In James 3, the message centers on the power of the tongue and godly wisdom. Explore James 3 and discover the power of our words, the danger of an uncontrolled tongue, and the wisdom that comes from God. Rather than treating the passage as abstract theology, the sermon traces what these truths reveal about God, the gospel, and the way followers of Jesus are called to live.
The sermon follows the biblical text into practical discipleship, connecting doctrine with identity, character, and daily obedience. It challenges listeners to examine the assumptions shaping their lives and to allow the truth of Scripture to renew the way they think and respond. The emphasis is not merely on understanding the passage, but on becoming the kind of people whose lives are formed by it.
Along the way, the message engages themes including James 3, the power of the tongue and godly wisdom, james 3 power of words, danger of an uncontrolled tongue. These ideas help place the primary passage within the larger story of Scripture and show how its theology speaks to real spiritual formation. At its heart, the sermon helps answer questions such as: What does James 3 teach about the power of the tongue and godly wisdom? It also considers how should the power of the tongue and godly wisdom shape the way Christians live?
For someone studying this passage, exploring the Christian faith, or looking for practical biblical teaching, this sermon offers a clear path from the text to everyday discipleship. The invitation is to hear what Scripture says, receive it with humility, and take the next faithful step in following Jesus.
What does James 3 teach about the power of the tongue and godly wisdom? | How should the power of the tongue and godly wisdom shape the way Christians live? | How can believers apply James 3 in everyday life?
James 3, the power of the tongue and godly wisdom, james 3 power of words, danger of an uncontrolled tongue, wisdom comes God, the power of the tongue, Godly wisdom
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James chapter 3 right now. And I'm just just brace for impact. This is probably going to be the hardest message of the series. Okay. So, if uh if you're and if you're squeamish, I'm sorry. I'm sorry now because I'm going to do some weird stuff today. Um it's going to be it's going to be a great day. But I want to go back really quick before we start this. Um we kind of skipped over this verse um in James 1 when we started our series. It's it's James 1:26. If you can throw that up there. Um, those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rain on their tongues, deceive themselves and their religion is worthless. Everybody say, "Worthless." >> All right, let's let's have the altar call right now. Lord Jesus, we need you. But but today, we know that we're living in probably one of the most malicious and violent cultures in history when it comes to our words, >> right? Yeah, >> freedom of speech is amazing. I praise God. Thank you. Thank God for America, USA, all the way. But it doesn't mean that we should freely say and type every thought that comes into your brain, >> right? >> Especially me. You don't want to know what's in my brain. It's dangerous. >> That was supposed to be really funny. Y'all y'all know me too well. You know, the tongue is powerful. But it's funny. We we we talked about this last week, and I'll kind of give you a little recap. We were talking about favoritism. We're talking about partiality. We're talking about, you know, don't don't compare people. Don't show favoritism with one person or another. And and on top of that, don't show favoritism when it comes to sin. And sometimes as Christians, we put different sins in different categories like adultery, murder, stealing. Like we go, "Oh, I would never do any of those things." Right? Like those guys go to jail, right? That that's that's really really bad. But then we make lying and slander, deception and boasting almost like second tier, right? But this is not the way of the Lord. God says in scripture that there are things that he absolutely hates. Absolutely hates. And three of the six of those have to do with the tongue. Look at this in Proverbs 6:16-19 says there are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him. And I just had them listed out. You can go and read the how the scriptur is written out, but it's hotty eyes, a lying tongue. There's one of the tongues. Hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes. That could that could kind of be tongue, you know, but it's not. Um feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies, and a person who stirs up conflict in the community. Again, Proverbs is full full of wisdom. If if if you've read it before, I encourage you to. But most of the the wise words and phrases found in it have to do with the tongue. And I I want to encourage us today like I I I I was being funny earlier, but I truly believe the enemy would love for you to get defensive >> when I start talking about this because we all know that there's power in the tongue. We all know that we got to quit running our mouths. We all know, no, I know this. I know this. I know this. But do we do it? And God is calling us today to really examine our tongues, examine our our hearts and lives, and and I'm telling you right now, if we can see the power in this today, it can change everything in your life. Like, have you have you come expecting for a life change? I don't I like I don't know about you, when I was growing up, when I came to church, I came expecting that I was going to leave different. >> It wasn't just like, let's just have a Bible study and maybe have some communion. No, God, I want my life changed. That every time I come into your presence, I want to leave different. That I hope that's your expectation today. So, just with me, everyone, take a deep breath. Let your guard down. Let your guard down and let the Holy Spirit mess up your life because he's going to put it back together even better. So, let's get into this. In James 3, starting in verse one, not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. This is important. I'm not going to dive into this. You could preach a whole message just on this scripture verse. Showing the higher standard for for teaching other believers and and that falls in the role of the pastor, the elders, five-fold ministry. But here's where it gets really interesting. And this is where it applies to us today. Verse two, it says, "We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check." When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a small, very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boats. