Did I really say that?

2 Corinthians 10:10 “For his letters,” they say, “are weighty and powerful, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible.”

I have written in my Bible beside this scripture, “ME. I write much better than I speak, and it bothers me……” I live the evidences of that statement. I live the evidences of the power of the tongue that James speaks about. James 3:8 But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. 9 With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God. 10 Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so. Sometimes I cannot believe myself, the words that spring forth from myself. This untamable tongue must be from the pit of hell as James describes. How is it in our minds we think one thing, and say another? The words that come our of our mouths are disconnected from our thoughts; “that wasn’t really what or how I meant to say that”. There is a disconnect in my speech I personally know, and it bothers me. There is an unruly evil that lies there, and I pray that God will continue His sanctifying work there…….it bothers me.

Paul wrote so much of the New Testament, and his letters are the strongest in the New Testament. Therein lies great convictions of sin and calls to repentance by the work of the Holy Spirit in his writings. God laid all the words on Paul’s heart, and spoke through his personality and zeal to pen them. In them God works through the Spirit to speak to you and I, feeling these convictions, and calls to repentance of sin; to rest in the assurances of grace that Paul pens and preaches. The convictions of sin that come in Paul’s letters, also come with the edification of the promises of that grace that God provides. The building up of the church founded in grace, is the foundation of the Gospel that Paul writes and speaks of.

When you sit at God’s feet in prayer and His Word, He will speak to you through your heart. He will convict you of sins most likely first; this is a purification process necessary to hear more clearly from Him. How can we expect to sit before a Holy God with the realization of un-repented sin in our heart? When you sit down with Him, and those convictions come, repent and ask for the forgiveness that He gives. Continue to spend time in His presence, and you may find that His Word brings new life. You most likely will be granted and edified by His Word after your heart cleansing. That is His goal; to make you more like Christ. It is done in the power of the Word, the humble heart, and the grace He gives.