December 31
Malachi 3:1-4:6 | PS 150:1-6 | Prov 31:25-31 | Rev 22:1-21
The final verse in the book of Psalms, in Psalm 150:6 states, "Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!" Jesus said in Matthew 12:34, "... For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks." Statistically the average woman speaks 20,000 words a day, while the average man speaks 7,000 words a day. So, with all of those words being used, how many of them include the Lord. More importantly, when the Lord is mentioned are our words honoring, neutral, or complaining. We live at a time when one's words don't seem to mean much. People lie and think nothing of it. When caught, they deflect and either further lie or state that they misspoke. But realize that people are listening to what we say. More importantly, God hears every word that proceeds from our mouth.
We read in Malachi 3:16-17, "Then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another, And the Lord listened and heard them; So a book of remembrance was written before Him For those who fear the Lord And who meditate on His name. “They shall be Mine,” says the Lord of hosts, “On the day that I make them My jewels. And I will spare them As a man spares his own son who serves him.”" Whenever we are in a gathering and we hear our name being mentioned, don't we silence ourselves to listen to what others might be saying about us? Well, God does the same thing. Not only does He hear them, but it states here, that they are placed in a "book of remembrance". We fail to realize that we are one of God's jewels, and He enjoys hearing us praise Him. Unfortunately, not everything said in the name of the Lord is done to praise Him, as we read in Malachi 3:13-14, "“Your words have been harsh against Me,” Says the Lord, “Yet you say, ‘What have we spoken against You?’ You have said, ‘It is useless to serve God; What profit is it that we have kept His ordinance, And that we have walked as mourners Before the Lord of hosts?" Yes, our words do count. But so do our thoughts, as we read in Hebrews 4:12-13, "For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account."
All of us realize that we certainly could talk about Him more, and we certainly know how wrong many of our thoughts are, so many like to get away with stating that, "Well, at least God knows my heart", but we read in Jeremiah 17:9, "“The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?" This is not meant to make us feel bad, and it certainly is not intended to make any of us feel that things are futile. We must realize that our walk with God is just that. It can't be done once a week on Sunday. It can't be that you had a good day yesterday, so you can ignore Him today. In His Word daily. In prayer daily. In fellowship daily. This is the only way to keep Him in your mind and your words daily. May we all honor our Lord this day and every day. May we all increase the number of thoughts and words consumed with Him from this day forward.
Messages from Pastor Lloyd Pulley: