Out of the overflow

“You have minds like a snake pit! How do you suppose what you say is worth anything when you are so foul-minded? It’s your heart, not the dictionary, that gives meaning to your words. A good person produces good deeds and words season after season. An evil person is a blight on the orchard. Let me tell you something: Every one of these careless words is going to come back to haunt you. There will be a time of Reckoning. Words are powerful; take them seriously. Words can be your salvation. Words can also be your damnation.”

(Matthew 12:34 MSG)

A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.

(Luke 6:45 NIV)

For out of the fullness (the overflow, the superabundance) of the heart the mouth speaks.

(Matthew 12:34 AMP)

What fills the heart comes out of the mouth.

(Matthew 12:34 CEB)

There’s something about going to church services on a Sunday that can set you up for the rest of the week. Our pastor calls church a “detox center” from the world. When we spend time gathered together in the presence of God, singing, praying, listening to his Word, and fellowshipping with other believers, the junk and struggle of the world can be released off of us. We can “detox.”

Part of that detox process is realizing the junk that may be inhabiting our souls and spirits from the news we hear, the people we encounter, the struggles and strife we endure, and the reality of living on this fallen planet. Without attending church, praying, reading our Bibles, and doing other things that fill up our minds, hearts, and spirits with God’s Goodness, it’s easy to be weighed down by the world’s darkness. That darkness can invade our thoughts and then our words. But the Word of God through prayer, worship, etc., replaces those places of darkness with Light. When our thoughts and words spill out into the greater world, we can either bring more darkness or help to bring Light to it.

Today, let us pray for pure hearts so we can bring Light to the world around us.

God

You created the earth and said it was good.  You created us and said we were very good.  Yet, we know that our hearts are not always as pure and holy as you are.  Create in us clean hearts.  Cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  May our thoughts, words, and actions be honoring to you.  Fill us with your Light, your Word, your Grace, your Hope, and your Goodness. We ask, we seek, we knock on your door for the needs of our hearts and for the courage to let you work within us.  May your Church and every one of her people be a shining light to the community around us, a city on a hill, a place of restoration, healing, and grace.  May our hearts, words, and actions be those which show your Light and draw others to the depth of your Love.

In Christ’s name we pray, AMEN.

Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. (Matthew 7:7-9 NLT)

Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a steadfast spirit within me. (Psalm 51:10 NKJV)

“You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lamp stand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. (Matthew 5:14-15 NKJV)

(Prayer from a post published July 7, 2009.)