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What does it truly mean to honor the name of God, and how can we ensure we’re not taking it in vain? These profound questions guide us through an exploration rooted in scripture, featuring insights from Psalms and Exodus. Join us, along with Jamie Luce—author of “You Don’t Need Money, You Just Need God”—as we delve into the significance of God’s name and the eternal power it holds. We’ll touch on the rich tradition within Jewish culture of safeguarding God’s name and reveal how this informs our understanding of ascribing glory where it is due.

In this episode, Jamie Luce shares compelling insights from her book, highlighting the importance of divine provision and obedience. In a world often obsessed with financial success, we’re reminded that true reliance should be placed on God. With examples from Moses’ journey and the Israelites, we uncover the consequences of misrepresenting God’s will and how disobedience might block God’s intended blessings. This discussion serves as a timely reminder to represent God accurately and adhere to His guidance amidst today’s challenges.

Our conversation takes a critical turn as we examine the pitfalls of misrepresentation and false prophecy. We investigate the dangers of twisting scripture to suit personal agendas and emphasize the importance of maintaining the integrity of God’s word. With examples like Paul’s encounter with a possessed girl, the episode highlights the risks of exploiting spirituality for personal gain and the power that lies within our speech. It’s a call to action for all believers to speak with integrity, ensuring our words reflect a life aligned with biblical principles.

Where to dive in:

(0:00:10) – The Power of God’s Name (10 Minutes)

This chapter examines the significance of using the Lord’s name in vain and its implications according to scripture. By referencing Psalm 29 and Exodus 20:7, I explore the importance of ascribing glory to the Lord’s name and understanding its power. Emphasizing that His name should not be abused or misused, I discuss the gravity of this commandment, highlighting how the Jewish culture avoids saying God’s name to prevent taking it in vain. While advocating for the proclamation of Jesus’ name, I stress the importance of honoring and respecting the name of God, recognizing the power and salvation it holds for believers.

(0:10:32) – Misrepresentation in Disobedience (14 Minutes)

This chapter focuses on the themes of divine provision and obedience to God’s instructions, as highlighted in Jamie Luce’s new book, “You Don’t Need Money, You Just Need God.” Amidst current global economic and social challenges, we explore the notion that reliance on God, rather than financial means, is the solution. Using biblical references from Deuteronomy and Numbers, we examine Moses’ experience with the Israelites, emphasizing the importance of accurately representing God’s will and adhering to His guidance. We reflect on the incident at Meribah, where Moses’ partial obedience and anger led to consequences, illustrating the broader lesson that misrepresenting God can hinder His intended blessings.

(0:24:43) – Guarding Against Misrepresentation and False Prophecy (9 Minutes)

This chapter addresses the importance of accurately interpreting the word of God without cultural or personal bias. We explore the dangers of twisting scripture to fit modern contexts and highlight the need to remain true to the original meanings and teachings. The conversation also touches on the misuse of prophetic claims, where individuals may manipulate personal knowledge under the guise of divine insight. By referencing biblical stories, such as Paul’s encounter with the possessed girl, we illustrate the consequences of exploiting spirituality for personal gain. Furthermore, we emphasize the issue of redefining sin and morality according to personal or cultural agendas, stressing that God’s word remains unchanged. The call to reject sin and adhere to the teachings of the Bible remains central, underscoring the importance of confession, repentance, and living a life aligned with biblical principles.

(0:33:24) – The Impact of Our Speech (15 Minutes)

This chapter examines the immense power and potential danger of the tongue, emphasizing the importance of how we represent ourselves and, by extension, God, through our speech. We discuss the biblical perspective on controlling our words, highlighting that the tongue, though small, can cause significant harm if not properly bridled. Key points include avoiding swearing, coarse jesting, slander, and making false promises or oaths. We explore the notion that our speech reflects our character and relationship with God, urging a focus on thankfulness and integrity in our words. The chapter encourages listeners to be mindful of their language in all forms of communication, including text messages, to ensure they are honoring God and not misrepresenting Him.

