The Trouble With Snakes

by Sheri Schofield

“Look, Mom!” Drew said, a harmless water snake clutched in each hand. “I’m gonna put them in my terrarium.”

“No,” I said firmly. “They will get loose in the house!”

“No, they won’t!”

“Honey,” said my husband, who had just come into the room, “I’ll fix the lid so the snakes can’t get out.”

I just shook my head and sighed. Our house was on the market, and the last thing I needed was snakes in it. But when Tim sides with our son, there was no point in trying to talk common sense to either of them.

About a week later, a prospective buyer came to see our house. I smiled and ushered the plump, middle-aged lady into the living room and spoke of the homey features. Then we turned toward the hallway to the bedrooms. There in the middle of the hallway crawled an escapee from Drew’s terrarium.

“What’s that?” the lady gasped.

“It’s just a…” I began apologetically,

“SNAKE!” she screeched, leaping three feet into the air. Gyrating toward the door in mid leap, she came down with a crash and was already out the door before I could catch my breath.

“But…but…it’s a very nice house!” I called after her. But she was gone, never to be seen again.

We didn’t find the other snake which had escaped until we moved out. It lay shriveled up in Drew’s closet, along with a flattened, dried frog. (That explained the peculiar odor in his room!)

Snakes always escape. There’s no point in trying to pretend otherwise. In the same way, the thoughts and intents of the heart also escape through our lips and actions. Trying to pretend we see no evil, hear no evil, and speak no evil does not work.

Jesus said, “A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. What you say flows from what is in your heart” (Luke 6:45 NLT). Jeremiah writes, “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?” (Jeremiah 17:9 NLT). Since we have fallen natures, the only way to keep our hearts’ contents good is through trusting Jesus day by day. In that way, we can guard our hearts against evil.

The Holy Spirit, living in those who believe and trust in Jesus, produces good things in our hearts. The things escaping through the lips of Spirit-controlled believers are love, joy, peace, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. (See Galatians 5:22,23, NLT.)

When I was a teenager and later a young adult, I used to pray, “Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips,” Psalm 141:3 (KJV). I knew my tendency to allow gossip, bitterness or complaints to poison my words. As the Lord has gradually gained more control of my heart, I have learned to live more and more in His grace. But until the day I am ushered into His presence, the battle for a godly heart will be with me. So, day by day, I surrender my heart to Him, that the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart will be pleasing to my Lord. (See Psalm 19:14.)

May the grace and beauty of the Holy Spirit flow through us always!

Don’t be concerned about the outward beauty of fancy hairstyles, expensive jewelry, or beautiful clothes. You should clothe yourselves instead with the beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God. 1 Peter 3:3,4 NLT

This article is brought to you by the Advanced Writers and Speakers Association (AWSA).

About the author: Sheri Schofield is an award-winning children’s author-illustrator and children’s ministry veteran of 40 years. Sheri was named Writer of the Year in 2018 at the Colorado Christian Writers’ Conference for her work in effectively sharing the gospel of Jesus. Her ministry, Faithwind 4 Kids, can be followed on her blog at her website, http://www.sherischofield.com. Questions welcomed!

FREE CHILDREN’S PROGRAM! Author/Children’s Bible teacher, Sheri Schofield, offers a free series of video lessons about Jesus and His salvation—for children ages 4 and up. It is available at her website www.sherischofield.com. In this video series, Walk-The-Talk Island, Sheri presents her award-winning book The Prince and the Plan, in 24 video lessons for your children, grandchildren and any others with whom you wish to share. In addition, Campfire provides devotions for children.

Join the Conversation: How do you work on your heart?

Loose Lips Sink Ships (and Ruin Lots of Other Stuff, Too)

by Kathy Howard @KathyHHoward

A soothing tongue is a tree of life, but perversion in it crushes the spirit.                                                                                                                                                  Proverbs 15:4 NASB

During wartime, soldiers and sailors have to carefully watch what they say. Sometimes what they think are harmless, casual remarks can give the enemy information to use against them. For instance, sailors on shore leave can get too chatty and accidentally spill facts that lead to disastrous results – even the sinking of their ship.

