The reflections of the heart belong to mankind, but the answer of the tongue is from the LORD. Proverbs 16:1 CSB
I recently read a post on Facebook that stuck with me. It said that intelligence is knowing what to say and wisdom is knowing when not to say it. Often times we sin when we have sinful thoughts. If we are not careful those thoughts escape our mouths. I have said something without thinking and then immediately thought, “Oh no, did I say that out loud?”
Our Scripture passage tells us that the reflections of the heart belong to mankind. We can focus our hearts on God or we can focus our hearts on the sin in our lives. Our hearts can be full of goodness or full of evil. Our hearts can be constantly complaining or they can be grateful. These are choices we make each and every day. I pray daily for God to fill my heart with His Holy Spirit to help to guard my heart against evil thoughts or thoughts that will lead me into sin.
It all starts with the heart. We should never follow our hearts. Why? Because the Bible tells us that our hearts are deceptive and can’t be trusted in Jeremiah 17:9. God told Samuel in 1 Samuel 16:7 that He does not judge on outward appearances, but what is in the heart. Proverbs 4:23 tells us to keep our hearts with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life. When David had sinned with Bathsheba, he wrote Psalm 51 and in verse 10, he begged God to create in him a clean heart and renew a right spirit within him. When our heart is not devoted to God, our filter can get clogged and not work properly.
If you want your words to be acceptable, you must start by doing all you can to make your heart acceptable. In Matthew 15:18 Jesus said that what the heart is full of proceeds out the mouth. We can pray for God to fill our hearts with His Holy Spirit. We can pray for God to cleanse our hearts. Psalm 139:23-24 is one that we should pray regularly, it says, “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my concerns. See if there is any offensive way in me; lead me in the everlasting way.”
If you want a spiritually healthy mouth, you must begin with a spiritually healthy heart. As I remind you daily, we are to love the Lord with all our heart. We are to focus our hearts on God. We are told in Proverbs 3:5 to trust in the Lord with all our heart and not lean on our own understanding.
So, how do we keep our hearts focused on God? In Psalm 119:11 David said, “I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.” We must develop a solid relationship with Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. We must do this through Bible study and prayer. When we study His word and memorize His word and keep it in our hearts. It helps keep our filter free of clogs. Without our filter, our sinfulness flows freely out of our mouth. When we focus on God and His word, we can stop these thoughts that we shouldn’t be having before they roll out of our mouths.
Once, we get our hearts right, then we can focus on filtering the words that come out of our mouths. We must always remember that our heart and our mouths work very closely together. We are going to have sinful thoughts, no matter how hard we try not to. We must strive to not let them slip through the filter out of our mouths. We must be sure to pray for the Holy Spirit to keep our filter unclogged and working properly so these thoughts don’t escape our lips. It should be our prayer daily to God to let the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to Him. (Psalm 19:14).
2 Corinthians 10:5 tells us to take every thought captive. When we ask God to fill our hearts with His Holy Spirit, we will be convicted for thoughts that go against God. When we feel that conviction, we can stop. We can pray and ask God to remove these thoughts from us before they come spilling out our mouths. Ask God to keep your filter working as you go throughout this day. Ask Him to send His Holy Spirit to help guard your heart against evil.
Romans 10:9-10 tells us that if we confess that “Jesus is Lord,” with our mouths and believe in our hearts that God raised Him from the dead, we will be saved. One believes in the heart, resulting in righteousness and confesses with the mouth resulting in salvation.
If we let our heart get out of control, our mouth will follow which can lead to damnation. We don’t want that to happen. Stop it before it starts. Use your filter regularly.
Have a great day!