Category Archives: Snared by words

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“Learning to just say… NOT SO!”

” And it came to pass, that on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child; and they called him Zacharias, after the name of his father. And his mother answered and said, NOT SO; BUT HIS NAME SHALL BE CALLED JOHN.” LUKE 1:59,60

Now the deal with this is that at that time sons were usually named by the father and after the father, but his name had come not from man but from God and knowing this, Elisabeth quickly spoke in the babies defense with NOT SO.

How often do we accept the names and titles wrongfully given to us and our children, not once arguing our own NOT SO! ?

I have written in the past about names and titles and the damage they can do but this was on my heart so strong concerning what does it do to our children, our families, and even us when do not loudly proclaim NOT SO at the wounding words and accusations of others? And what role will it play in ultimately fulfilling our destinies?

What if Zacharias and Elisabeth had disobeyed the voice of the angel of the Lord? What if they had chosen to name this child any name other than the commanded John? Well, we know of a certainty, “John the Baptist” would not have existed, all that was spoken, even in that time, among those who heard him and those who hated him, would never have been uttered and the destined place in the cosmic scheme of all things would have been void and John’s namesake message of GRACE might not have been so quickly proclaimed. 

Of course I know God is sovereign and God uses who He wants, when He wants, but I am just stirring your thoughts to the fact that this was PREDESTINED, PREORDAINED, and that I think many of us are fighting battles and fighting against that predestination by being caught up in names that we have accepted but God NEVER chose to call us or others. 

I can never think of names without thinking of the name of my sister, Ruby, who is my “sister-sister” natural sister and spiritual sister. When her name was in my Mom’s heart, it could have not been more perfect, she is beautiful inside and out, has so much compassion that she cries when others cry and missed her calling as a “Florence Nightingale” (notice the image of a loving nurse popped right up, ah.. the power of a name) due to care and nurture of the sick and wounded. And she truly has been a precious jewel placed in our family and we do thank God for her.

And I think especially of children, when labels are placed on them, especially when they HEAR these labels and all the negativity and self-doubt that those labels immediately cover them in and I do wonder what if, what if those labels change?

What if someone boldly stands and says, NOT SO! I wonder about times when people make accusations and spread gossip about others, especially, IN CHURCHES, often with the “But don’t mention it….” attached to it, ( I am meaning when people tell you the most awful things a person has done or supposedly still doing, and are attacking their character and accusing them to you, while wanting to stay anonymous, behind the others back with them not even aware they are being slandered) we are never to judge someone or listen to “charges” against them without first consulting that person to hear their side of the story, but often we choose to see the worst in others and become, judge, jury, and executioner without ever affording that person a “trail”.

And “as we judge, so shall we be judged” so we can be assured that somewhere along the way, someone will backbite, trash talk, and harm our reputation without us having the benefit of speaking on our behalf in the matter.

And in hindsight, which we all know it the greatest of all sight, I look with terrible, terrible regret at times when I should have stood on behalf of others and myself and screamed NOT SO!

Many “old timers warned of the ability to kill with words, to murder another’s reputation and in doing so we are in effect breaking the sixth  commandment, “Thou shalt not kill”. Because we are killing them with the power of that untamable beast and yet we don’t want it mentioned….of course they SAY they do not want to “stir up” trouble, but trouble is exactly want they want stirred.

This could never be discussed without a trip to the Old Testament and going down that tortuously, long hard road that Joseph trod. From the verse, in which his Mother, gives him, HIS name:

GENESIS 30:24: “And she called his name, Joseph; and said the Lord shall add to me another son.” To the naming of HIS sons;

GENESIS 41:51,52: ” And Joseph called the name of the firstborn MANASSEH  (fortified), for God, said he, hath made me FORGET ALL MY TOIL, and ALL my father’s house.

And the name of the second called he EPHRAIM(fruitful),; for God hath CAUSE ME TO BE FRUITFUL IN THE LAND OF MY AFFLICTION.”

And we can travel that road reading his story until words would be fulfilled about his very bones over four hundred years later:

EXODUS 13:19: “And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him: for he (Joseph) had straightly sworn (placed under a solemn oath) the children of Israel, saying, GOD WILL SURELY VISIT YOU; and ye shall carry up my bones away hence with you.”

So Joseph’s namesake “add to” surely was fulfilled, but what about all the names and titles he had to have faith to ignore on that road? Hated by his brothers because of their jealously, he endured, that time equivalent to “brat”, “pet”, and “Daddy’s boy”, and suffered by their hands, now we add  “rejected”, “abused” “hated to death”, Finally “slave” falsely accused and imprisoned, he would have been labeled “rapist” and after those he helped remembered him no more, and as two years went by, he could have easily been labeled “forgotten and forsaken” but he NEVER allowed these labels to adhere to him and he held onto FAITH, that these names, these “titles”, these labels were NOT SO!

