Self-Denial- A learning experience.

Another excerpt from-

The Spiritual Man- Watchman Nee

(Keep in mind what we've been studying the last few days. If you haven't been following the little study please go back the last few days, maybe a week and read it if you can.  We're discussing our need of humbling, our need of carrying our cross daily, our need of LIVING in Christ fully.)

'If in the disposition which Christ displayed in relation to His cross we are willing to take up ours, then we shall find that the power of His cross abides in us and enables us to lose our natural life.

Each time the cross is taken up, each time does the soul life suffer loss.

Each time the cross is circumvented, each time is the soul life fed and preserved.

The Lord Jesus does not imply that dealing with our natural inclinations is a once for all matter. We find in Luke the word “daily” is added to our Lord’s call to take up the cross.

Cross-bearing is continuous.

The cross which condemned sin to death is an accomplished fact: all which remains for us to do is to acknowledge and receive it. But the cross through which we forfeit our soul life is different.

Self-denial is not a matter already and completely accomplished; this we must experience daily.

Now this does not mean that the soul life will never be lost or only be lost slowly. It simply bespeaks the fact that the cross which deals with the soul life operates differently from that which deals with sin. And the reason? Because death towards sin is accomplished for us by Christ: when He died, we died with Him. But the denial of the soul life is not an accomplished matter.

We are required to take up our own cross daily by the power of the cross of Christ and determine daily to deny self—until it is lost.

Renunciation of our natural life is not something which is done once and forever. As for sin, we only need take the ground of the cross (Rom. 6.6) and immediately we are freed from its power and our servitude to it. In a moment this can be experienced with a full and perfect victory. But the self life must be overcome step by step.

The deeper the Word of God penetrates (Heb. 4.12), the deeper works the cross and the further the Holy Spirit completes the union of the life of our spirit with the Lord Jesus.

How can believers deny the self when it is yet unknown to them? They can deny only that part of the soul life which they already recognize. God’s Word must lay bare more and more of our natural life so that the work of the cross can probe deeper and deeper. That is why the cross must be borne daily. To know more of God’s will and to know more of the self- furnishes the cross increased ground to operate.'

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Tomorrow we'll study this more in-depth. For now, please read this a few times, soak it in. Look up the Bible verse if you can.

By the grace of God we have to learn this, study this, please God, please help us to learn what we need to! Help us to learn the truth of YOUR WORD! Guide us, help us!

All through the name of our Savior, our Lord, Jesus Christ, now and forever!

AMEN.

No two crosses we bear are the same.

Luk_9:23  And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

'… The Lord says to us that this cross is ours, for we each receive from God our own particular cross. That is what we ought to bear. Although it is our cross, it nevertheless is closely connected with the cross of the Lord. '

P198 The Spiritual Man  - by Watchman Nee

This is truth.

We each have our own cross, to say otherwise is to lie.  I can look at you and imagine what your cross may be- there may be some obvious clues to what your cross may look like - outward afflictions and such, but I can't know truly what your cross is like to bear.  We each carry weight differently- mentally, emotionally and even physically.  If I carried twenty lbs of cat food and you carry the same twenty lbs of cat food and your muscles are stronger than mine, then it would be easier for you to carry than for me.  Emotionally something could affect you more than me, or me more than you- the gauge we go by is truly ours and no others. There can't be a true standard. Society tries to imagine their standards based upon majority reactions, and test results and other data they collect and they make it the norm so that people tend to forget how truly individual we are in so many ways. No two people can ever experience life in the same way simply because we are not ever the same- not ever.  Our crosses are different, but we ALL have a cross.

However, not all of us TAKE UP the cross that is ours.

Jesus said- IF…    IF any man -  meaning if WE choose to follow Him then we choose to DENY ourselves, we TAKE up our cross DAILY and we follow Him.

The cross is the life we choose to give up- the flesh life. We take up all the hardship of DENYING ourselves and there are plenty of them. We take up the cross of recognizing all the Spirit revealed flesh lusts in our lives and in the recognition we submit to the spirit denying those flesh lusts. Daily we will be allowed to see the SELF we must give up and that self is a terrible thing. We bear the cross of being UNLIKE those who live to the flesh.  There is persecution, there is ostracizing, there is awkwardness, there is misunderstanding, there is ridicule, there is death for those who choose to follow Christ. We take up a cross, we follow Christ not to receive ANY earthly reward whatsoever! We do NOT follow Christ to have a life of ease, to have a hotline to heaven for prayers to be answered in our favor.  When we choose to follow Christ we must comprehend that we are choosing a life that will be ANYTHING BUT EASY.

