There
is no quicker death to a person's anointing, or blessings from God
than for them to criticize another's walk with God and I agree that
this is a hard thing to do when you run up against a teaching that
God has taken you beyond, but this something you must do for your
spiritual life depends on it. I'm not saying that He will leave
you(1), for He will not ever as long as you love Him, but He will
not bless you or anoint you with as great a walk as you would have
if you would guard your tongue(2). Before I go any further I must
show you what prompted this.
I
saw a steep mountain that was encircled with children and at the
top was a prize to the winner. Each child was trying as if his or
her life depended on climbing this mountain. Some girls were being
pulled by their skirts backward and some boys were having their
feet pulled out from under them and it was always people behind
them that did the pulling. If one child found an easier way of climbing
than another, the other would rush to walk on the same ground and
they would both fall.
God
said that He was the prize and that to get to the top was to receive
the mark of the high calling(3) that Paul talked about. Lovely,
blessed and much loved people, we were the children. A speaking
against another ministry would cause us to slide backward so that
we were further away from God.
Have
you not noticed that there are periods when you feel God's presence
in a mighty way and then there are times His spirit just is not
as close and we don't stop to think that it might have have been
a slip of the tongue that caused it. I'm not talking sin here I'm
talking to mature Christians. We are more accountable for what we
say than the sinner who never came into a church. We have the power
of life and death(4) in our mouths and this is not given to babies
but to adults and when you have proved that you can be faithful
in the little things He will take you on to the BIG things in God.
He
said, "Let me show you what they could do."
I
saw the children take each other's hand and they encircled this
mountain and I'm talking about multitude's of children. There were
rows and rows of kids holding hands around that mountain and I saw
them begin to climb. As one slipped the ones behind caught him and
held him until he got back on his feet and began to climb again.
I
saw bands of light like rainbows began to descend from the top and
fall on first one row and then the next as they climbed higher and
there were continually more children coming and joining hands.
He
said, "Look what they can do when they all work together
for a common goal. They can change a nation and then a world if
they'll only learn to work together so tell them now for this is
the message that must go out."
"Tell
them to beat their swords into plowshares(5) and get to work for
the harvest, for now is the time."
I
did not stop and interject the verses in here because I wanted you
to understand without reverences what the message was and below
you will find the verses to back this up.
I
am going to interject something here that might help you to understand
where I'm coming from on this. I used to bowl on leagues with my
husband and I was never a good competition bowler. I always tried
to better my own score and pulled for everyone bowling, even the
opposite team to bowl their best and one time a man sat down beside
me and said, "I would rather bowl against any team but yours."
This
puzzled me because it seemed every team out there enjoyed bowling
with us so I had to ask, "Why?"
He
said it was hard to compete against someone who was pulling for
you and I learned a valuable lesson that night. God chose this for
me to learn and I've never forgotten this so that is why you'll
hear me repeatedly say I pray for each and every person that reads
this newsletter to go on in what God is doing in your life and if
I can help in any way, I'm a phone call away. My desire is to make
your life easier, not to climb on your shoulders, and with God's
guidance I hope to never be a burden but to always have a "helps
ministry" to my fellow climbers. So come on, one foot after
another let's climb this mountain together!
1.
God will never leave you nor forsake you.
Deuteronomy
31:6 Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid
of them: for the LORD thy God, he it is that doth go with thee;
he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.
Deuteronomy
31:8 And the LORD, he it is that doth go before thee; he will
be with thee, he will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear
not, neither be dismayed.
Joshua
1:5 There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all
the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee:
I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.
1
Chronicles 28:20 And David said to Solomon his son, Be strong
and of good courage, and do it: fear not, nor be dismayed: for the
LORD God, even my God, will be with thee; he will not fail thee,
nor forsake thee, until thou hast finished all the work for the
service of the house of the LORD.
2.
Guard your tongue.
1
Peter 3:10 For he that will love life, and see good days, let
him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no
guile:
James
3:5-6 Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great
things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth! {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.
3.
Mark of the high calling.
Philippians
3:14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling
of God in Christ Jesus.
4.
Power of life and death is in the tongue.
Psalms
34:13 Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile.
Proverbs
18:21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they
that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.
5.
Beat their swords into plowshares.
Isaiah
2:4 And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many
people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their
spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against
nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
Micah
4:3 And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations
afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and
their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword
against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
