A year of divine sanitation – Part 3

Sanitise Your Tongue
Text: James 3:1-18; Mathew 5:22; Revelation 21:8; Ezekiel 13:22; Mathew 12:36.

Key Verse: James 3:6, “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.” (KJV)

To sanitise your tongue simply means to crucify your tongue, so you do not speak thoughtlessly and carelessly. There is nothing that reveals a person more than his words. So, speech is a sign of self-control, verse 2 of James Chapter 3 says. A loose tongue, James says, betrays a loose life. If you can’t control your tongue, your Christianity is empty, vacuous and meaningless. A talkative cannot be a prayer warrior and cannot be trusted with secrets.

In James 3 verse 5, the Bible says the tongue is a little member of the human body, but it has a great influence and needs you to control, discipline and master it. If you do not put your tongue under control, it will lead you to verbal sins and finally lead you to Hell Fire. The tongue has the power, like a fire, to ignite those works of the flesh in our own sinful nature. For instance: temper, hate – they are of the flesh and are the wheel and course of nature, and they are set on fire by the tongue. Someone says something to you, and all of a sudden your temper rises. Do you see it? Thinking of it more corporately, how many times has strife been stirred up in a church, in an office, in a community or a country because of spoken words? Oh, we cannot underestimate words, James tells us.

James 3:8, “But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.” You see what James is saying: this old tongue, it can’t be tamed. It can’t be tempered! You can’t bite your tongue enough! It must die! Romans 6:11 says that we have died with Christ and we’re alive to God. You’ve got to apply the power of the Cross to your tongue; dead to the evil tongue, and alive to the praises and truth of God. Your tongue can only be crucified.

A tongue that is not crucified causes you to lie. An uncrucified tongue causes a pastor to lie and say things that are untrue. Ezekiel 13:22 (TLB) says, “Your lies have discouraged the righteous when I didn’t want it so. And you have encouraged the wicked by promising life, though they continue in their sins.” Today, we have witnessed the rise of so many false preachers, who under the guise of enriching themselves, frighten people with false prophecies and predictions in order to defraud them and these misguided followers fall prey to them.

Such preachers promise life to sinners, instead of preaching to them the message of repentance. If you are among such preachers, you must repent because the Bible says in Ezekiel 13:23 (TLB), “But you will lie no more; no longer will you talk of seeing ‘visions’ that you never saw nor practice your magic, for I will deliver my people out of your hands by destroying you, and you shall know I am the Lord.”

Do you remember what happened to Ananias and Sapphira in Acts chapter 5? They lied to the Holy Spirit, and they were struck down. Do you have an uncrucified tongue? Psalm 141:3 (NLT) says, “Take control of what I say, O LORD, and guard my lips.”

Today’s Nugget:A Loose Tongue Betrays a Loose Life.
Prayer: O Lord, set a guard over my mouth. LORD, keep watch over the door of my lips in Jesus Name, Amen.
Prayer lines: call 08132133896, 08033452365, 08030664977.
E-mail: evangelgospel@yahoo.com
Dr. Chidi Okoroafor
General Superintendent
Assemblies of God Nigeria.