\u201cLord, help me control my tongue; help me be careful about what I say\u201d (Psalm 141:3 New Century Version).
\nKing David is believed to have written Psalm141, and in the verse above, he prayed a very important prayer. How you use your tongue will play a key role in determining what happens to you in life.
\nAccording to James 3:5, the tongue is a small thing but it can do enormous damage. \u201cFor the Scriptures say, \u2018If you want a happy life and good days, keep your tongue from speaking evil, and keep your lips from telling lies\u2019\u201d (1 Peter 3:10 New Living Translation). Proverbs 18:21 says, \u201cDeath and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit\u201d (New King James Version).
\nIn 2 Samuel 1, an Amalekite signed his own death warrant! He cut short his life when he told David with his own mouth that he killed Saul. Perhaps he actually did; perhaps he didn\u2019t. But even if he had killed Saul as he claimed, he didn\u2019t need to come to tell David.
\nNevertheless, he did that probably looking for reward from David knowing full well that Saul had been after David all along. He had thought David would compensate him generously for eliminating his arch-enemy thereby paving the way to the throne of Israel for him. But to his surprise, David ordered him to be killed (2 Samuel 1:13-16).
\nThe New Living Translation renders 2 Samuel 1:16 thus: \u201c\u2018You die self-condemned,\u2019 David said, \u2018for you yourself confessed that you killed the LORD’s anointed one.\u2019\u201d The mouth of this young Amalekite put him in trouble; his mouth killed him. \u201cIf you keep your mouth shut, you will stay out of trouble\u201d (Proverbs 21:23 New Living Translation). May your mouth not kill you in Jesus\u2019 name.
\nThe fate that befell that young Amalekite also befell Baanah and Rechab. These two brothers, captains of lshbosheth’s troops, killed Ishbosheth, the son of Saul who had succeeded him as king.
\nThey brought Ishbosheth\u2019s head to David saying, \u201cHere is the head of Ishbosheth, the son of Saul your enemy, who sought your life; and the LORD has avenged my lord the king this day of Saul and his descendants\u201d (2 Samuel 4:8 New King James Version).
\nAfter killing Ishbosheth, they didn\u2019t have to go to David to tell him. But they went to him with the head of Ishbosheth apparently looking for favours being aware of the enmity between the house of Saul and David.
\nIn response, David commanded his young men to execute them, and they did (2 Samuel 4:9-12). The tongues of these captains killed them. \u201cThose who control their tongue will have a long life; a quick retort can ruin everything\u201d (Proverbs 13:3 New Living Translation).
\nJames 1:19 says you should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. Verse 26 says, \u201cIf you claim to be religious but don’t control your tongue, you are just fooling yourself, and your religion is worthless\u201d (New Living Translation).
\nA tongue without control is like an automobile without a brake. Jesus said by your words you\u2019ll be justified, and by your words you\u2019ll be condemned (Matthew 12:37).
\n\u25cf\u25cf Pastor Banso, an Abuja-based minister can be reached at
\ncedarministryng@gmail.com; on
\nTel No: +2348155744752, +2348033113523; and
\nWhatsApp No: +2349081295947.\u00a0(For more inspiring messages, visit: www.cedarministry.org).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cLord, help me control my tongue; help me be careful about what I say\u201d (Psalm 141:3 New Century Version). King David is believed to have written Psalm141, and in the verse above, he prayed a very important prayer. How you use your tongue will play a key role in determining what happens to you in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":8253,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8252","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8252","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8252"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8252\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}