day, no matter what, I will be called in front of God and I will be commanded to give account for ALL my words.

Checking my words is not easy, especially in today’s world with all the injustice, violence, and stupidity happening, but disappointing God hurts my heart more than wanting to say that perfect zinger.

God, I pray not to lose my voice, but to lose the hate that seems to really fill my heart these days. Please help me guard my tongue for sure, but more than that … help me guard my heart. Show me people the way you see them. I pray this in Your Name, Jesus Christ!

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NOW, IT’S YOUR TURN!

WHAT BIBLICAL VERSE IS ENCOURAGING YOU TODAY?

Check out more Thursday Encouragement from my fellow blogger friends:

Trisha @ Joy of Reading

Jacquelyn @ A Heavenly Home

Jessica @ A Baker’s Perspective

Becca @ The Becca Files

Gina @ Stories by Gina

Rebecca @ Rev. Rebecca Writes

Andi @ Radiant Light

Leslie @ Words of Hope

Claudia @ Claudia Moser

Keneesha @ Women Loving God’s Way