"With God all things are possible." Matt. 19:26

                       Well, here we are already at the 1^st day of March, 2009. Two months have gone by pretty quick, haven't they? Sort of like old Job's "weaver's shuttle." Before we get into our lesson proper allow me to tell you a little tidbit I found interesting about the month we just passed through - February.

Did you know that February originally had 29 days normally and 30 in leap years? Well, it did, by gum. The reason it is no longer that way is because the Roman emperor, Augustus, took a day away from it and added it to the month of August. Named after himself, of course. Now you know the rest of that story.

Okay, now that we've dispensed with the trivial knowledge portion of the editorial, let's get right on into the lesson for today. In a few moments you'll realize (hopefully) how our preamble verse fits into our subject matter. I want to talk a little about encouraging each other as we go through our lives. Both in our physical and spiritual lives, but especially in our spiritual lives.

I do a lot of studying in the book of Proverbs, mainly because we're studying that book in our Sunday morning adult class, but also because I really like the principles of God's wisdom given us there. In chapter 18, verse 21 we're told something that we all recognize as being so true in life. Notice what it says there: "Death and life are in the power of the tongue..."

Does reading those few words help us to understand why James (chapter 3) speaks so much about the mighty little tongue and why we should strive to "bridle" it. That simply means to try our best to control it. It can both "bless" and "curse" and, if not controlled, can cause terrible problems ("fires"). In tying in James' words to our thoughts today, our tongues, IE: what we say and how we say it, can either cause someone to be a child of God, or can send them to Satan. In other words, spiritually can cause "life or death."

I deliberately left off the last portion of the verse in Proverbs when I cited it earlier for the purpose of making this point: the last part of that verse tells us that there are "consequences" (NLT) or results attached to the words of our tongue. Those results can either be good or bad to the speaker depending upon whether they caused "death" or whether they brought "life."

Now, let's see if we can apply our scriptures to a practical lesson. Christians are encouraged to "consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works." (Heb. 10:24) To think about ways we can encourage each other as opposed to saying discouraging words.

Let me give you a couple of illustrations that I feel will help amplify our lesson. The first one comes from the Bible and is found in Numbers 13 and 14 and we read there where Moses sent out the 12 spies into the land of Canaan and it gives their report upon their return. It says that 10 of the spies gave an "evil report" and, keeping in mind what we read in Proverbs 18:21, their words caused great discouragement to Israel. So much so that it caused them to wander for 40 years in the wilderness until everyone (with the exception of Joshua & Caleb) who had left Egypt perished. Summary: the words, the "evil report" of the 10 spies, brought about the death of untold thousands of people who could have been saved.

My second illustration is from a little story about a bunch of tiny frogs. It's cute and it also teaches a great lesson. Once upon a time there was a bunch of tiny frogs who arranged a competition. The goal was to reach the top of a very high tower. A big crowd gathered about the tower to see the race and cheer on the contestants. The race began......

Honestly, no one in the crowd really believed that the tiny frogs would reach the top of the tower. You heard statements such as: "Oh, it's WAY too difficult! They'll NEVER make it to the top." Others were saying: "Not a chance that they will succeed. The tower is too high."

The tiny frogs began collapsing, one by one... except for those, who in a fresh tempo, were climbing higher and higher. The crowd continued to yell, "It's too difficult. No one will make it." More tiny frogs got tired and gave up... But one continued higher and higher and higher. This one tiny frog wouldn't give up! At the end everyone else had given up climbing the tower. Except for the one tiny frog who, after a big effort, was the only one who reached the top.

Then all of the other tiny frogs naturally wanted to know how this one frog managed to do it? A contestant asked the tiny frog how he had found the strength to succeed and reach the goal? It turned out..... that the winner was DEAF!!!

What do I see in the wisdom of this little "frog" story? A cute little picture of how our words can discourage others in the same way that the words of the 10 spies discouraged Israel from continuing on towards the goal of Canaan. Two of the spies didn't listen to the discouraging comments made by their 10 compatriots and guess who made it to the "top?" To the "Promised Land?"

Let's not be like the 10 spies who said Canaan (salvation) is too difficult, the inhabitants (Satan & the world) is too strong for us. Or, let's not be like the crowd around the tower crying "it's too high, it can't be done." Rather, let's encourage each other to keep going, even when the way is rough and tough. The goal, the "Promised Land" is there and "With God all things are Possible."

Ron Covey