CONCERT OF PRAYER

Pray Week 910

“Heart and Mouth”

…for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. (Luke 6:45)

Our heart in the Biblical sense is our center of emotional, intellectual, and moral activity. Our heart is naturally corrupt and tends toward evil. The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; (Jeremiah 17:9)

Our heart is the wellspring of our life and it drives our thoughts, words, and actions. It must be guarded vigilantly. Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life. (Proverbs 4:23, NIV)

Jesus made it clear that it is what comes out of us, driven by our heart that defiles us. …“What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man…evil things come…and they defile a person.” (Mark 7:20-23)

When we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we are born again by the Spirit of God. Our bodies become the temple of God and Christ lives in us. You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. (Romans 8:9) You have a new nature that is now at war with your old nature. Which one will win depends upon the one you feed the most.

There is a connection between our heart, mouth and ears. What we speak with our mouth is heard by our ears and feeds our heart. Which nature are you feeding the most by your spoken words? Are you quenching the Spirit of God within you with poisonous words? …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. (James 3:8-10)

It is not easy to guard our heart and tame our tongue. We cannot do it apart from the power of the Holy Spirit abiding in us. We must daily put on the full armor of God as we venture out into a corrupt world system. We must control what we hear from external sources and from what we speak. 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)

Choose to walk away from those who always grumble, complain, and talk trash about others. Immerse yourself as often as you can in hearing the Word of God through songs and teaching. …be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with all your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. (Ephesians 5:18-21)

By the power of abiding presence of the Lord in your heart may you speak His words of love and grace to feed and strengthen your heart and the hearts of others. 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)