A Verse to Help You Quit Cussing :)

Hey!

How 'bout that for a blog title?!

I'm serious as a judge, though!

I remember my spiritual "momma" once telling me that when she gave her life to Jesus Christ, He immediately took away any desire on her part to cuss. I thought that was the coolest thing in the WORLD, and wondered why I hadn't been given the same deliverance from my toilet tongue.

I've since known people who have had similar things happen to them at the moment of salvation...drugs, alcohol, promiscuity, etc....gone!

The Lord was so gracious to me when He saved me. There was so much filth in my life, that He had a lot to clean up!

However, I struggled for a long time with my language. You see, I had been taught all of my life that it wasn't a sin to "cuss". That's what we Texans call it, "cussing".

"Cursing" sounds way too proper to a Texan. :)

Actually, there were times when it wasn't even a struggle.

It was just a full-out fold. You know what I'm refering to when I say a "fold"? It's like in poker, when you just admit you're not going to win the hand, you "fold".

(How did I get cussing and poker into a post on a blog about Precept studies?!)

As much as it grieves me to say it, I would often fold rather than submit to God in this area of my life. It was like the one last hold-out in my life.

Sad, but true.

When I boil it all down, it was disobedience.

I realized a while back that I had even begun to think in curse words.

Here I was, a woman who loved the Lord and loved His Word, but because I hadn't been willing to walk in obedience in this area, now even my thought-life was being infiltrated with ugliness and sin!

A few weeks ago I was studying through 1 Thessalonians, and the Lord showed me the very verse that He wants me to quote, to memorize, and to live by in order to see permanent victory in this area of my life.

1 Thessalonians 4:7
"For God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification."

Amen! and Amen! and Amen!

This verse really punches a pack for me....there is so much truth in those 14 words!

God called me.
He called me for a purpose, but it's not one of impurity.
He does not call people for the purpose of impurity.
He called me in sanctification. (to separate from profane things and dedicate to God)
If He called me in sanctification (and He did), then there is to be no room in my life for impurity, and I'm sure not supposed to MAKE room for it!

How interesting, isn't it? Even the definition of sanctification tells me that I (have been called) to be separate from the profane, the root word for profanity!

Hmmm...

No accident in this conviction, is there?!

I've been praying this verse, and saying this verse a lot lately.

I want EVERYTHING about me to give glory to God, and I do not want to make allowance for sin in my life.

If you want to stop cussing, start quoting this verse every time you're tempted to say something ugly.

And, when you do say something ugly, immediately ask forgiveness for it. I asked a nurse at the hospital last week to forgive me for saying "Cr_p".

He said, "Cr_p?! I say much worse than that!"

But you know what, having to ask a total stranger to forgive me for that was humbling enough to make me not want to do it again anytime soon. :)

Love this verse! Love it!