If we learn to deny ourselves, to take up our cross we understand that our HOPE is in CHRIST'S life, in the life HE PROMISES us, not in this life. 

We are taking up the cross of our Savior- His cross was one of self-denial, He lived solely for OTHERS and He died for others.

Please LORD, please.  My heart cries out to You, please let the Holy Spirit utter the things I can't begin to comprehend. Please.

All in the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ OUR LORD now and forever and ever!

Please.

Thy will be done.

Are you a cross bearer?

Luk_9:23  And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

Luk 9:24  For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.

Luk 9:25  For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away?

What does it mean to take up our cross.

A cross is -

Definition- an upright wooden post with a shorter post fixed across it at right angles toward the top, on which, formerly, people were nailed or hanged in public executions

When we take up our cross we are putting on ourselves the weight of our SELF death.

Remember this--

Joh 19:16  Then delivered he him therefore unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus, and led him away.

Joh 19:17  And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha

Jesus bore His own cross until He could bear it no longer.

Luk 23:26  And as they led him away, they laid hold upon one Simon, a Cyrenian, coming out of the country, and on him they laid the cross, that he might bear it after Jesus.

The weight of the cross, the instrument of His impending death, lay upon His wounded, bleeding shoulders. 

Bearing a cross, when we say those words- or these words-  'I have a cross to bear.'  We know it means that what we are bearing is a heavy weight, a burden of some kind.  If I tell you-  "That's your cross to bear." - I mean that's your weight, your burden to deal with.

Picking up our cross daily.  Each new day we have a cross we have to bear. We have a burden, we have a weight, we have an instrument of death - OUR instrument of death to endure.

Does it sound like something pleasant?

Luk_9:23  And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

It's not pleasant at all. We are to DENY ourselves.  What's it mean to deny ourselves?  When you deny yourself you are giving something up, not partaking of something.  What are ways you can deny yourself?

Tit 2:12  Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;

Tit 2:13  Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ

We are to deny- UNGODLINESS.

We are to deny- WORLDLY LUSTS.

We should- LIVE SOBERLY.

We Should- LIVE RIGHTEOUSLY.

We should0 LIVE GODLY.

And to live soberly, righteously, and godly we have to deny our ungodly ways - ALL OF THEM and we have to deny ALL our worldly lusts.

Do we comprehend the scope of our cross, of all we need to deny ourselves?  Or are we too busy indulging ourselves without a single thought of denial? 

Jesus said- 'take up his cross daily'

Jesus said- 'deny himself'

WHY would our Savior say these things if we were simply to enjoy any and all things believing that if we deny ourselves we are somehow trying to save ourselves, working for our salvation.

Php_2:12  Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

We are to work out our own salvation and do it with FEAR and TREMBLING.

We work it out not with the ability to save ourselves but the with the ability to put ourselves where we can be saved. The choices we make - this is an action we need to commit.

Please, read the following verses, we'll be studying a lot more of this by the grace of our LORD and SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST!

Help us, teach us LORD!  TEACH US. Please, LORD, save us- we believe… HELP OUR UNBELIEF!!!!!

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1Co 15:30  And why stand we in jeopardy every hour?

1Co 15:31  I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.

Luk 14:26  If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.

Luk 14:27  And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.

Mat 10:38  And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.

Mat 10:39  He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.

Mat 16:22  Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee.

Mat 16:23  But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.

Mat 16:24  Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

Mat 16:25  For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.

Mar 8:34  And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

Mar 8:35  For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it.

Mar 8:36  For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?

Mar 8:37  Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

Mar 8:38  Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.

Joh 12:25  He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.

Joh 12:26  If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.

Rom 8:13  For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.

Col 3:5  Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry

Tit 2:12  Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;

Tit 2:13  Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ

Self must die, crucified with Christ.

Quote from yesterday- studied more today by God's will--

'God’s purpose cannot be accomplished as long as Satan continues to find opportunity to work through that soul life which remains uncommitted to the death of the cross. Self-pity, self-love, fear of suffering, withdrawal from the cross: these are some of the manifestations of soul life, for its prime motivation is self-preservation. It is exceedingly reluctant to endure any loss. This is precisely why the Lord summons us to deny self and take up our cross so as to crush our natural life. Every cross which passes before us beckons us to forsake ourselves. We should not harbor any self-love but lay down our lives by the power of God. The Lord says to us that this cross is ours, for we each receive from God our own particular cross. That is what we ought to bear. Although it is our cross, it nevertheless is closely connected with the cross of the Lord. '

Are we committed to the death of the cross-

Gal 2:20  I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

Are we crucified with Christ?

