STOP FLATTERING PEOPLE
MEMORISE: The LORD shall cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaketh proud things: Psalms 12:3
READ: Psalms 12:1-4
1 Help, LORD; for the godly man ceaseth; for the faithful fail from among the children of men.
2 They speak vanity every one with his neighbour: with flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak.
3 The LORD shall cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaketh proud things:
4 Who have said, With our tongue will we prevail; our lips are our own: who is lord over us?
MESSAGE
To flatter someone is to give excessive and insincere praise to the person, especially to further your own interests. Flattery is one of the weapons with which the devil destroy's people. This means that the fellow who flatters is one of the agents of the devil in destroying people. Every time you flatter someone, you are working for the devil's interest to bring down the fellow. Thus if you want to be an agent of the devil, you can go on flattering people. God however, does not tolerate agents of darkness. Psalm 12:3 says:
The LORD shall cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaketh proud things:
If you keep flattering, you are inviting the Lord to cut off your lips. Job32:22 also says that God will take away any one who flatters another.
For I know not to give flattering titles; in so doing my maker would soon take me away.
Job 32:22
When a person does good, tell them without exaggerating. When they do something bad, tell them with wisdom for them to change for the better. When you flatter people, you are making them think that they are perfect. You are fanning the flame of pride that may have been in them before and when it rises, the Lord will then resist them. That would lead to destruction.
People often know when they are being flattered. Though the flattery may work in your favour for a while, the fellow will soon realise that you are only around them for what you can get and they will soon start staying away from you. They know that the other fellow who does not flatter but tells them pathetic truth always is their real friend. In the long run, the flatterer could lose the relationship. If a fellow is always flattering you, he or she is not your real friend. The word of God says in Proverbs 28:23 "He that rebuketh a man afterwards shall find more favour than he that flattereth with the tongue".
If you truly want the favour of a great person, tell them the truth and stop flattering them.
ACTION POINT
Touch your lips and profess; These lips will never flatter anybody in Jesus name.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Acts 14-15
HYMN 16: O GOD OUR HELP IN AGES PAST
God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Our shelter from the stormy blast,
And our eternal home.
2 Under the shadow of Thy throne
Thy saints have dwelt secure;
Sufficient is Thine arm alone,
And our defence is sure.
3 Before the hills in order stood,
Or earth received her frame,
From everlasting Thou art God,
To endless years the same.
4 A thousand ages in Thy sight
Are like an evening gone;
Short as the watch that ends the night
Before the rising sun.
5 Time, like an ever-rolling stream,
Bears all its sons away;
They fly forgotten, as a dream
Dies at the opening day.
6 O God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Be Thou our guard while life shall last,
And our eternal home.
