Sticks and stones…

 Sticks and stones….

When I was a child, there was a saying…”sticks and stones will break the bones, but words will never hurt me”…we would repeat that to those who taunted  or bullied us…believing that words shouldn’t hurt…

But, they do…and as I have grown older, I have realized that words spoken break us more than any stick or stone…they break the heart, the will, the soul, the mind…they embed themselves into our hearts and hurt for all of our life …add the bad attitude with which they were spoken and hurt deepens…or resentment or anger or more erupts…

I find for myself, what I focus on, I become more and more like that…and my words show that …

An example….in the early years of my marriage, I resented my mother in law for bitter and harsh words she had spoken many times to me…I dwelt on those words and her attitude until one day,  I realized I was becoming that same person…I needed a focus and attitude change…I had been holding on to those resentments dearly…I needed to give them over and ask for a transformed heart and attitude daily…until I could only look on her with love and speak love to her…

These lessons are ongoing…transforming never stops… wanting what is good, acceptable and perfect…

Thank YOU…

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Romans 12:2 

How forceful are upright words!…

Job 6:25a

The words of the Lord are pure words, like silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times.

Psalm 12:6

You have tried my heart, you have visited me by night, you have tested me, and you will find nothing; I have purposed that my mouth will not transgress.

Psalm 17:3 

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

Psalm 19:14

The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom, and his tongue speaks justice.

Psalm 37:30

The unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple.

Psalm 119:130

Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips!

Psalm 141:3

Hear, for I will speak noble things, and from my lips will come what is right, for my mouth will utter truth; wickedness is an abomination to my lips. All the words of my mouth are righteous; there is nothing twisted or crooked in them.

Proverbs 8:6-8

The heart of the righteous ponders how to answer……

Proverbs 15:28a

Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body.

Proverbs 16:24

Whoever keeps his mouth and his tongue keeps himself out of trouble.

Proverbs 21:23

She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.

Proverbs 31:26

The words of the wise heard in quiet are better than the shouting of a ruler among fools.

Ecclesiastes 9:17

 

A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. A gentle tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit. 

 To make an apt answer is a joy to a man, and a word in season, how good it is!

Proverbs 15:1,4,23

Like apples of gold in settings of silver Is a word spoken at the right time.

Proverbs 25:11 AMP

A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver.

Proverbs 25:11  ESV

True instruction was in his mouth, and no wrong was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and he turned many from iniquity.

Malachi 2:6

11 it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.”

Matthew 15:11

….Therefore encourage one another with these words.

1 Thessalonians 4:18

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.

Ephesians 4:29

So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. 

How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. 

The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell. 

For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. 

It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 

With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. 

My brothers, these things ought not to be so. 

Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom.

James 3:5-10,13