Skip to content I Want To Love My Life Apr 22 · 25 min ...more
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Beth Jones is a Bible teacher and founder of The Basics With Beth, a non-profit Christian teaching ministry dedicated to helping people learn the Bible basics.
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The Power of Words: Steering Your Life 0:00 Hi, guys. I'm Beth Jones, and welcome to the Basics with Beth, where learning God's word is a joy. And I just want to say we are so honored to be with you right here on Pray0:12 dot com. In every message, we will do our best to teach you the Bible basics in such a way that it strengthens your faith foundation. In addition,0:24 I want to empower and equip you so that you have confidence to share these Bible basics with others. So lean in and listen with your heart. If you'd like to know more0:36 about our ministry, just go to thebasicswithbeth dot com and get all the scoop. With all of that said, now let's jump into today's message.0:48 Today, we're gonna talk about I want to love my life. How does that work? I wanna love my life. And, again, is there a secret sauce? I mean, in in truth, there's no 1 magic bullet for the whole Christian life, but there0:59 are certain key things. There are certain specific things that you might call the secret sauce. There's some things you observe. There's some things you see. There's some patterns you begin to see, and 1 of those is what1:09 we're going to talk about today. This is a secret, this is a pattern, this is a life truth, this is a pillar, this is a stake in the ground. Like I said, some of you have heard this before and you're going to hear it1:19 with fresh ears, I believe. Others of you, it'll be brand new. But for all of us, myself included, no matter how many times we've heard it, it's always that reminder like, okay, God, that's how it works. That's how it1:29 works. I was wanting it to work some other way, but this is how it works. So what is it? First Peter 3 verses 8 through 10 says this, finally, all of you, live in harmony1:41 with 1 another, be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble. Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a1:53 blessing. For whoever would love life I'm talking about, I want to love my life. For whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from2:05 evil and his lips from deceitful speech. So let's talk about what that actually means. And let me just give you a couple of thoughts on that last sentence there. Whoever would love life We all want to love life. I2:17 want to love my life. I want to live the life I love. How do I do that? Well, we're going to find out how it doesn't work and how it does work. And it says right here, if you want to love your life and see good days,2:28 there's some things to do, some things not to do. This idea of seeing good days, of loving your life, just just so we're all on the same page, literally, it means to experience with your senses. Not just in theory and2:39 not just spiritually. That too, but not just spiritually. To love your life, all that your life consists of. To love your life and to see good days. Even in the middle of a storm, even in the middle of tribulations, you2:51 still know I'm getting to the other side. I'm going to see good days. Experientially, that's a knowing. That's a thing you walk in. It's not 1 of those things like, oh, you know, just waiting for the other shoe to drop.3:02 You know, You know what they say, 3 things in a row, 2 bad things have happened, there's probably another 1 coming. I mean, that way of thinking is not you guys know this, right? That's not the Bible way to think. That's3:13 the world's way to think, but that's not the Bible way to think, And it's true. You can love life and see good days, experience good days. And secret 1 of the secrets is to keep your tongue from what?3:26 From evil, which we'll describe that here in just a minute, and from deceit. So the idea of evil, of course, some of it you'll know, you know, it's it's things that are bad, things that are wicked, things that are3:37 ungodly, like evil, things that are just bad, like certain language, certain things you wouldn't say, certain things you wouldn't post, certain things that just wouldn't be a part of your Christian experience.3:48 Evil things, things that are deceitful, things that are lies, things that are like a decoy, manipulative, and so on. But the other part of evil, which, like I said, we'll get4:00 into, is doubt and unbelief. God calls doubt and unbelief evil. We'll see an example of that in just a minute. So if we want to love life and see good days, then all we're saying is,4:12 we're going to have to do something with the Holy Spirit's help with our mouth. That's how it works. We're going to have to do something with our tongue. We're going to have to do something with the words we say.4:24 And to just be neutral won't give you the life you love. Now, that's a good place to start. Some people are in overdrive, and they just got to shift into neutral with their mouth.4:38 Look at your neighbor and say, I know she's not talking about you. And then