Proverbs 4:23 says, “Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.” Have you ever said something that you wish you hadn’t? It might have felt automatic, as it just sprung out. Yet all words are first thoughts.

Hasty means impetuous, presumptuous, and exposes a lack of the character of patience.

Proverbs 29:30 says, “Do you see a man hasty in his words? There is more hope for a fool than for him.”

Proverbs 18:13 says, “He who answers a matter before he hears it, it is folly and shame to him.” Jumping to conclusions, hasty with words, and presumptuous all fall into this category. 

We never know what another is thinking unless they tell us. We might interpret what we think they are thinking by their countenance. 

Here is a great example. Nehemiah was the king’s cupbearer. Nehemiah 2:2 says, “Therefore the king said to me, Why is your face sad, since you are not sick? This is nothing but sorrow of heart…” He was prudent to ask the reason. Good lesson for us.

1828 Noah Webster Dictionary’s meaning for perception. The act of perceiving or of receiving impressions by the senses; or that act or process of the mind which makes known an external object. In other words, the notice which the mind takes of external objects.

The day I ran the stop sign, my mind did not notice the external object. I was totally caught up in my dialogue of what I was going to do when I arrived at my destination. It was a daily well traveled road, yet my fear blocked my perception.

Dialoguing with fear is sin. The Bible’s commands “Fear not” are stop sign words. The second a thought of fear comes, we need to stop and not give it another thought. Dialoguing with fear means that we are looking to ourselves for a solution.

Isaiah 41:10 says, “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.” 

Psalm 56:3 says “Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You.”

In 2 Timothy 1:7, the Greek word for sound mind means: good judgment, disciplined thought patterns, and the ability to understand and make right decisions. The day that I ran the stop sign? I did not have a sound mind because I had been dialoguing with a spirit of fear. It blocked my discernment.

What does 2 Corinthians 10:5 say? We are to take every thought captive. It is essential to understand that fiery dart thoughts have to be captured and disarmed through verbal declarations of truth found in God’s word.

Hebrews 5:14 says, “…who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.” We exercise through practice. 1 John 1:6 says that when we engage with darkness, we are not practicing truth.

A fiery dart comes as a thought that causes fear. We capture it immediately, neutralizing it as we refute it through truth. Isaiah 54:17 says, “No weapon formed against you shall prosper…” Faith is our shield. As we declare faith, the fiery dart is instantly extinguished! If we dialogue it penetrates and seeds.

A group of us ladies had gone out to eat. It was raining when we were ready to leave. I said that I would get my car and meet them out front. I jumped into my car and shut the door. Someone rose up from the backseat and spoke to me. I froze in fear. Even though it was someone I knew, it really impacted me.

Every time after that I would look in the backset before I got in. One day I drove away from my home, and had this thought that I forgot to check before I got into my car. I dialogued with the thought until fear so gripped me that I failed to stop at a stop sign and hit a car. I was cited for inattentiveness.

When we are walking in the Spirit, 1 Corinthians 12:10 says that the Holy Spirit will give us a gift of discerning spirits. 2 Timothy 1:7 says, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” Don’t let fear get a grip.

Psalm 22:3 says, “But You are holy, enthroned in the praises of Israel.” Praise enthrones or rightfully seats the Lord on His throne in our heart ~ which is our belief center. How do you practice praise in your life? 

God’s power of strategic warfare through rejoicing and praise is stated in Psalm 68:1-2. It says, “Let God arise, let His enemies be scattered; let those also who hate Him flee before Him. As smoke is driven away, so drive them away; as wax melts before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God.”

Verses 3-4 says, “But let the righteous be glad; let them rejoice before God; yes, let them rejoice exceedingly. Sing to God, sing praises to His name; extol Him who rides on the clouds, by His name YAH, and rejoice before Him.”

The enemy of our soul hates praise. He will work diligently to stop us. Rehearse before the Lord what He means to you. Sovereign. Think about all the amazing, countless ways that He is Sovereign through every aspect of your life ~ He is always Present.

I was reminded again about the Altar of Incense when I read the book of Exodus. Exodus 30:1-10 was their instruction. Verse 7-8 says, “Aaron shall burn on it sweet incense every morning; when he tends the lamps, he shall burn incense on it. And when Aaron lights the lamps at twilight, he shall burn incense on it, a perpetual incense before the Lord throughout your generations.”

What a great picture of persevering prayer. Note that it was sweet incense. Verse 37 says, “But as for the incense which you shall make, you shall not make any for yourselves, according to its composition. It shall be to you holy for the Lord.”

Psalm 141:2 says, “Let my prayer be set before You as incense, the lifting up of my hands as an evening sacrifice.” Hebrews 13:15 says, “Therefore by Him let us continually office the sacrifice of praise to God, that is the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.” Note the prayer is not for ourselves. It is full of thanksgiving for Who He is at all times.

I love the account of when Joshua set the 30,000 men behind the city of Ai to lie in ambush.  He set another 5,000 in ambush between Bethel and Ai. These men were to wait for a signal from Joshua. Until then they were to remain hidden and alert. 

The ambush was silently enacted. Joshua 8:20 says, “And when the men of Ai looked behind them, they saw, and behold, the smoke of the city ascended to heaven. So they had no power to flee this way or that way…”

I liken this strategic warfare as secret prayer. Revelation 8:4 says, “And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the angel’s hand.” There is more. Note the power.

Verse 5 says, “Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it to the earth. And there were noises, thunderings, lightnings, and an earthquake.” That is future. However, think of it as collective prayer from the body of Christ now. It is a call to ministry on our heart-knees.

I love Malachi 3:16. It says, “Then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another, and the Lord listened and heard them; so a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the Lord and who meditate on His name.”

Let us live in the acute awareness that the Lord listens to every conversation we are engaged in. In Luke 24:14-15 there were two men walking on the road to Emmaus. It says, “And they talked together of all these things which had happened. So it was, while they conversed and reasoned, that Jesus Himself drew near and went with them.”

God’s word gives us speech thermometers to observe to do. Colossians 4:6 says, “Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.”

Ephesians 4:29 says, “Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.” Psalm 15:2 says, “He who…speaks the truth in his heart.” Life-giving words nourish.

Our words come from our thoughts in our hearts. Matthew 15 was a parable. In verse 15 Peter asked that Jesus explain it to them. Verse 18-19 says, “But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts…”

Matthew 12:34 says, “…For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” Verse 36 says, “But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment.” 

Paul gave his son in the faith a commandment. Remember the letters he wrote to Timothy were the last as he waited to be executed. 1 Timothy 1:5-6 says, “Now the purpose of this commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith, from which some, having strayed, have turned aside to idle talk.”

The Greek word for idle means: futile, worthless, empty, meaningless babble, and idle prattle.  It’s people who love to hear themselves talk but have nothing of substance to say.

Hebrews 4:13 in the Amplified says, “And not a creature exists that is concealed from His sight, but all things are open and exposed, naked and defenseless to the eyes of Him with Whom we have to do.”

Does your mind ever wander? Do you mentally dialogue with things you have no control over? 1 Chronicles 28:9 Amplified says, “…For the Lord searches all hearts and minds and understands all the wanderings of the thoughts…”

Joshua 1:8 instructs us to read His word, and meditate on it, “…that you may observe to do it…” 1 John 2:5-6 says, “But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk as He walked.”

1 John 1:6 says, “If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.” Psalm 15:2 says, “He who walks uprightly, and works righteousness, and speaks the truth in his heart.”