Whether in the woods while camping, or in your back yard, fires on a crisp, cool night are very relaxing.

But if that fire gets out of hand, you have a problem.

In order to start a fire, you need a spark, which in most cases is a match or lighter. Then it grows into a fire and lights up the night beautifully.

However, a spark can spark a forest fire. We hear news stories where someone didn’t put out their campfire, then a wind came up and started a huge forest fire that cost damage to property, thousands of acres of forest and unfortunately, lives.

In James chapter 3, he spoke of the tongue as being like a spark that can corrupt the whole person.

“And the tongue is a fire … which defiles the entire body and sets on fire the course of our life,…” James 3:6.

Families and churches have been destroyed by a tongue that has gotten out of hand just like a fire. And what is the source of that destruction?

At the end of verse six, James tells us:  is it “set on fire by hell”.

Satan gets very happy when he gets ahold of a believer’s tongue, because if he can ruin a believer’s life, he keeps them from witnessing for the Lord.

He later says that no one can tame the tongue.

We’ve all been hurt by someone whose tongue was “full of deadly poison” or been that person who spread the poison.

So, if man can tame lions and tigers, why can’t I tame my tongue? Our old nature gets in the way and Satan gets control.

As soon as we realize we have failed and poison has come out of our mouth, we need to confess it to the Father and the person to whom it was directed.

If someone has hurt you with their poisonous tongue, forgive them, whether they ask for it or not. Unforgiveness will only hurt you, not them.

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins…”  (1John 1:9).

–by Pam Rehbein