Lamentations 3:22-24 (NIV)

Sam in his comment asks a great question.

“you know whats hard… being around people in college that continually talk about stuff that we are told to avoid listening to.

everywhere you go there’s people talkin about rubbish and stuff…

what do ya do in these situations?”

Mmm good question. There are passages in the bible where Jesus says “He who has ears let him hear”. Jesus knows they physically have ears and can hear - but spiritually they are not understanding or hearing a thing. I think we can reverse this in our lives. We can hear things physically but block them out of our hearts spiritually.

I would like to add that I would use this as a last resort only if I couldn’t turn it off, remove myself, disagree verbally or anything else to avoid hearing it in the first place. This is the best - blocking off what we physically hear is second best.

I have been thinking about words. The first discription of Jesus in the gospel of John was that he was the Word (John 1:1). To God words are not empty, thoughtless or slight - they capture the very essence of a persons heart and soul. They are the way of sharing who and what a person is, all their thoughts, dreams and desires. We think about words in an excercise book at school, words on the screen in Wikapedea or in an essay assignment and we might think boring, dry and monotous words. It is time to capture the magic of words again!!!

God’s words are powerful enough to create the whole of creation by his breath. Gods every word is living and active (Hebrews 4:12), it is the very authority we hang our whole life on, not only does it create but it destroys, God’s words can heal, transform, restore and save.

Imagine that we took these words of active power and spoke them over ourselves in faith every day - I wonder what miracle would take place in our lives. Our lives full of his powerful life changing words would be a powerhouse for all kinds of miracles, courage, faith and creative days. Go on give it a go!!

It important that we guard what goes into our ears. They are either side of our brain and what we let into our head comes at our thoughts from both sides. It is not true that we have no control over what we listen to - we must take control of what we allow in if we are to live lives that are different from the world. If we listen to gossip, rubbish music, bad tv, swearing, constant inuendos and negative statements they will have an affect on our thinking about who we are and what we can do whether we like it or not.

You know the person who you listen to the most? It is you!!!

Do a check on your own mouth. Make sure what is coming out is good and builds you up. Give yourself faith to live a great life for God. I would recommend Roger Aubrey’s book “The Circle of Life” for this topic. It is an easy to read book that is challenging enough to dramatically change your life and the way you speak.

I have some positive confession sheets that are fantastic for speaking good to yourself everyday. If you would like me to e-mail them to you -please just ask!!

Laurie Taylor says that youth clubs are uncool and, therefore I guess, not worth investing in. What do you think about youth clubs - if you comment here I will send the comments to the BBC to show them what everyone thinks.

Click here for the link to read what he has to say

But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold. My feet have closely followed his steps; I have kept to his way without turning aside.”

Job 23:10-11