Mary Cassian asks, do you ever use your words like weapons?

Often our communication resembles a war game.

We have our personal castles and our empires that we feel that we need to defend.

So we set up these high gates of defense and fortify our walls.

And at the same time, we try to topple the empires of our opponents by verbally or

non-verbally attacking them. We see ourselves as better than the other person.

This is the Revive Our Hearts podcast for Friday, January 23rd, 2015.

Thank you. 23rd, 2015. This week, my friend Mary Cassian has been our guest teacher.

She's been addressing a topic that affects every single one of us.

Mary's the author of a Bible study workbook called Conversation Peace. That's P-E-A-C-E. Today and through next week,

she's teaching through that helpful study on the power of our words. Now here's Mary. When I was young,

I love to watch a children's television program called The Friendly Giant.

Are any of you familiar with that program?

Friendly Giant lived in a castle with Jerome the D giraffe and Rusty the Rooster.

And every day at 10 o'clock, when the flute music started, I watched in fascination as the drawbridge of the castle was lowered,

and the gates opened to allow all the young viewers to enter in. And the friendly giant would put some miniature chairs and a rocking chair

in front of the fireplace to welcome the guests and the stories and the music would begin.

And at the end of the show, the massive

gates slowly closed and the drawbridge lifted, and the giant was closed off from the outside world

until next time. Now, castles and fortified cities and walled villages have existed throughout history,

and all of them were surrounded by this system

of protection that consisted of walls, towers, and gates. And city walls, if you think back to your

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