I don’t think I’ve ever said anything to endanger an aircraft carrier, but I know my words have hurt people again and again. The careless words of my mouth have wounded, discouraged, grieved, and angered. My unchecked speech has torn down, set back, and destroyed.

Sometimes I realize what I’ve done even before the last word has stopped its echo. I am witness to their impact. Like a tornado ripping its way through Oklahoma, my words have the power to level. But it’s not man-made structures they demolish. Instead my words rip apart relationships. Fragment fragile hopes. Tear down trust.

And it’s not only our verbal words that have this power. Written words can do the same kind of damage. In fact, we must be even more diligent with things like texts, social media posts, and emails because our intent can be so easily misunderstood.

God does not pull any punches when He talks about the power of our tongues to do evil:

The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. James 3:6 NIV

Serious business isn’t it? And this struggle with our words is universal. Even King David–the “man after God’s own heart”–needed help controlling his tongue.

Set a guard over my mouth, O LORD; Keep watch over the door of my lips. Psalm 141:3 NIV

Thankfully, we don’t have to let our tongues have the last word. (Yes, pun intended.) Like David, we can ask God to guard our tongue and monitor everything that flows from it. We may struggle to control our speech – both spoken and written—but it’s an easy task for the Holy Spirit!

I have a friend who was known for being outspoken. His words frequently got him into trouble and hurt others. So, he determined to give his speech to God. He calls this spiritual guard over his mouth his “filter.” And he regularly checks in with God to make sure his filter is in good working order.

The Holy Spirit wants to be our “filter.” Let’s allow Him to be the guard over our mouths. Let’s commit to allow everything we say or write to first pass through our Holy Spirit filter. Then our words will be consistently edifying and encouraging. No more verbal destruction. No more sinking ships.

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Loose Lips Sink Ships (and Ruin Lots of Other Stuff, Too) – insight from @KathyHHoward on @AriseDailyDevo (Click to Tweet)

About the Author: A former “cultural Christian,” Bible teacher and speaker Kathy Howard now lives an unshakable faith for life and encourages women to stand firm on our rock-solid God. The author of eight books, Kathy has a Masters in Christian Education. She and her retired husband live outside the Dallas/Ft Worth area with their miscellaneous assortment of dogs. Find free discipleship resources on her website, www.kathyhoward.org and connect with Kathy on Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest.

Kathy’s book “Before His Throne” leads you on a 9-week journey through the book of Malachi to discover what godly fear looks in our daily lives and how this biblical attitude will help you find deeper intimacy with God.

Join the conversation: How do you keep control of your tongue?

Need a Filter?

by Kathy Howard @KathyHHoward

“Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.”                                                                                                                                          Ephesians 4:29 NIV

A friend I worked with for several years was known for his sarcasm and quick comebacks. But after realizing his “humor” had hurt people’s feelings, he began to work hard to control his speech. Whenever he wanted to say something he knew he shouldn’t, he would pass his hand in front of his face as a physical reminder to “filter” his words. It was a visible reminder to himself to think before he spoke. It gave him pause. Of course, since his efforts weren’t subtle, we all knew he had left something unsaid.

Like my friend, we all need to “filter” our words before we allow them to leave our mouths, to check our speech for any impurities or damaging elements. Unfortunately, our culture doesn’t much value the verbal filter today. Instead, we want to hear every cutting, rude, crude, hurtful word. In fact, the more outrageous the better. All we have to do is tack on a “just saying” and it’s all good.

God not only tells His children we should use filters for our mouths, He tells us very specifically what we should filter out and what we should allow ourselves to say in Ephesians 4:29 NIV: “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.”

The Greek word translated as “unwholesome” refers to far more than foul language or curse words. It means we shouldn’t say anything that tears down or deflates the one who hears our words. That doesn’t mean we don’t ever say anything hard or difficult to hear, but that the goal of our speech is to help and build up the other person.

