Silas
Beloved of All
Your honest and humble confession is itself evidence of the grace of God at work in you. It is far better to tell the truth about our weakness and failure than to pretend that all is well while we are still struggling. God does not despise a truthful heart that says, I am weak, I have spoken wrongly, I need mercy. He meets that honesty with mercy and grace to help in time of need.
You quoted the word the Lord gave to Paul, My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness. That remains true for you. When we sense that we have no strength left, God delights to increase strength to those who have no might. As long as we think we can manage on our own we lean on ourselves, but when we acknowledge our weakness we learn to wait upon the Lord and rely on Him. That is why Paul could even glory in weaknesses, insults, hardships and difficulties, because when he was weak, then he was strong through Christ resting upon him. Your desire to be done with sin altogether is right, and God will complete that work, but for now His way is to make you strong in the very place you feel weakest, as you trust Him by faith.
Much of your burden concerns the tongue, and Scripture speaks plainly about this. The tongue is a small member but it carries great power. It can be used to destroy or to build up, to cut deeply or to bring healing, comfort and hope. Its highest and best use is to bless God and praise Him, and to speak words that encourage and strengthen others. Yet no person by human willpower alone can tame the tongue. It is a fire, a world of evil that can defile the whole life, unruly and full of poison. What is impossible with man is possible with God. Only as we yield to the Holy Spirit can He bring under control what we cannot control ourselves. This is why Scripture calls us to be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger, and tells us that the one who can control the tongue can control the whole body. Gentleness is not weakness. It often takes far greater strength to be gentle, to be willing to listen, to be willing to change, than to fly off the handle. The anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God, and it never heals what it touches. God help us to use our tongues to heal.
You have done the right thing in not covering your sin but confessing it. He who covers his sin will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes his sin will find mercy. When we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. That cleansing is both a once for all work through Jesus Christ, the one Mediator between God and man and the only name under heaven by which we must be saved, and an ongoing work as we walk with Him, participate with the Spirit, and keep turning from what grieves Him. To say with Isaiah, I am a man of unclean lips, or with Peter, I am a sinful man, is not to stay there, but to open the door for the Lord to touch, forgive and change us.
The trials and discipline you have felt are not pleasant in the moment, they feel like grief rather than joy, but God uses them to train us. Through them He produces patience, proven character and a hope that does not disappoint, because His love is poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit. For those who are trained by it, discipline afterward yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness. That harvest of righteousness, quietness and confidence is His goal for you as you renew your mind and learn His ways.
Continue in the remedy Scripture gives, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. You need others praying for you and they need your prayers. As you abide in Jesus and His words abide in you, ask the Father in Jesus name for what you need, for a tamed tongue, for a slow and gentle spirit, for love that considers others more important than yourself and seeks their good, for strength to walk as Jesus walked.
May the Lord give you assurance that though He has disciplined you He has not given you over to death, and that He who helped you before will help you again. May His strength be perfected in your weakness, and may He keep forming in you a life that speaks gracious and comforting words that reflect His own heart.
You quoted the word the Lord gave to Paul, My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness. That remains true for you. When we sense that we have no strength left, God delights to increase strength to those who have no might. As long as we think we can manage on our own we lean on ourselves, but when we acknowledge our weakness we learn to wait upon the Lord and rely on Him. That is why Paul could even glory in weaknesses, insults, hardships and difficulties, because when he was weak, then he was strong through Christ resting upon him. Your desire to be done with sin altogether is right, and God will complete that work, but for now His way is to make you strong in the very place you feel weakest, as you trust Him by faith.
Much of your burden concerns the tongue, and Scripture speaks plainly about this. The tongue is a small member but it carries great power. It can be used to destroy or to build up, to cut deeply or to bring healing, comfort and hope. Its highest and best use is to bless God and praise Him, and to speak words that encourage and strengthen others. Yet no person by human willpower alone can tame the tongue. It is a fire, a world of evil that can defile the whole life, unruly and full of poison. What is impossible with man is possible with God. Only as we yield to the Holy Spirit can He bring under control what we cannot control ourselves. This is why Scripture calls us to be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger, and tells us that the one who can control the tongue can control the whole body. Gentleness is not weakness. It often takes far greater strength to be gentle, to be willing to listen, to be willing to change, than to fly off the handle. The anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God, and it never heals what it touches. God help us to use our tongues to heal.
You have done the right thing in not covering your sin but confessing it. He who covers his sin will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes his sin will find mercy. When we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. That cleansing is both a once for all work through Jesus Christ, the one Mediator between God and man and the only name under heaven by which we must be saved, and an ongoing work as we walk with Him, participate with the Spirit, and keep turning from what grieves Him. To say with Isaiah, I am a man of unclean lips, or with Peter, I am a sinful man, is not to stay there, but to open the door for the Lord to touch, forgive and change us.
The trials and discipline you have felt are not pleasant in the moment, they feel like grief rather than joy, but God uses them to train us. Through them He produces patience, proven character and a hope that does not disappoint, because His love is poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit. For those who are trained by it, discipline afterward yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness. That harvest of righteousness, quietness and confidence is His goal for you as you renew your mind and learn His ways.
Continue in the remedy Scripture gives, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. You need others praying for you and they need your prayers. As you abide in Jesus and His words abide in you, ask the Father in Jesus name for what you need, for a tamed tongue, for a slow and gentle spirit, for love that considers others more important than yourself and seeks their good, for strength to walk as Jesus walked.
May the Lord give you assurance that though He has disciplined you He has not given you over to death, and that He who helped you before will help you again. May His strength be perfected in your weakness, and may He keep forming in you a life that speaks gracious and comforting words that reflect His own heart.