About your host: Jaime Luce’s testimony has daunting personal mountains and treacherous financial valleys. She was trapped in day-to-day stress and couldn’t see a way forward. But how she started is not how she finished! And she wants you to know God has a plan for your life too, no matter how tough it seems. Today, Jaime has been married to the love of her life for almost three decades, owns two companies, and has become an author and podcaster. God’s way is always the blessed way!

Connect:

– Website: https://jaimeluce.com

– Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jaime.luces.page

– Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jaime_luce/

– LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaime-luce-00395691/

Full Transcript

This transcript is auto-generated and not perfect. We hope it blesses you.

0:00:10 – Jaime Luce
Welcome to the Jamie Luce podcast. Well, happy Tuesday. If you’re listening to this on the day that it is coming out, or if it’s another day, whatever day that is for you, I hope that it has already been shown to be a blessed day so far. If not, it’s about to be blessed. That’s what we believe. In the name of the Lord, Jesus Christ, I want to start this morning by, or whatever time it is for you, for me it’s morning.

I want to start by reading a couple of verses in Psalm 29. This is just verse one and two and it says Ascribe to the Lord, o heavenly beings, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name. Worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness. And I’m reading this because today we’re going to be talking about what does it really mean to use the Lord’s name in vain? If scripture tells us that we are to ascribe to the Lord the glory that is due his name, then there is something very contrary to speaking glory to his name. Contrary to speaking glory to his name when we hear in the Ten Commandments that we are not to take his name in vain. And I get really discouraged watching just regular television anymore. You could be watching a regular back. When I was young, you never heard swearing on TV. You didn’t hear the Lord’s name being taken as a swear word, and swearing and using the Lord’s name that way is not good. But I don’t think that people understand truly what it means to take the Lord’s name in vain, and so I want to talk about that today, to bring us some clarity on that and to help us understand the importance of the value and the glory instead that we are to ascribe to the Lord’s name. You know he has left us a few things in this world that we can hold on, that that we know have the power to take us through and take us over, and we have his blood that he gave us to wash us and cleanse us. He gave us his word to guide us and lead us. He gave us his name.

Now his name, according to scripture, says that there is. His name, is the name that is above every other name. Whether you think another name would be someone of great renown that you think could impact your life. Whether you think that name is the name of a dreaded disease that holds power over your life. Whether it is the name of someone that holds pain for you in your past or even in your present, that you think that power is what has the ability to change and run the course of your life.

The truth is that the name of Jesus overpowers them all. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. He is not diminished in any way. He is the first and the last, the alpha and the omega. He is the one who knows the end from the beginning. He can be trusted with everything that we have, every need that we have, every dream that we hold in our heart, every hope that we have laid hold of and the future that sits before us. He is our hope, he is our strength. Jesus is our salvation, so we are to ascribe to him the glory that is due his name. So in doing that, in ascribing glory to his name, in knowing the power that is available to us by his name, then we need to know how to properly wield his name, instead of allowing that name to be abused, to be misused, to be misrepresented. His name, if all he gave us was his name, folks, we need to understand the power of his name and that there should be within us a true understanding of what it means to fear the Lord so that we would bring the proper honor to his name.

Let’s look at Exodus, verse 20. I’m sorry, chapter 20. Exodus, chapter 20, verse seven. This is the first place that we see in the scripture where we are given the 10 commandments and it says you shall not take the name of the Lord, your God, in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. Now we know that the first scripture with promise is that if you honor your father and mother, that the days of your life will be long, he will give you extended life if you live a life of honoring to your mother and your father. But this one, this isn’t a promise you want. In that respect, this is a warning. It says that the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. There’s a warning there. There’s a warning to how we are to handle the name of God. Warning there, there’s a warning to how we are to handle the name of God.

Um, the uh, jewish culture so is so concerned about this that they won’t even say his name for fear of using it improperly. If they write it, they will leave out letters on purpose as to not mention, not to say his name in any form, written or verbal, just in case they are taking it in a wrong way and it would carry this curse. They’ll talk about all the other names of God, all the attributes of God. They will say things that mean God, but they won’t even say God. So they take this very seriously.

