Forget about your exhilarating private devotional times and your wondrous thoughts about the majesty and glory of God, for by these you may deceive yourself as to the true state of your soul. The actual barometer of spiritual health is how we speak of other people, those who we find our selves at odds with. "With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God" (Jas. 3:9). Consistency in honorable speech is the Spirits fruit within, and apart from grace inconsistency characterizes our speech. Examine your speech toward the Lord and your adversary, are they similar or a contradiction? If you find inconsistency pray that the Lord root it out until the words of your mouth and the meditations of your heart are consistent in offering honorable speech to both God and those made in His image.
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