TAMING THE TONGUE

READ: MATTHEW18:15-20

The tongue is the most endangered part of the human body. If you open your mouth every time you have an opportunity you stand the risk of making statements capable of putting you in trouble. A seemingly harmless statement is capable of putting you into trouble. How do you know when you make a statement that will shut heaven’s doors against you? I counsel you to weigh you words before you utter them. For example, it is very risky to speak against a man of God. When David had the opportunity of killing King Saul who was after him, he dared not do it because he recognized that King Saul was an anointed of God. Anyone that speaks against the anointed of God speaks blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Satan uses this weapon when there is no other way to get at his intended victim. How do we deal with the tongue? If your friend offends you, instead of backbiting, go to him and discuss the issue with him. Do not speak any negative word about anyone. Go to the person involved before you tell any other person. This is what Jesus taught us in our text: “Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault.” Satan knows how to play on disagreements. If anyone comes to you to backbite against another person, ask him whether he ha gone to meet the person involved. If he says he has not, do not listen to him. Proverbs 25:23 says: “The north wind brings forth rain, and a backbiting tongue an angry countenance.” Your angry countenance should drive away a backbiting tongue. You must not only avoid backbiting, you must also close your ears to gossips. The human tongue will misbehave unless it is tamed. Do you exercise control over your tongue or do you allow it to run riot? If you fail to tame your tongue, it may set you on fire. Beware!

MEMORIZE: PROVERBS25:23 –The north wind brings forth rain, and a backbiting tongue an angry countenance.

AWAKE UNTO RIGHTEOUSNESS

READ: LUKE19:1-10

In 1975, there was a Bible study on restitution in one of our churches in the western part of Nigeria. After the study, a lady came to the altar and kept praying until the church was to be locked up at night. She went home reluctantly, praying and weeping. At home, around 3.00 a.m, she remembered that she has offended her mother and decided to make things right immediately. She woke up her mother and did this. The next morning she travelled to Ife where her husband lived, for they had been separated after a quarrel. She reunited and settled with her husband. On her way back home, she stood at the bus stop to take a bus when, together with the little son she had taken with her, a trailer came ramming into the two, separating mother and child, and dragging the lady some distance away from the spot. She died immediately. The lady never knew she was going to die but, thank God, she had been prepared for eternity. Will our thanksgiving be acceptable to God if our lives are not in accordance with His will? Not every gift is acceptable to God. You know the story of Cain and Abel. They both brought offerings to the Lord. One was accepted while the other was rejected. If you are born again, do not spend for God. It is true that the Bible say we should lay our treasures in Heaven but why lay treasures where you are not going? You should settle the matter of making heaven before any other thing. Awake to righteousness. Prepare for eternity. We don’ know when the Lord will come. What will you say if He meets you unawares?

MEMORIZE: MATTHEW5:20–For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.

OPENING YOUR WINDOWS

READ: LEVETICUS10:1-11

Windows are common to all of us. We have windows at home and in the office. Therefore, we all know the benefits of windows. For some time now, we have been examining the spiritual implications of windows. We shall go further today. The word of God teaches us that windows can open for some and close for others. In other words, because the keys of the windows of Heaven are in the hands of God, He can open them for A and close them for B. this is stated in Amos 4:7 “I also withheld rain from you, when there were still three months to the harvest. I made it rain on one city, I withheld rain from another city. One part was rained upon, and where it did not rain the part withered.” What then should you do for the windows of Heaven to open for you? One of the things you have to do is to exalt God. If you exalt Him, praise and worship Him, He will open the windows to seek you out. Paul and Silas were thrown into the prison and, in the midnight, they began to praise God until the windows opened and God sought them out. God inhabits the praises of His people. Another thing you will have to do to open the windows of Heaven is to pay all your tithes, including arrears. God said this Himself, in Malachi 3:10, “Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and prove Me now in this, says the LORD of hosts, If I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it.” The third thing is to give offerings that can attract Heaven’s attention. In 1 Chronicles 21:24, David said he would not give to God an offering that would not cost him something. When he gave his offering to God, fire came down from Heaven to take up the offering. In 2 Chronicles 1:6-12, Solomon offered a thousand offerings to God. Some of us grumble when we are told to give offerings. I know that many of us have come to despise the word of God because of the actions of some men of God towards offerings. However, you cannot say because there are accidents on the road you will not travel by car again. I would not say that because some people have turned the word of God into merchandise then, when I see the truth, I will not recognize it. I would not allow anything to make me disobey the word of God. What about you?

MEMORIZE: 1CHRONICLES21:24 –…For I will not take what is yours for the LORD, nor offer burnt offerings with that which costs me nothing.