Now I’m not suggesting that we can’t say the name Jesus. I think we should proclaim the name Jesus. I think that, according to everything we read in the New Testament, everything we have has come to us by Jesus. Everything that was written in the Old Testament was written as a foreshadow of Jesus, and then the New Testament is to tell us that, yes, he is the one who fulfilled all of this prophecy. He is the one who was the promised Messiah to come, and everything we’ve been waiting on is right here. His name is Jesus.

There is no place that you see that they try not to say his name. So I’m not suggesting that we go back to that, but what I am trying to draw attention to is the fact that this was so. His name is so hallowed, god is so hallowed. In even saying his name, I mean the angels in heaven. There are creatures that stand there and all they do is say holy, holy, holy. His name is holy and that we are to to value and understand the weight of that glory of his name and we are to give and ascribe to him, as it says in Psalms, the glory that is due his name.

So this warning comes to us not to take his name in vain. Let’s read it again in Deuteronomy, chapter 5 and verse 11. You shall not take the name of the Lord, your God, in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. So not only was the instruction repeated, but the warning was repeated as well. It was repeated in both places.

Okay, I want us to take a look at what the word means when it says that we are not to take the name of the Lord in vain. What does that mean? To not take his name in vain? What does the word in vain mean? What does that thought encompass? In vain mean? What does that thought encompass? And it’s, um, it is. It’s an understanding that it’s, in any form, of any misrepresentation of that name, whether that be in character, whether that be blasphemy, where you are directly cursing or speaking disrespectfully about God, about his name or about his character. So this is all of God, all of who he is, any misrepresentation of the character of God. This is so important that this was the very thing that kept Moses out of the promised land. This was the very thing. Now, you would never think I don’t think of Moses as the character who is glaring in scripture, as someone who broke this commandment, or or no, thinking of him as someone who did not represent God. Well, we don’t. We don’t put those two things together. And this was toward the end of his life, and this was what. This was literally the thing that kept him out of the promised land. In fact, I should have looked that up for you. I’m going to do that while I’m talking about this for you. I’m going to do that while I’m talking about this. I’m going to look that up so I can give you the scripture, so we can talk about it together.

Hi, my name is Jamie Luce. I wanted to share with you some information about a brand new book entitled you Don’t Need Money, you Just Need God. It’s a playbook for miraculous provision and I want to share it with you because it solves the problem we are all facing right now. The economy is going crazy, gas prices are soaring, there’s wars and rumors of wars. We’ve got everything hitting us all at once, with interest rates rising. You need to know what to do, and so many times we think we need the money, but you don’t need money. I’m telling you, the answer is you need God, and that’s exactly what we want to teach you through this book. We’ll give you practical ways to know what to do and how to do it, so that you get answers. Now. You can find my book on Amazon. You can also go to jamielucecom. You can also find this book at. You don’t need money, you just need Godcom. This book is available today.

Let’s first look at there’s a couple of places. Let’s look at Deuteronomy 3, 26. Places let’s look at Deuteronomy 3, 26. Okay, let’s actually go back to verse 23. This is Deuteronomy 3, but let’s go up to verse 23.

And I this is meaning Moses pleaded with the Lord at that time, saying oh Lord, god, you have only begun to show your servant your greatness and your mighty hand. For what God is there in heaven or on earth who can do such works and mighty acts as yours? Please let me go over and see the good land beyond the Jordan, that good hill country and Lebanon. But the Lord was angry with me because of you and would not listen to me. And the Lord said to me enough from you, do not speak to me of this matter again. Go up to the top of Pisgah, lift up your eyes westward and northward, and southward and eastward, and look at it with your eyes, for you shall not go over this Jordan. Now what’s he? He’s saying that it’s he was angry with me because of you. But what Moses is doing in that particular scripture is he’s saying you all wanted water and I went to God on your behalf and God told me what to do, but because I was angry with you, I didn’t do it exactly the way God told me. Because I was angry with you, I didn’t do it exactly the way God told me and in God’s opinion, he was misrepresented. So let me find the scripture where he actually tells him I don’t want it from there. Sorry, give me one more minute. I should have had this for you. I’m so, so sorry.

