The Sacrifices of Our Lips

 Words are powerful. God made us in His image. He gave us the ability to speak, like He has the ability to speak. He loves for us to have a conversation with Him, so that we can speak to Him, and He can respond to us. I am afraid that many of us do not realize how important it is for us to go to the Lord and to give Him the sacrifices of our lips. If we would do that often, our lives would be much better than they are now.

That is what Hosea encouraged the children of Israel to do in His day. (Hosea 14:2) He told them to take words with them and return to the Lord. They were to say to Him, "Take away all  iniquity; receive us graciously, for we will offer the sacrifices of our lips." That is exactly what we need to do today. God will hear those sacrifices and respond with cleansing and revival.

Confession of sins is a sacrifice of our lips. It is when we go to the Lord and we lay out all of our iniquities before Him and show Him we realize the seriousness of our sins. He will hear us and receive us graciously. He will cleanse us, and He will receive us graciously. Let's be quick to offer the sacrifice of confession with our lips. Let's do this every day, so we stay right with our Lord.

Then, there is the sacrifices of praise and love we can pour out to the Lord from our lips. We do this in worship. It can be in our private worship, as we spend time with the Lord, or it can be in corporate worship with other believers. Either way, God responds to those sacrifices of our lips. He deservers all of our praise and love, and inhabits the praises of His people. He loves to be close to us, when we are praising and loving Him with our hearts and our words.

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Tomorrow, I intend to read Joel 2-3 and Amos 1.