Biblical Communication 14

Our unkind words grieve the Holy Spirit. Ephesians 4:30. He feels deep emotion. The most significant interpersonal problem is nothing compared to what we do to our God. We grieve Him. We cause Him to weep with our thoughtless words.

Division in our church removes the blessing of God from our church. We want a different attitude because we do not want to grieve the Holy Spirit but rather be Spirit-filled.

I read this somewhere: "Every time I speak carelessly, I hurt at least three people: The person I speak carelessly about, myself, the Holy Spirit. Every time I open my mouth, one of two things will happen: I build someone up, or I tear someone down."

Remember the saying, "Whatever is down in the well will come up in the bucket sooner or later.: So we must get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander. We can't live wounded or feeling mistreated. Bitterness keeps us from thinking clearly. This wounded spirit will lead to a hard heart.

Every word we say impacts our relationships for good or for ill. No more trash talk. No more bitterness. No more wrath. No more anger. No more clamor. No more slander. No more malice. No more making the Spirit weep within us.

This corrupt communication refers to speech that is of little or no value or bad, not good. It means communication that can be harmful or unwholesome. This sort of communication grieves the Holy Spirit of God.

We want to use much more affirming speech. To do that, we will also need to work on our attitude that we would think the right things. We want to learn to avoid judgment words that we have used in the past.

If we ever have the opportunity to correct or criticize, we want to be sure that it is about behavior, not character.

We want to avoid all blame and accusation.

We want to forgive, forget, and never bring up the past again.

We do not want to compare with others or say "you" are just like someone else. We have no right ever to do that.

Threats and threatenings should never come out of my mouth.

We no longer want to use any speech that dishonors God, gossip, lying, boasting, backbiting. We want to use language that will solve problems, provide answers, be useful, practical, and minister sweetness.