Numbers 20. Let’s go to Numbers 20. Okay, yeah, numbers 20 is where I wanted to go. Okay, here we go, numbers 20, let’s start in verse 2. Now there was no water for the congregation and they assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron. And the people quarreled with Moses and said Would that we had perished when our brothers perished before the Lord? Why have you brought the assembly of the Lord into this wilderness that we should die here, both we and our cattle, and why have you made us come up out of Egypt to bring us to this evil place? It is no place for grain or figs, or vines or pomegranates, and there is no water to drink.

Then Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the entrance of the tent of meeting and fell on their faces and the glory of the Lord appeared to them. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying of the Lord appeared to them. And the Lord spoke to Moses saying take the staff and assemble the congregation, you and Aaron, your brother, and tell the rock. So he’s telling him, speak to the rock, tell the rock. He wants him to use his mouth and speak to the rock before their eyes to yield its water. So you shall bring water out of the rock for them and give drink to the congregation and their cattle and Moses. Okay. So this is what God said.

Now let’s look what Moses did. And Moses took the staff from before the Lord, as he had commanded him. Then Moses and Aaron. Now God didn’t tell him to say that Shall we bring water for you out of this rock.

So Moses is showing a bit of an anger problem here. He’s angry with the children of Israel and instead of saying what God said and instead of representing the heart of God the way God wanted him to, god wasn’t saying be angry with them. God wasn’t saying correct them. He said say to the rock so that the rock will come, the water will come out, and then the water will come out and then the water will be provided for the people here. Now you rebels, shall we bring water for you out of this rock?

And Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his staff twice. So he hit the rock twice with the rod when God told him to speak and water came out abundantly and the congregation drank and their livestock. And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron Because you did not believe in me to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them. These are the waters of Meribah, where the people of Israel quarreled with the Lord and through them he showed himself holy. So God’s intention that day was to give the people water, but, when doing so, to show his holiness in providing it for them. And instead, moses made it about himself and Aaron and didn’t follow the exact instruction of the Lord. And out of his anger anger he struck the rock, called the people rebels and acted like he was doing them this great favor.

Well, that’s a misrepresentation of God. That misrepresentation falls under the category of taking the name, the name of the Lord, in vain, in vain means to misrepresent in any way. Here’s another way that we misrepresent the name of the Lord Partial obedience, which is partial, which is actually disobedience, but calling it full obedience. So this was Saul King. Saul was told by Samuel that the Lord said you go destroy this enemy, you, you kill everyone and kill the King. Don’t take any livestock for yourself, don’t keep anything, destroy it all.

The Lord had a, a vengeance he was taking out on this enemy of Israel and he wanted everything to be annihilated. It was all an offering to the Lord, every bit of it. There wasn’t anything that was supposed to be kept as spoils for Saul. And he knew what those instructions were, that those instructions were given by Samuel to him. And Samuel told him and wait, because I’m going to come to you and then we will sacrifice to the Lord. Then you have Saul who, when he goes into the battle, he doesn’t kill them all, he doesn’t kill the king, he keeps a bunch of the sheep and the livestock and doesn’t wait for Samuel to come to do the sacrifice.

Well, it was unlawful for the king to do the sacrifice. He was not. He should never have done that. That was breaking law. Just in that act and he himself admitted he feared the people more than God. So he wanted to give to the people and do for the people instead of honoring God. His heart was no longer in it to please the Lord, he was in it to please himself and please the people, to keep his position by the power of the people, not by the one who anointed him and put him there. And so now Saul’s disobedience. He thought he was obeying just not fully, like I did what he said.

When Samuel finally came to him he said what is this bleeding of the sheep? I hear there shouldn’t be sheep. I shouldn’t hear sheep. Why am I hearing sheep? And Saul says, well, I just kept the best so that we could sacrifice them to the Lord. So he’s trying to cover up for what he’s done wrong. And he didn’t kill the king like he was supposed to kill the king. This made Samuel very angry, but what came was not Samuel’s anger, the same way Moses had anger. The anger came from the Lord and the correction came from God. And he said this day that the kingdom has been rent from you. The same way that King Saul tried to rend the garment, did rend the garment of Samuel as he left him. He wasn’t going to appease the people and make Saul look good in front of the people. Samuel was going to do what God said. He didn’t fear the people, he didn’t fear King Saul, he feared God. And because of it, saul lost his mind literally. That’s when he began to be tormented. This is why he would attack David so much.

