James 3:10 – “Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be.”
Life is full of unseen blessings. How many of us wake up each morning? Blessing #1: You have a new day in which to discover what the Father has planned for you. Blessing #2: And I won’t belabor this one, but do you remember those words spoken by your mother or grandmother? “Finish the food on your plate—there are children starving in other countries.” There is food on your plate today.
Each day, we have a choice: to focus on what is good in our day, or what we perceive as bad (and not everything you consider “bad” is truly bad). Have you ever spent time with someone who believes their life is a complete train wreck? It sucks the life right out of you. Choosing to focus on the bad—or the good—in your life carries an energy all its own.
It amazes me that people who can’t find anything good in their life will try desperately to bring you into their circle of despair. The old saying “misery loves company” is true. We must be careful not to let anyone else’s perception of what life brings to them dictate our view of what we believe to be blessings or not. Your blessings are between you and God alone. No one thing or situation can make you happy!
We will all experience times of sorrow when bad things happen in our lives. Depending on the situation, the time needed for healing will vary. There are necessary stages of grief we need to go through—and we should not rush them. It is so hard to remember during those times that God has only our best interest at heart, and what was meant to harm us will, in turn, be for our good and for God’s glory!
All that said, let’s focus on our blessings. Who among us wants to live a life full of struggles? Not me, that’s for sure!
I’ve come to understand that most of our struggles come from two places. First, our thought life—which we briefly looked at above. Second, our words, which can be even more critical than our thoughts.
Our words get us in all kinds of trouble. Why would we lie to ourselves? Well, we do it every day. Have you ever looked in the mirror and didn’t like what you saw? What did you say in your mind? Here is the truth: Psalm 139:14. Read it for yourself.
The other problem stems from “cursing our blessings.” I was listening to a speaker online who made that statement—and I was convicted. I tend to do this often. A perfect example is the phrase I’ve used almost daily in different aspects of my life: “I am so done.” That was the first of many curses the Lord allowed me to see I was speaking over my blessings. Satan has invaded my words—he has twisted what I really feel and created in me a tongue that curses my blessings.
The truth is, “I am not done.” Even with my struggles, I’m just overwhelmed. If he can get me to say “I am done,” then there’s nowhere to go from there. I’ve completely given up on that situation. But if I’m just overwhelmed, I can take a break, get some rest, put my armor of God back on, and get in the saddle again.
It’s not enough to just change how we feel—we must change what we say to ourselves. We must speak out loud that we are blessed, not cursed.
