Healing, honeycomb words

Today's post comes from Salina at Heart Reflected & Anita at Scattering the Stones

Our hearts were made to love, to experience tenderness, hope and joy, and we react to these emotions by giving them away in trust that they will never return void, in faith that our hearts will never be broken.   

As we go through life, we come to an understanding that this belief, although lovely, is simply not possible. No matter how hard we try to avoid it, we end up learning how cruel the world really is, most of the time before we ever reach our teens.   

We learn that life is not fair, that pain has the potential to overwhelm us so much we feel as though drowning in it would be the best course of action. We’re exposed to the viciousness that comes from bitterness and envy, and we learn that negative words spoken in hate have ways of wounding us with just a single thrust of their sword.  

‘They sharpen their tongues like swords and aim their words like deadly arrows.’

(Psalm 64:3 NIV)

Hurtful words leave behind nothing but devastating scars and enough memories to haunt us for a lifetime. They drag us down into the muck and mire, and cause us to wallow in it over and over again, until eventually we become so tired we give up and accept our fate.   

It doesn't have to be the end of our story though, for we have Someone willing to save us, a hero who wants to come to our rescue.   

'He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and the mire.

He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along.'

(Psalm 40:2 NLT)

He pulls us up out of the pit and extends hope to us. He gives us the ability to see we have a choice. A choice to listen to His voice instead of everyone else's, to understand that although life is painful, it is also filled with beautiful unexpected gifts.   

On our journey, growing in our understanding of God, we come to see Him as our shield. Who wants to mend our broken hearts and bodies. Who gives us purpose. Who takes away fear and turns it into godly fear.Who values our lives so much that He sent His son to die for us.  

‘ “Don’t be afraid” he said, “for you are very precious to God.

Peace! Be encouraged! Be strong!”

As he spoke these words to me, I suddenly felt stronger and said to him,

“Please speak to me, my Lord, for you have strengthened me.’

(Daniel 10:18-20 NLT)

The more time we spend in His Word, the more we can gain a picture of God’s values. As God strengthened Daniel with words of love in his time of anxiety, He will also strengthen us. Gaping wounds of seeping pain are healed in His presence, into scars of beauty and truth.   

When words of pain have been spoken to us, our first emergency call should be to our heavenly Father, replacing words of darkness, with the living Word. When we struggle with words of pain, we need to test them alongside the truth of the Holy One.  

‘The ear tests the words it hears just as the mouth distinguishes between foods.’

(Job 12:11 NLT)

As we focus on our Creator, and re-learn who we really are in the sight of God, He blesses us with His filter; for when we hear damaging words said about us, He enables us to see the person differently from Jesus’ perspective, as He is our lamp in the darkness. (2 Sam 22:29-30 NLT)  

‘We have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view.

At the time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view.

How differently we know him now.

(2 Cor 5:16 NLT)

Throughout our spiritual battle with the enemy, we need to remember that words of death have already had their power removed, by the act of the cross. Instead of carrying words of harm in our heart, God has blessed us with words of light and everlasting love, as He will rescue us from the words that cut us at our deepest point (Job 5:15).   

The battle has already been won! As we throw off the shackles of harmful words and replace them with words of truth spoken by our Saviour, He calls us to speak words of life into other people’s lives.  

Let our words to one another be words of honeycomb, instead of poison.  

‘Gracious words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.’

(Prov 16:24 NIV)

Jesus is our rock and fortress - a place of safety (Ps 18:1-2). As Jesus took His last breath on the cross and proclaimed ‘It is finished!’ (Jn 19:13) the same can be said about the power of ugly words, for we are God’s children; precious and loved in His sight.   

God’s words are not empty (Deut 32:47) like the enemy’s are; they are full of life.  

‘The tongue that brings healing is a tree of life.’

(Prov. 15:4 NIV)

Please join us in prayer as we renounce every negative word spoken against us and leave them at the feet of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our prayer for you is that you will allow Him to start building you back, stone by stone, brick by brick until we all come forth from the ruins a new creation.   

Lord, We come to You, friends and sisters in Christ and kneel at your throne of grace. 

We have arrived here together to give You all the pain we have ever experienced at the hands of another.   

As we lie in Your green pastures, we also lay down at your feet every single burden, fear, and hurt we've ever tried to carry on our own. We lay down all the instances that have ever made us feel inferior, ashamed, humiliated, unwanted, unneeded, unloved, abandoned, forsaken, and used. We leave it here at Your throne of grace and walk away knowing we never have to revisit it again.   

We praise you for your faithfulness and everlasting love. The joy of your Holy presence gives us strength through the storms. Please help us to focus on you as we walk the path laid out before us, never alone, with you by our side.   

Daily we come before you, and thank you for your blessings and for sharing our burdens. We ask for your wisdom and discernment to test what we hear, may the lies and hurtful words we experience, be replaced fully with Your light and truth.   

 In Jesus’ name   

Amen     

Mercy Me - The Hurt and the Healer from their cd The Hurt and the Healer 2012

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Thank you for reading our devotion, we hope it has blessed you today. Both of us have experienced hurtful, and healing honeycomb words, if you need a friend to listen/pray with you, please feel free to contact us through our websites.
Salina & Anita