So this is really important to understand that taking the Lord’s name in vain encompasses. You are breaking this law, this commandment of God. You are breaking this honoring thing that is expected of us before God to cherish his name, to ascribe all the wonderful attributes of his name to him. Instead of doing that, we disobey, and partial obedience is disobedience. We don’t get credit for 50%. This. You aren’t graded on a curve. It’s not you’re. It’s not based off of well, somebody else only did this and I did this. You don’t get to compare yourself with other people. This is really important. Remember there is a warning attached to this. We need to honor God. I don’t care what society is saying, I don’t care how much they diminish the name of Jesus in their eyes.

Call churches churches and say with commercials during football season and different times, to say this is what Jesus would say and this is what Jesus would do, they are misrepresenting Jesus. They are not attributing to him what the word says about him and in doing so, they misrepresent his character. They misrepresent what he would say and do, or even the glory and holiness of his name. And by doing that I was watching a clip. This was a couple of weeks back. I think I mentioned this before on a previous podcast, but I was watching a secular television show. And you have people who do not serve God. They rail against Christianity regularly and they had the audacity to say Jesus would want this and Jesus wouldn’t want that as if they know Jesus personally better than those who actually follow him. It’s absurd. It’s not only absurd, it is demonic and it is completely contrary to the truth. It is calling good evil and evil good Absolutely not acceptable, and this kind of behavior falls under the category of taking the name of the Lord in vain. They completely misrepresent Jesus, the price he paid, what he expects of his people or what he would do or say in any given situation.

If you are, let’s say, you are ministering to someone, you are someone who loves the Lord, um you you spend time with the Lord and you believe that you have um the gifts and abilities to speak, um encouragement, like there’s a. So one of the words in the new Testament for explaining prophecy is that it is to edify and encourage. And so some people, in their attempt to prophesy to people, will say things to people, but they are doing so not from scripture, they’re doing so from their own heart. Now, their intention may be good, but when you speak prophecies, so to speak, and you say this is what God is saying to you, but you’re doing it out of your own heart, maybe knowledge that you have about that person and you think you know what will make them feel better, or you think you’re going to encourage them with that and you say that God is saying this. If you attribute God to what you’re saying out of your own heart and not according to scripture, I’m sorry, my friend, that is not prophecy and that is taking the name of the Lord, thy God, in vain. You are misrepresenting him. Now, the Lord may very well have something encouraging to say to them, but it needs to be something God would say to them. It needs to be coming from the heart of God, not from the heart of people, and there are plenty of people who go around touting the name of God, who have no real relationship with him and say that this is what God would say to you. There’s a lot of them out there who do that. Now we have to be those who are of a discerning heart to understand the difference. We need to know the word of God, to know if something is biblical that’s being said to us.

Satan came in our last podcast. We talked about the deception of what Satan says and how he twists the word. So there are people who are very convincing, but you have to be careful that they’re not twisting the word of God. You can’t make it mean what you want it to mean. You don’t even get to read this word through the lens of a Western culture. This is not a cultural um culture, changing, wielding word. This word is what this word says. It was spoken to a group of people who understood the culture of the day. We don’t get to take it out and make it mean something else. Now it can apply to us, certainly, but we don’t get to make it and twist it and say, well, that’s what it meant for them, but this is what it means for us today, that it’s changed because this is a different culture, a different time. That is misrepresentation. That is taking the name of the Lord in vain.

What about having knowledge outside of God about someone or a situation and calling it prophetic and from God? What about downright using information about somebody that you know and manipulating people and calling it God? I’ve had that done to me. I’ve had people try to do that to me, say things to me, say words to me, and I knew that wasn’t God and they were saying it only because they had witnessed something, saw something and felt that they had enough information to impart their wisdom to me. They called it God, but all it was was their, what they saw and what their opinion was. That’s not God. That’s not God. Now, it doesn’t mean that you can’t, as a Christian, look at a situation and have the mind of God about it. If you serve him and you know his word, you know how he feels about those things, you know how he reacts to those kind of things. Well, god never reacts. He acts how he acts, how he makes decisions. Then we can make those kind of decisions, sure, but I’m talking about those who simply know things and use the information they know.

