James 1 19:25

James 1: 19-25

19 “My dear brothers take note of this; everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.” Adopt a listening posture. According to the bible, if you love God, you will love other people. Jesus said to his disciples that people will know you are a follower by the way you love one another. Your actions towards others will reflect the person you are and show others that you are a follower of Christ. 21 “Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you” Replace a sinful attitude with a receptive heart. Perfection vs. Repentance; Perfection is impossible in this world, but you need to look at your past mistakes and make sure that you attempt to change them and turn away from them. Turn towards God when you make mistakes. No one will be able to stop making mistakes, but you need to receive God’s word and replace the old, selfish, bad attitudes/decisions with a new, better, attitude from the word and will of God. Not only have a listening posture, but replace your sinful attitude with a receptive heart. 22 “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves, do what it says.” Take action on the word, do not simply hear it and blow it off. Let the power of God’s word be shown. Apply it to YOUR life and make sure that you do not deceive yourself in thinking that just listening will automatically apply the word to your life. 23 “Anyone who listens to the word, but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and after looking at himself goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.” 25 “But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it – he will be blessed in what he does.” Struggling with negativity, deception; Look into the word because there is a cure for everything within the word of God. Confess your wrong doings. Ask others to help you by; holding you accountable for your actions so you know when and where you make these mistakes. Pray and think about what God has done for you and everyone else. Realize that Christ has forgiven us for everything, and anything, we have ever done or could ever do… so why not forgive others for their wrong doings. Ask God to show you what you can do to help yourself, and to help others.

Spend time getting into the “Word” (Bible), whether or not you pray every day.

Proverbs 1:5

“Let the wise listen and add to their learning and let the discerning get guidance”

Proverbs 13:3

“He who guards his lips guards his life, but he who speaks rashly will come to ruin”

Proverbs 30:33

“For as churning the milk produces butter and as twisting the nose produces blood so stirring up anger produces strife”

Summary:

-Unleashing the words power, if you want to let God fully into your life and change your mistakes and sinful nature adopt a listening posture (with God and others), replace sinful attitude with a receptive heart, and take action upon those sinful doings, no matter how big or how small, take action to change that and make it better for not only you, but for everyone else.

What is the action step YOU need to take? What can you do to apply this to YOUR life?

If we want to listen to God, the first step is accepting and realizing what you need to do to acquire this. There comes a point where God says you need to learn how to do this on your own, reading the word, praying, understand/knowing God. Often times there are very practical steps we can take to solve our problems, yet we are stubborn and choose that what WE want is far greater than what God wants… although this is quite deceptive.