Can you imagine the pain, not only of the hurt and anguish he felt at the realization that they did indeed HATE him, but to be ripped away from all he had ever known and loved? But as God brought him out and brought him up, he chose to name his children,  “fortified” strengthen and protected, causing him to FORGET ALL his father’s house, all he suffered and unfortunately the pain of the loss of all he loved.

And “fruitful”, because he said GOD HAD MADE HIM FRUITFUL IN THE LAND OF HIS AFFLICTION. Many, many times he could have just laid it down, he could have lost hope and gave into to voices calling lies over him, and walked out on his destiny, but he chose to BELEIVE in his heart that these heartaches and struggles were only for a little while and when the enemies tried to convince him otherwise, he would remember in his heart what his father had taught, he would rest in his God and know all the lies and false labels had no power over him.

So I want to ask you today, what labels have been applied to you? What labels have been falsely attached to your family, your children? What words, names, and titles do you need to ask the Lord to tear down and break the yoke of those strangling, binding words today, because they HAVE POWER, but GOD HAS MORE!

But God gives us freewill and we must CHOOSE what voice we will hear and what we are willing to accept and we must have courage through the word of God to CHOOSE to hear what HE says about us.

As the Bible states, “Let God be true, and every man a liar”  DO NOT allow others to label you and for the love of God, never let the label children or the elderly while they are in “earshot”, what we hear, we tend to believe and if WE BELEIVE OTHERS THINK US BAD,SICK, OR MENTALLY UNSTABLE , okay, guess what? BAD, SICK, and MENTALLY UNSTABLE WE SHALL BE!

But if YOU choose to say to that person (or yourself) NOT SO! And offer instead to that person a word of hope, healing, or encouragement, and peace, that can change their mindset and MAYBE change the final outcome of that life. Find scripture and use them.

Afraid? “He hath not given us a SPIRIT of fear, but of a SOUND MIND”

Sick? “HE IS risen with healing in his wings”

Tired? COME UNTO ME…..I WILL GIVE THEE REST.”

Every single problem we can have, THERE IS  a word for that problem, use a reference Bible, go online and search scriptures for…… and use them, when everything and everyone around you says you are defeated…. NOT SO! “We ARE MORE THAN CONQUERS THROUGH HIM THAT LOVED US.”

Think about it today, don’t look back years from now when damage is done ( I do hold to the belief that THERE IS NO DAMAGE THAT GOD CAN NOT UNDO, but if it can be avoided, it will save much heartache) and wish you had said NOT SO! to thoughts, labels, titles, and the voices of others, regardless of WHOSE MOUTHS those wrong voices are coming out of! God and GOD ALONE holds your past, present, and future and HE IS the author and finisher of your faith.

He started you, he wrote your story and HE IS more than able to take a tragic beginning and compose into it the world’s most triumphant work! What HE starts in all of us, HE WILL finish. So again, please, please please, (see I really, really pleaded with you) DO NOT ACCEPT ANYONES thoughts, labels, and TRASH, just say, satan (they are his agents) THAT”S JUST NOT SO!

Φλογιζω Σαλπιζω NBJ 2016

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Willful Words

“Set a watch (guard), O Lord, before my mouth; keep the door of my mouth” PSALM 141:3

Most honorable of prayers and desires of the Lord. Our words truly can be of life or of death as the Bible so clearly tells us. Ours words can hold encouragement and hope and our words can tear down and destroy. We are also told that by and through the words of God we are kept from the destroyer, but how about we our OWN words can be that vehicle of destruction?

This is truly not about “speaking over”, although I do believe we should speak hope over all things and it is not a hit on lashing out, God knows I have made more than enough mistakes with my own mouth and immediately felt such conviction that there wasn’t a rock I could hide under and we all know that sorry, no matter how sincere those words are, can never go back and change the hurt that has been done.

No, this about the need for us to be so careful, so thoughtful in ALL we say, and taking a moment, especially in times of hurt, sorrow, and anger to just not say anything because those gushed out words of woe will undoubtedly come flying back home, when we least want to be visited. It is not just anger, it is times of “lack” and confusion and the temptation to pronounce all sorts of horror over your own life, especially in the areas of that it has always been that way and always will be that way and that alone is defeat and it is not the devil’s doing, maybe he is pulling the strings but when you feel that tug, think of Jesus and SPEAK not a word.

Again, I am not into the “speaking” thing, if  a request is NOT God’s will, we can “speak” until the cows come home and it is still not going to happen. But we do need to be careful not to speak discouragement because that is the first sign of “heart” trouble, we are only relying what we feel, but we can’t afford to feel failure and defeat, because it will “become us”. 

“My son, if thou be surety (collateral) for thy friend, if thou hast stricken thy hand with a stranger, Thou art SNARED with the words of thy mouth, thou art TAKEN with the words of thy mouth.” PROVERBS 6:1,2

We can be snared, trapped, and hindered by our own words and words spoken with, to, and on the behalf of others. I want to show you the power of these proclamations, the regret, and the unbreakable bind they do bring.