We kind of see this in scripture, when Paul was followed by the girl who had a spirit that needed to be cast out of her. And yet she’s saying with her mouth this is the man of God, these men are from God, these are holy men. What they’re saying is true, listen to them. But what she was doing was being a complete distraction, hoping that people would follow her. She was being paid by a couple of people who kind of owned her. Using her, they’re making money off of her. So if she keeps saying these men are true, these men are godly, these men say the right thing, then what she’s doing is propping herself up in a position to say I can tell you if what they’re saying is true or not. Then that means you can trust me about other things and I can tell you things that are true about other things. So she’s looking for an angle. They’re trying to do evil. That’s an evil spirit, that’s a familiar spirit, trying to work and make money off of the gospel. There are plenty of people who do that. That is taking the name of the Lord, that God in vain and Paul cast that spirit out of her and those men lost their money because of it.

Saying this is huge right now in culture. Saying this is huge right now in culture saying that God is okay with something that is sin. Saying that God does not think sin is sin. Saying that God says that that sin is no longer sin. However, you want to paint that, whatever brush you want to paint that, whatever brush you want to paint that with.

We have like I’ve mentioned this before, I’ll say it again we have buildings that are houses of worship. Now they say they worship Jesus, but they don’t. They have created a different Jesus, but they don’t. They have created a different Jesus because they don’t worship the Jesus of the Bible. They have changed the meaning of scripture to their position, their political position, to their carnal and fleshly position, and they now say that God condones things, say that God condones things, that God is for things, that God accepts things, that God himself says that he hates those things, that they are, um, a that they are oh, what is the word he uses? Um, they are, oh, my gosh, I’m forgetting the word. Oh, I’ll come up, it’ll come to me later.

But these are detestable. These are awful things that they are doing. These are abhorrent things that they are doing. And the things that they are doing are are completely in opposition to what God has said. Right, god is saying you cannot do these things. I forbid these things. These things are detestable. These things are an abomination. That’s the word. They are an abomination to God. They are an affront to his holiness and his glory. They are an affront to his word and his gospel and what he has declared, to what is truth.

And they say that God’s okay with this. I’m sorry, we don’t get to do that. We don’t get to say that God changed his mind. He doesn’t change his mind. We don’t get to say that’s not really what the scripture meant. Yes, it is what the scripture meant, and he says it multiple times over and over again. We are very clear on what it means and we do not get to twist scripture. We do not get to say it’s okay when it’s not okay. We actually still have to adhere to the fact that we are to confess our sin and turn from our sin, to live a life no longer living in sin. That is what we are called to to shun sin, to stay away from the reproach of sin, to not get close to it, to walk away, to run away like Joseph did from temptation, to flee from sin. That should be our heart. Not to indulge in sin and say God’s okay with it. That is taking the name of the Lord in vain.

I want to go just for a moment. Let’s go to Ephesians 4. Ephesians 4. And we’re going to look at verse 29. And we’re going to look at verse 29. And it says Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up as fits the occasion that it may give grace to those who hear. So this is not.

I’m not saying that, you know it’s. It’s not for me to. I honestly don’t know. I know we call certain words swear words and I’m not. I don’t. I don’t like to swear Um. I don’t like to use those words Um, um, I don’t like to use those words um. I also don’t know culturally if they’re just words. I don’t want to get into that debate with people. I really don’t, um. But what I would rather like to say is there are specific verses that tell us what is acceptable and what is not acceptable, and that it is important for us to care about the words that come out of our mouth, that our mouths are very powerful, and this is one of those things that just goes hand in hand, like a hand in a glove, with not taking the name of the lord in vain. Okay, so let’s well, I read you that.

Let’s also go to james. I want to read to you from James, and we’re going to go to chapter 3, james 3. I didn’t type these out myself, so I’m going there with you. James 3, verses 1 through 12. Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness, for we all stumble in many ways, and if anyone does not stumble in what he says.

