Closing the Vent

There are a couple of things swirling about in my heart as I get back into my office for the first time today in over a week. Last week, I spent an uninterrupted week in a prayer room in Missouri, listening for the voice of God, reading His word, interceding for numerous things and writing the last pages of a book I have been working on. For those five days, I had less than ten conversations with others. It was so refreshing to be sequestered and not have any human discussions. That may sound strange, but it really was nice for me as my norm is that I am talking constantly with others or to others. It was healthy for me to be little more than a listener and, when I was actually speaking, to be speaking only to God.

In about two hours, I will be back into my normal flow and entering into dialogue with other homo sapiens here on planet earth. For me, conversation is unavoidable. Teaching is inescapable. Communication is my calling – the vent of my mouth usually remains open. With this calling comes a great potential for good. Also possible is that my verbal communication might become my downfall. Consider these words from Scripture that apply to all of us today:

 

“In the multitude of words sin is not lacking, But he who restrains his lips is wise.” – Proverbs 10:19

 

“From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so.” – James 3:10

 

“Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips!” – Psalm 141:3

 

Human communication is designed by the Creator for the purposes of praise, prayer and edification. That is why God gave you a mouth and the ability to speak. Many years ago, I went through a painful season wherein the Holy Spirit was playing hardball with me concerning what came out of my mouth. Prior to becoming a Christian in 1994, I never really considered, much less regulated, how I spoke. I cursed constantly as an unbeliever. I did not know it was a sin to adopt the language and speech patterns of the culture, so I was extremely creative in cultivating the art of releasing four-letter words. The day I was saved, however, God delivered me from foul language. It was simply gone. Yet, cursing would soon be the least of my worries about my words. After my radical conversion, Holy Spirit called me to preach the Gospel, and I knew my words were gifts to me. My mouth was now attached to purpose, and that purpose was to exalt the glorious God of the Bible. Yet, with great dismay, I found that I was a natural born complainer. I was negative. I tended to see what was wrong, and I often spoke it forth without mature consideration. I was also critical, judgmental and somewhat abrasive in my normal patterns of speech. Holy Spirit was pointing this out to me constantly and I was painfully aware that my mouth was not only a gift for good, it was a potential vent for lots that was not God-honoring.  As I became aware of these fleshly tendencies uncovered in my speech patterns, I found myself grieved regularly at the consistent ease with which unhealthy, unhelpful words could escape my lips.

Compared to others, perhaps, I was doing a decent job at using my ability to speak for the right reasons. I sang, I prayed, I worshipped, I taught, I witnessed to unbelievers of the love and grace of King Jesus. Yet I also criticized my brothers and sisters. I talked down to others. I had a strong murmuring streak in me that most people did not hear – but God heard it. There were plenty of occasions where I would speak death over a situation, a relationship or an opportunity via my expressions of faithlessness, negativity or doubt. I was discovering that, once I asked God to make me aware of my speech patterns, I had a real issue with a forked tongue. One half of my mouth was boasting in Christ while the other half was bemoaning various things in life. As the Apostle James wrote above, “My brothers, these things ought not to be so.”

Two books written by men helped me immensely with my mouth issues. I recommend them both to you without reservation. Joseph Stowell’s book, “The Weight of Your Words” along with R.T. Kendall’s book, “The Sensitivity of the Spirit” were both used of God to teach me the value of caring deeply about how I used my words. I needed help to recognize the frequency with which my daily words were falling short of the glory of God. I also needed some spiritual assistance at changing both the contents in my heart and the words which expressed those contents. Might I be so bold as to suggest that, no matter who you are, you also need assistance in this area?

Jesus said that the mouth only speaks forth what the heart contains (Luke 6:45). He also taught us that there is an accountability that He has assigned to us about our patterns of speech. That accountability includes us having to answer to Him for every idle word which we have spoken (Matthew 12:36). For those of us who have been entrusted with influence, ours is already a much more intense accountability than anyone else in the Kingdom (James 3:1). That verse has made me tremble more times than I can count. Throughout the Bible, we are literally commanded to live our days with an intentional muzzle and filter over our mouths that eliminates complaining, murmuring, gossip, slander and meaningless debates. These commands are all over the pages of God’s word! He takes very seriously what we say, the spirit with which we say it, to whom we say it and why we say it. I am unsure if the average Christian really believes these things. We seem to be conveniently ignorant of the intensity with which Scripture hones on this subject of our speech patters. I’m thinking that lots of us simply need to close off the verbal vents to block what has been coming out.

Many people never consider this reality of our giving an account to God for everything we say. We live in a culture that assumes the right to vent anywhere, at any time about any subject we choose. This is the way of our world, but this is not remotely close to the ways of God. Social media has given us the illusion of safety as we might fire off thoughtless words day after day, failing to remember that God is either pleased with what we have just communicated or displeased. Those words we speak or type count for something. They have a value to them assigned by God. Our words always land somewhere with some type of impact – whether for good or otherwise. The Father expects us to really think about what we are saying. Our mouths are meant for Him.

So, I hope you will order the two books I mentioned and read them. I’ve read them both more than once and have been helped by them. Until those books are read by you, consider praying what the psalmist prayed over his own life,

“Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips!” – Psalm 141:3