We must be.

Yet we live.

BUT

It's NOT us who live it is CHRIST!

This life we live in our flesh…

We have to live by FAITH in the Son of God who loves us, and died for us.

WE must be crucified with Christ.  Truly part of us must be crucified and obviously NOT our body, our flesh.  We couldn't LIVE at all if we took it literally in the physical sense. Some part of us MUST be crucified. There is a part of us that can't live, a very real part of us. What part?!

Gal 5:24  And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.

We must crucify the FLESH (no, not hanging ourselves on a cross) the flesh nature - the AFFECTIONS, the LUSTS.

Rom 6:4  Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

Rom 6:5  For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:

Rom 6:6  Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.

Gal 5:16  This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.

Gal 5:17  For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.

We have to WALK IN THE SPIRIT - and only then will we NOT fulfill the lusts of our flesh nature.

Our flesh nature has to die.

We have to DIE DAILY.

1Co_15:31  I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.

2Co 4:10  Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.

2Co 4:11  For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.

Luk_9:23  And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

DENY ourselves - taking up the cross DAILY- Follow CHRIST.

If we are to DIE daily shouldn't this be a goal of ours?  A very serious goal.  Upon waking, shouldn't we seriously think about dying to self?  Awake to die to our flesh nature. Awake to realize that our fleshy desires must die. Awake and know that any selfish, self-centered, self-severing desire we may have are to perish. Submitting ourselves to GOD, submitting ourselves to the Holy Spirit, asking God to live in US, to help us to live for Him, for His will, for His glory and not for our own. 

We have to turn off the SELF focus!!!!!!!

But how.

May we learn how through our God.

More on this tomorrow by HIS WILL!

In Jesus always!

Self preservation or Christ preservation?

'God’s purpose cannot be accomplished as long as Satan continues to find opportunity to work through that soul life which remains uncommitted to the death of the cross. Self-pity, self-love, fear of suffering, withdrawal from the cross: these are some of the manifestations of soul life, for its prime motivation is self-preservation. It is exceedingly reluctant to endure any loss. This is precisely why the Lord summons us to deny self and take up our cross so as to crush our natural life. Every cross which passes before us beckons us to forsake ourselves. We should not harbor any self-love but lay down our lives by the power of God. The Lord says to us that this cross is ours, for we each receive from God our own particular cross. That is what we ought to bear. Although it is our cross, it nevertheless is closely connected with the cross of the Lord. '

P198 The Spiritual Man  - by Watchman Nee

We've been discussing humbling recently and this ties right in with humbling ourselves, doesn't it?  We can't be humble if our main focus is ourselves. If we wake up every day with the hope that it won't be a hard day for us- a hard day at work, a hard day at home, a hard day at school, what are we really hoping for? Seriously, ask yourself this question, and truly attempt to answer it.

What do you mean when you say you had a hard week at work and really hope next week is different?  What are you saying when you stress to a friend that things have been really hard at home and you just want things to settle down. Perhaps you've uttered the words that school has really been difficult lately, that you can't wait until it's over.  You know you've heard all this before, you know you've even been one to say something along these lines, in this context of having a really difficult, hard time in your life.

If I've had a hard day I might mean that people have been contrary towards me, not acting, or saying things I want to hear but rather warring against me. I might mean I've had the hard task of undertaking some difficult work that has tired me out, exhausted me. And I might mean I've felt out of sorts - mentally, emotionally, or even physically, sometimes all three or any other combo.

The point being is- the hardship comes to me based on my particular perception of what it means for me to have a good day versus a bad one.  My bad day full of taxing physical labor outside in the yard might be another's bliss, another's joy.  No one likes to be argued with- or do they? Feeling physically unwell truly is something the majority of people do not like, so having a bad day based on physical health is understandable, but again we are focused where, when we are enduring our physical hardship? Self. We believe we should not have this physical hardship based on what? Just based on being alive? Based on the idea we can be hardship free and if we can be then we should be and if we aren't then it's a difficulty undeserved. If others have a hardship free life then we should too, right? If another doesn't have a bad back then we certainly do not deserve one. If another doesn't have difficulty walking then why must we? If people in general don't seem to have the ailments we suffer from then we are being unduly burdened. We base our belief on the idea of what we believe to be a difficulty free life.  Yet part of us has to realize NO ONE has a difficulty free life. We have this predisposition to believing we are owed certain things in life or else our life is filled with difficulty. 

