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Speaker 1: Life Audio. For more resources to help you in your

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Speaker 1: walk with Christ, please visit us at Bible Studyheadquarters dot com.

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Speaker 1: You're listening to daily devotions with Pastor John. I'm John Stangey,

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Speaker 1: and today's devotion is inspired by James Chapter one, verse nineteen,

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Speaker 1: which says, know this, my beloved brothers, let every person

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Speaker 1: be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger.

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Speaker 1: The Book of James is considered to be one of

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Speaker 1: the most practical books of the Bible. In it, we're

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Speaker 1: shown what it looks like when we put our faith

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Speaker 1: in Jesus Christ into action. A faith that is acted

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Speaker 1: upon is shown to be genuine. God's word reminds us

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Speaker 1: to be quick to hear. That isn't easy for most

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Speaker 1: of us. In many contexts our desire to be heard

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Speaker 1: outweighs ours desire to listen. Conversations can at times turn

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Speaker 1: into a competition to see who can say the most.

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Speaker 1: Even our prayer life tends to display more talking at

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Speaker 1: God than listening to God. The Lord invites us, however,

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Speaker 1: to be slow to speak. He encourages us to be

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Speaker 1: very careful with what we say, to give thought and

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Speaker 1: prayer to what we choose to communicate, to be sensitive

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Speaker 1: to how our words will impact others, to realize that

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Speaker 1: what we say and how we say it is a

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Speaker 1: reflection of what's going on in our heart. The Lord

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Speaker 1: also reminds us, through the teaching of James, to be

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Speaker 1: slow to anger. People require patience. As recipients of the

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Speaker 1: Lord's great patience, he encourages us to show patience toward others.

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Speaker 1: We are called to aim for reconciliation, practice forgiveness, and

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Speaker 1: never become consumed with thoughts of vengeance. Let's pray, Lord,

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Speaker 1: we thank you for your word, and we thank you

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Speaker 1: for the privilege that it is to be able to

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Speaker 1: look at it together today. And Lord, we're grateful for

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Speaker 1: the counsel that you give to us in this portion

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Speaker 1: of your word. As you encourage us to be people

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Speaker 1: who are quick to listen, people who are quick to hear.

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Speaker 1: That's how you want us to be. You want us

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Speaker 1: to display a willingness to listen to the counsel and

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Speaker 1: the advice and the words and the concerns of others.

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Speaker 1: And you encourage us to be slow to speak, not

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Speaker 1: to try and dominate every conversation, not trying to one

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Speaker 1: up the other person. As we speak about any particular subject,

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Speaker 1: but to hold our words back at times, realizing that

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Speaker 1: the more the words, the less the meaning, and realizing

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Speaker 1: that we have a propensity to talk over each other.

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Speaker 1: And in so doing, Lord, we recognize that at times

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Speaker 1: we convey that we're not really listening to somebody else

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Speaker 1: at all, We're just waiting for our turn to speak. Lord,

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Speaker 1: we're grateful that when we bring concerns before you, you listen,

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Speaker 1: and then you invite us to listen to you. And

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Speaker 1: we pray Father that we would do that as we

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Speaker 1: hear the counsel of the voice of your Holy Spirit

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Speaker 1: who speaks to us, as we read your word, and

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Speaker 1: as we meditate on the things you've communicated to us

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Speaker 1: in it, and as we listen to the counsel that's

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Speaker 1: offered to us from our brothers and sisters in Christ.

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Speaker 1: We want to be teachable people. We want to be

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Speaker 1: quick to hear and slow to speak. And likewise, Lord,

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Speaker 1: we're grateful for the challenge that you give to us

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Speaker 1: here to be slow to anger. Typically, our outbursts of

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Speaker 1: anger have to do with selfishness, and Lord, we know

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Speaker 1: that it's not your calling on our lives to be selfish.

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Speaker 1: So we pray that, by your grace that we would

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Speaker 1: be slow to anger, that we wouldn't rush to be vengeance,

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Speaker 1: that we wouldn't fly off the handle, that we wouldn't

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Speaker 1: be easily provoked, but that we would be people who

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Speaker 1: promote peace, as we worship your son, the Prince of Peace.

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Speaker 1: So we're grateful, Father for these reminders from your word. Today,

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Speaker 1: we pray that, by your grace that we would live

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Speaker 1: these things out as you empower us to do so.

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Speaker 1: And we thank you for all of these things in Jesus' name. Amen,