Set a guard, O Lord, before my mouth; keep watch at the door of my lips.
Psalm 141:3
Now this is not the thing to pray AFTER letting a tirade fly out of your mouth! RATHER it should be our prayer—perhaps at the opening of each day—before any words even come out.
Oh, sometimes it seems that we truly might have been better equipped if our Creator had chosen to give us a zipper for our lips, do you agree? But, He Who knows best, chose to give us mouths to speak AND the responsibility to use our lips, our tongues, our words for blessing not cursing.
Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, blessing, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. For ‘Whoever desires to love life and see good days,
let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit…’*
1 Peter 3:9 and 10
As in all things that the Lord charges us to do…we are never left alone. He is always helping us. So as we pray asking for His help with these mouths and tongues of ours, we can be assured that He WILL help us! Temptation(s) will come, and sometimes we may feel that we are just going to succumb and sin. But we have the Lord on our side; He is strengthening us.
[Not in your own strength] for it is God Who is all the while effectually at work in you [energizing and creating in you the power and desire], both to will and to work for His good pleasure and satisfaction and delight.
Philippians 2:13 AMP
I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
Philippians 4:13
Today, friends, let’s choose God’s way—and seek His help in guarding our mouths and watching our lips. May we speak blessings today!
* * * * *
Dear Lord, I so desire to be pleasing to You with my words! And to be a blessing to those who hear them! Truly as the psalmist prayed: “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.” Praying in Jesus’ name. Amen.
* quoted from Psalm 34
About coleen hayden
Coleen, thank you for your reminder. It is hard sometimes to keep ourselves from saying things out of anger or hurt. We all need God to help us guard our tongues and our thoughts.
oh, tina, you are SO right—we NEED His help!!! but, He is always willing to help, available to help…we must just let Him. <3
Agreed – this prayer should be on my lips the moment I wake up, before I can slip up and say careless, hurtful things to my children or husband. (Because I can always mind my manners with friends, or strangers, but I lose my calm with my family.) Lord, let me be a blessing to others today, and glorify You!
praying along with you, dana! God will answer your prayer, i am sure! <3
Guarding our tongue…that teeny tiny little thing in our bodies that holds so very much power! Not only does it affect those around us, but it affects our own thoughts and actions, as well. Proverbs said that death and life are in the power of the tongue. DEATH, and LIFE. It’s up to us to choose which one we want to spew out onto others, and to ourselves through self-talk. So many times I have wished I could take words back that I have spoken. The sad thing is there is NO way to take them back once they are spoken. That’s why it is so very important to pray every day for God’s help in guarding our tongues. Our tongues can bring us so much pleasure through taste, and give us the ability to enjoy different flavors, and such. But man oh man, can it bring filthy nasty taste into our mouths also, through the ugly words we have spoken! My prayer for all of us is that we will begin each day with the prayer from Psalms 34 that you mentioned, Coleen! Great reminder!!!!
i have written it into my current journal to remind myself <3