This week, I definitely fell into my old ways of being quick-witted, sarcastic, and talking slick to… wait for it…

my family

Now I could say that it wasn’t completely my fault or any other excuse for my actions, but I knew I’d have to answer the Most High. I previously read, “Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!” (James 2:5 KJV).

However, I had forgotten all of it last week. In a trial of taming my tongue, I had completely failed. It seemed like everyday I was going back and forth with my parents over the smallest things. Very meaningless things.

However, God always knows how to get our attention (especially mine) and cause us to change our ways. So how did God call me out on my mess? In my sleep through a dream.

It mirrored one of our previous arguments about pet peeves. I was relentless the entire time; I couldn’t find it within myself to stop talking. As the conversation peaked, my mother said to me, “I cannot protect you anymore. You brought this to yourself.” In an instant, my family fell apart. I had never felt so distant from my family at that moment.

I would like to say I woke up at that moment, but I didn’t. My mind was awake, but my body wasn’t. Clearly, God had much more to say to me before I fully was awake.

Even now, I find it uncanny the parallels of life to spirit. When we step out from under the protection that God gives us, we can be susceptible to anything including our lives falling apart, but thank God for repentance.

As I laid there, He spoke to me about myself and what I needed to do to right my wrongs. As He finished speaking, it felt like someone was rubbing their hands across my eyes to clear dirt away.

I can’t help but think that was God’s way of revealing to me my own actions. From that moment forward, I had to dig deep inside of myself and thoroughly process what to do next.

Going back to James 3, verse 8 says, “But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.” Here dear folks is where I made my first mistake.

Only with the help of God can we truly fully control our mouth!

No wonder I couldn’t find it in myself to be quiet in my dream, I had left God out of it and forgot one fruit of the spirit: self-control. “Whoever has no rule over his own spirit is like a city broken down, without walls” (Proverbs 25:28).

Next, I realized that I went against one commandment I heard my entire life: “Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee” (Exodus 20:12). As much as our society pushes independence and speaking your own mind, the gospel still holds precedence over my life. Sass ain’t holy and I still have to respect my parent. If my mortality being on the line wasn’t enough to convict me, I read John 14:15 this same week:

“If ye love me, keep my commandments.”

I know I love God, so I had to follow through. Yet there was still one more piece missing: Forgiveness.

Colossians 3:13 says, “bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you must also do.” Not only did I have to apologize to my family but pray that they forgave me.

How easy it could be if we put God first in our conversations! However, I’m not perfect, you’re not perfect, but God always shows us how to go about life in the right way.

As each day brings new mercies, remind yourself to have God at the forefront of your conversations. To think before you speak, to let the Holy Spirit move through you and use you. I have on my bathroom mirror Ephesians 4:29: “Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.” Every morning I read this to remind me of the life I’m supposed to be living.

I hope this PKE helps you to find your scripture to tame your tongue and speak life to not only yourself, but to others.

“Kind words are like honey—sweet to the soul and healthy for the body.”

Proverbs 16:24

When I think about Sunday service now, there are many words I associate it with: virtual, Facebook, drive thru, zoom meetings, etc. Definitely not the same way I would describe Sunday service about 2 months ago, but this is our reality.

However, that’s not what I’m getting at here.

As my family held service in our home, I recall hearing the dream my dad (who’s a pastor) had. He had a dream of entering a hotel he had no access to at first, then seeing Christians partying and drinking in disguise from the rest of the world. Now I really pondered this thing.

Why would our fellow brothers and sisters go down a path knowing that the end only breeds destruction?

Then I thought about the dream I had:

It started out as with my cousins and I being on a road next to a church that I knew. I saw many of my family members headed down this long wide road. We asked what was going, but they said they would see what was going on. Instead of entering the church, we walked down the road and eventually we came to an impasse where the road met water.

We stood back to watch how others were navigating this route to go down. They would stick one foot into the muddy, rushing water. A huge step into the muddy water would cause them to fully submerge, then pop back up to rush down where the others were. They coaxed me to do the same, but I claimed, “I don’t want to get my feet to get dirty.” The road had now become flooded with muddy water. I turned away and began to head back to the church.

I felt anxious about the water coming up to my leg until I looked up for strength to run. I ran past other family members headed the same way until I bumped into a familiar man. He was not kin to me, but I embraced him from the side like I would my dad. Then I cried. The man said nothing to me as I sobbed, he only embraced me, to comfort me.

As I finally entered the church, I came in to see one of my aunts smiling and fanning, like she was dancing. I asked her had my cousins I came with made it; she answered and told me to find a seat. Going through the crowd, I noticed the other half of the church (where my aunt wasn’t) was weeping. They were mourning for people, but I didn’t know who. In contrast, my aunt and eventually my cousins were sitting with high energy waiting for a concert to come forth.

Dream only last two seconds, but this felt like an hour. I was so confused about what it all meant, so I looked up what certain images mean using Understanding the Dreams You Dream by Ira and Judy Milligan. After I searched, I still needed more explanation for what it meant. Then God spoke.

His explanation: Think of your family as the church. Some of you will go down the wide road of evil/destruction because of the unwillingness to change. Even now, after falling deep and popping back up in faith, they will still choose the same destructive path. Others of you will turn back and follow me. That’s why the church split emotionally. You will mourn for those who have fell to the ways of the wicked, but you will rejoice in worship of the coming of Jesus.

Although I had this dream March 29th, it made little sense to me until I came across Romans 11, specifically verse 7-8:

⁷ What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded.

⁸ (According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day.

I know Paul was talking about the Jewish nation here, but I couldn’t help but wonder how true this is for us now. This crisis right now feels like a wake up call, but I am concerned for those who have not yet answered. Like my dad’s dream, I pray that none of us are trying to hide behind the facade of a pandemic to live in sin.

But we serve a gracious God who has forgiven us of our sins if we only choose salvation and to serve him. In Romans 11:23 :

²³ And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be grafted in: for God is able to graft them in again.

So I urge you, anyone who is reading, to not fall into the spiral of sin, but to follow Christ this day. While you yet have breath in your lungs, thank God for saving power and His grace on your life. Turn your life fully over to him and choose the path of righteousness.

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Be Blessed!

–Chan