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. So good. Are there any horse riders in the room? Anybody? Or maybe you've ridden a pony at the fair. Do any sailors here? Any sailors? Or maybe you played with boats in a bathtub. I mean, this it's all relative today. Okay, we're we got to connect to the room here. Your tongue steers your life, right? And if you really break it down, we have all been formed by the words that people have said over our lives. We tend to become what the most influential person to us says that you will become. And you may not realize that, but but you've received it. Words set a course for your life. Both the words that you have received from others and also the words that you've spoken over your own life. I think about my my family, my parents especially. They often, you know, directed me with their words. They encouraged me and and and brought me closer to the Lord. And I'm so grateful for that. But we don't always have that in our lives. We don't always have those encouraging voices. And it's always the hurtful words that we hold on to more. Can anyone attest to that? >> For years, like I I never wanted to sing in church because one person close to me who was actually on the worship team at our time at at the time said, "Your voice is really pitchy and distracting. You should just stop." Right. It really discouraged me. It kind of I mean it broke me up and I because I love to sing and even as a teenager I would I would I was a very kind of emotional kid for for a short season of my life. Like I was I get really joyful joyful. I would get really loud. Um I would I was very passionate just just about God about about life really especially in church. And then I had someone come up to me uh older person in the church and I was like you need to stop being so immature. you're just trying to get attention. And that that may not seem like, you know, heavy heavy words in the moment, but I held on to that and I was like, "Oh, scripture says I need to be mature." Like, I I I I guess I I shouldn't be acting this way. I shouldn't be experiencing these emotions even even when it was, you know, me crying out to God, singing loud, jumping up and down. And so, I shoved it down in my life and didn't allow myself to experience those emotions anymore. And what happens is when we do that, then it starts coming out in other ways. It comes out in anger, came out in rage, bitterness, rebellion. And this all stemmed from the words that were spoken to me. And this is why it's so important who we allow to speak into our lives, >> right? >> It can really set a fire to your life and destroy you, >> especially early on in our life. I don't I don't want to like over therapy speak you today. Um but most of our issues and bad habits today stem from the words spoken to us as children. >> Yeah. >> Don't we can we can all tell our our trauma drama daddy mama issues. Okay. But what happens is those same words when they come back up as adults, we feel like that young child again. I I I can't tell you how many times I've I've had coffee with people and all of a sudden I realize I'm not talking to a grown man anymore or a grown woman. I'm talking to that six-year-old child who felt unloved by their mother. I'm talking to that that teenager who was told that they weren't pretty, they weren't handsome, they weren't good-looking, or that you suck at singing or you should just stop existing. They just want someone to love them and believe in them in those moments. >> And I think we can all relate to this. Like there's been many times, especially when in in marriage, where my wife and I are fighting and we both kind of realize like, who are we talking to right now? >> Because I feel like I'm talking to the 20-year-old version of you and not the How old are you? 34 version of you. No, I know how old she is. I'm kidding. She's 29 always for the rest of her life. Again, how many of us are still carrying painful words that are spoken to us? And whether we we can say like, "Oh, I've let this go. I've forgiven." But whenever those those triggers come back up again, or those words come back up again, there we go. We're back to 6 years old. We're back to 12 years old. We're back to 16. In those moments, the words that we have thought about ourselves are are so often stemming from the mouths of others and they're still shaping us today. And many of us, we're still coping with those words today. And and here's what's so great. This is why I love love love our kids ministry here at Full Life. Our kids volunteers, their biggest job, and I and I talked to to Miss Stephanie about this. Our their biggest job is to look our kids in the eye and say, "I believe in you." Amen. >> To look our kids in the eye and tell them Jesus loves you and he has a plan for your life. >> Amen. >> They're prophesying over these kids. They're teaching them the word of God. It's not just babysitting back there. All right. Can and and like aren't you aren't you grateful? Can we just like applaud right now? I know they can't hear us, but like >> we need people speaking life into our kids >> because right now if we allow the the voices of the world to be louder than the voice of God, then they're going to have control of who our children become. >> I'm so glad we had a baby dedication today >> so so that we can really sit in this like the words that we speak over Emory Dove for the rest of her life are going to shape her into who God created her to be. And that's a responsibility that we