Thoughts, Words, then come Actions

This morning my Biblestudy was just too good not to post about. Good ole Beth was talking about how the sin progression goes from thoughts, to words, and then to deeds.

The scripture for the day was Psalm 139. I am on Adam's iPad because my computer is dead and the charger is at Adam's work but when I get it back I will post all of Psalm 139 here. It is such a great scripture!!!

"You have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely. You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me too attain. Where can I go from your spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens you are there; if I make my bed in the depths you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn or settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me," even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like e day, for darkness is as light to you. For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast the sum of them! Were I to count them they would outnumber the grains of sand in the sea- when I awake, I am still with you......Search me, God, and now my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting."

Beth said,"God knows that our meditations (the focus of our thoughts, what we think and rethink) will ultimately turn into conversations. that is why He tells us to meditate on His word!"

"If wrong thoughts give way to wrong words, often giving way to wrong actions, we must learn to allow God to halt sin in the place where it begins- the thought life! We are wise to aggressively confess the sins of our thoughts! The sins of our thought lives are so numerous that their familiarity tends to make them less noticeable. Jealous thoughts, sudden lusts, quick criticisms, and harsh judgements may be fueled in our minds without any regard toward them as sin."

"A heightened awareness of wrong thoughts will work greatly to our advantage. Getting in the habit of confessing sin in the thought life is not to remind us of what wretches we are, but to remind us of what victors we are! Confessing wrong thoughts stops sin in the first stages, before it comes out of our mouth and then directs our actions."

"If I allow God to halt sin before it takes one step out of the mind into word or deed, the only person hurt will be me. Once sin progresses from the mind to the mouth and deeds we've involved others, and the repercussions and chastisements escalate."

These are the scriptures that Beth encourages us to become staples in our prayer life:

Regarding Thoughts:
Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting. Psalm 139:23-24

Regarding Words:
May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be easing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. Psalm 19:14

Regarding Deeds:
Lord, who may dwell in your sanctuary? Who may live on your holy hill? He whose walk is blameless and who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from his heart. Psalm 15:1-2