My Mouth & My Heart

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. - Psalm 19 : 14

A very meaningful verse from King David. A lot of times, we might be saying all the great things about God, but  in our heart? Are we keeping all the negative stuffs? Or the words that we speak, are they bringing negative impacts on others?

The tongue can bring death or life ... - Proverbs 18 : 21

Yes, you can either build others up or you bring them down with our words. Encouragement often plays a very important role in every successful person out there. Start sending out positive words to others and ourselves  encouragement and praise.

King David was said to be "A man after God's own heart" and now imagine the meditation of his heart. It seemingly impossible for him to sin against God, but it happened. Yet he repented, truly repented. Not as a lot of us, including me myself find it as a struggle, a battle need to be won everyday.

That's why King David said that The Lord is his Rock and Redeemer. We could also say that God is our Rock and Redeemer. The One who would be there for us to hold on to at every battle, every struggles in life. And the easiest way to do it, is to keep praying and reading the Words of God.

What The World Tells Us

How often is it that you are told how good you are and what a great job you have done?
How often is it that you are told that you can't do it, you're useless?

(Source: haileyburiana.blogspot.com)

Considering the two questions above, I believe you already figured out what the world always tell us. Yes, Negativity.

The world that we live in, this society tends to bring us down a lot more than to help us grow. Even if it's a close friend, how often is it will he / she tells you something positive, compared to all those negative stuffs told? It always get back to us, whether we take it silently or we rebuke it with positive stuffs.

The world will always set a high expectation on us. Yet some people in our lives, will at some point in time trying to bring us down, speak those negative words to us.

We on the other hand, supposed to give our best in everything we do, strive to be the best. Yet we cannot do it, because we are so bound by words from others.

Where do we find Encouragement? The Bible, The Word of God. We can always find the solutions there.

Next time when somebody tells you that you can't do it, remember God said that "Nothing is impossible." Just as easy as that. But first, we gotta know more about The Word of God. Start to read your Bible, meditate on it and pray more.
1. Stop putting your Bible on the shelf and take it out only on Sunday
2. Don't just try to remember what The Bible says only when you are troubled
3. Don't stop praying, especially when times are good

From now on, lives a life that's worthy to be told, leave a legacy start from now. If you don't challenge your mindset, you will never be who or what you want to be.

It is in our lives, and not from our words, that our religion must be judged. - Thomas Jefferson

Quiet Life

Yesterday, when I was doing my daily devotion, I saw this verse that attracts me.

"Make it your goal to live a quiet life, minding your own business and working with your hands, just as we instructed you before. Then people who are not Christians will respect the way you live, and you will not need to depend on others." - 1 Thessalonians 4 : 11 - 12

Let me share a story that also happen on that day. As I walk, I accidentally hit a lady. I apologize, but she scolded me, asking me to look where I am going. In fact I know that she's also looking somewhere else. But, I still apologize twice. Because I remembered this verse, telling me to live a quiet live.

This is not about who's right or wrong. It's about how we look at things in live. Would you rather blow up a small matter? Or just let it go?

Besides that, the verse continues telling us to mind our own business. Why didn't we have time for our own problems, but have way too much for other people problems? Think about it, and start solving your own problems. Gossip can also be a downfall! Look at how many times it is mentioned in Proverbs. Let us learn to hold back words that hurt others.
"A gossip betrays a confidence, but a trustworthy man keeps a secret" - Proverbs 11 - 13

Work with your own hands. Surely I don't need to explain much about it. Just remember this verse:
"Lazy people are soon poor; hard workers get rich." - Proverbs 10 : 4

~ Changes Start Today ~

Words

"Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit." ~ Proverbs 18 : 21

It is clearly stated that our tongue holds the power to life, as well as death. What kind of life does it hold? What kind of death?

People are easily encouraged by the words we speak, but the words we speak might also be the downfall of others. That's why whenever we are about to speak, we need to think twice, even as long as we needed. We need to learn to speak more of encouragement words, rather than words that diminish others.

If you keep saying negative statement, you will only end up negative. It happens to us, it will also happen to others. Because that's how strong our tongue is. It affects the mind.

Few things we must learn to say:
1. Encouragement
When someone around us is feeling down / troubled, what they don't need is others to tell them how bad their situation is. Start by listening to them, then encouraged them. Remember though, listen more than you speak.
2. Praise
When someone else do good, we gives praise. A lot of people love to gives "praise" with a "but". Take away the "but", just praise wholeheartedly.
3. Thanks
Always be thankful for every help you can get. Be it small or big.

Master these three, so that through what we spoke, people lives can be rebuild.

~ Don't speak word that diminish others, neither keep it in your heart. Just delete it! ~