help with swearing

I'd practise some alternatives - such as sugar and shillings for the first one.... maybe a phrase for the second one? Or, flip, or fabulous work well. (You know that 'fabulous' is the adjective from fable - it doesn't mean it's good.) The other one I use occasionally, is Snoopy's well-worn 'rats'.Having the intention to say something different from what you usually say, is a start. I know there is a certain buzz from swearing, but, you can learn to live without that buzz. Another useful phrase on the positive side, is 'man alive' - which always reminds me of the resurrection - and is completely harmless to anyone else's ears. Stopping swearing is very much a 'doing' thing. You have to 'do' the stopping.

Swearing is not the root issue here.Here is some quotes from Ernest O'Neill"Now sin is what comes out of the heart and that's what Jesus said. He said "it isn't actually the thoughts that come into your head from outside that are sin, it isn't even the feelings that come in from outside that are sin, it isn't even the food that comes in through your mouth, but it's what comes from inside. Now, maybe you'd look at that verse because it does put it very plainly. In Matthew 15:17, "Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth, passes into the stomach and so passes on, but what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart and this defiles the man, for out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a man. But to eat with unwashed hands, does not defile a man. For you see in verse 18, what comes out of the mouth, proceeds from the heart and this defiles a man. That's it, loved ones. It's not what you eat or even what you drink or even the thoughts that other people pass on to you that defiles you. It's what comes out of your heart and mind. That's what dirties us. That's what defiles us.""Now, how do you get a clean heart? Loved ones, it is not by psychology and it is not by reading those "improve-yourselves" books. An unclean heart is something that only God can deal with; no man can deal with it and all your doing with these books is putting cosmetics on an old barn that doesn't look too good and trying to make it look better. Unless you go to the heart of the problem, you'll never be delivered from that unclean heart. How do you get a clean heart? Well, you'll find loved ones that it's gloriously simple, it's Acts 15:8, And Peter is explaining what happened at the house of Cornelius. Acts 15:8: "And God who knows the heart, bore witness to them, giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He did to us; and He made no distinction between us and them, but cleansed their hearts by faith". That's how! You get your heart cleansed by the Holy Spirit, through your faith. That's it! It's not that long, long series of trying to train yourself, it's not years and years of trying to rewrite the thoughts and feelings of your heart, it's not years and years of psychoanalysis trying to track back where you got these wrong feelings or these bad feelings, it's not trying to get a group who will treat you nice and will treat you right. It's not that, loved ones! It's what the Bible says: you get your heart cleansed by faith, through the Holy Spirit. Faith is the belief plus obedience."

These are good points from the other contributors - apostlepaul, habakkuk, roadsign and freecd. There is just one more thing I'd like to add, as I was considering your predicament..... I was thinking about that point of 'not doing' something, which feels as if it is a negative - that you are denying yourself something you used to have (the freedom to swear)..... and I was thinking, maybe you could re-'phrase' that thought, so now it is not that you are NOT (doing something).... it is that you ARE taking back territory which was robbed from you by the enemy..... So now, to 'not swear', is a POSITIVE, because the enemy is the one who's being deprived of his prey - your peace of mind.I hope that gives food for thought, even if it's only part of your answer.

