Matthew 12:34 – “But you who are known as the Pharisees are rotten to the core like venomous snakes. How can your words be good if you are rotten within? For what has been stored up in your hearts will be heard in the overflow of your words!” 

What a day!  This is the day the Lord has made, and we have a multitude of reasons to rejoice and be glad.  The old song, “Count Your Many Blessings,” is ringing in my heart, and when I come to the part, “Name them one by one,” I realize the impossibility of that challenge.

When you ask how they are, some say, “I’m blessed.”  I applaud that if that is more than a cliché that makes them sound and feel pious.  If it is simply a phrase, they have grown accustomed to saying without thought and meaning, that is different.  Our words have meaning, but the words that get into and come from the heart have power! 

Words from the heart possess a transformative and creative power!  While we are not God, the Living God, the Creator of All Things, when His Words reside in our hearts and flow out in faith, the Power of God supports it with all the might of Heaven. 

Jesus said that we are to abide IN Him, and His words are to abide IN us.  One translation renders the words of Jesus, “Out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks.”  The overflow, I like that!  What fills our hearts is expressed in our words and actions.  Where our treasure is there, our heart is also.  The heart is the seat of who we are, and what we are is expressed from it. 

I’ve heard people say, “Oops, that slipped out.”  NOPE!  It may not have been what you intended, and you let it slip past your guard, but it was there in the heart and came to the surface in your words. It is crucial to protect our hearts and allow the Holy Spirit to guide our speech, enabling us to speak as God does and act as Jesus did and does. 

• My prayer today is for the LORD to instill in us a pure heart (cleansed in the Blood of Jesus and sanctified with His Grace).
• To renew in us a resolute, fully devoted, 100% surrendered spirit. 
• To teach us to abide in His presence always, walking in the Spirit.
• To fill us daily with His Holy Spirit and guide us to listen to His voice and follow His lead.
• To restore in us the overflowing, unmatched Joy of Salvation and to help us maintain a willing heart, mind, soul, and spirit at all times.

From this state, we can and will instruct sinners in His ways and witness their conversion to Him. From this state, we will reap the Harvest!  We will embody and represent Him!   We seek Him and His Kingdom!  Amen!’

Have a fantastic day, and rejoice in the LORD!