He is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body. If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. Look at the ship also. Though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire and the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell, for every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. Does a spring pour forth from the same opening, both fresh and salt water? Can a fig tree, my brothers bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs. Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water yield fresh water.

I’m wanting us to see not just the power of the tongue but the danger of the tongue. Learning to bridle the tongue is not just in the way that we speak, but it’s in who we are representing when we speak your character. When people see you and hear you speak, your character is on display and they will judge your character against God’s character and make a decision about you. Now I’m not concerned about pleasing man, don’t misunderstand me. But if my life is to be evidence of my relationship with him and the change that he has made in me, that I am no longer a carnal person who looks and sounds and acts like an unsaved person still lost in sin, or do I look and sound and act like someone who is redeemed, whose life has been changed, who is now living an altered life, a different life, a consecrated life, a saved life, one that you can tell the difference by looking at it and hearing it and seeing it.

So the mouth, it has a huge impact on the ability that we have to properly represent God so that we are not misrepresenting him, so that we are doing our best to say. This is who God is, then what comes out of our mouth truly matters. How you speak, what you say, even the way you say it through text. This is tempting, boy. Our text messages are tempting. Um, we are bolder and less, um, less reserved when we do it through text message or by posting. Be careful how you are representing yourself. Now, it doesn’t mean that you can’t be bold. It doesn’t mean you can’t tell the truth. It doesn’t mean that you can’t have fervency and zeal. Just make sure that you are not dishonoring the God you serve. Make sure that you are not crossing a line that now misrepresent misrepresents him.

So the scripture talks about several different places and different ways that we do this. One, of course, is swearing. If you have no control over your tongue and everything that comes out of your mouth seems to be, you know a swear word, that’s probably something you need to clean up, just so that you have a right witness. But there are scriptures that tell us not to have coarse jesting, meaning don’t be telling foul jokes with your mouth. Guard your mouth, guard your mouth, guard what you say. Let me see I might be able to give you that reference real quick. Um, yes, ephesians five, verse four Um, he’s talking about not letting things come out of your mouth this is out of the amplified.

Let there be no filthiness or silly talk or coarse, obscene or vulgar joking, because such things are not appropriate for believers, but instead speak of your thankfulness to God. Those are completely contrary to one another. Right, we are not to be those who have a filthy mouth, who have ridiculous speech, who are coarse and obscene and vulgar in the way we make jokes but such things are not appropriate for believers but instead speak of your thankfulness to God. We also don’t slander one another. We aren’t tearing each other down.

I did a whole thing on this on a different podcast. Go back and listen to that if you need that and that the scripture teaches us that we will give an account for every idle word that we have spoken. Literally, we will give an account one day before God, for every idle word that is spoken. That’s what scripture teaches. I want to give you two more before we close off. I want to give you two more before we close off.

One is empty promises. Don’t be somebody who makes a promise and doesn’t keep it. You need to be someone who, with your mouth, is honorable. And with your mouth, if you promise to do something, be a person of your word, someone who can be dependent on, someone who is of strength of character, so that you are able to do what you need to do when you need to do it. And if you are unable to keep that word, do not make that promise. This goes along hand in hand with the last point false oaths.

Making a false oath. Now, this is not only to people, but this is to God. I want you to turn to first Peter. Like I said, I’m going there with you First Peter, first peter, and we’re going to look at chapter 3 and verse 10. Now, there’s a ton in the old testament about this, but I’m not going to read all that today. First peter, chapter 3, 10,. And it says For whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit, deceit. What is that? That means that you are saying something knowing you have no intention of actually doing it. It’s a form of a lie, a false oath.

There’s many scriptures, both found in Numbers I think they’re also it’s in another book too a ton of scriptures where we are given instruction about how God holds us accountable for if we make an oath with our mouth. And he says if you make an oath, I mean there are several laws Like if you’re a female and you were not married, you were living under your father’s roof and you made a vow with your mouth. If your father heard you make that vow and you don’t keep that vow and your father didn’t step in to say you don’t get to make that vow, I’m not letting you do that because he was held responsible, then you would end up paying the consequences of that for sure. But your father had the right to step in and say no, no, no, no, you don’t get the authority to make that vow, I’m not letting you do that. Vows were so important that people had to be making sure who they were making, what the vow they were making if they even had authority to make that vow, and that who would be held responsible if that vow was broken.

