spirituality

Spirituality: Stop Destructive Gossip and Live at a Higher Spiritual Level!

Spirituality: Stop Destructive Gossip and Live at a Higher Spiritual Level!

Use Words to Encourage and Stop the Gossip

Stop Destructive GossipGossip can zap the power out of

one’s spirit quickly.

Gossip is negative, mean spirited,

and destructive.

It is an addictive, bad habit for the gossiper.

Gossip will pull the gossiper, and those

around him or her, down to the lowest spiritual level.

If all that isn’t bad enough, God considers gossip a serious sin in the same league as murder, God hating, and other wickedness. (Romans 1:28-32) Gossipers are not in right fellowship with God.

“A gossip betrays a confidence; so avoid a man who talks too much.”
— Proverbs 20:19 NIV

Harmless Good Fun Or Destructive Gossip?

I’m sure you will agree that gossip is something we should not take lightly. What is truly unfortunate, is the fact that most Christians do not consider gossip a sin or wrong! At most, they consider it an insignificant bad habit.

Gossip is a key factor hindering growing prosperity in many people’s lives. And unfortunately, it is rarely recognized. Almost instantly, without thinking twice, gossipers will let rumors, bad-mouthing, confidential information, and idle, malicious talk fly out of their mouths.

If only they knew the damage they are causing! The Bible tells us that a Christian who’s mouth is out of control, deceives his own heart and his religion is worthless. (James 1:26)

Let’s face it: Gossip is not harmless, good fun. It carries a negative tone of abuse that is often demeaning, critical, judgmental, harmful, and hurtful. This is why God has much to say about it and warns us of it’s destructiveness.

Dealing With Gossip

Everywhere from family, work, school to church settings, gossip has become a common destructive factor. It is clearly evident that busybodies are everywhere these days. But the question to ask ourselves is: “Am I guilty of gossip?”

Gossip is often disguised as concern for others or as asking for prayer. However, whenever there is talk about others in an unfavorable way, there is gossip.

Keep in mind: Gossip is a sin that separates us from God and hinders our prosperity. God does not bless sin. Gossipers often deal with unexplainable troubles and rarely get their prayers answered. (Psalm 66:18, John 9:31)

“He who guards his lips guards his life, but he who speaks rashly will come to ruin.”
— Proverbs 13:3 NIV

Tips to Deal With Gossip:

  • AWARENESS. We all have tendency to gossip from time to time. To overcome this tendency and have a more spirit-filled, gossip-free life requires awareness when it happens.
  • PRAYER. It doesn’t matter if you are struggling with a gossip addiction or if you are a victim of gossip, turning to God in prayer is a must. As a gossiper, repent and ask for forgiveness and pray that God help you take control of your words and make them words of encouragement. As a victim, pray that God bless the other person and help them become free as He helps you maintain a forgiving, loving heart.
  • AVOID. Stay out of other people’s business and avoid association with those who gossip. Refuse to engage in gossip.
  • CHOOSE. Decide to speak words of encouragement, hope, and love. Steer conversations in a positive direction. Choose to be silent if only destructive words of gossip are on your lips.
  • LOVE. Walk in love and address gossipers directly and privately in attempting to resolve your issues with them. If confronted for gossiping, be humble and in love be willing to work out your issues.

Believe me: Gossip can spread quickly like a deadly infection. Do not be ignorant of the destruction it carries. You can put a stop to the negative spirit of gossip and choose to walk in love and a higher spiritual level in life.

May your mouth always speak words of encouragement and may your life be full of growing prosperity!

Be blessed to be a blessing!

Soar higher in Him,
Brenda

 

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Spirituality – Should You Be Doing Some Clean Up In Your Spiritual Life?

Spirituality – Should You Be Doing Some Clean Up In Your Spiritual Life?

The Power of Making Your Spiritual Life Sparkle

Powerful Spiritual LifeSpiritual areas of life are often the

ones that get tended to last.

We get up every morning and look in

the mirror and begin our routine of showering,

brushing, and getting all prettied up.

Our homes, yards, cars, etcetera all get our attention

and cleaned up as needed; but, what about our spiritual home?

Too Busy To Clean?

Life gets busy. That’s no surprise. Soon our housecleaning gets moved to the bottom of the “to do” list until one day we can’t see through the dust on the TV screen. As we look around everything is dull and dirty and no longer beautiful to look at.

Amazingly, after a little time and effort scrubbing, things are sparkling clean and enjoyable once again.

How Did My Spiritual Life Get So Dirty?

Have you noticed how easily the dust and cobwebs seem to have a way of building up without really seeing it happen? Well in fact, our spiritual life gets dirty much the same way.

There are times we commit an obvious sin and it is like falling in a mud puddle; we are clearly dirty and need of some major clean-up. However, the sin in our daily lives is more often like the dust and cobwebs that slowly dirty our spiritual home, almost unnoticed.

In our busy lives we too easily get used to irritable thoughts, selfishness, jealousy, disrespect, lazy attitudes, lack of commitments, and more. Failure to spend daily time in God’s Word and fellowship with Him leads to doing things that displease Him, and at the same time we do not even realize the dirty film they are leaving on us.

Have you gotten too busy with other things in life that you’ve neglected to clean the dust and cobwebs from your spiritual home.

Time to Clean Up The Mess and Make Your Spiritual Life Sparkle!

The solution for the dust, dirt, and grime that comes into our lives, is to clean it up quickly and regularly. The longer we allow it to remain the greater the mess and the more difficult to remove. If neglected too long it results in unsightly stains.

Once the cleaning process has begun, it usually leads to a closer examination, which then tends to require more cleaning. So it is with a close examination of our spiritual life.

The sinful dirt that we have allowed to slowly accumulate in our lives, and have become accustomed to, is not okay with God. He is not accustomed to dirty sinful behaviors. God desires that our lives be pure and clean so that He can see the beautiful reflection of His Son in us.

“Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD? Or who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart…” 
— Psalm 24:3-4

“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.”
— Psalm 51:10

How can I improve my spiritual life? Be willing to ask yourself this question daily as you do a self-examination of your spiritual home. Ask God to help you see areas that need cleaned up. He not only wants to open your eyes, He wants to help you clean in order to see your natural and spiritual life shine and sparkle!

May your spiritual life be clean, pure and overflowing with growing prosperity!

God bless you always,
Brenda

 

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