This is so challenging for me! Think about this, what percentage of what comes out of our mouths helps and builds up the hearer? What percentage hurts or tears down the hearer?

Yes, I long for 100% of my words to build up and 0% to tear down. Unfortunately, my filter is often faulty. How about you?

God commands us to control our speech, so in part, using our filter is a step of obedience. But we also need the help of the indwelling Holy Spirit because “no one can tame the tongue” (James 3:8) on our own. We need His divine power!

If you want to tame the tongue and control your speech, join me in this “filter prayer”:

Set a guard over my mouth, O LORD; keep watch over the door of my lips. Psalm 141:3, NIV

Here’s the good news: God is waiting to help us control our speech! Let’s ask Him to help us keep that filter in place!

TWEETABLE
Need a Filter? insight from @KathyHHoward on @AriseDailyDevo (Click to Tweet)

About the Author: A former “cultural Christian,” Bible teacher and speaker Kathy Howard now lives an unshakable faith for life and encourages women to stand firm on our rock-solid God. The author of eight books, Kathy has a Masters in Christian Education. She and her retired husband live outside the Dallas/Ft Worth area with their miscellaneous assortment of dogs. Find free discipleship resources on her website, www.kathyhoward.org and connect with Kathy on Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest.

Kathy’s book “Before His Throne” leads you on a 9-week journey through the book of Malachi to discover what godly fear looks in our daily lives and how this biblical attitude will help you find deeper intimacy with God.

Join the conversation: What about you? Have you ever taken pride in your “anything goes” speech? Have you struggled to control it only to fail time and time again?

Round-Up Time for My Thoughts

by Sheri Schofield

It’s round-up time here in Montana. The mountains behind our house are free range, which means that the rancher below our property drives his cattle up into the mountains in early summer, where the cattle graze for about three months. They are all cows and calves. (The bulls have to stay home, for they are extremely valuable breeding stock.)

When fall comes and the trees start to turn yellow and red, the rancher and his family mount up and ride into the mountains where they round the cattle up and drive them back to their home pasture. The older cows know when round-up time is coming, so they head down the mountain on their own.

Early one morning when my husband and I were still asleep, a loud “MOO” roared across our dreams. Our eyes popped open. There was a cow looking into our bedroom window! She was in my flowers!

I jumped out of bed, grabbed my robe and flip flops and dashed out the back door, with Tim close on my heels. I raced around to the side of the house, clapped my hands at the cow and shouted, “Haw!”

The cow jumped and began running toward the creek instead of the gate. I raced around and headed her off.

“Sheri! Come back!” Tim shouted. “You’ll get hurt!”

He’s obviously watched too many western movies where the cattle stampede and kill the cowboys.

“She’s just a cow!” I shouted back. He didn’t get it, since he did not grow up on a farm like I did. Cows and bulls are not the same critter at all. One can chase cows. One avoids bulls. “Go stand at the top of the driveway and don’t let her get up behind the house!” I shouted.

We eventually chased the cow out and closed the gate. Whew! What a workout! Our lawn and garden were safe . . . but now there was a cow pie in the middle of the lawn to clean up. Cows are messy.

Sometimes when I least expect it, I find that bad thoughts, like that cow, have crept into my brain when I’m not on guard against them. When that happens, I must immediately go into action and chase those thoughts out, for they will lead me into bad actions if I don’t. They will spoil my peace and hurt my relationships.

The Apostle Paul, in his closing remarks to the Philippians, wrote, “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable — if anything is excellent or praiseworthy — think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me — put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you”(Philippians 4:8-9, NIV).

Guarding my heart against bad thoughts toward others is something I’ve had to learn to do. My natural tendency is to take offense at what others say that may hurt my feelings. If I allow those offenses to fester, they will bubble up into my speech, and my resentment will spill out. As Jesus said, ” . . . the mouth speaks what the heart is full of” (Matthew 12:34 NIV). So, I work to give those thoughts to Jesus and ask him to drive them out and replace them with right thinking. I choose to fill my heart with thoughts that please God instead. When I do that, I am filled with God’s peace, and my relationships prosper.

