Listen! You might be surprised!God tells us that from the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks (Matthew 12:34; Luke 6:45). And it does! We can't help but spill what we're filled with. The mouth tells on and exposes the heart!
Listen!
Not to what others say. But listen to what you do!
For who can discern the heart? Who can figure it out? Who can repair it, restore it, redeem it, renew it... but God?
Listen!
For we won't really know or realize what's in our hearts until we hear it speak out. Take notice. Recognize it. Listen and see. And then know, that it only speaks (unless being deceptive or lying) of what we put in it. What are you filling your heart with? What comes out of your mouth that gives proof of what you are?
Does it whine a lot? Complain much? Ridicule? Persecute? Peck on? Pick on? Does it show it's disastisfied? Envious? Hurt? Jealous? Embittered?
Does it put down? Make excuses? Always want? Tell the negative? Praise at all? Lift up? Build up? Put down? It is pleasant to hang around?
Does it see (and so show) the good in others? Or only tell of the bad?
Is it content? Critical? Cynical? Judgmental? Hurt? Harmful? Mean? Enraged? Mad? Joyful? Happy? Sad?
The heart is deceitful above all things (Jeremiah 17:9)! It will lie to you like a dog! But the mouth reveals what's in it. Your tongue exposes it. Your saying shows it.
Listen to what you say to see what's inside!
On Wednesday at one of my PWHD (Princess Warriors in Human Disguise) Groups someone asked the question about abiding. We were talking about the scriptures in John 15:4-9 that say, "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in Me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth much fruit: for without Me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in Me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered;... If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is My Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be My disciples. As the Father hath loved Me, so have I loved you: continue [abide] ye in My love."
I would say Jesus is attempting hard to make a point, for in six verses He uses the word "abide" eight times! Then, interestingly, it is used three more times in the next two verses and the once again in the sixteenth.
For years I had the hardest time with that word "abide." Or even the versions that changed that abiding word to "remain." I still, for some reason, had a hard time grasping its meaning. Finally, I got it! We're abiders! We're all abiding in and remaining somewhere! We're dwellers. We're tarry-ers. And in our dwelling in a place or a thing, we're filling up with what and where we're dwelling.
Abide is the word "meno" in the Greek. It's defined as:
- to remain
- to sojourn
- to tarry
- not to depart
- to continue to be present
- to be constantly present
- to be held, kept, continually
- to continue to be
- to last
- to endure
- to survive
- to live
- to continue
- to dwell
- to wait for
- of one who cleaves and holds fast to a thing
What holds you? Keeps you? What do you cleave and hold fast to? What are you living in?
It can be as simple as a TV series or sports, the past or the future, an old hurt, an old want... or maybe a new one. Whatever you "abide" in... it "abides" in you. You think about it and thus talk about it.
It can be a bitterness, a death of something, a guilt, a regret, a grudge, a resentment, a love, a longing.
What do you "dwell" on? Where's your heart stayed? What's stayed in it?
If you don't know. If you're not sure. Listen! Your mouth can't help but reveal it. We spill what we're filled with. There is no stopper strong enough to stop it up. It will eventually spill over and out!
We sing what we see. What are you seeing that your saying reveals?
Listen!
And hear what's inside. You might be surprised what others are hearing.
I'm challenging you, because I'm challenging myself. Listen! But be careful not to listen so much to others, our biggest challenge is to listen to our ownselves!
Lord, today this verse is my prayer, "May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in Your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer" (Ps 19:14)!
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