"The Fuel of Influence"

"God hath delivered me to the ungodly, and turned me over into the hands of the wicked." Job 16:11

When Job spoke his accusations against God, he was speaking under the influence of his situation. He was hurting, in pain, grief and confusion. And although he was going through a devastating trial, what he said was not correct. God had not delivered him to the ungodly or the hands of the wicked. He had not brought wrath upon him (verse 9).

When we are going through a trying time, when fear is coming upon us, when pain is overwhelming us, when grief has touched us, when worry is plaguing us, we must watch what we say. We must be on guard that we don't speak out of what is happening to us. We must not let our circumstance influence us- or our speech.

While there is an "extreme" teaching concerning "confession", there is a true Biblical principal on the subject. Our words are important and powerful. We have to be careful about what we say. When we are being attacked by fear, we have to watch that we don't let the fear influence what we say because it only gives more power to the fear. It is like putting wood on a fire-- it only gives it fuel. "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." (James 3:6) It is the same way with anything. If we speak from worry, the worry will increase and we will worry more.

Like Job, when we speak under the influence of what we are going through, we will be speaking things that are not correct. We will accuse God of forsaking us, of hating us, of not caring about us or of not being faithful- but that is all incorrect.

So what must we do? We must stop fueling the "fire". "Where no wood is, there the fire goeth out." (Proverbs 26:20a) Stop talking that fear, pain, worry, doubt, depression, bitterness, etc. And instead start fueling it with what is correct. Good things are also fueled by our words-- like faith. Faith comes through hearing. Hearing what? God's word. (And even more so when we hear it coming from our own mouths.) So we must learn to speak from God's influence (His word), not the influences of what we are going through or what is attacking us.

Have a great day. Under what influence are you speaking?

For further reading:
Romans 10:17
Proverbs 18:21; 15:2
Psalms 34:13
James 3:5-8
Job 40:3-5

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Coffee Break is a morning devotional written by Lorraine Ezell
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