I love being in the midst of believers. I love being with worshippers who have a desire for more of God. I love talking about the Word and discussing about God exploits. During my chat with Joshua today, we were going through Ephesians. My eyes were skimming over the words and rested on verse 25 of chapter 4.

Therefore, having put away falsehood,
let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor,
for we are members one of another

I used to think that the purpose of this verse was simply to teach children or new believers the importance of not telling lies. But doing that would be to insult the apostle Paul's intelligence. Paul had just finished exhorting the Ephesians to put off the old ways of life. In verse 23, He talks about being renewed in the spirit of your minds. How to be renewed in the mind? Verse 25 says "THEREFORE put away falsehood". Put away thoughts and keep yourself from saying things like "I can't do it", "I'm not good enough", "I'll never amount to anything great".

Instead, speak the truth! Do it with your neighbour. Members of the body of Christ have to encourage and edify one another right? What better way than to speak truth? What greater truth is there than the word of God? What is the truth?
Verse 21 says,

...assuming you have heard about Him and were taught in Him,
as the truth is IN JESUS.

The truth is knowing who you are in Jesus, what we have in Jesus and what we can do in Jesus. These things, when we talk about them often will strengthen us. Verse 29 says that such is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.
Why did I emphasise the words "as fits the occasion"? Why are these words so important?
Truth is not meant spoken AT one another. The right word is to be spoken at the right time.

When I was doing my reservist training, there was a period of time where we were waiting for our turn to practice with some equipment. The area was full of gravel and one of my friends challenged me to hit a red rock a few metres away with a stone. We tried for a few minutes but couldn't hit it. In mock frustration, I scooped up a handful of stones and hurled it towards the red rock. To my amazement and their amusement, none of the stones made contact with the red rock.

In the same way, many believers are counselling in this way. When a person comes to them with a problem, we start quoting verse after verse at them hoping that one of the verses would 'make contact.' God revealed to me that He works differently. God is precise. A single word can minister healing and deliverance. A single word can encourage and break bondage.

God knows exactly whats wrong and He deals with the problem the way an experienced surgeon with a sharp instrument does. How do we become effective instruments? By looking at Him and listening to Him and obeying the Word. Jesus was the most effective minister ever and yet He said, "Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise."

Shouldn't we be keeping our eyes peeled on the Father? Following the instructions stated in the Word of God? Imitating the nature of God and His Son?