Good morning everyone,   Our theme for this month: “The power of words”   Our Bible verse for today: “A word spoken at the right time is like gold apples in silver settings.” Proverbs 25:11 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “The top ten best words”   Many years ago, when I was the pastor of another church in another state, one of our members was an older lady who was probably one of the greatest saints of God that I have ever personally known. Her name was Jane. She was an elderly widow, a pastor’s wife. Jane was one of the wisest and most spiritually insightful people I have ever known, and she was also one of the nicest people I have ever known.   Jane was one of those special people who had a knack for saying the right thing at the right time. She seemed to have a deep storehouse, a treasure trove of special words and phrases, and she knew exactly when and how to bring them out and use them. She consciously and intentionally worked her favorite words and phrases into her conversations. I learned a lot from her about when to speak, how to speak, and what to say for maximum impact – a good word spoken at the right time.     All these years later, I don’t remember many of the specific words and phrases she used, but I do remember the impact she had on people because of it. Being with Jane was always a treat and a blessing because she spoke words of life into people’s lives.   Do you have a similar treasure trove of the best words and phrases which you routinely dip into and use at appropriate times? What are some of your top ten words and phrases? How about love, joy, peace, and blessing? Maybe grace, mercy, compassion, kindness? (Ice cream should be on the list too.)   I have one friend who always wishes you “peace” as he closes out his conversation with you. I have another friend who, when you ask her how she is doing she almost always replies, “I’m blessed, thank you. I hope you are too.” When she says that about herself it doesn’t mean she doesn’t have problems. Of course she does. But it does mean that she chooses to focus on the positive rather than on the negative. She is well-aware of the blessings of God in her life, and she hopes that is true for you too. I always walk away from my encounters with her feeling blessed and thankful because she reminded me that I should feel that way.     What’s on your top ten list of the best words and phrases? Please share them with me so I can then share them with the other readers in an upcoming message in this series.   God bless, Pastor Jim   (If you like what you are reading in these daily devotionals and if you would like more content from Oak Hill Baptist Church, join us on Sundays at 10:00 – in-person if you are nearby or, if you are geographically distant or if you just can’t make it, online at www.YouTube.com/@oakhillbaptistcrossville

Copyright © 2025 Oak Hill Baptist Church, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Oak Hill Baptist Church 3036 Genesis Road Crossville, TN 38571

Good morning everyone,   Our theme for this month: “The power of words”   Our Bible verse for today: “Lord, set up a guard for my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips.” Psalm 141:3 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Try writing it first”   In Psalm 141:3 King David asked God to establish a guard over his mouth. This is for me too. I envision an angel whose sole assignment is to regulate what’s allowed to come out of my mouth. (I’m pretty sure He finds it to be a full-time job!)   The Amplified version of the Bible is a translation that uses all the English words necessary to capture the full meaning of the original language. In that translation Psalm 141:3 reads, “Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; Keep watch over the door of my lips (to keep me from speaking thoughtlessly.)”   One of the best ways to give the Holy Spirit lots of opportunity to regulate the words that come out of your mouth is to write them down first. Rather than responding immediately and potentially thoughtlessly, hold your tongue, give it more thought, and then write down what you intend to say to the person. Then slowly read it and prayerfully consider if this is what you really want to say. It might be wise to hang onto it for a day or two and reread it several times, editing as you go. Spontaneous words spoken in the heat of the moment are often emotionally charged and poorly thought out. They are also frequently misunderstood by the listener. Delaying your response and taking the time to write it out helps to take some of the fire of emotions out of it.   I do this all the time. Especially if the subject is delicate or difficult. I don’t want to misspeak and I don’t want to be misunderstood. So, I take my time, write it out, read and reread it, edit it, put it aside for a while, come back to it, work with it so more, and then, when I believe it is ready, I will send it to the other person and ask them to do the same – read it, reread it, think about it, pray over it, then respond in writing.   If you will do that it greatly increases the chances that you will say what you really wanted to say, and with the tone and inflection that you really wanted to say it. Doing this decreases the chances of misspeaking or being misunderstood. Then, after both parties have communicated in this manner, you can meet face-to-face to discuss it further.    I encourage you to try this. If you will, you will find that your words will be even more effective and more powerful and I believe you will have a better outcome.   God bless, Pastor Jim   (If you like what you are reading in these daily devotionals and if you would like more content from Oak Hill Baptist Church, join us on Sundays at 10:00 – in-person if you are nearby or, if you are geographically distant or if you just can’t make it, online at www.YouTube.com/@oakhillbaptistcrossville