First, we’ll go to the book of Judges and learn the valuable lesson of WAITING on the Lord and not prematurely vowing things to Him, God loves us, it is His good pleasure to give us victories, even maybe when victories don’t look exactly like we thought they would, but this story is a good warning to all of us.

Jephthah wanted victory and he wanted assurance of that victory, JUDGES 11:30-35: “And Jephthah vowed a vow unto the Lord, and said, if thou shalt without fail deliver the children of Ammon into mine hands.

Then shall it be, that WHATSOEVER cometh forth of the doors of MY HOUSE to MEET ME, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, SHALL SURELY BE THE LORDS, AND I WILL OFFER IT UP FOR A BURNT OFFERING.”

Needless to say, he had his victory, but GOD HAD NEVER ASKED HIM TO MAKE A VOW, remember that, this was his own freewill that had been talking, drop down to verse thirty-four:

“And Jephthah came to Mizpeh unto HIS HOUSE, and behold, HIS DAUGHTER CAME OUT TO MEET HIM with timbrels and with dances; and SHE WAS HIS ONLY CHILD; beside her he had neither son nor daughter.

And it came to pass, when he saw her, he rent (tore) his clothes, and said, Alas, my daughter! thou hast brought me very low, and thou art as one that trouble me: FOR I HAVE OPENED MY MOUTH UNTO THE LORD, AND I CANNOT GO BACK.”

He was bound by his words, words that were never required of him but tragically binding nevertheless. Many other examples, but I want to use this one:

MARK 6:17-26: “For Herod himself had sent forth and laid hold upon John, and bound him in prison for Herodias sake, his brother Philip’s wife, for he had married her (so it was to appease her) For John had said unto Herod, it is not lawful for thee to have thy brother’s wife.

Therefore Herodias had a quarrel against him, and would have killed him, but she could not, For Herod feared John, knowing that he was a just man and an holy (holy man) and observed (protected) him, he did many things, and HEARD HIM GLADLY. 

And when a CONVENIENT day was come, that Herod on his birthday made a supper to his lords, high captains, and chief estates of Galilee; And when the daughter of Herodias came in and danced, and pleased Herod and THEM THAT SAT WITH HIM, the king SAID unto the damsel, ASK OF ME WHATSOEVER THOU WILT, AND I WILL GIVE IT TO THEE.

And he SWARE unto her, Whatsoever thou shalt asked of me, I will give thee, up top half the kingdom. And she went forth, and said unto her mother, What shall I ask? And she said, The head of John the Baptist. And she came straightway with haste unto the king, and asked, saying, I will that thou give me by and by (at once) in a  charger (on a platter) the head of John the Baptist.

And the King WAS EXCEEDING SORRY: yet, FOR HIS OATH’S SAKE and FOR THEIR SAKES THAT SAT WITH HIM, HE WOULD NOT REJECT (refuse) HER.” 

And we all know that would be the earthly end of the prophets prophet and a sorrow even today. But do you notice that it was a “convenient” time for the evil to break forth and notice that Herod had SAID this in front of all his friends and also that because of HIS word and the fact that he had spoken and given his promise in front of them, HE HAD TO LIVE UP TO THAT VOW. He had GLADLY listened to John and was keeping his wife happy by locking him up but he was also keeping John alive and through his OWN mouth, he signed John’s death warrant.

ECCLESIASTES 5:4,6: “When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer (delay) not to pay it; for his has no pleasure in fools; pay that which thou hast vowed. BETTER IS IT THAT THOU SHOULDEST NOT VOW, THAN THAT THOU SHOULDEST VOW AND NOT PAY.

SUFFER NOT THY MOUTH TO CAUSE THY FLESH TO SIN;NEITHER SAY THOU BEFORE THE ANGEL (messenger) THAT IT WAS AN ERROR (mistake), WHEREFORE SHOULD GOD BE ANGRY AT THY VOICE (excuse) AND DESTROY THE WORKS OF THINE HANDS?“

Scary business? We’ve been given the stories above and many others that we could go to prove just how scary it is and the one making the vows wasn’t the only one that suffered the consequence.

Whether it is anger, distress, hurt, passion, whatever the reason do not let your own words cause the train wreck that destroys your own happiness. Never say never, as the saying goes because what we stubbornly proclaimed we would never do is usually the very first thing that happens.

God NEVER asks for deals, it is easy in the moment to promise a list of works you will complete on His behalf in gratitude for salvation, BUT HE DOES NOT ASK YOU TO DO THAT, so don’t.  For your own good.

Unless it is something that you know you can only give up by vowing it to him and are willing to honor that promise, because it can be quite a deterrent to a hard to overcome behavior. But don’t think you have to vow to get something, God blesses you BECAUSE that is His nature toward His children. 

Be patient, We are all works in progress.. let Him work and see the goodness of God, IN HIS TIME, he “maketh rich and addeth no sorrow with it” so don’t let words and actions add sorrow that He had never intended.

Φλογίζω Σαλπιζω NBJ 2016