Keep a Guard Over Your Mouth

It is amazing that God called us to be one of His saints. Now, we have to learn how to live a life that is worthy of that calling. One way we can do that is by being careful what we say about others. For instance, God wants us to be quick to bless others, instead of cursing them,  even when we get upset. God wants us to keep a guard over what we say!

The Apostle Paul gave these instructions to Titus about the saints in his ministry:

“Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing humility to all men.” (Titus 3:1-2 NKJV, emphasis mine.)

Many years ago, I felt a great stirring in my heart as I was meditating on this passage of Scripture. I felt God challenging me to make a decision, from that day on, not to speak evil of anyone. Raising one hand to Heaven in a solemn declaration, I said, “Father, from this day forward I will speak evil of no man.” I resolved in my heart that I would speak evil of no one ever again. It seemed simple enough, and I thought that was all there was to it. It was a done deal! Whenever we make a statement like that before the Lord, we need to realize that He is going to take it seriously. He will judge us by the words of our mouth!

A few days later, I visited a Pastor in another city and had a great time of fellowship with him. During the course of our conversation, he mentioned the name of a minister whom I had heard about but never met. Immediately, I repeated something negative I had heard about that man. This happened three times. Every time I made a negative remark, this Pastor told me something he really appreciated about that man of God. When he did, I just hung my head in shame. Here I had resolved not to say anything evil about other people, and I had just done it three times.

After hanging my head the third time, the Holy Spirit spoke to me. He told me that He had orchestrated that whole conversation to show me how often I spoke evil of other ministers and didn’t even realize it. I bowed my head and repented right there on the spot. I vowed to the Lord that with His help I would never to do it again.

Since that day, I have kept a watch over my mouth, and I have been very careful in what I’ve said about others. When I did miss it, I was quick to repent, and I made every effort to also say something I appreciated about that particular person.

When we allow the Holy Spirit to become our teacher, He will show us how to live a life that is pleasing to God. In fact, He will help us with everything we do, perfecting the holiness of God in our lives. The Apostle Paul wrote:

“Therefore having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” (2 Corinthians 7:1 NKJV , emphasis mine.)

The Apostle James also cautioned regarding the way we talk about others, when he wrote:

“Do not speak evil of one another, brethren.” (James 4:11 NKJV)

You may recall, as a child, your parent telling you, “If you can’t say something good about someone, don’t say anything at all.” That also applies to us as adults! We need to realize that when we speak badly of someone else, it grieves the Holy Spirit. The Apostle Paul wrote:

“Let no corrupt word proceed out your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.” (Ephesians 4:29 NKJV)

He then wrote:

“And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking (of others) be put away from you, with all malice.” (Ephesians 4:30-31 NKJV, emphases mine and words in parentheses mine.)

Most people do not realize that when we speak ill of others, it is our pride that causes us to put other people down.  When we do that, we are actually exalting ourselves over those people. This lack of love grieves the Holy Spirit! Does that make sense to you?

In order for us to walk in humility, the Holy Spirit also needs to teach us about pride. Even though we may be careful to live a humble life, pride can raise its head at any moment. By knowing how to recognize pride, we can stop it before we open our mouths. When we do catch ourselves speaking evil about someone, we need to be quick to repent and say something good about that person instead. That is how we can walk in a manner worthy of our calling as God’s holy people.

You are holy, dear saint!

Steve Smith

Has the Holy Spirit also taught you not to speak evil of others? Let me know in the comments below!

[All Scripture quotations have been taken from The Holy Bible, New King James Version, copyright 1982, Thomas Nelson Inc.]

Unmasking Pride

If we are ever going to walk in humility, we must also learn to recognize pride!

When we consider what a saint looks like, we often picture someone who is very humble. You cannot have holiness without humility, they work in harmony with one another. Holiness and pride do nothing but clash with each other. In order to walk in holiness, we must also learn to walk in humility.

Years ago when I asked the Lord to show me how humility works, I also asked Him to teach me about pride. I felt I could not fully understand one without the other. When the Holy Spirit opened my eyes to pride, I saw it everywhere. It is masked by so many things that we say or do. We often operate in pride and we don’t even realize it.

We usually picture a prideful person as someone who is very boastful about himself. It is much more subtle than that. Pride is constantly rising to the surface to try to assert itself. Pride is nothing more than our ego! Once we can identify it, we can deal with it much more easily.

In direct contrast, there is a good side to pride such as: pride of ownership or being proud of our children. We can also be proud of the work we do, when we want to produce a good product or give good service to your customers. If pride can be good at times, when does it become sin? It becomes sin the moment we think we are better than someone else. Pride always seeks to exalt itself and look down on others.

