Malachi 3:16-17 (NLT) Then those who feared the Lord spoke with each other, and the Lord listened to what they said. In his presence, a scroll of remembrance was written to record the names of those who feared him and always thought about the honor of his name. “They will be my people,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. “On the day when I act in judgment, they will be my own special treasure. I will spare them as a father spares an obedient child.

Sometimes I wonder if God's people really believe that the Lord is always with them. What I mean is that with the way that some Christians talk with each other sometimes, it would seem that they didn't believe that God could hear them. As we learn from scripture, nothing is further from the truth. In the passage of scripture above, a group of God-fearing people were just talking to one another, and we read that God was listening in on what they were saying. It turns out that these people were saying good things about the Lord and that He was pleased with what He heard. He called them, His "own special treasure," and spoke about how He would watch over them. I imagine that things would've been a lot different had they been murmuring and complaining about God instead of saying the positive things that they said.

Have you ever spoken negatively to others about someone who was not present? What if you found out that after you spoke those bad things about them, they were there and they overheard you? You would be so ashamed and embarrassed and would try to come up with some explanation to fix things with that person. A heart-felt apology would also be in order. So if that's how we react when caught talking negatively about someone, how much more should we be aware that God is always present and hears and listens in to everything that we say? God hears every word, every complaint, and every negative thing that comes out of our mouths about Him and about others. It's a wonder how merciful God is given that we are so careless about how we speak in front of Him.

If you were conscious at all times that the Lord hears everything that comes out of your mouth, how careful would you be about how you speak and what you speak about? If that were the case, your life would radically change. If you lived conscious of the fact that the Lord not only sees everything that you do and hears everything that you say, but also the things that you say to yourself in your mind that never make it out of your mouth, you would become a brand-new person. The Bible tells us that out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks (Matthew 12:34). If we would begin to filter not only our mouths but also the things that are in our hearts, we would live very different kinds of lives. We would ask God to search our hearts to see if there is any wickedness in there so that we can get rid of it. In doing this, we would be purifying ourselves so that we can honor the Lord at all times. As we do that, it will become safe for God to listen in to what we are saying and then we too, like the people in the passage of scripture above, will be God's special treasure.

Pastor Joey Vazquez