need to take to heart as a people. And also, by the way, some of you should become kids volunteers because we need more. We need more people that pour into this next generation. Like, you don't have to know your Bible really well. You just have to love them. Seriously, we've got Bible teachers back there that that that are incredible at what they're doing. We just need kids. We just need adults that are willing to believe in a child and believe in who Jesus says they are, who have a heart for the next generation. Like think about how your life is different because of the words shared with you as a child for positive and for negative. And again, it's not only the words that we've received, but it's also the words that we speak to ourselves. I love this. In in the Old Testament, I mean, you could preach this all day long. The children of Israel when they were leaving Egypt with Moses, they were they were in the desert and God started providing food for them. You all remember what it's called? Mana. Mana. They got that little bread that would show up on the on the grass. They collect it each day. God was providing for them. >> He was sustaining them. And what did they do? They started complaining. >> They started grumbling. They started comparing. This is this this verse is awesome. Numbers 11. This is the Israelites saying, "We remember the fish that we ate in Egypt that cost us nothing. The cucumbers, the melons, the leaks, the onions, and the garlic. I'm getting hungry just thinking about it. Thank God for tacos coming here in a minute. >> But they started comparing. Even though God was providing for them, it wasn't ever good enough. >> Don't those words ring in your mind a little bit? Never good enough. Never enough. The Israelites complained. And guess what happened? The entire generation of people that came out of Egypt, they never made it into the promised land. God waited until they all died out before they allowed them to come in to the promised land. Because of their tongues, because they ran their mouths, it set the course of their life and their future. >> Know this. You will miss the direction of your life if you're a person who's known for complaining, comparing, and cursing your own life. >> Facts. How can God's voice change your life if your negative voice is louder than his? Even when Joshua was ready to enter the promised land and they decide to to send out 12 spies, 10 of them came back with a negative report saying, "We're all going to die. There's giants in the land." And Joshua and Caleb were like, "Y'all need to shut up. Y'all need to be quiet. Let us go up today at once and take possession >> because the Lord is with us. >> What a faith statement. I we see the obstacle. We see what's happening in the world and yet we still have the faith to believe that God is with us. Listen, I get it. The economy isn't great right now. I know there's there's wars happening. All there's political propaganda on all sides. There's there's so many different trials that that we're facing as as families and people of God. But we can either report the news or we can stand on the word of God and move in faith. >> Amen. >> We shape our words and then our words shape us. And I I want to take this just a step further and even clap back to James 2. We can have the right words, but those words should move us into action >> because you can say, "Oh, I know God will handle it. I trust you, Lord." And then we just sit and then we start complaining >> and we're almost like we're we're negating what we just stated. Like, God, I trust you. You you you you got this, Lord. I I believe in you. I know you're taking care of all these different things. But then two seconds later, we just start complaining about why isn't this happening yet? God, why aren't you moving now? Like, what's going on? Do you trust him? Or do we want to just complain? It's It's funny because I I I I told my son the other day like, I know we know these things. I know that we know that we know, but we were we were getting ready to leave our house and he didn't have his shoes on and he was just barefooted. He was playing Legos. And I was just like, "Hey, son, you got to get your shoes on." And he's like, "Okay, Dad." And I came back like a couple minutes later, no shoes, still in the Legos. And uh this is this is great. And I was just like, "Son, you got to put your shoes on." And he's like, "Okay, yeah, yeah." And uh came back again still the same. And finally, I like yelled at him. I was just like, "Son, get your shoes on. We're trying to leave." And he's like, "Dad, I know." And I was quick. I was really quick in this moment. I was like, "I don't care what you know. I care about that you do what you know. >> Do the thing that I'm asking you to do. Don't just know the thing. Do the thing. Listen, faith in word may save you. But faith without action is dead. >> Don't just speak the word of God. Let it actually move you. >> If you're going to speak scripture, if you're going to speak what the Lord has has placed inside of you, start doing the thing. Don't just say it. I'm I'm I'm just not a name it and claim it person. I'm just not. That may be your theology. There's another church down the road that has that theology. I will send you there and I love their pastor and I love their church where I'm just like, "Oh God, I'm going to claim this in Jesus name and then I'm going to go complain about all the other things in my life." That's just not that's just not my theology. James is teaching us about the tongue that our words actually have destructive power. They can destroy everything you have. And many times it's our words that bind us in fear from actually moving in this way, moving and living worthy of the gospel. Just like the Israelites, they they were fearful and that that fear began to dictate their words and dictate their actions. >> Go going back again to James 3, consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one's life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. What a beautiful picture of the