" A good person’s mouth is a clear fountain of wisdom; a foul mouth is a stagnant swamp."
(Proverbs 10:31 MSG)

What is a Swamp? A swamp according to Dictionary.com is "a tract of wet, spongy land, often having a growth of certain types of trees and other vegetation, but unfit for cultivation."  It is also a place where it's water never really drain well and because of this reason, the water becomes mucky and smelly. The scripture above characterizes a person with a foul mouth, "a stagnant swamp". Who is a person with a foul mouth, it is someone that curse all the time, speaks and confesses only negative words. The scripture characterizing a person with a foul mouth a swamp is accurate. Why? The person that constantly speaks negative words cannot move forward much in life, because they are constantly seeing the worst and confessing only negative and defeating words, which will eventually manifest itself as delay and setbacks in the long run.



However, a good person's mouth is a clear fountain of wisdom. How you speak concerning your life, your children, your marriage, your home and situations matters a lot. Do you speak life or death? We all are guilty of speaking negatively occasionally, but when it becomes constant, one needs to check oneself, make amends and begin to speak positively. Choose to speak and see the good in every situation no matter how ugly it may seem.

Ask yourself, are you a clear fountain of wisdom or are you a stagnant swamp? A fountain flows, it is fresh and it never ceases, neither is it stagnant. Today, make up your mind and be determined to begin to speak life to your life and situation, let your words be one that flows with encouragement and positivity towards yourself, your situations and to others. Verse 32 of Proverbs says, "the speech of a good person clears the air; the words of the wicked pollute it." Which would you choose? Are you going to be a person that walks in and commands the room with positivity and make everyone around you comfortable and motivated or are you going to be one that pollutes it.

When you cultivate this habit of being positive, everything around you that is negative will no longer affect you. Be determined and I am sure all will go well with you.

PRAYER
Lord make my mouth a fountain of wisdom, and if there is any area of my life and communications that are swampy, I ask that the holy spirit that teaches all things would teach me how to speak and how to hold my tongue to speak less and listen more, in Jesus Name, Amen.

JOURNAL
In your journal today, write down those areas where you feel you have been negative and what you would do to correct them.


Reference:
Dictionary.com
Biblegateway.com

"People are wise and understanding when they think about the way they live. But people are foolish when their foolish ways trick them.:"  Proverbs 14:8 (NIRV)

As I read this scripture, I recall a story of a couple who were constantly arguing because of lack of trust. The wife believes that the husband is unfaithful and is constantly lying. After so many conflicts they went for counseling and the husband was asked, why he feels he has to lie to his wife, he said, any time he lies, he is trying to protect the wife from getting hurt.

This is craziness! How can a couple argue about trust issues and one of them still feels that they have to lie to protect the other. Protection is good, but the lying I am not so sure. The scriptures tells us in Proverbs 14:8, that, the wise will give thought to his ways. If the husband in question above, checks the way he is living, and seek to gain his wife's trust, I am so sure that things would have gotten better.

Let's look at the case of Joseph and Potiphar’s wife in  (Genesis 39:7-20). Potiphar's wife asked Joseph to defile his master's bed several times but Joseph being a man that feared God and understood the meaning of trust, rejected her over and over again. Potiphar had placed his whole life in his hands by trusting him with everything that he had except for his wife.  His response to this woman was, "..So how could I do an evil thing like that? How could I sin against God?” Because Joseph was wise, he resisted all the advances of his master's wife. I repeat because Joseph was WISE he resisted all the advances and fled from the woman's presence. What if Joseph had defiled his masters bed and then when his master returns he lies about it over and over again. Proverbs 14:8 (NIRV) further says that the foolishness of fools (NIV version) is deception. Joseph did his best not to fall into the deception of this woman. However she lied and it ended Joseph in Jail. Folks Lying about a situation calls for even more lying because you would want to cover up the last lie that you told and the process continues on. Such behavior would eventually hurt those we love and most of all oneself in the long run. Heed the word of the Lord and  give thought to your ways, speak the truth in love and not deceive in an attempt to please anyone.

PRAYER
Lord, today help me to speak the truth in love always. Help me not to fall into the deception and plots of lying to be recognized or to please people. Help me to always heed my ways and obey your word, in Jesus name.

JOURNAL
Look into your life and see if there is any area where you have been deceptive to yourself and to others, ask for forgiveness and take necessary steps to correct the wrong.

"7 Go from the presence of a foolish and self-confident man, for you will not find knowledge on his lips." Proverbs 14:7 (AMP)

Some over-confident people have no form of humility whatsoever. In order not to fall into this trap of the enemy, you have to learn to put your confidence in the Lord. Humble yourself in the Lord no matter what your title or position in life may be. HUMBLE YOURSELF!  The scripture above says that if you are around someone who is over confident, you would find out that they only believe only what they want to believe and you would not find any wise words coming from their lips but foolishness. What can you do in such cases but to respect their views, however separate yourself from such people lest you be polluted by their foolishness. There is an adage that says, "show we your friend and I will tell you who you are."

"Overconfidence refers to a biased way of looking at a situation. When you are overconfident, you misjudge your value, opinion, beliefs or abilities and you have more confidence than you should given the objective parameters of the situation. "  (Reference :http://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples/examples-of-overconfidence.html)

You do not want to be classified as foolish because you are confident. Having confidence is a good thing, at least that is what some of us are taught, however, having confidence with humility is even more powerful. Trusting in the Lord and not in oneself is great gain.

PRAYER
Lord I pray that you will help me to be more humble in all my dealings and help me not to trust in my own abilities and understanding, but to trust only in you. Today I put my confidence in you that you may glorify yourself in my life. in Jesus Name.

JOURNAL
Think about areas of your life where you may find yourself lacking humility, make necessary adjustments and begin to humble yourself. Learn to talk lesser than normal and cultivate the habit of listening.     

References:
yourdictionary.com  - http://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples/examples-of-overconfidence.html
Scripture reference - Biblegateway.com