Sentry Duty

Psalm 141: 3

Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; Keep watch over the door of my lips.

Yesterday’s Word was actually a teaching on spiritual warfare. It was about how to survive and even win the battles of life. I can’t leave you with yesterday’s teaching without giving you this verse too because they go so very much hand in hand. As you run into the presence of the Lord the very last thing you should do is explain the problem over and over to him. In truth, He already knows the problem. What He is looking for from you is trust and faith. So, the key thing you have to do is to guard your mouth. Now I know for myself that I don’t necessarily do a very good job of even that in my own strength so the first thing I do is to pray asking for help. Don’t make this hard. Just pray these exact words. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel. Write this verse on a 3 X 5 card so that you have it handy when you need it. Then just speak it to the Father.

You won’t be surprised, perhaps, to discover that David wrote this psalm in addition to the one from yesterday. (If you missed yesterday’s Word of the Day you can read it at www.iveyministries.blogspot.com) .  It seems to me that he learned that one of the first things you have to do in the day of trouble is shut your mouth.  

When we get upset it seems to loosen the cords that hold our mouth. The first thing that many of us want to do is to call someone and tell him how someone did us wrong. You may feel that if you don’t tell someone you will just explode. I know the feeling. That is why the first thing to do is to pray this verse. Honestly, God will help you. Then get out your Bible and read. Let God lead you into peace.

This is a trick of the devil and we really must stop playing by his playbook. His strategy is to get us upset or angry so that we let loose with our language. When we do that we actually give him building blocks that he can use to defeat us. In a sense we defeat ourselves because we provide the ammo that shoots us down. So, do yourself a big favor. The next time you get mad, someone does you wrong or some ugly problem jumps up in your face, set a sentry over your mouth. Get one of those big dudes to stand guard for you. Put this verse into action and then let the Lord lead you.