TAMING THE TONGUE

Florence Kasoma
The KEY RING is a monthly publication by the Kampala Baptist Church Media
Team that seeks to provide an avenue where men and women can share
knowledge and understanding of the word of God, experiences and encourage
one another as the older perform the act of paralambano to the younger.
Our prayer is that the Lord will speak to you through this publication.

1. In a few words, briefly tell us who Florence Kasoma

is.
Florence Kasoma is a normal person, married to Mr.
Kasoma Stephen with two children. So she is a mother
and a wife. And right now the main focus in my life is
strengthening relationships and raising children who
will glorify God. I am a born again
2. At the start of every year, people tend to speak
into other peoples lives. Is that something you would
do or let someone do in your life? Why?
I think I would do both. Every year I speak into my life
and I would also appreciate if someone, especially one
who probably inspires me, spoke into my life. So it is
okay with me but may be the question is who should
and should not speak into my life.
Speaking into someones life is important to me
because it is like proclaiming. And what one proclaims
is what comes out. If you proclaim blessings, you will
receive blessings. If you proclaim curses, you will
receive curses because God gave us the power to bind and loose anything. So I believe that
speaking into someones life will always bear fruit. It is like sowing and you see the fruit
coming out after sometime.

Florence Kasoma

Issue 34-FEBRUARY 2015

on what people thought that I started opening up to people. Otherwise I would never say
anything before people because I had been told I talk a lot. Even when I had a question in
class, I would fear to ask the teacher. Even when I had an issue with someone, I did not
have the confidence to speak out. So some words can really shutter someones growth in a
way.
When I got saved, I joined the fellowship of Christians and as time went on the Spirit was
convicting me of how I spoke to different people. There are times I said some words and
when I got home, those words kept coming back to me and I would feel ashamed I had said
those words. I would ask myself, did that comment, that statement, bless that person?
I remember one time going home and asking the Lord in prayer to wipe clean the memory
of a certain moment from the mind of a certain lady to whom I felt I had said words I should
not have said. I did not want that lady to remember what I had said. I also asked the Lord to
wipe that guilt off my heart.
1 Peter 4:11a says If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of
God. So I always ask myself, of all the words I spoke today, did I in any way bring out the
word of God?
Everywhere I go I have seen people broken by other peoples comments and statements even passing statements can break someone - and I do not want to contribute to that
because the Bible is very clear about it. The Bible asks Can both fresh water and salt water
flow from the same spring? (James 3:10-11).
If your tongue blesses, it should not be the same that curses. I am an imitator of God and
God speaks blessings. I therefore cannot mix blessing people with cursing them.
For non-believers, maybe I wouldnt blame them much for saying all that they say because
they do not know the truth. But for people who say they know Christ, why would you say
something you know very well is not going to build those listening to you? The Bible tells us
to speak words that build each other up. It also warns us against coarse joking, foolish talk
and unwholesome talk coming out of our mouths. So a Christian should ask themselves:
Does what I say bring someone closer to God? Will it show the light I am supposed to bring
to the world?
And for me, at the end of the day its not even about how people see me when I say what I
say but how God sees me.

3. You seem to pay great attention to the way people use their words. Why would you be
bothered?
For starters, I grew up in a family where we used lots of words. We used big words, small
words, we used lots of words. I have personally become sensitive to words first because of
how I was raised and secondly because of Gods conviction upon my life. Sometimes when I
sit back and think about why I do certain things, I can trace it back to words said to me in my
childhood many years ago. The words that my family members spoke gradually impacted my
life; positively and negatively.
While growing up, we used to joke *coarsely+ a lot. For example it was common to hear
someone tell another You are useless. or Will you ever be someone useful? For the girls
we would say Who can bother marrying you? As a little girl, I remember being very
inquisitive and curious. Just like my children, I used to ask questions all the time. Soon my 4. For Christians who care less about the way they use their tongue, is there a remedy?
I think there is a remedy for everything, especially for Christians; unless one has chosen not
to be helped. I believe that at different levels of our salvation walk, God convicts us of
different areas we need to grow in.
For example at some point in life, it could have been easy for you to slander someone but
then you started feeling that conviction that it is not right. For every individual who truly
received Christ and is willing to be transformed, there is a remedy.
At some point in my life I thought about marriage only in terms of excitement. I wanted a
man who can hold me the right way, say the right words, take me out but I grew in that
area.
For the tongue and as a Christian, I think the beginning point is realising that you have a
problem in that area which is only possible through the conviction of the Holy Spirit.
Because I can tell you that you are careless with your tongue and you will tell me Florence,
you are too serious.
And someone else will ask Should we not have fun because we are Christians? because to
them being careless with their tongue is fun. But to me who has continuously been
convicted about it by the Holy Spirit I know that being careless with your tongue only
grieves the Holy Spirit.
If you allow God to slowly bring you to His throne through reading His word and having a
willing heart, He can meet you there.
I have met people who were once mindless about it and today I hear them speak and I am
family members started to say Oh boy, that girl talks a lot! and so they started discouraging amazed at the way they are careful about what they say. It is clear that God has done His
me every time I would ask a question. To them, asking questions was talking a lot
work in the lives of these people.
Before long, those negative comments started impacting my life. I was a very open person but It is not easy but I know we can get there because He who started that good work in us is
started closing in. It is only later in life when I realised that my worth in life wasnt dependant faithful to bring it to accomplishment.

If anyone speaks, he should do

it as one speaking
the very words of God

Florence, Stephen and their children

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