Taming faulty uses of the tongue

Psalm 141:3 (NIV)

Set a guard over my mouth, O LORD; keep watch over the door of my lips. 

Proverbs 10:19 (NLT)

Too much talk leads to sin.  Be sensible and keep your mouth shut. 

James 1:19 (NIV)

Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger. 

There are four steps that will help tame faulty uses of your tongue:

1.   Ask God for help (Psalm 141:3 above)

2.   Ask others for help (James 5:16)

3.   Speak well of others (Ephesians 4:29)

4.   Speak less (James 1:19, Proverbs 10:19 above)

Perhaps the easiest of these to practice is to speak less.  Having lost most of my hearing I have learned that I really don’t miss that much from all the talking during a day because so much talk is really forgettable.  For the rest of this devotional, rather than me writing anything further, I choose to use great quotes from wise people about the importance of being quick to hear and speaking less.  Take all of these to heart that supplement what the Scriptures above are advocating:

§ The trouble with talking too fast is you may say something you haven't thought of yet. --Ann Landers

§ There are two types who say very little: the quiet type and the gabby type. –Unknown

§ Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something. -– Plato

§ After all is said and done, more is said than done. --Unknown

§ Never miss a good chance to shut up. –-Will Rogers

§ Man does not live by words alone, despite the fact that sometimes he has to eat them.-- Adlai Stevenson

§ Half the world is composed of people who have something to say and can't, and the other half who have nothing to say and keep on saying it. --Robert Frost

§ The more the words, the less the meaning, and how does that profit anyone? -- Eccles 6:11

What do you need to do, if anything, to help you gain better control of the use of your tongue and to minimize or eliminate the faults that you have with what you say or how much you talk?