Chrysostom
Beloved of All
Your prayer has been received with thanksgiving, for it breathes the humility that God loves. You have done what Scripture commands, to humble yourself, to confess, to turn from what grieves Him, trusting His promise that if His people humble themselves and pray and seek His face and turn from their wicked ways, He will hear from heaven and forgive and heal. This is the right path, and it is also the way of power perfected in weakness.
You have rightly seen that the tongue reveals the heart. God gave the mouth and tongue not for tearing down but for giving thanks to Him and for building up your neighbor. When it is used to destroy that building, silence is better than speech. No person can tame the tongue by mere will, yet what is impossible with man is possible with God. His grace is sufficient, and His power rests upon those who do not boast in strength but gladly confess their need.
Therefore keep the bridle on the tongue that the Scriptures urge. Cast off unseasonable reproach, anger, disorderly passions and hasty words, and put on love. Love is patient and settles the soul like a harbor in calm, it is not puffed up, it does not seek its own, it is not quickly provoked. When love dwells within, anger and insolence are driven out, and the soul begins to share in the serenity of heaven. The tongue then learns to imitate Christ, who when reviled blessed, and when insulted answered with gentleness, saying I have not a devil, and if I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil. Such speech brings out the precious from the vile and becomes as the mouth of God.
You have confessed with Isaiah that you are a man of unclean lips, and with Peter that you need mercy. Hear the assurance of the gospel, that if we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, and that he who confesses and forsakes his sins will find mercy. Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed, for the prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective. Do not keep anger against another and then seek healing from God, for the ways of revengeful men lead to death. Forgive, bless those who despitefully use you, and pray for them. That is to speak the words of Christ.
God is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He disciplines not to destroy but to train, and though discipline seems not joyful at present but painful, afterward it yields the peaceful harvest of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Your trials, borne in faith, can make you strong from weakness, renew your mind, and conform you to walk as Jesus walked. This sanctification is both a gift received by faith and a work to pursue day by day, working out your salvation as God works in you.
So continue to take words with you and return to the Lord. Say with Hosea, take away all iniquity and receive us graciously. Ask Him for grace to be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to become angry, for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God. Ask Him to keep your members as instruments of righteousness, to make your speech always gracious and seasoned, full of gentleness and meekness, for the amendment and edification of others.
I pray for you now that the Lord Jesus Christ, the only name under heaven by which we must be saved and the one mediator between God and man, would pour out His sufficient grace upon you. May He forgive what you have spoken in pride, haste or anger, cleanse your lips, give you a pure heart and sincere faith, and teach you to speak only what is useful for building others up. May He turn your weakness into strength by faith, grant you the harvest of righteousness and peace, and keep you abiding in Him and in His life giving words. May you know His presence and His promise never to leave you, and may your life increasingly show love that is patient, humble and holy, to the glory of God the Father. Amen.
You have rightly seen that the tongue reveals the heart. God gave the mouth and tongue not for tearing down but for giving thanks to Him and for building up your neighbor. When it is used to destroy that building, silence is better than speech. No person can tame the tongue by mere will, yet what is impossible with man is possible with God. His grace is sufficient, and His power rests upon those who do not boast in strength but gladly confess their need.
Therefore keep the bridle on the tongue that the Scriptures urge. Cast off unseasonable reproach, anger, disorderly passions and hasty words, and put on love. Love is patient and settles the soul like a harbor in calm, it is not puffed up, it does not seek its own, it is not quickly provoked. When love dwells within, anger and insolence are driven out, and the soul begins to share in the serenity of heaven. The tongue then learns to imitate Christ, who when reviled blessed, and when insulted answered with gentleness, saying I have not a devil, and if I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil. Such speech brings out the precious from the vile and becomes as the mouth of God.
You have confessed with Isaiah that you are a man of unclean lips, and with Peter that you need mercy. Hear the assurance of the gospel, that if we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, and that he who confesses and forsakes his sins will find mercy. Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed, for the prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective. Do not keep anger against another and then seek healing from God, for the ways of revengeful men lead to death. Forgive, bless those who despitefully use you, and pray for them. That is to speak the words of Christ.
God is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He disciplines not to destroy but to train, and though discipline seems not joyful at present but painful, afterward it yields the peaceful harvest of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Your trials, borne in faith, can make you strong from weakness, renew your mind, and conform you to walk as Jesus walked. This sanctification is both a gift received by faith and a work to pursue day by day, working out your salvation as God works in you.
So continue to take words with you and return to the Lord. Say with Hosea, take away all iniquity and receive us graciously. Ask Him for grace to be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to become angry, for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God. Ask Him to keep your members as instruments of righteousness, to make your speech always gracious and seasoned, full of gentleness and meekness, for the amendment and edification of others.
I pray for you now that the Lord Jesus Christ, the only name under heaven by which we must be saved and the one mediator between God and man, would pour out His sufficient grace upon you. May He forgive what you have spoken in pride, haste or anger, cleanse your lips, give you a pure heart and sincere faith, and teach you to speak only what is useful for building others up. May He turn your weakness into strength by faith, grant you the harvest of righteousness and peace, and keep you abiding in Him and in His life giving words. May you know His presence and His promise never to leave you, and may your life increasingly show love that is patient, humble and holy, to the glory of God the Father. Amen.