Copyright © 2025 Oak Hill Baptist Church, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Oak Hill Baptist Church 3036 Genesis Road Crossville, TN 38571

Good morning everyone,   Our theme for this month: “The power of words”   Our Bible verse for today: “A gentle answer turns away anger, but a harsh word stirs up wrath.” Proverbs 15:1 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Be the one who breaks the cycle”   “Sticks and stones will break my bones but words will never hurt me.” So goes the ancient children’s limerick. It is clever and it flows off the tongue easily and smoothly – it just isn’t true. Words can hurt you. They can hurt very much and they can cause deep wounds that don’t easily heal.   There are endless stories about people (especially children) who have been systematically, repeatedly, and cruelly beaten down with words to the point that they are emotionally traumatized. This is how children become convinced they’re stupid, when in fact they are not. It’s how the victim of long-term emotional abuse in the home becomes convinced it’s his or her own fault – that they have brought the abuse on themselves by being the way they are. I wrote just the other day of how it is that some people end up spending much of their lives trying to get over their abusive childhood.   The other thing about angry, cruel, and unkind words is that, as Solomon reminds us in Proverbs 15:1, anger begets anger. Recipients of angry words become the speakers of angry words. There’s an old truism about human nature that tells us, “Hurt people hurt people.” It’s our nature to want to do to others what they have done to us. That’s why children who were abused often grow up to be adults who are abusers. It’s why the one who is frequently exposed to the anger of someone else often displays anger of their own.   The way to stop it is to be the one who breaks the cycle. Just because someone else has expressed anger towards you does not mean that you should express anger back to them (and especially not to other innocent people who had nothing to do with it at all).   One of the biggest problems with saying angry, mean-spirited, and cruel things is that once it has been said, it cannot be unsaid. Once the words are out there you can’t take them back. The other person heard what you said and took it into their mind and heart. You cannot unsay it and they cannot unhear it.   Let’s be the ones who break the cycle. Let’s all resolve to be cautious with our words.   God bless, Pastor Jim   (If you like what you are reading in these daily devotionals and if you would like more content from Oak Hill Baptist Church, join us on Sundays at 10:00 – in-person if you are nearby or, if you are geographically distant or if you just can’t make it, online at www.YouTube.com/@oakhillbaptistcrossville

Copyright © 2025 Oak Hill Baptist Church, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Oak Hill Baptist Church 3036 Genesis Road Crossville, TM 38571

