Sunday, 30 November 2014
Shimu Kathy Poon
Every week we come to church and leant something new, but somehow it’s always so hard to put it into practice, and our life stays the same. Today Shimu Kathy shared with us that in order to change our life, we should first change the words coming from our mouth.
1. Sow good spiritual seeds (John 6:53 & Isaiah 55:10-11)
In the Bible, we learnt the principle of sowing and reaping and we can relate it to farmer sowing seeds and waiting for the harvest. But what is sowing spiritual seeds? Unlike crops growing in the fields, we cannot see attitudes, thoughts or words, but they are also seeds that operate in the spiritual realm and they also produce a harvest based on what was planted. If a person continually to sow negative thoughts, attitudes and words, he will produce many negative results in life. Whereas if he sows positive thoughts, attitudes and words, he will see positive results. Once we truly understand the principle of sowing “good seeds” and put it into action, we can change our words and lives!
2. Don’t complain! (Philippians 2:14)
Our mouth gives expression to what we think and feel, it reveals our heart’s attitude towards most things. Therefore when we complain, we show discontent and hence giving a signal to God that “we don’t like what He is doing, and we don’t trust His leadership in our lives”. Shimu Kathy shared that complaining has an underlying attitude of greed. Greedy people are never satisfied for long, and greed is a sin – murmuring, grumbling, and complaining are all referred to as “word sins”. They are sins that we commit, with words of our mouths, but they are also revealing a deeper problem – a heart that is not thankful.
3. Don’t let the devil speak through you (Romans 1:29-32 & Luke 3:31)
Devil is referred to as the accuser of the brethren, which means he continually brings accusation against the children of God, trying to accuse them to God, to make them feel guilty and condemned, and even to cause others, to think accusing thoughts about them. If we allow that accusing spirit to work through us, then we will easily and quickly find fault with many people and things. The devil magnifies faults – ours and other people’s. Unless we truly listen to God, we will focus only on the faults and fail to see the good in ourselves or others. God wants to use our words to encourage, but the devil wants to use them to discourage, destroy reputations or break your spirit.
4. Mind your own business (1 Thessalonians 4:11 & Proverbs 25:9)
Do we really need to give our opinions? We know that the devil is the root cause of all sins but our desires of wanting to give opinions also make us sin. Why is it so important for us to tell people what we think? Furthermore, we are curious and often quite nosy and are tempted to get into other people’s business. We think we know, what is going on everywhere, and it ends up stealing our peace. Often the desire to know about others, to tell others what we think and to give our opinion is one sure way of recognizing insecurity in us or in others. The problem is often not about others but ourselves!
Our mouth gives expression to what we want, think and feel, therefore it reveals a great deal about the one who is speaking. We can learn a lot about ourselves by listening to the things we say. Matthew 12:34-35 says, “Out of the heart the mouth speaks, the good man from his inner good treasure flings forth good things, and the evil man out of his inner evil storehouse flings forth evil things”. Shimu Kathy again reminded us that our words can increase or decrease our level of joy. They can affect the answers to our prayers and have a positive or negative effect on our future. So we should start partnering with God and let Him guide our lives day by day – start from our words.