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As I fueled my soul one morning recently, I read, “For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.” (Romans 10:10)

It has been several years now since I opened my heart and let Christ in, and yet even today, I find that it can still be challenging to maintain the motives of my heart and keep my tongue pure. But what I can affirm is that I am more cognizant of both, and strive with intention each day.

Sometimes our mouth wants to run away in the opposing direction of our heart’s desire.

Why?

At times, it is perhaps because our tongues have a mind of their own. The unfortunate part is when the words uttered become imprinted on the ones we love the most.

A childhood lesson that resonates with me today is that once words are uttered, they cannot be retracted. We have to not only take captive the negative thoughts that can infringe upon our minds, but also restrict the tongue from uttering anything that is not edifying or positive towards others.

One of my dearest friends (who is also a colleague) and I share a belief that we must learn to, “Say what we mean, and do what we say.”

It goes back to that old saying that actions speak louder than words. When I meet someone new, who inspires me, the first thing I attempt to discern is, “What is their heart-motive?”

If it is not obvious, then speculation takes over, and Inspector Clouseau (I just dated myself) gets on the case, before too much is invested.

The funny thing is, if we just sit back and take time to observe others, then their behavior can tell us all that we need to know. Most people will put forth their best to impress. But if you know what to look for, their truth will be seen.

I recently took a security awareness training which was led by a former renowned FBI’s most wanted, Kevin Mitnick (you might have heard of the notorious hacker). He is now the CEO of KnowBe4. Kevin is a prime example of taking a setback (several years in a federal penitentiary) and making it a setup, as his company helps individuals and organizations protect their assets from being hacked.

Talk about deceptive practices…hackers today can mimic visuals on our devices that trick us into believing we are connected with the source we clicked on, when in fact, we are actually connecting with the hacker’s computer, and they are gaining access to all our personal information.

Similarly people, who are incongruent and out of alignment with our Creator, can deceive. But Kevin taught, “If we stop and think before we click, we can avoid being hacked.”

There are key tells of potential soul hackers:

  1. The person talks the talk, but their walk does not produce fruits of the Spirit.
  2. The language they use is not edifying, but rather destructive.