Good morning everyone,   Our theme for this month: “The power of words”   Our Bible verse for today: “Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus by birth, the one the apostles called Barnabas (which is translated Son of Encouragement), sold a field he owned, brought the money, and laid it at the apostles’ feet.” Acts 4:36-37 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Be a son or daughter of encouragement”   I love and admire Barnabas, the Son of Encouragement. He’s one of my favorite people in the New Testament. He was nicknamed The Son of Encouragement by the apostles because he was evidently a kind and friendly man who was also a good and generous servant at heart. He had a supportive and uplifting nature, he made generous financial contributions for the benefit of others, he engaged in sacrificial service, and he was generally a blessing to everyone – the kind of person we all enjoy having around.   I have always found his example to be inspiring and I have always wanted to be more like him. I’ve written before of how, many years ago, my wife Linda and I owned a book company that we called “The Barnabas Book Company.” Our logo was “Encouraging books that will change your life.” We traveled around selling Christian books in churches, at book fairs, at flea markets, and at special events around the community. It was great fun but I was a terrible businessman. I was so eager for people to read our books that I probably gave away more than I sold.   In our church we have “encouragement notes” in the pew-backs. They are blank cards on which a person can write a short note of encouragement to someone, place it in the offering plate, and we will deliver that note to the person for them (I love the fact that I get to read them all before they are sent out).   Encouragement is one of the most important and helpful things we can do for each other. I think of it as the ministry of encouragement.  Hebrews 10:24 reminds us that one of the responsibilities we have to each other is to encourage and lift one another up: “And let us watch out for one another to provoke love and good works, not neglecting to gather together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day approaching.”   Let’s resolve to use our words to lift-up and encourage others. There’s a good reason Barnabas had his nickname, and there’s a good reason God chose to include his example in the Bible. It’s to remind us of how important the ministry of encouragement is. Words of encouragement are powerful. They make a positive difference for good. Be a son or daughter of encouragement today.   God bless, Pastor Jim   (If you like what you are reading in these daily devotionals and if you would like more content from Oak Hill Baptist Church, join us on Sundays at 10:00 – in-person if you are nearby or, if you are geographically distant or if you just can’t make it, online at www.YouTube.com/@oakhillbaptistcrossville

Copyright © 2025 Oak Hill Baptist Church, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Oak Hill Baptist Church 3036 Genesis Road Crossville, TN 38571

Good morning everyone,   Our theme for this month: “The power of words”   Our Bible verse for today: “The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life …” Proverbs 10:11 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Speak words of life”   Yesterday I told you the story of Eliza Doolittle from the movie, “My Fair Lady.” Her story was an illustration of the psychological phenomenon known as “The Pygmalion Effect” or, the self-fulfilling prophecy. What you believe to be true about yourself can have a powerful impact on what ends up being true about you. We also learned that we can help to shape someone else’s self-image and alter what they believe to be true about themselves by the words we speak to them.   There were two individuals in my early life who had that kind of impact on me. The first was my fifth-grade teacher Roberta Ryder. I was a troubled kid with a poor self-image. I had been told repeatedly in those early years that I was stupid, and I believed it. But Ms. Ryder saw something in me. She gave me special attention and lots of encouragement. She noticed that I liked to read and write, and she often told me that she believed I had what it took to be a writer, perhaps a newspaper reporter. Her belief in me and her words of encouragement were balm to a hurting child’s soul and I have remembered it to this day.   The other person who had a significant impact on me was an educational counselor named Mr. Peppard. He worked for the Navy Educational Office on the Navy Base in Philadelphia, PA. He was also the cousin of the actor George Peppard (The A Team). As a young man in my 20s, I was still trying to figure out what to do with my life and I went to see Mr. Peppard for some career counseling. He had me take an aptitude test to help me discover what career field I was most likely to enjoy and be successful in. Much to my surprise, number one on the list came back as “priest or minister.”  At that time, as a young sailor, I was very far from resembling a priest or minister and the thought seemed laughable to me. But Mr. Peppard gently and kindly urged me to just tuck the idea away for now and let it sit with me for a while.   Well, here I am today, sixty years after my time with Ms. Ryder and more than forty-five years after Mr. Peppard. I have never forgotten either one of them or their wise words of counsel and encouragement, and it turns out that I have had a long and successful career as both a pastor and as a writer.   You can have that kind of impact on people too. With the Holy Spirit of God living in your heart, you have within you the ability to have a profound and positive impact on the people God brings into your life. Please do not underestimate the power or your words to speak life into someone’s confused and hurting soul.   God bless, Pastor Jim   (If you like what you are reading in these daily devotionals and if you would like more content from Oak Hill Baptist Church, join us on Sundays at 10:00 – in-person if you are nearby or, if you are geographically distant or if you just can’t make it, online at www.YouTube.com/@oakhillbaptistcrossville

Copyright © 2025 Oak Hill Baptist Church, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Oak Hill Baptist Church 3036 Genesis Road Crossville, TM 38571

