I heard a person make a statement this week in a conversation. The statement, while common, has stuck with me for a couple of days. The statement was ‘I have been complaining about…’
I realize that complaining is a common occurrence and most people complain…a lot. However, I did a little study of this word and I wanted to share my findings with you.
Complaining is defined as; to express dissatisfaction or resentment, to make a formal accusation or bring a formal charge against.
Wow! When we complain it comes out as an expression of resentment. When we complain it is bringing a formal charge against someone…. usually God. For normally we are saying something like ‘I give and give, and it simply doesn’t work for me, tithing has never worked for me.’ We are making a formal charge against God and His word.
Or we may say ‘I declare healing over myself daily and I am still sick and in pain.’ Again, we are bringing a formal charge against the word of God that says, ‘by His stripes I am healed.’
Joyce Meyer taught a message years ago called Complain & Remain. It was based on the facts that the children of Israel remained in the wilderness for forty years simply because they continually complained against God and against Moses and against their surroundings.
I wonder how many of us have remained in a ‘wilderness’ in our life because we refuse to stop complaining against God? Complaining causes you to remain in your circumstances longer. You may not realize how much you complain until you are made aware of it and you try to change it because, unfortunately, complaining comes naturally for most of us. I say we change that, how about you?
I looked up another word as I was studying; praise.
Praise is defined as an expression of gratitude, to applaud. So, we see that both complaints and praise are expressions. It’s up to us to decide in which manner we will express ourselves, either through complaining, or through finding something praiseworthy, and I can assure you, God is worthy of our praise.
Because these were both expressions, I didn’t want to stop there, therefore I looked up one more word meaning; to express.
I found it meant to press or squeeze out of. Oh, my goodness! So, we are pressed and squeezed by what is going on around us and something will be pressed or squeezed out of us, an expression. When our expression is squeezed out of us what will it be? Will it be a complaint or a praise? Will you make a formal complaint against God or will you see from a different perspective and see His worthiness, regardless of circumstances?
I say we praise.
Proverbs 21:23 in the New Living Bible says; If you keep your mouth shut, you will stay out of trouble. The Bible also says we will eat of the fruit of our lips. It says we will have what we say.
Therefore, we need to make sure that what is coming out of our mouth is not negative but positive. If you complain all the time, you will have nothing but negative happen to you, why? Because you are eating the fruit of your lips. On the other hand, if you praise all the time, good things will come your way, why? Because God inhabits your praise and where God is…good things happen, and blessings happen…and healings happen…and prosperity happens.
Today, I would like you to take one day, just one day, today, and listen to your words, see how many times you complain, make a list and look at that list at the days end. It’s time we cause our words to line up with His. It’s time we become a people of praise. Don’t you agree? Today and everyday…MAY HIS PRAISE BE CONTINUALLY IN MY MOUTH.
Prayer for Today: May my lips praise you today God. May I only bear good fruit with these lips, in Jesus name. Amen.