you've got to put it in drive again, but you have to be intentional about the things you're going to let come out of your mouth. And we're4:50 going to see why that's so important because we do live in a culture, as you guys know, where people tend to be very free with their words. Seems like even more so in the last couple of years. More polarizing,5:02 more opinionated, more anger. The Bible says, The love of many will grow cold in the last days, and we can sure see that, can't we? We can sure see that by virtue of what people are saying, the words that are5:14 coming out of our mouths or people's mouths around us. And the thing is, you can't control what anybody else says. You can only control what you say, and it goes back to bottom line is, do you want to love life and see5:25 good days? Whatever anybody else wants to do, that's up to them, but do you want to love life and see good days? If so, then we just have to own it at the front end. Okay, Lord. So that means I'm gonna have to pay5:37 attention to my words. I'm going to have to get a grip on my lip, as we say, pay attention to the things that I say, and let's get into the Bible and see what specifics we can learn.5:49 Proverbs 18 21 tells us, The power of life and death is in the tongue, and those who love it will eat the fruit. Again, you guys have heard that verse many times. The power of life and6:01 death. I mean, this is a huge statement. The power of life and death is in the tongue, meaning our words are charged. They're loaded6:14 with life or death. And those who love it, love what? Well, love life or death, will eat the fruit of the words they speak.6:26 That's how it works. You can't just say any old thing. Tell your neighbor, that's not how this works. You just can't say any old thing.6:38 The power, the dynamite power, it's charged. Words are charged. Some people say it this way, words are containers. Words contain something. And then words go on a mission, which we'll see here6:50 in just a bit. So the power of life and death is in the tongue. Those who love it will eat the fruit. So in the Bible, really from Genesis on, we see it's not technically called this, but we do see this principle. We do7:01 see this law of words. So it's not technically called the law of words, but you do see this spiritual law at work from Genesis all the way through the end of the Bible, through the book of Revelation. And in Genesis, God7:13 creates Adam and Eve, and then he says to Adam, this is so amazing, he says to Adam, he gives Adam the authority, the power to name all the animals. You know, and so, however he did that, however he lined them up or7:24 whatever he did, but the scriptures say that whatever Adam called it, that was its name. That's a principle. And again, we see it throughout, we see it here in Proverbs, The power of life7:36 and death is in the tongue. That God has given us, his children, the power to say some things, and in large part, whatever we call it in our lives,7:48 that's what it is. And I'll give you some examples, but I mean, obvious ones. Like, I'm so stressed. That's what it is. You called it, that's what it is.8:00 I'm so exhausted. That's what it is. My kids drive me nuts. That is what it is.8:14 There's this law of words, the power of what we say matters. So we're going to look at it from 2 metaphors, 2 different metaphors, from the metaphor of a rudder and from the metaphor of a trap.8:26 James 1, verse 3. We can make a large horse go wherever we want by means of a small bit in its mouth. Okay? So we understand that. Verse 4.8:38 And a small rudder makes a huge ship turn wherever the pilot chooses to go, even though the winds are strong. In the same way, the tongue is a small8:49 thing that makes grand speeches, but a tiny spark can set a great force on fire. And among all the parts of the body, the tongue is a flame of fire. It is a whole world of wickedness, corrupting your entire body. It can9:01 set your whole life on fire, for it is set on fire by hell itself. People can tame all kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and fish, but no 1 can tame the tongue, which is true. No9:13 1 can tame the tongue without the help of the Holy Spirit, without the help of the Lord. Our tongue just wants to wag and say whatever it wants. It's a fire, it's a bit, or it's a rudder.9:25 Verse 9, Sometimes it praises our Lord and Father, and sometimes it curses those who have been made in the image of God. And so blessing and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth. Surely, my brothers and9:37 sisters, this is not right. He could have said, Surely, my brothers and sisters, that's not how this works. Does a spring of water bubble out of both fresh water and bitter water? Does a fig tree produce olives9:49 or a grapevine produce figs? No. You can't draw fresh water from a salty spring. That's not how it works. You have to go 1 or the other. You can't have it both ways and live the life you love, love your life and10:01 see good days. And he's giving us a picture here, several metaphors, but we're going to just look at the the rudder for just a moment. But a couple of things he he