James 3:5 “So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire!”

James, the half-brother of our Lord, knew the power of the tongue. Although the connotation in this verse of scripture is negative, it doesn’t change the fact that the power inherent in a single voice (a small fire) is capable of igniting an entire forest ablaze! Nobody knows how or when the Holy Spirit has been at work drying out the ears of those around you, or setting up kindling in peoples lives so that everything around you is just waiting…waiting for that single spark that will sweep over all that the Spirit has prepared! While none of us wants to be the person responsible for setting a forest fire, how many of us wouldn’t jump at the chance to be the one that lit the fuse the Lord had prepared so that his fire might fall upon all those around us! It is not the eloquence or the volume of the voice (the fire) that matters…it is the timing. And we may not know if it is indeed our willingness to open our mouth that might not set the next great revival in motion, that might not inspire the next Billy Graham, or that might save a single soul from a flaming forever.

Pray: Dear Father, help me to guard my tongue from being destructive with it. Help me to realize the power that one voice can have when you, O Lord, have prepared the kindling. I will trust today in your timing, Father. I will speak when you say speak, and be silent when you are silent. Let the fire that begins with me, be the arrival of your most Holy Spirit. In my Savior’s name I pray – Amen.