Jas 3:2 For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.
Jas 3:3 Behold, we put bits in the horses' mouths, that they may obey us; and we turn about their whole body.
Jas 3:4 Behold also the ships, which though they be so great, and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the governor listeth.
Jas 3:5 Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!
Jas 3:6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.
Jas 3:7 For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind:
Jas 3:8 But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison
I have been in reflection for several weeks now, gathering ,MY THOUGHTS.. It is a must for all of us to take stock of self at one time or another in our lives. Many times we can avoid going off the track if we stop look and pay attention to the direction in which the wind is blowing...
I read these scriptures before as I have done many times in my past. But Until you follow instruction from our GOD; they wont mean much, one will only continually get a surface meaning from the scriptures. We must mediate day and night on the scripture as we have been instructed in the book of psalms the very first book..
Psa 1:2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
I have often said until you do this you never truly know what GODS words are saying.. So,So many times in life we read and comprehend in error what the word of God's words are saying. One example that I recall that is a blatant misunderstanding is the words Come as you are, these 4 words are taken out of context daily to mean that we can dress anyway that we choose. JUST Imagine ! why would Jesus tell folk who wore robes and sandals daily,listen some had nothing on there feet. Why would he say come as you are meaning dressed. The only people who had choice of ROBES were Kings Queens and people who were well off. No this is a statement about spiritual well being. I once thought this same thing , until I meditated day and night..
Listen to where I am going with this, when I study on the scriptures of James 3:2 -3:8 I AM DEEPLY MOVEDBY THE AMOUNT OF DAMAGE that can be done if we are not careful to watch what comes out of our mouthes..
I think GOD is plain from the start on what we are dealing with here.. The first thing that we are told is how hard it is to tame the tongue, We can see here that it is a impossible task from the door, to tame the tongue...
Jas 3:2 For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.
This tell's me even when we dont want to offend people with our tongues we do, amen who can relate ?How many times in life have you found yourself saying I am sorry i did not mean to hurt your feelings or I am sorry that came out wrong amen this is what this is speaking of the word of GOD is complete. you never need to add or take away from it.. As long a you pay attention to do all you will be fine..
Have any of us ever considered the damage that we do with our tongues? Listen, when we are involved with half truth's or out right lies.. [GOSSIP} These are all ways of doing damage to people with our tongues.. I have seen and heard of folk loosing employment over people quick to repeat something that they heard about.. People I just want you to realize what the lord is saying here about taming our tongues. This is all collateral damage because of our tongues .. It does not speak to the direct destruction t hat we can cause if we choose to use this part of the human body without discipline .
This is illustration below on what we are dealing with, these examples are about great inventions, both large in size but controlled by very small controls.. IN many cases we must take several verses at a time to get the fullness of t he meaning. this is what I have done here.
Jas 3:4 Behold also the ships, which though they be so great, and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the governor listeth.
Jas 3:5 Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!
Jas 3:6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.
All these things are controlled by our tongues,all things that we must realize lies therein. We speak what we know correct amen. I can recall baring witness to a situation that came to pass when we were growing up. I use to be a bully and I would often pick on my Little cousins and bully them around. Well as a grown man I recall playing basketball with them and in the middle of a game one of my cousins stopped and said "do you recall when you use to pick on me" ? So we all looked at him as if he was crazy, but he said that was messed up how you use to treat us and I bet you wont do that any more.. This was no longer a joke to me, because that was a disguised threat and obviously something that he had been carrying all this time
This is another way that I have witnessed with my own eyes blessing and cursing in the tongue. A young woman that I new was pregnant, but it was something that had to be kept from her parents . Well as the pregnancy began to show her family would often ask her why her stomach was getting bigger ? She would always say it's not a baby it cancer, its a tumor.. Well I am here to share with you that this baby was born with cancer.. Sure poor baby was cursed from the womb because her mom had no understanding of spiritual things..
Jas 3:8 But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison...
Indeed this scripture screams off the page at me. How many of us can bare witness to the damage that we have seen done by words to our friends. We all made fun of them back in the day not realizing that we were causing irreversible damage. Their parents played a role in the damage with us, we all called him or her stupid, worthless dumb.. People have feelings and although they laughed with us inside they were building a serious resentment.. Today many of them have anger problems. Some have committed serious crimes, because of misdirected anger.. Our TONGUES truly the key to what makes the world go around. We must learn to think twice in some cases 3x before we speak . A word can knock a man down for life. When in all reality a bruise can heal in a week.. So that old saying sticks and stones make break my bones but names will never hurt me,It is not true is it ?..
Until next time saints..
P.E.T Darryl G Gilliam
Major Change Network
and Foundation...........