Good morning everyone,   Our theme for this month: “The power of words”   Our Bible verse for today: “I am sure of this, that he who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” Philippians 1:6 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Believe the best about yourself”   Are you familiar with the psychological phenomenon known as “The Pygmalion Effect”? It comes out of Greek mythology. Pygmalion was a sculptor who crafted a beautiful statue of the perfect woman. He then fell so in love with his statue that he fantasized she was a real woman. His belief was so strong that the statue ended up coming alive and his belief in that reality became a self-fulfilling prophecy.   Although the story is fiction, it illustrates an actual truth about human nature. The stronger we believe something to be true, the more likely it is to become true for us. That’s especially so with respect to what we believe to be true about ourselves. And that being the case, if we can help to shape someone’s belief in themselves, we can potentially change the course of their life.   That’s exactly what the classic movie “My Fair Lady” was all about. In that story, Eliza Doolittle is a simple and uneducated young woman from the lower class of London. Henry Higgs is a professor who attempts to help her modify her self-image and come to believe that she can present herself as a confident, cultured, dignified lady. He then goes about showing her how to be that lady and in due course, that is what she becomes.   As Christians the Holy Spirit is in the process of transforming us into the person God wants us to be – the person God knows we can and should be. Our job is to believe that we can become that person. We are also to believe that others can become their best selves too and we are to help them achieve that. We do that by believing in each other, encouraging one another, lifting each other up, and helping each other along in this process of transformation.   The Greeks had it right and to a large degree, Pygmalion’s story is all our stories. What we believe to be true about ourselves can easily become a self-fulfilling prophecy and with words of encouragement and inspiration, we can help one another to believe the best about ourselves. We can help each other to believe that God is in the process of transforming us into our best selves.   What we believe to be true about ourselves is often what comes to be true about us. I encourage you to believe the best about yourself, work towards becoming your best self, and then help others to be their best too.   God bless, Pastor Jim      (If you like what you are reading in these daily devotionals and if you would like more content from Oak Hill Baptist Church, join us on Sundays at 10:00 – in-person if you are nearby or, if you are geographically distant or if you just can’t make it, online at www.YouTube.com/@oakhillbaptistcrossville

Copyright © 2025 Oak Hill Baptist Church, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Oak Hill Baptist Church 3036 Genesis Road Crossville, TN 38571

Good morning everyone,   Our theme for this month: “The power of words”   Our Bible verse for today: “The tongue has the power of life and death.” Proverbs 18:21 (NIV)   Our thought for today: “Are you a builder or a wrecker?”   Have you seen the meme on social media of an enraged father towering over a trembling little boy as the father spews angry words of criticism and rebuke? We get the feeling that this father is something of an ogre and that this is a regular occurrence in the boy’s life. The scene is especially disturbing because unfortunately, many children do grow up in dysfunctional homes with abusive parents who habitually say cruel things. Over time children come to believe those things about themselves and it has a profound negative impact on the formation of their self-image. Many people end up spending much of their adult lives trying to get over their childhood precisely for this reason.   Perhaps you’re familiar with another story of two men standing side-by-side observing workers constructing a new house. One man turns to the other and asks why he is so interested in the construction process. The other answers that he makes his living demolishing old homes that must be torn down. He explained that he finds it ironic how he can tear down in a day what it took skilled laborers six months to build.   Both of those stories illustrate the same point. It’s easy to tear down and destroy. And once you have torn down or destroyed, it can be difficult or even impossible to put the thing back together again – whether the thing is a building or a child’s psyche.   Words are like that. Words can build up or they can destroy depending on how they are used. Solomon tells us in Proverbs 18:21 that the tongue has the power of life and death in it. He meant that we can use our words to speak life into people by encouraging them and lifting them up, or we can cut them down, hurt them, maybe destroy them.   Words are powerful and we need to be careful how we use them. Therefore, we will spend the rest of this month considering the power of the words we use and how we can use them for good rather than bad, for blessing rather than cursing.   For today, I want to ask you to give careful prayerful thought to how you most often use your words. Are you a builder who uses your words to lift people up, or are you a wrecker who tears people down? Be honest with yourself. Invite the Holy Spirit to speak to you about this.   God bless, Pastor Jim   (If you like what you are reading in these daily devotionals and if you would like more content from Oak Hill Baptist Church, join us on Sundays at 10:00 – in-person if you are nearby or, if you are geographically distant or if you just can’t make it, online at www.YouTube.com/@oakhillbaptistcrossville