I just want rid of it, and I will do what I have too to get rid of it.Right.I'm not going to suggest you can stop swearing forever immediately. But you could. People wake up with a hangover, or reaching for the last cigarette in the latest unwanted pack which they yielded to buying, and they simply DECIDE to stop... drinking, or smoking.... I've heard testimony of it from non-Christians, so..... the conclusion I draw is that a change of direction of the will has something to do with it.The foundation of your salvation is in many verses of scripture which could be quoted, but, this is the one which enabled me to keep believing God, when my daily experience was something different (ie, I had not experienced the 'salvation' into which I had believed and received in the Spirit).Heb 10:14For by one offering He has perfected for ever them that are sanctified. (KJV) (In this sense, perfected means completed. That is, God has filled up all the cracks; He Himself makes up for all our lacks.)Habakkuk3 saidJesus will deliver you. There is victory over sin through the blood of Jesus. It's not through self-effort or trying harder. The victories over sin in any believer's life are the victories of Jesus.I would like to refine this statement further.The death of Jesus Christ, brought an end to 'our old man' (Rom 6:6) and we are 'baptised into His death', then raised to 'walk in newness of life' (Rom 6:4) through the Holy Spirit's operation with our spirit. By so doing, our soul is being saved.The 'work' of 'walking in the Spirit' is the same as the 'work' of not walking in the flesh.Jesus said that a man is defiled by what comes out of his heart (of which the mouth speaks of its abundance). In other words, your salvation is not in jeopardy by what comes out of your mouth, unless that is an accurate refection of the condition of your heart before God. Sorry if I seem to be labouring this point, but from experience, the battle is often not so much with the thing itself, but with the implications of the practice of the sin, for how we then feel about our standing with God. I wish you to see that your standing with God after you swear once, has been altered by that single event..... not a lot, in the overall scheme of things. Mark 7:21 For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, Now;you have to decide what is your spiritual condition in principle. Have you genuinely agreed to God putting to death in you, the principle of sin? If not, this is your first stop.If you have, then 'the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin' under this condition:1 John 1:7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. Note something - the man himself is defiled by what comes out of his own EDIT heart EDIT end (as well as those who receive the effects of those actions).This goes with 'your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit'. (1 Cor 6:19)It has already been said that you will find more and more of the life of Christ coming out, as you spend time with Him..... but I see this as a practical problem, rather than a spiritual one.... 'All' you are now trying to do, is bring the life of your flesh into line with the life of your spirit. If you are saved... if you have understood what happened at Calvary... then, you don't need to entertain any thoughts that you're not really a Christian, or, that swearing can in any way dent the grace of God towards you, or, dent the work which Christ did on the cross. Get perspective in this. If you can stop yourself swearing out loud, it will be progress. If you can go on to think completely different thoughts when in the past you would have used a swear word, you're through!!In the meantime, you need to be practical with the solution which God has afforded you in Christ, and, you need to be unashamed to use it. Our Father will never tire of one of His children asking forgiveness. He is looking on your heart, and on your thirst for practical righteousness, and He is pleased. He will never turn you away.You, though, may need to turn away all the accusing thoughts which hit your brain if or when you fail. Only if there is an unclean spirit feeding your spirit, will the battle seem to rage. I believe the Lord can show you whether you need prayer for deliverance from someone else. If so, pick your pray-er under the guidance of God Himself, and if necessary, wait until He shows you who. You can still work against the 'nasty' with all your willpower, but, sometimes that only brings things under control - it doesn't release at a deep enough level. But be assured, Jesus can easily release you at whatever level is necessary and after that, you'd find your mind a quieter place.1 John 2:1 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:

Habakkuk wrote:4. God is very interested in dealing with the root cause of sin. For example, the anger I had that nearly consumed me was really a manifestation of being upset because I wasn't getting my way.Excellent my brother, very good.Let me share something with my brother who started this thread.I was working in a bakery and I too had an anger/swearing problem (I think most of us do).I prayed and sought God for deliverance, and I just hated myself for swearing.I used to get angry when my employer who used to come in early in the morning half way thru my shift, and I loved my time alone and here she was coming in and disturbing this time. (I always told her, you complain that your not getting enough sleep why don't you stay home until the morning)I was in back taking bread out of the oven, and I hit my arm on the side of the hot oven and everything all happened at once. I heard her coming thru the door which started the anger, and then I heard the voice of the LORD speak to me and say, "You can say nothing or swear". I just burnt myself, then I hear her, and then I hear the LORD. Of course you know what I did, I yelled out the F word, because I knew she hated that word.It's funny to speak of it now, but then, I paid for that decision for 6 months, I had the worst foul mouth. And the LORD let me go thru that mess until I was sick of myself and cried out for help. And this time it stuck.I have other anger issues and the LORD is freeing me more and more of those roots.No book and no sermon will help you, it all boils down to your decision at the moment it happens. But what I have found was very helpful is keeping a close relationship with the heavenly Father. I jammed my finger in the door the other day and the pain was so intense, I just praised the LORD, the pain was still painful, but it seemed to go away alot quicker. But listen to brother Habakkuk, he is right on, the main problem is the root not the spoken word. So thank the LORD that the Holy Spirit is bringing this to your attention for He loves you so much.And always remember that the purpose of the holy Spirit in your life is to make you holy as He is holy, that means that you have a ton of problems that He will have to deal with, because He loves you, and in this take great comfort, because if you were left to your own devices, you are not one of His, but thank God that you are and thank God that you are saved and are being saved.Karl