says here, and this is so true, and again, this is 1 of10:10 those basic truths, but at some point, you just have to you have to embrace this idea that we cannot go north and south at the same time.10:23 With our words, we can't go north and south at the same time and expect to get anywhere. We can go north and south because we'll just go 3 steps north, 3 steps south.10:35 Where am I? I'm just right where I was. I went nowhere. So if we don't want to go anywhere, in life, in our marriage, in our families, with our kids, in our walk with God and so on, if we don't want to go anywhere, then10:47 yes, we can definitely go north and south. We can definitely speak bitter and sweet. We can definitely speak fresh and salty. We can do that, totally do that every day of the week, and then we'll just go10:58 nowhere. But if we want to go somewhere, and I believe you guys do, if we want to love our life, if it's possible to love your life and see good days, and if there's a way to get there, I wanna know how it works.11:10 And if it is true, like he said, my what King James says, can can bitter and sweet water come out of the same fountain? He says, my brothers, this ought not to be so. Or like we were saying, that's not how it11:22 works. Then I wanna get it straight with the Holy Spirit's help to be much more consistent in just picking a direction and go there. And all the people said. Let's just11:34 give you some practical things here to set the rudder to go north. So picture it, picture a boat, a little rowboat maybe with a little 25 horse Johnson or something, or picture a big boat, big11:46 sailboat with a rudder, whatever it is for you to picture a boat with a rudder. You know that whatever direction you turn that rudder or steer that ship, that rudder is gonna go whatever direction you want it to go. And11:57 if it's true that our words have the power of life and death, if it's true they're charged with life or death, then we get to decide what port we're going to. We can go to port12:09 L, life, or port D, death. It's good sometimes to just think categorically about your life. Like, let's start with your spiritual life. Spirit, soul, and body. Okay? Let's start with12:21 our spiritual life. You know, you say, What port am I in now in my spiritual life? What port am I in? I'm in the port of baby Christian. I'm in the port of12:33 carnal Christian. I'm in the port of blah Christian. I'm in the port of strong Christian, but I want to be stronger. I'm in the port What port are you in, in your12:45 walk with the Lord? Talking spiritually here. Then you can set the rudder because you don't have to stay in the port you're in. You can set the rudder and head to a different port and like,12:56 actually experience a different port. Actually see good days, love your life spiritually. You could say, I want to be in the port of I hear from God. I hear God's voice. He13:08 said, Jesus said, my sheep know my voice, so it must be true, so I need to set my rudder. Lord, thank you, I hear you. I hear you speak to my heart. I hear you speak to me through your word. You set the port sometimes,13:20 you know, people will say things, if they want to go to port D in their Christian life, so often will say things like, Well, God never talks to me. He talks to all those other people. I don't hear from God.13:32 God's blessing all those other people. God doesn't bless me. Listen, that's bitter and sweet water. You just got to set your rudder according to his word and go, Lord, I'm setting my rudder. You are13:44 leading me to the abundant life. You are leading me by your spirit to have the wisdom I need for whatever decisions I face in life. I have fellowship with God. I13:56 have fellowship, I have a relationship with you, Lord. I'm not just talking to the air in the ceiling, I have a relationship with the most high God who sits on the throne. We've talked in previous series14:08 about God's love. You begin to say, you begin to set the rudder. I know and believe the love you have for me, Lord. There are certain days it doesn't feel it feels like I'm the last 1 picked. Some days it feels14:20 like everybody else is getting blessed and I'm being overlooked, but you know what? I choose to set my rudder that I know and I believe you love me and you're working a plan. And you got the bigger picture and there's14:30 more pieces to the puzzle, but I am loved, I am your beloved. Just like you said about Jesus, you say about us that we're your beloved and you are well pleased with us. As Jesus was loved in14:42 this world, so am I. You believe that, and then you begin to say it and set the rudder, and that gets you going north. You might be starting off in the port of, I don't sense God, I don't sense God loves me, I14:54 don't have any kind of a vital relationship with the Lord, but if you stay at it long enough to get out of the port of the blahs, you will get to the port of, I know God. I have a relationship with the15:06 Lord, a living relationship with the Lord. And the things that you say are based on his word, it's based on truth. So let me just give you this little thought. The difference between facts and15:18 