Copyright © 2025 Oak Hill Baptist Church, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Oak Hill Baptist Church 3036 Genesis Road Crossville, TN 38571

Good morning everyone,   Our theme for this month: “The Power of Words”   Our Bible verse for today: “In the same way the Spirit also helps us in our weakness, because we do not know what to pray for as we should, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with unspoken groanings. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because he intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.” Romans 8:26-27 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Unspoken words are important too”   A friend once referred to me as “the word guy.” She said it as a compliment because words are my business and I use them in preaching, teaching, praying, and writing. I have shared with you before a statement once made by pastor and author Eugene Peterson about himself, but which resonated with me to the point that I wrote it down and claimed it as my own: “I am a pastor and I am a writer. Those are not separate vocations competing for my time and attention, they are both part of a unified calling. I am a pastor and a writer; it is a single coherent identity. My artistic medium is words, written and prayed and preached.”   I love that statement and I think it is true about me, but sometimes words fail me. Especially on Mondays. My work week starts on Tuesday and is filled with word-related tasks such as writing sermons and Bible studies and daily devotionals, as well as leading in prayer, counseling, writing letters and emails, making phone calls, and more – all of which culminates on Sunday with preaching and teaching.   As a result, on Monday (my day off), I often find myself worded-out. I’ve got nothing. Even finding the words to pray can be a challenge. But that’s okay because the Holy Spirit has my back on this. As Paul explained in Romans 8:26-27, the Spirit searches our heart, knows us at the deepest possible level, and then prays for us. For my part, my prayer may be nothing more than a groan. But the Holy Spirit takes the groans, the befuddled and foggy mind, the wordlessness, and makes something meaningful out of it before the throne of God for me.   That being the case, some of my best prayers are the ones I can find no words for. In those cases, the Spirit prays for me (and I have no doubt that He prays for me a lot better than I pray for myself.) Mondays are often my Psalm 46:10 day. “Be still, Jim, and just know that I am God.” So, I sit out on the back deck early in the morning, maybe with a fire in the firepit, and I just sit still and quiet before God letting the Spirit search my heart and pray on my behalf.   Sometimes words aren’t needed. Sometimes silence speaks louder than words. Sometimes less is more. Unspoken words matter too and sometimes what we don’t say is better than what we do say.   God bless, Pastor Jim   (If you like what you are reading in these daily devotionals and if you would like more content from Oak Hill Baptist Church, join us on Sundays at 10:00 – in-person if you are nearby or, if you are geographically distant or if you just can’t make it, online at www.YouTube.com/@oakhillbaptistcrossville

Copyright © 2025 Oak Hill Baptist Church, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Oak Hill Baptist Church 3036 Genesis Road Crossville, TN 38571

