Daily Devotion July 10

July 10: James 1:19-20 KJV Key Verse: James 1:20 20 For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. Devotion: How many times do you say something out loud before thinking about it and then panic about how you can fix it by saying something else, only to get yourself into deeper trouble than before? I know I have done that far too many times and yet it is easy to get around… take a second to think about what you are going to say before blurting out something that comes from your mouth and not from your heart! Spend a second or two digesting what you hear before responding… And it is not all about listening to everything and anything to see what is out there so we can make our own ideas up from everything around us, it is about listening to what God wants us to let into our lives and digesting that to understand what we should be passing on to others. This does not mean closing ourselves off from the world but it does mean tempering what we listen to; what good is listening to something that is nothing but hatred toward God? Slow down on the input so you can get to grips with what is coming in and understand it, allow it to settle in your heart so you can be built up. When someone does say something that angers you don’t just respond with more anger, it will do nothing to help. Don’t start talking and continue talking so nobody else can get a word in, you will not be thinking about what you are saying. No you will not be! You will be thinking about the words that have already come out! Think about that for a whole second. Yes, a second is a very long time to think… The more we allow anger to control our words the more we will be working against God. Yes Jesus did get angry at times but He made sure that He also spent a lot of time thinking and listening. In order to work out where someone else is in their life you have to listen to them and not talk them into submission. Take your thoughts to God and allow Him to guide your mouth rather than allowing the anger built up to say things before you can think about them. Points to Ponder: Do you like arguing? Do you bring God with you in arguments?