Jesus addressed this aspect of pride, when He said:

“For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” (Luke 14:11 NKJV)

Our pride often gets hurt when we try to look important in the eyes of others, only to get put back in our place. As long as we insist that we should be treated better than other people, our pride will remain hurt. However, the moment we humble ourselves and accept our position, it is amazing how that hurt disappears. It pays to walk in humility!

As we grow in the Lord, it is important to recognize pride in all of its various forms. For instance, anger is often a result of pride. Those who are easily given to anger expect others to treat them with greater respect. They frequently get angry, because they think that they are not being treated the way they should be. Have you recognized this in other people? Do you sometimes see it in yourself?

It may surprise you to know that envy and jealously also arise out of pride. The Apostle James warned about this, when he wrote:

“For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there.” (James 3:16 NKJV)

Pride feels that everyone’s attention should be focused on it. When someone gets more attention, it becomes jealous. In the same way, when others get something that it feels it deserves more, it becomes envious. Pride is always based on a feeling that it is more important than someone else. Pride is based on a lie!

The Apostle James also warned about this, when he wrote:

“But if you have envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth.” (James 3:14 NKJV)

The truth is that we are not more important or deserve more attention than other people. When we allow ourselves to believe these things, we are believing in a lie. God hates pride!

Solomon wrote this about pride:

“The fear of the Lord is to hate evil; pride and arrogance and the evil way and the perverse mouth I hate.” (Proverbs 8:13 NKJV)

As God’s saints, we need to learn how to love humility and hate pride, just as God does.

The key to avoiding pride is to learn to always humble ourselves. When we practice this on a regular basis, it becomes a natural thing for us to do. The result is that we do not see ourselves as being greater or more important than anyone else. And we do not think we deserve more respect than those around us. This is what true humility looks like, and this is how we should see ourselves as God’s saints.

On the other hand, we must be careful not to try to impress others with how humble we are. This is just another trap of the enemy to lead us into pride. The moment we think we are more humble than someone else, we are walking in pride. That is how deceitful it is!

Walking in humility is a growing process. It starts by humbling ourselves in every situation we face, and learning to recognize pride whenever it raises its ugly head.

You are holy, dear saint!

Steve Smith

[All Scripture quotations have been taken from The Holy Bible, New King James Version, copyright 1982, Thomas Nelson Inc.]

The Heart Of Humility

When the Holy Spirit taught me about the life of a saint, He showed me that you cannot have holiness without humility.

When it comes to the nature of God, you will notice that holiness works in complete harmony with humility and the fear of the Lord.  In fact, whenever I teach on holiness, I also teach on these other divine attributes as well.

King Solomon wrote:

“The fear of the Lord is to hate evil; pride and arrogance and the evil way and the perverse mouth I hate” (Proverbs 8:13 NKJV).

God hates pride.  Arrogance, the evil way and the perverse mouth all come from pride.  It clashes directly with the heart and nature if God!

Years ago the Holy Spirit taught me that there are three kinds of believers that please God the most: those who are quick to repent, quick to forgive, and quick to obey.  Pride does none of those things!

First, pride is quick to make excuses for sin.  It is also quick to blame others for its mistakes.  Humility, on the other hand, is quick to say, “I was wrong.  I am sorry for what I did.”  Humility is quick to repent!

Second, pride is slow to forgive.  It holds on to bitterness and resentment.  In direct contrast, humility isn’t easily offended, and it is quick to forgive and overlook a wrong.

Third, pride is slow to obey God.  It thinks it knows best what to do.  It often says, “No can tell me how to live my life.”  But humility is just the opposite.  It looks to God for wisdom and guidance.  It is also quick to do everything God says, whether in the written word of the Bible, or the gentle voice of the Holy Spirit inside.

Humility is a lot like love!

If you look at the Love Chapter of the Bible, you will be amazed how much love has in common with humility. Look at the following words of the Apostle Paul:

“Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil” (1 Corinthians 13:4-5 NKJV).

Pride clashes directly with love.  It is often impatient with people.  It is envious and jealous of others.  It is boastful and loves to parade its accomplishments.  It is often rude, and wants its own way.  It is easily provoked and it looks down on others.  Pride is the opposite of love!

Love is the very heart of humility.   When you walk in love toward others, you automatically walk in humility.  They work in perfect harmony with one another.  They are both part of God’s divine nature!

You are holy, dear saint!

[All Scripture quotations have been taken from The Holy Bible, New King James Version, copyright 1982, Thomas Nelson Inc.]