Good morning everyone,   Our theme for this month: “The Power of Words”   Our Bible verse for today: “Therefore, you should pray like this: Our Father in heaven, your name be honored as holy. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” Matthew 6:9:12 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Pray like this”   We all want our prayers to be powerful and effective. We want our prayers to be meaningful and to accurately express our thoughts, feelings, and concerns to God. But sometimes we simply don’t know what to pray for or how to pray it. For those times a model prayer can be helpful.   In Matthew chapter six, in the middle of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught a lesson about praying. In it He gave us a model for prayer that we have come to call “The Lord’s Prayer.” Jesus didn’t necessarily mean for us to pray these exact words (although it is okay to do so). More than that, He was giving us a structure to guide our praying. Let’s break it down and see how we could use it as a guide for our own praying:   “Our Father in heaven” – Take a moment to think about God. Consider who He is and what He is like. Think about His glory and majesty. Just worship Him.   “Your name be honored” – Say: “Father, I love You and I want my life to honor you. I want you to be pleased with me. It is my desire for people to see your holiness reflected in my life.”   “Your kingdom come” – Pray about ways in which you can serve others in the name of Jesus and share the Good News of the Gospel with them. Affirm to God that you want to be a part of His kingdom-building work on earth.   “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” – You could pray: “Help me to put aside my own will, my own preferences, priorities, and desires, and to genuinely seek your will.”   “Give us today our daily bread” – How about something like this: “Thank you Father, for the way you have blessed me in the past. I trust today, tomorrow, and all my tomorrows to You.” (Read Matthew 6:25-34 then claim that promise too and ask God to fulfill it again today in your life.)   “Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors” – This is about sins and offenses. Ask God to forgive you for your sins against Him, and affirm to Him that you will also forgive others for the offenses they have committed against you.   There are many model prayers in the Bible. There are also many other prayer guides and pre-printed prayers available to help guide our praying. As we grow in spiritual maturity our praying should become increasingly deep and meaningful. Models for prayer help to increase the power and effectiveness of our prayers. The words we say to God matter.   God bless, Pastor Jim   (If you like what you are reading in these daily devotionals and if you would like more content from Oak Hill Baptist Church, join us on Sundays at 10:00 – in-person if you are nearby or, if you are geographically distant or if you just can’t make it, online at www.YouTube.com/@oakhillbaptistcrossville

Copyright © 2025 Oak Hill Baptist Church, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Oak Hill Baptist Church 3036 Genesis Road Crossville, TN 38571

Good morning everyone,   Our theme for this month: “The power of words”   Our Bible verse for today: “Test me in this way,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.” Malachi 3:10 (NIV)   Our thought for today: “Let’s test God”   Have you ever tested God? I mean, have you ever challenged Him to keep a promise and then stood back to wait and see if He would do it? In Malachi chapter three the prophet was teaching an important lesson on the principle of stewardship. Through Malachi God told the people to be faithful tithers by bringing the first 10% of their income and giving it back to Him to help finance His kingdom-building work. And if they did that, God in turn would bless their socks off. Perhaps that would include financial blessings, but more likely and more often the blessings will be spiritual and they will come in multiple ways.   Essentially God was saying “You will be better off living on 90% with My blessing than you will be with 100% without my blessing.” He then urged them to test Him and see if He would be faithful to the promise He was making to them. If they obeyed God in this manner, over the long-term they would find that the promise was indeed true and God would bless their faithfulness in multiple ways.   The promises of God are always true and it is always okay for us to claim the promises He has made to us. We can even do that in prayer. Although the figure varies depending on how “promise” is defined, most estimates conclude there are between 7000-8000 promises from God to mankind in the Bible. And every one of them are true. Over-and-over again in the Bible we find the people of God claiming the promises of God and moving forward in faith that God would keep His promises.   I own a little book called “The Bible Promise Book.” It contains over 1000 promises from God organized by category. So, if I want to read some promises from God about protection, or provision, or peace, I turn to that section and there are 8, 10, 12 Bible passages pertaining to that promise from God. I once went through that little book and put a checkmark next to each promise that had already been fulfilled in my life. At other times I have prayed a promise back to God and asked Him to fulfill it in my life.   The promises of God are powerful and if the proper conditions are met, they will always come true. It’s perfectly fine to pray the promises back to God in prayer and then wait for Him to fulfill them in your life.   God bless, Pastor Jim   (If you like what you are reading in these daily devotionals and if you would like more content from Oak Hill Baptist Church, join us on Sundays at 10:00 – in-person if you are nearby or, if you are geographically distant or if you just can’t make it, online at www.YouTube.com/@oakhillbaptistcrossville

Copyright © 2025 Oak Hill Baptist Church, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Oak Hill Baptist Church 3036 Genesis Road Crossville, TN 38571