truth. All of us deal in the world of facts. There's a lot of facts we deal with when it comes to our finances, the weather, when it comes to circumstances, the doctor's visit, when it comes to our kids,15:30 the talking to the teachers at school, when it comes to, you know, just any number of things, the 5 physical senses that we have, our facts, those are facts. We deal with facts. But here's the thing,15:41 there's something higher than facts. The highest truth of all is truth. Facts may be true, but there's a higher truth. It's truth. God's word15:53 is truth. The highest truth that you can take to the bank, you can trust the Lord, is his word, and it's the truth. So then you put the truth in your mouth, you set the16:05 rudder, and God has obligated himself to fulfill his word. Amen. What have you set the rudder at? You know, there's so many great verses in the Bible that tells16:17 us that we can run and not grow weary. Set your rudder there. As you get older, set your rudder there. We run and don't grow weary. We walk, we don't faint. He renews our youth like the eagles. Come on,16:29 if you're over 50, that definitely needs to be your rudder. And all the over 50 people said, Yes. Right? Without spot or wrinkle, set your rudder.16:42 And it's okay to use a little product. What are you saying about your health? What about your memory? As you get older, what do you say about your memory? The Bible says16:53 the memory of the righteous is blessed. And that's speaking about your reputation, the memory of you, as well as your memory. We have the mind of Christ. Set your rudder now, man. Set your17:05 rudder. Thank you, Lord. I have the mind of Christ. The memory of the righteous is blessed. Boom. Rudder set. That's a really bad sound effect. I don't even17:17 know what that was. What about your relationships, friends? What are you saying about your friends? Oh, who's got time for friends? Well, then that support you're in. What are you saying about your17:29 spouse? What are you saying about your family? What are you saying about your kids? What are the phrases you're saying? You've got to set the rudder. What are you saying about your job? What are you saying about your17:38 finances? What are you saying about your house? Your vacations, your leisure, your rest, your influence? What are you saying about the purpose of your life? You know, a little phrase I used to say17:50 years ago, I've modified it over the years, but back when I first got started setting the rudder, it was like, Well, Lord, I don't even know what your plan is, but all I know is this, that you're going to help me as I17:59 follow you. You're gonna help me to stand perfect and complete in all the will of God to reach my greatest God given potential for your purposes and for your glory. Boom. Rudder set. I don't even know what it's18:11 gonna look like, but I know that's the rudder is set that direction. So now our boat can head to the port. Now, does that mean you're not going to face some winds? Not going to face some waves, some storms, some18:21 turbulence? Yes, absolutely. Life happens to all of us. When your rudder is set, just like the Bible said, even though there are winds and waves, you get to the port, the desired port. Why? Because if you18:33 want to love life and see good days, keep your tongue from speaking evil, evil being contrary to God's word, and your lips that they don't speak any lies. Speak truth. What's18:45 the truth? God's truth is the truth. And all the people said. Proverbs 6 verse 2, you are snared by the words of your mouth. You are18:56 taken by the words of your mouth. Now this scripture, the reference to it is is more on the negative side. It's sort of like it's a bad thing in Proverbs 6, like, release yourself from these words you've spoken,19:08 this commitment you've made, and these things you've said, so it's kind of a negative. But you can actually look at it from the other side and go, Well, I don't want to be trapped in negative words. I don't want to be19:18 trapped in bad words that trap me, that put my foot in a trap and then I'm just stuck. I can't really go anywhere in life because I'm trapped with words. We can turn that around and go, no,19:30 I want to be trapped in good words. I want to be trapped right smack dab in the middle of God's will. I want to be trapped in the experience of God's word. So there are bad traps,19:42 and maybe all of us have set them over the course of our lives at times with things we've said, but we can spring that trap and set good traps, new traps. Amen? So a couple of19:54 thoughts there. So a bad trap, you know, again, you could take parts of your life, spirit, soul, and body. You could take parts of your life and just think, What have I been saying? Because the truth is, we are eating20:05 the fruit of the words we've said. We are trapped in words we've said. They're either good or bad. And I can think of times, it's like I'm going along, you know, and then I'll notice a pattern. I'll notice a pattern in20:17 my own life and be like, I don't like that pattern. I don't like that. I don't I don't like that way of thinking, or I don't like