Do you think it is true that some of the most humble people are those who have very little in life and have grown up with extreme hardship, accepting things for what they are without believing they are owed a better life?

Self-focus.

Can a person be taught to be self-centered?  Is it a person's fault if they turn out to be self-centered? Is self-centeredness a permanent condition? 

We exist, how can we help but be focused on who we are, we are and can be no other, or can we?

Can we be another? Can we be something other than self? What does this mean…

Gal 2:20  I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me

What does it mean? I live yet not I, but Christ lives in me-  WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?!

I live yet not I.      We are to live but NOT LIVE TO OURSELVES, not live to that 'I'.   The 'I' shouldn't live- in its place CHRIST should live. 

The above paragraph by Watchmen Nee states - 'Self-pity, self-love, fear of suffering, withdrawal from the cross: these are some of the manifestations of soul life, for its prime motivation is self-preservation. It is exceedingly reluctant to endure any loss. This is precisely why the Lord summons us to deny self and take up our cross so as to crush our natural life. Every cross which passes before us beckons us to forsake ourselves. We should not harbor any self-love but lay down our lives by the power of God'

Is our prime motivation SELF PRESERVATION at all costs?  Are we reluctant to endure ANY LOSS?  Do we shun the crosses presented to us on our path to denying ourselves?  Is SELF LOVE so strong in us that we find our lives - confronting hardship after hardship one day from the next - the degree in which we measure our having a 'good' life-  in NOT having to endure too much hardship- is this the measure of our lives?!   I've had a good life, I haven't had too many hardships. Is this what we focus on?

Christ died in our place, Christ should also LIVE in our place, in us!  And if Christ is allowed to live in us doesn't this mean our lives are not our own but the focus of our lives would be what the focus of Christ's life was and is? OTHERS, not self. GOD the FATHER, not self.  Christ did NOTHING without the Father, we should do nothing without the Father. 

By the grace of GOD we will be TAUGHT to take up our CROSSES and DENY SELF so that the soul-self part of us is truly under the control of the SPIRIT which is CHRIST in Us! Our hope, our glory!

PLEASE FATHER, please help us!

All through the sacrifice of Your ONLY BEGOTTEN SON, JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD and SAVIOR NOW and FOREVER!!!!!!!

Double minded people.

Jas 4:8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.

Is this true? It has to be, doesn't it? If we draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to us.  We can't get close to God without His getting close to us, it's impossible.  That's not all the verse says though. We are told to CLEANSE our hands. We are told PURIFY our hearts.  We are called sinners and double minded. 

The truth is so blatant, so real right there for us to see.

We want to be sinners but we want God at the same time. We are at WAR with ourselves! We fight against ourselves and we do this because we all too often choose sin when we want God and we can't have both.

How many people have altered God to fit their desires so they don't have to feel the guilt that accompanies their choosing sin? They change God's very nature and tell themselves that God accepts their sins and doesn't mind them, they can keep on enjoying their sins because hey, God understands that it's too hard for them to stop sinning.  Long gone is the remorse for sin, the true remorse that convicts our hearts of its evil. Long gone are a lot of sins because we've changed them. WE HAVE CHANGED SIN! We have taken sin and we have labeled it GOOD.  This didn't happen overnight, it was a very gradual progression, a subtle changing. The ground work was laid long ago and today we have SO many acceptable sins it's all but impossible for a person not to sin.  You say sinning in ignorance is okay?  I won't argue with you. What I will say is that if you have a single chance to recognize sin for its evil and you turn a blind eye to that chance so you can continue in sin, you are no longer ignorant.  Choosing to be purposefully ignorant is NO excuse, none.

People have stopped caring about sin in so many forms. People have labeled the real sinners as those who recognize sin and speak out against it.  People call the sin revealers hateful, and evil. People want ALL things accepted, all things.  They've made the mistake of equating accepting all things with accepting all people while not recognizing all things are not acceptable.  They believe if we do NOT accept the things that people do- we are in effect- not accepting them, and this is far from the truth.  We've TAKEN THINGS and labeled them an integral part of us, our make-up, our dna, our genes, we were born this way and that way.  We are born with a desire for something and so it has to be acceptable because we were born that way.  What we've failed to realize is we are ALL born with the ability to sin, we are all born with that propensity towards letting temptation become conceived in us.  One person's propensity doesn't have to be another's.  If your propensity is to steal and you have war with that desire you've had since you were little- as long as you can remember, does that mean because it is a part of you it needs to be accepted?

