Joyce Meyer opens her book, Enjoying Where You are, While You Get to Where You are Going with the words; “I believe life should be a celebration. Far too many people don’t enjoy life, let alone celebrate it. Many people are on their way to heaven, but very few are enjoying the trip. For many years I was one of those people.” Are you enjoying YOUR life while you get to where you are going? If you’re not, let this excerpt from Meyer’s book guide you.
Don’t poison your joy!
The human tongue can be tamed by no man. It is a restless (undiscipline, irreconcilable), evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless the Lord and our Father and with it we curse men who were made in God’s likeness!
Out of the same mouth come forth blessing and cursing. These things, my brethren, ought not to be so.
Does a fountain send forth (simultaneously) from the same opening fresh water and bitter? James 3:8-11
We can bless or curse ourselves by the way we speak. When we bless, we speak well of; when we curse, we speak evil of. You and I can bless our own lives and bring joy to them, or we can curse them and bring misery upon ourselves, by the words of our mouth.
We should be much more concerned about what comes out of our mouths about ourselves than we ever are about what others are saying about us.
There is a well of good things inside of us; one of them being joy. We can pull it up and splash it all over ourselves through proper speaking…
In James 3:6 we read that… the tongue is a fire. (The tongue) is a world of wickedness set among our member, contaminating and depriving the whole body.
It is amazing to stop and realise all the trouble that one tiny member of the body has created in each of our lives. The tongue can ruin a relationship. It can usher in depression. It can wound a friend or, through rudeness, hurt someone we barely know….
When we are having a hard time-tribulations-what does the tongue like to do? Talk about it! Blame it on somebody. It likes to complain. But more than anything, it just likes to talk about the problem (which usually doesn’t do any good.)
Temptations that come during trials and tribulations are designed to drag you away from God. Talk about God-not the problem- and you will be strengthened instead of weakened. Tribulation is part of life. When you own a car, you will occasionally need to service it. When you own a home, you will probably need to paint it sometime or have some other repair work done. These things are just part of life.
We live in the world. The devil is in the world. Part of what he does is bringing tribulation. He hopes tribulation will irritate us and steal our peace and joy.
Satan does not want us to enjoy God or the life he has provided for us! Don’t give him that satisfaction!
