Tim Cameron never thought of himself as such as negative person until one day, while driving to church, he made an unflattering remark to his wife. During the service and on the way home, God spoke to his heart and revealed to him just how deep his negativity had gone.
Of course, he apologized to his wife, but the conviction Cameron felt led him to seek the Lord about his rough demeanor, and he soon realized his words had a hurtful impact on his family and associates. Through much prayer and through studying the prayers of Jesus, he became a different person—and he says you can too.
“Going home from church, I tried to apologize to my wife, and she said to me, ‘Well, Tim, that’s OK. That’s just the way you are,'” Cameron told Dr. Greene on a recent episode of Greenelines on the Charisma Podcast Network. “That struck me so deeply that I sought the Lord for a long period of time.
“In the midst of it, the Lord said something to me that is pretty amazing,” Cameron said. “He said to me, ‘Tim, I want you to fast. Sarcasm, criticism, gossip, negative words, complaining—I want you to fast those words.’ Of course, I never even thought about fasting words. …
“The word ‘fast’ means to cover your mouth. That’s what it means in Greek. And here’s one of the corollaries or the serendipitous things that happens when you fast words—you start listening more. I like to say that listening is a ministry that we can offer to each other. … It was really tough (to fast). I must have done 40 days. I needed to fast words for 40 days because we all know Scripture says very pointedly that the tongue is the most rude and unruly member of our body. And we’ve got some unruly members in our body. But the tongue is the most unruly. If a person can bring that under control, Scripture says you can bring anything under control.
“Criticism is so deadly in our marriages,” he said. “One of my favorite writers, Stanley Jones, gives a list of the four or five things that can destroy unity in our relationships. He puts secret criticism at the top—secret criticism that you don’t even voice. The only thing you can do with it is to repent of the sin.”
For more from Tim Cameron about how to learn how to control your tongue through the prayers of Jesus, listen to this entire podcast. {eoa]