We have CHANGED SIN!  We have forgotten we are but creatures in need of recognizing our need to be saved from all sin through Jesus Christ our Lord, our Savior.  Instead we desire acceptance of all the sins we now call genetically given to us, no matter what they are!  If you come from a long line of prideful people and one of those prideful people had a child they adopted out to strangers and that adopted child still grew up very prideful because it was in the genetic makeup, does that mean their prideful trait should be excused? Yes, I'm talking about PRIDE here, because pride is a very deadly sin!  Many people cling to their pride holding fast to it as a badge of honor, they say it's not one of those other nasty sins. It is a nasty sin, a very nasty sin- only we have changed it to be considered something good.

No matter what propensity you have towards the various sins in existence, not a single sin becomes acceptable simply because we can't help ourselves, we were born this way.  If you were born with the propensity towards several sinning ways and you indulge in them all and tell yourself it's fine because you were made this way, then you are LYING to yourself in a very deadly way. 

Isn't it possible we could say to all our sinful desires that we were born to desire that particular sin? We could, couldn't we.  We do! We do it all the time. Yet the person born with the desire to murder is deemed unacceptable while the person born with the desire to steal is a bit more acceptable, and the person born with the desire to covet is accepted without a qualm.  We've taken our sins and labeled them ACCEPTABLE or UNACCEPTABLE.  We've excused so many sins rather than confessed and repented of them.

At what point do we say someone is born with a propensity to a certain sin rather than they just sinned on the spur of the moment and really didn't desire to do so. Can you sin without a desire to do so? Can you sin without choosing to sin?

'Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.'

Lord, please help us double minded people! Help us, purify us, teach us to purify our hearts, to cleanse our hands! Please Lord, we don’t want to call any sin in is good, no matter the sin's origin in us.  Sometimes, Lord, we feel that our whole life is one of sin and desiring sin, and we know YOU came to save us from our sins! Save us LORD, help us! Heal us! Draw us closer to YOU! Be in us what we cannot be without You! Forgive us! Forgive us now for every single sin in us! Forgive us, Lord and help us look to YOU who are sinless- for our HOPE, not to ourselves where no hope lives. You are our HOPE, You are our REDEEMER!

All in YOUR LOVE, now and forever!!!!!!!

In Your name heavenly redeemer, Jesus Christ our Lord, our Savior, our High Priest, our King!

Humbling our tongues.

Jas 3:5 Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!
Jas 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.

Jas 4:6  But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.
Jas 4:7  Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Jas 4:8  Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.

In humbling ourselves I believe one of the hardest things to do is to watch what we say. In our day and age what we think is what we speak. The words flow out of our mouths with very little thought. Our pride rears up so brightly in our words. We want to be heard! We want our opinions voiced and not only voiced but appreciated! We don't desire criticism when we speak, we want … yes… appreciation. And barring that, we just want our opinion known even if it's very harsh, and sometimes outright offensive. We have the right to speak and we want to be heard even if it is only the family dog listening, seriously, we will speak even to ourselves if need be.  We swear, we are outright vulgar in our speech and this day and age it's so acceptable on many levels- not all- but many. The little inoffensive swear words are common speech. The movies we watch, the television shows we enjoy have a lot of what was once considered unacceptable language.  We might wince when we hear the Lord's name taken in vain, we might cringe a tiny bit inside over that baddie f-word, but we tuck it away and keep on watching, becoming more and more hardened to what was once considered bad- until eventually it will be considered good.

Words.

Speaking.

Our wicked tongues can defile us.

We have a GOD who will help us in spite of our very NON-humble tongues. We have to draw NIGH to GOD so HE can draw NIGH to us! We have to CLEANSE our hands, purify our hearts, and STOP being double minded. Stop, just stop being of two minds. We can't be proud we have to be HUMBLE!  God will resist those who are proud, too proud do admit their need, their total dependence upon God.

God save us! Humble us! Teach us to do all You would have us do, all through YOU.

Please, Father, save us from ourselves!

Help us, Lord, help us we need you more now than ever before! This world is turning inside out, and so much that was once considered evil is now considered good. Please, Lord, please help us.

All through Jesus Christ our LORD now and forever!  AMEN.