what I hear myself say, or I just don't enjoy this particular lot in life at the moment,20:27 and then I'll think back like, you know what? I know I'm here because I I waffled on what I said, and I tried to go north and south at the same time, and bitter and sweet can't come out at the same time, so I20:39 just have to get decisive, set the rudder, put my foot in the trap, and then stay there. I I wouldn't I wouldn't blame God. I mean, I have tried over the years, but who who's found out that doesn't work? Anybody ever20:51 tried to blame God for your lot in life? But really, if it's true, we can love life and see good days and a big part of that, the secret sauce, the turning point has to do with our words, then it's good just to own it21:03 and just to go, okay, Lord. So if I'm honest, then I can't blame you. What do I need to do different with my words? What do I need to say different with my words? That's how this works. And all the people said.21:15 So some examples. Again, you could do spirit, soul, and body. You could talk about things mentally. You know, we live in a culture where there's a lot of mental health issues. Of course, the enemy is working overtime,21:27 he's just working overtime, especially with this younger generation, because he knows the the anointing and the call of God on this younger generation. The Bible says in the last days that the Holy Spirit would be all21:36 over our sons and daughters. So the enemy also knows that. So he's doing all that he can to upset our sons and daughters. And there's all kinds of addictions, all kinds of mental health issues, all21:48 kinds of personality disorders and dysfunction, all kinds of the ability the ability to cope, the coping skills ability for this generation is definitely something that needs to be22:00 addressed. And so as Christians, how do you address that with your own kids, in your own life? You can speak words that help people to be trapped. Now, all of us can think back in our22:12 lives of maybe words that were spoken to us that trapped us for season. You know, if you grew up in a home and your parents didn't say very good things to you, if they said, you know, you were no good nothing, you22:23 weren't wanted, why did we have you, you're no good at this, you're stupid, you're a klutz, you're not like your brother, you're not like your sister, Everybody else has got the goods, but you don't. If you heard that22:35 kind of stuff, listen, those were traps. The enemy tried to set those traps. You may have used people in your life, but those were traps nonetheless. Those were words that were spoken and your foot, your heart got22:46 trapped. And then if you didn't change it, if you didn't if you didn't spring the trap, so to speak, and change the words that were spoken about you, then you might still be stuck there. But the good news is you can22:58 spring those traps. You can set new traps for yourself. I've told you before, you know, different stories of different things that have been said over the years, and I distinctly remember at different times, like, you23:09 know what? That's not true. I don't believe that. That's not what God's word says about me. Even if somebody's a bully, just because somebody is a bully and they say some mean things to you, they're not the gospel.23:19 That's not the truth. It might be a fact that they said some things to you, but the truth is what God says about you. Amen? So you say some things about you according to his word, about who you are mentally, your mental23:30 health, your emotional health, again, physical health, your marriage, fear. We live in a culture of fear. As Christians, are you kidding me? This is our time to shine. The Bible says the world23:41 will get darker and darker, so that's going to be a fact. But the glory of the Lord, the light of the Lord shines on you brighter and brighter. So this is no time for Christians to be fearful. This is a time for23:53 Christians to be bold as a lion. This is a time for you as a Christian to trap yourself, so to speak, with words in boldness, in the gospel, in God.24:05 Not obnoxious, but boldness. And all the people said. Right now it's a little tentative in the culture. Everybody's a little tentative. What can you say? What can you not say?24:17 It was all real politically correct before the election. Now it's all like, I don't know what I can do. Listen, be bold. Be a bible believer. Set some traps about the truth, not about facts, about the higher truth, the24:29 truth of God's word. Word. Amen. Hey. Thanks so much for listening to today's message. I hope you were encouraged. Be sure to hit24:40 the follow button so you can binge on all the Bible basics throughout the week and stay encouraged in your faith. And don't forget to share these messages with your friends. If you'd like more information24:52 about our ministry, you can always go to thebasicswithbeth dot com. That's basicswithbeth dot com. It's been great to be with you and I will look forward to seeing you next25:04 time right here on Pray dot com.In this video 0:00 The Power of Words: Steering Your Life
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