You see, sometimes I want to express myself in ways that aren’t necessarily the best at that time. (You probably don’t have this battle, do you?) I’ll give you an example. Sometimes my biggest challenge is in my own home. I love my husband with everything in me. But he and I are very different people. He is, by nature, very quiet. And, although I used to be quite shy, I’m no longer an introvert really. As I said, I love words—so let’s just say I use them often! We don’t argue a lot, but we do disagree. Remember, I said we are two very different people, and we can have very different viewpoints. So, on occasion, when we disagree, we can really disagree!
We’ve even had a few heated moments over the years, and I could hear the enemy telling me to go for the jugular (metaphorically speaking, of course) and say something to put an end to the argument. “Say that ‘one last thing’ that will shut it all down.” I’m talking about that moment when you can feel the words at the tip of your tongue, and then you think about what your retort will be when he responds. Ladies, I’ll be so ready to go there (and I don’t even mean profanity here—I just mean saying something mean-spirited to really get my point across), and the Holy Spirit will actually tell me to stop talking! Did you hear me? To stop talking!!! He doesn’t sugar coat things with me—I’ve been walking with Him too long for that. Right when I’m ready to unleash that wrath, He just says to stop. I can feel the words forming in my mouth (and I’ll be honest, if I’m angry enough that feeling seems justified) and I am ready to go off, but the Holy Spirit quiets me. Sometimes I’d rather ignore His instruction —but I refuse to disobey Him now, so I just stop talking.
Side note—there was a time when I wasn’t as disciplined. I heard the Holy Spirit and still said what I wanted to say, causing so much damage. The saying, “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me,” is a lie! Words can hurt deeper than physical injuries and have a much longer effect! After those hurtful words escaped from my lips, I had to deal with the consequences of disobedience. And that is much worse than whatever disagreement I was even having.
The Manna Chef 