I\u2019m a big fan of the talent show, \u201cThe Voice\u201d. The contestants belt out a song while the chairs of the judges are turned away from them. The judges base their decision solely on how good their voice is \u2013 not by how they look or their stage presence. If they are a good singer, the judges will hit the big button on their chairs which turns them around. Sometimes a singer is so good, they get a 4-chair turn. When they get a chair-turn by one or all the judges, the singer gets to select which judge they\u2019d like to have as their coach and be on their team. Their voices are what matters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Whether we have the voice of an angel that would get a 4-chair turn or we\u2019d never make the cut, still, our voices matter. Remember the old EF Hutton TV commercials? \u201cWhen EF Hutton talks, people listen.\u201d EF Hutton was a respected stock brokerage firm. Their voices mattered. And, if we desire that our voices matter, then we\u2019ll be careful what comes out of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We\u2019ve all been there — some fast-acting, split-second, stupid words spew out of our mouths and we know it is too late to take them back. The damage is done. Oh, how we wish our brain had engaged before our mouths did. I remember a sweet, but powerful little Sunday School song, \u201cBe careful little mouth what you say\u2026.\u201d If we would just think before we speak, oh how peace-filled our lives could be. With all the talking I\u2019m capable of, I must stay on high alert to keep myself out of trouble.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Proverbs 21:23 says \u201cWhoever keeps his mouth and his tongue, keeps himself out of trouble.\u201d Psalm 141:3 says \u201cSet a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips!\u201d I really do purposely pray for God to put a gate or a door on my mouth. I pray almost daily: \u201cLet the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, oh Lord.\u201d Psalm 19:13<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019m sure God wants to spare us, and others, from potential hurt and pain before unkind or unnecessary words slip out. If we\u2019re intentional with pleasing Him, I suspect He might have \u201cdamage control\u201d angels at our \u201cmouth gates\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our voices matter. This season of Christmas is filled with opportunities to be a voice of \u201cpeace on earth, goodwill to men and women. To be a voice of comfort and joy. To be a messenger of hope and love and peace. To be a watchman or watchwoman for opportunities to be a peacemaker in moments of disagreement. To be a soother to a troubled soul. To be a VOICE that is used by God to speak optimism and is even the spark-starter for laughter and humor \u2013 the VOICE that brightens the room and fills it with joy. It can all be done because God\u2019s love was made manifest when He sent His Son to show us how to use our voices for His honor and glory. His voice mattered and so does ours. So, be careful, little mouths, what you say!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I\u2019m a big fan of the talent show, \u201cThe Voice\u201d. The contestants belt out a song while the chairs of the judges are turned away from them. The judges base their decision solely on how good their voice is \u2013 not by how they look or their stage presence. If they are a good singer,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13602,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19363,19361,19362,13199],"tags":[19360,1210,19356,19355,1769,251,4842,19358,494,40,12868,15724,19353,695,15913,19359,19354,19357],"class_list":["post-13601","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mouths","category-our-voices-matter","category-the-voice","category-voice","tag-be-care-little-mouth","tag-blog","tag-chair-turn","tag-chairs","tag-christian","tag-christmas","tag-damage-control","tag-ef-hutton","tag-emmanuel","tag-inspiration","tag-isaiah","tag-messenger-of-hope","tag-our-voices-matter","tag-peace-on-earth","tag-prophecy","tag-stupid-words","tag-the-voice","tag-voice-of-an-angel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13601","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13601"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13601\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13605,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13601\/revisions\/13605"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13602"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13601"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}