Set a guard over my mouth, LORD; keep watch over the door of my lips. Psalm 141:3, NIV

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Round up time for my thoughts – Sheri Schofield on @AriseDailyDevo (Click to Tweet)

About the author: Sheri Schofield, an award-winning children’s author-illustrator and children’s ministry veteran of 40 years, has just released her new book, The Prince And The Plan, to help parents lead their children into a saving knowledge of Jesus. Sheri was named Writer of the Year for 2018 at Colorado Christian Writers’ Conference for her work in effectively sharing the gospel of Jesus. Her ministry, Faithwind 4 Kids, can be followed on her blog at her website, http://www.sherischofield.com. Questions welcomed!

Join the conversation: How do you deal with your thought life?

Mark My Words

by Deb DeArmond

I enjoy listening to podcasts on a variety of topics while traveling. There’s a lot to choose from: shows for writers, travelogues, cooking, and business. The speakers I look forward to most, however, are those that start the day with me: podcasts by pastors and teachers that help grow God’s Word in my heart. Those that take me deep and make me think, “Hmm. I’d never seen that before in that Scripture.” Or, “Wow, I don’t think I’ve ever read that passage before.” After 45 years as a Christ-follower, it still happens. Often.

Recently, a podcast entitled, “A War of Words” by Pastor Bill Johnson recently caught my eye. And by the end of the message, my heart had been caught up as well. The idea that jumped out at me most as I listened was simple: “When God speaks, He creates.”

As a Christian writer and speaker, that’s my goal. I always pray that the Lord empowers my words to create pathways, understanding, growth, and peace for those who read or hear my words. I want to encourage them to walk more closely with Jesus. So I ask for the exact right words for what He’s led me to teach.

I read it aloud to myself and ask others to read it as well. I inquire: “Does it reach the heart? Is it encouraging? Is it too direct? Might it offend, or does it inspire rather than discourage?” I use the same process as I write books and articles. I am always focused on using words that will have the greatest impact for my audience.

There are a multitude of scriptures on the topic.

• Proverbs 21:23 (ESV): “Whoever keeps his mouth and his tongue keeps himself out of trouble.”
• Psalm 141:3 (ESV): “Set a guard, Oh Lord, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips.”
• James 3:8b-10 (ESV) “[The tongue] is a restless evil and full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God’ from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way.”

Have you been on social media lately? Me too. Now there’s a word choice challenge!

As I look back on my interactions online, I might occasionally have strayed from purposeful word selection (!!). The war of words these days can ignite carelessness in us on topics close to our heart, or when we feel under attack for our beliefs and choices. Passion can push us in the wrong direction if we are not cautious and focused on using our words to create, not criticize or crush our accusers.

Jesus, as He stood accused, offered no words in His defense. “When He was insulted, He did not insult in return,” 1 Peter 2:23a (CSB).

Please understand, I don’t recall ever attacking someone’s parentage or intelligence. No name calling or insults. But words are my business. And I can be tempted to use them in a manner that will not create an opportunity for growth in those who receive them.

Thinking of God’s propensity to create made me say, “Hmmm, I can do better. I need to do better, because I represent Him.”

And mark my words, I will. What about you? Anyone want to join me?

About the author: Deb DeArmond is an expert in the fields of communication, relationship, and conflict resolution. A writer and professional speaker, Deb addresses topics related to the family and women. Her books include: Related by Chance, Family by Choice, I Choose You Today: 31 Choices to Make Love Last and Don’t Go to Bed Angry. Stay Up and Fight! Deb’s books help readers, whether engaged, newlywed, or long-time married, create the life God meant marriage and family to be. You can read more from Deb at Family Matters/Deb.

Join the conversation: How do you keep from being careless or worse with your words?