tongue. All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind. But no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil full of deadly poison. One spark, >> one word can set your whole life on fire. And if again, if we look at our lives, we're really only one negative word away from ruining our future. >> Like one off-hand comment to a client or coworker could jeopardize your job. A fight with your spouse attacking their character could change your marriage forever. And we already talked about this, but even words to a child could change how they see themselves for the rest of their life. And again, we live in this culture now that encourages us to say what you feel and that that there's not going to be any consequences for just, you know, stating the facts of your life. You know, make a statement, say the quiet part out loud, you know, just let it all out. Just, you have to let it out. You ever had someone say that? Like, oh, I'm listening. Just let it all out. Just tell me all the things. But how much we say and what direction it heads matters. I'm not saying that you need to stop talking, but James, back in James 1, it says, "Be quick to listen and slow to speak." James is saying, "Too much talk leads to sin." Keep your mouth shut instead of saying every little thought that comes into your head. Less words are better. Proverbs 10:19 says, "In the multitude of words, in a lot of words and a lot of talk, sin is not lacking. But he who restrains his lips is wise. Like I tell you what, I've gotten in more trouble in my life trying to overexlain things >> so that someone could understand, right? That's what we like. I'm just trying to be heard. I'm just trying to be understood. That's that's some therapy speak for you, right? But only in the heat of all that then I'm I start engaging in gossip. I start complaining. I start attacking and I start hurting because I'm hurt and I want other people to feel that hurt too, right? But now I'm engaging in sin. And and there's again there's not many sins that don't start with your tongue. And this is not to keep us in a state of fear. Like just chill, okay? This is not to keep like maybe I should just abstain from speaking from the rest of your life. Like I've got you can go join a monastery, you know, if that's what you want to do and just be silent for the rest of your life, you know? I I don't want you to be fearful all the time of the repercussions of our words and all this sort of stuff, but I want to show you how it should empower us. Like like knowledge and is power in this way. >> I'm not saying that you just need to roll over and not say anything. If something is not right in your life, in your marriage, in your job, say something. But use wisdom. Use love. Build each other up. Why? Because we are all children of God. >> Look at this. James 3:9 verse 12 through 12. With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings who have been made in God's likeness. I don't know if you knew this, but you've been made in God's image. You've been made in God's likeness. When you look in the mirror, you're looking at God. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be who you are attacking with your words is someone that God loves and that he created. Talking bad about yourself and cursing yourself is cursing God's creation. >> This feels again, it feels really heavy. It's probably one of the hardest messages in James and it can be really really discouraging and and we can start to feel this this fear begin to creep in where it's like, okay, I can't say this. I I I can't say that. I need to be careful all the time. I shouldn't say all these things. Don't run your mouth. And we can even play this game if we go back and look at the scripture and say the Bible says that no one can tame the tongue. So I guess I should just not try. What's the point if I can't be perfect, right? If perfection is impossible, then why even strive for this? Why even believe that there's a it's a possibility? Maybe I just need to shut my mouth for the rest of my life. Um I'm really excited about this. I had a pastor I I I was trying to find a way to convey this really really well and uh I was talking to a pastor this last week and he sent me this video. So I'm going to use an illustration. I totally stole it from somebody. I'm just giving that caveat right now. So don't like come up to me after the service be like, "Wow, that was so great. How'd you come up with that?" I didn't. Okay? I just want you to know that right now. But I want to I want to make a point here. This is going to be really fun. Is anybody squeamish in the room? No. You're about to find out if you are. My wife was like, "Don't do this, Nick. Whatever you do, don't do this." I think maybe some of you have wondered, "Why is there a yeti up here on the stage?" Maybe maybe I was the only one who wondered or cared. This is going to be fun. All right, here we go. This is a cow tongue. >> It was in my freezer. Okay, we buy a whole cow every single year. This is what it looks like. I did have to like I'm not going to show you the backside because it's kind of it's weirdly gross on the other side. Um I I had to cut some of it to get it to be in this shape because it's not what it looks like. But here's what's really funny. Like it's a beef tongue. It's really gross. It's eaten a lot of grass. But you could say that this tongue is perfect. You could say that it's perfect. Why? Why? Why would Why would we say that? Because this tongue has never lied. >> Move. This tongue has never gossiped. This tongue has never torn down another cow with its words. Sorry. As far as we know, right? It's never criticized or created division. It's never caused pain with threats or attacked someone's character. It's never torn anyone down. It's never spoken ill. It's never had a negative word come out of its mouth. ever. And so you could say this is a perfect tongue that we should all strive to be like this cow tongue, but not this color though. We don't want this color. But this tongue may seem perfect. But this tongue has never built anyone up. >> Th this tongue has never