When I was seeking God concerning my vision back in the end of 2019, He presented me with six principles, or Pillars, to hold prominently in my heart as I pursued Him throughout 2020. Each Pillar has been stabilizing to me, and together they have brought greater insight as I\u2019ve navigated the first two months of this new decade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pillar #5 concerns mind and thoughts. As Isaiah 26:3 states, \u201cYou will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.<\/em>\u201d The more we guard our minds and steady our thoughts with God\u2019s Word, the greater our peace will be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pillar #6 is similar in nature, and concerns our mouths and our speech. Your mouth\u2014or as the apostle James says, your tongue\u2014is like a rudder of a ship and can influence the course of your life. And if you\u2019re like me, someone who enjoys talking, you\u2019ve probably found that your unguarded mouth can get you into some fairly uncomfortable\u2014and avoidable On the other hand, like Proverbs\n21:23 declares, \u201cWhoever guards\nhis mouth and tongue keeps his soul from troubles.<\/em>\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Much has been taught, mistaught, applied, and misapplied concerning words and speech\u2014i.e., our “confession”\u2014in the last forty or fifty years in the American church. As a result, great schisms have developed between believers, causing mistrust and suspicion, judgment and criticism. It\u2019s not my goal to solve such long-standing divisions; but I do want to bring attention to a precious biblical concept, Pillar #6, which I find is helping to restore my vision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pillar #6: Mouth and speech<\/p>\n\n\n\n Men shall speak of the power of\nYour awesome acts,<\/em> They shall eagerly utter the\nmemory of Your abundant goodness<\/em> I\u2019ll bet that no one on any part of the \u201cconfession\u201d spectrum in the church today could argue with King David about what he wrote concerning the appropriate use of words. In fact, this last Pillar seems to cap off everything God is directing me to focus upon in this new year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They will speak of the power of Your\nawesome acts\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n I am choosing this year to talk\nabout God\u2019s awesome acts. In prayer, I will remind Him of them. I will also\nmention them to others. In fact, if I begin to doubt or worry that I won\u2019t make\nit in any upcoming situation, I\u2019ll rehearse His powerful deeds to myself. <\/p>\n\n\n\n What are His awesome acts? The\nBible is loaded with examples; and I know that I have personally experienced\nsome nearly unbelievable, jaw-dropping answers to prayer and deliverances from\ndanger. I wouldn\u2019t be surprised if you have as well. All that King David is saying\nhere is this: Don\u2019t stuff what you know about God in the vault of your soul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2026And I will tell of Your\ngreatness.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Once again, you\u2019re called upon to speak up! Tell God, tell others, and tell yourself about His greatness. What comprises that greatness of God? Truth is, anything you know about His character is part of His greatness. His kindness, His justice, His power, His willingness to listen, His vastness, His creative ability, the fact that He came to earth in the person of Jesus to take on our sin debt and make us His own\u2026all of this and so much more make up the amazing greatness of God. It’s my desire to daily tell someone something concerning His greatness. He deserves it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They shall eagerly utter the\nmemory of Your abundant goodness\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n There\u2019s no shyness or hesitation here. Think about it. How has God shown His goodness to you? You have the right\u2014and indeed, the privilege\u2014to share it. I mean, we see ads daily that eagerly declare the \u201cmagnificence\u201d of skin lotions, hemorrhoid creams, breakfast cereals, weight-loss programs, and even ED products! Why should we, then, hem and haw, fighting with our nerves, when we recount something wonderful God has done in our lives?<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2026 And will shout joyfully of\nYour righteousness.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n When your favorite team scores a\ngoal, makes a touchdown, or clears the bases with a grand slam, what do you do?\nQuietly patty cake with your hands and try to keep it down so you don\u2019t offend someone?\nI rather doubt it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n By the same token, what do you do\nwhen God comes through for you in a big way? He answers a prayer; He heals you\nof a serious disease; He miraculously rescues you from a deadly accident or a violently\ncrazed individual. As much as I love cheering on my home team for athletic\nfeats and victories, how much more thunderous attention should I pour out upon\nmy God for His righteous deeds on my behalf? <\/p>\n\n\n\n I believe it\u2019s time\u2014wherever you fall as a believer on the \u201cconfession\u201d spectrum\u2014to give your mouth to fearlessly speak of the power of His awesome acts, <\/em>to tell of His greatness, <\/em>to eagerly utter the memory of His abundant goodness, <\/em>and to shout joyfully of His righteousness. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Lord deserves to be honored\nwith our words; the world around us deserves to hear how great He really is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lord, keep us mindful of this proper use of our mouths, and forgive those of us who have neglected this vital aspect of knowing You.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dorothy<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00a9 2020, Dorothy Frick<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When I was seeking God concerning my vision back in the end of 2019, He presented me with six principles, or Pillars, to hold prominently in my heart as I pursued Him throughout 2020. Each Pillar has been stabilizing to me, and together they have brought greater insight as I\u2019ve navigated the first two months […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8454","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-prayerperspective"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8454","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8454"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8454\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8456,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8454\/revisions\/8456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\u2014predicaments. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nAnd I will tell of Your greatness. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nAnd will shout joyfully of Your righteousness.<\/em> Psalm 145:6-7<\/p>\n\n\n\n