Place Guard over My Mouth

Ps. 141:3

Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth;
Keep watch over the door of my lips [to keep me from speaking thoughtlessly].AMP

Have you ever had one of those uh-oh did I say that out loud moments? Perhaps you found yourself complaining to God instead of praying to God. (I have found myself doing both of these.)

 When the pressure and stress of life happen we may find ourselves speaking faithless words instead of faith filled words.  When we are frustrated with our husbands, children or co-workers we must be mindful to speak out of love not frustration. James 1:19 puts it this way” Understand this, my beloved brothers and sisters. Let everyone be quick to hear [be a careful, thoughtful listener], slow to speak [a speaker of carefully chosen words and], slow to anger [patient, reflective, forgiving];”{AMP}

In Psalms 141:3 the author understands how easy it is to speak words that can not only be damaging to others, but to ourselves and our faith. So he asks the Lord to place guard over his mouth. A guard is to protect, keep careful watch over, safeguard things that are valuable. Think about how valuable our words are.  Proverbs 18:21 declares that “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it and indulge it will eat its fruit and bear the consequences of their words.” {AMP}  Wow!  The words that come from our mouth are so valuable and powerful that they can produce life or death. Its’ no wonder we need to be mindful of what we say.

Father, today we ask that you place a guard over our mouth. Help us to speak words that are life giving and full of faith.  In Jesus name amen.