God takes this very seriously. There’s a scripture that tells us that it is better for you never to make a vow than it is to make a vow and break it. It’s better that you never make it. Don’t tell me you’re going to do something that you don’t have an intention on doing, because that’s far worse for you than if you would have just left it alone and never promised me in the first place. Do not make a false oath. It’s very important, and this is something that falls in line with the end of the scripture we started with. We don’t take the name of the Lord in vain. Why? Because God will not hold us guiltless. Who do it?

There are warnings in scripture. We are, god is a good father and he corrects us and he gives us really good parameters to live our life so that we remain in a blessed, safe zone. That it’s like knowing, if you go to a strange, if you go on vacation, you’re going to a place you’ve never been before, maybe to a large city you’ve never been before, and you will have people who have been there who will say, okay, go to these areas, but do not go into these areas. Those are not safe areas. There’s a lot of crime there, it’s dangerous there, you won’t have protection there. You don’t want to go there, okay, but there are places you do want to go.

Well, that’s what God does when he warns us, when he gives us these corrections or these, these um guardrails. He’s saying I know the way that you want to go and I have a blessed place for you to be and this is how you get there. Just don’t go to the places that I’ve said are off limits. Don’t go there. It’s what will be good for you, it is safe for you, it is protection for you and it is, it is our duty.

Gosh, if we have one thing that we could do for God, he does everything for us and we come and we are so unworthy and there’s nothing that we can do to bless him other than this that we live our life for him as a living sacrifice for him, loving what he loves, doing what he does to fulfill the call that he has for our life and to represent him well to a world that is dying and needs him. He is not willing that any should perish, and we are the tools he uses to draw people to see what it’s like to belong to a good father. This is so important. I hope that you’re able to hear this today. I know it sounds like a strong correction and I’m not trying to do that. I hope that you’re able to hear this today. I know it sounds like um, a strong correction, and I’m not trying to do that. I’m not trying to browbeat anybody. I’m just trying to help us understand.

There are safe, blessed places we could live and in living in those places we are doing what we read in Psalms and we are aspiring to God glory. We are bringing honor to his name, the glory of his name, the power of his name and the ability that that name has to save us, cleanse us, take care of us, protect us, provide for us in every way. He has made a way for us. Let’s live according to the way that he has made for us. That leads to blessing. I want you blessed. I want you living a life full of God’s blessing, and I also want your life to be a blessing to those around you who your life points the way to a good God. That’s what I want for you today. I hope you can take this, digest this, make this part of what you chew on today, meditate on it, think about the words you speak, think about the way you represent the Lord. We want to go into our promised land. We don’t want to be held back from it. Let’s put a guard over our mouth. Let’s represent the Lord with all of the glory. We can aspire to him and see what God will do for you.

Let me pray for you, father. I thank you for your word. I thank you for everything you have provided for the blood that cleanses us. But today I give you thanks for your name, for you are holy and worthy of my praise. You are all sufficient in every way. You have blessed us in our beginning and you know our end, and you have promised to bless our end. I ask you today, father, that the conviction of the Holy Spirit would come on our hearts, on our mouths, that we would meditate on you and your goodness and, like the scripture we read and be thankful, that we would watch what comes out of our mouths and we would instead replace it with gratefulness to you for all you have done and for all that you are to us. We ask you, father, for the grace to live the life you have called us to live in the way you have called us to live it, and we thank you for the blessings that we receive from your hand of mercy upon us. And it is in Jesus’ name that we do pray Amen. Thank you so much for spending time with me today. I pray this was a blessing to you.

Go ahead and hit that like subscribe get notified for our next episode that would come out. Usually we drop every Tuesday so you can see a new episode. Then, if this was a blessing to you and you’d like to share it, share this with those that you know would need this. If you need any information from me, you can go to my website, jaimeluce.com. You could also send me an email, leave me a prayer request or praise report. I’d love to hear from you. That email is mail at jaimeluce.com. You could also find the information on my website. Thanks again for being with me today. We’ll see you next time. Bye-bye.