spoken life or love to anyone. It's ne This tongue has never brought peace into anyone's life. >> This tongue has never brought the presence of God or called him holy or called him Lord. This tongue has never preached the gospel or shared the gospel with any other cow. They need Jesus. Hey cow. It's never discipled or loved someone through their pain. This tongue has never prophesied or encouraged anyone. This tongue is again it's never shared the gospel. It's never read the Bible. has never prayed to to the Lord. And so again, we can we can get so fixated sometimes on the negative side of the scripture, but that the tongue is evil. So we it can never be perfect. So why even try? And then we negate the fact that it's our tongue that has the power of both life and death. We get really focused on the death part of that, right? But what about the life that we get to speak into other people? Okay, I'm done with the tongue. I'm putting it away. Here we go. Praise the Lord. It was very cold. We need to see the tongue as a tool in the hands of God. We need to see the tongue as a way to advance the kingdom. It's not all about what you shouldn't do, but what should you do with your tongue? What should you do with the tools that God has given you with your life? James 3:11 it says, "Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives or a grape vine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water." So really, this verse is saying the problem isn't the tongue. The problem is the heart. Write that down if you're taking notes today. >> Your mouth is always connected to what's going on inside of your heart. And so today, we have to ask God to take a look inside of our hearts. You're like, you're not going to be able to do this on your own. We we've read the scripture. No human can tame the tongue. >> So that means the only person who can is God. >> The only person who can bring this into alignment and bring my heart into alignment is the Lord. Like you can speak negative, you can you can argue, but if you start going into the wrong direction and you're gossiping and there's wickedness and violence and fear, it it ends up in sin. Proverbs 10:11 says, "The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life, but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence." When we speak, it reveals what's in your heart. If we are all a well filled with water, your words reveal if that water is lifegiving or not. Fresh water or salt water. Have you ever tried to drink salt water or been in the ocean? It's horrible. It's not a pleasant experience. It is It is death. If we have hurtful critical language, we're condemning people, offensive, and using angry words. Maybe that's a a a point for you to realize that there must be something else going on inside of my heart. Like if I don't have something nice to say, don't say anything at all. You know that expression? I would say if you don't have something nice to say, maybe you need to check your heart. And again, it's not something that you can do on your own. like like James is so so practical. Like here's step one, here's step two, here's what you shouldn't do, here's what you should do, like here's all the plans and all the things, but this is really the one thing where James is like, I'm sorry, I don't have a plan for you. >> It's it's you and the Holy Spirit. It's you and the Lord in this moment. Like, I I I can't give you the 12step plan today as a church on how to fix your tongue. I can I can show you how to hide it. I can show you how to mask it, you know. I can I can help you and and go through counseling with you and deal with all the dad trauma, drama, daddy, mama problems and all that stuff, but you can't fake this because out of the heart, the mouth speaks. You can't fake it till you make it. Like, I don't know. I don't know if you realize this yet in your life. I I I it it's something that I'm learning more and more, but I can't fake real love. >> Yeah. >> I can't fake compassion. I can't fake real peace, the peace of God. I can read all the self-help books and I can meditate and do all the different things that the world tells me to do, but I can't fake peace. I can't fake kindness. I can't fake true forgiveness. And I can't fake godly wisdom. I can't convince you into the kingdom or convince you to live worthy of the gospel. Again, you can read your Bible. You can pray. You can tithe. You can attend church. You can even serve within the church. But without experiencing the presence of God for yourself, how can your heart be made new? You, this isn't about behavior modification. That's not that's not why we go to church. We come to church to be equipped and empowered by the Holy Spirit to begin to live worthy of the gospel every single day. And in order for us to do that, we have to be made new. Our hearts have to be transformed. We can pick up all the principles and do all the things, but at the end of the day, scripture tells us that's all just worthless religion if he hasn't touched your heart. 2 Corinthians 5:17. Worship team, you can come. I'm landing the plane. 2 Corinthians 5:17. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old is gone. The new is here. God does his work inside of you for you to become a new creation so that you can know God. Aren't you grateful that we get to know God? >> Aren't you grateful that we don't have to go to some priest that he is our high priest and we just go straight to him? >> I love this in Jeremiah 31 33 and 34. It says, "For this is the covenant. I will put my law within them. I will write it on their hearts and I will be their God and they shall be my people. Again, this isn't just some rule book that we're following. When you begin to have encounter after encounter with the Lord, when you step into his presence and allow him to come into your heart and mess things up and move things around and do only what what he can do, what he wants to do, he begins to write his word upon you. And I I I I can't explain it other than it's supernatural, but I begin to start acting like Jesus. The more I'm around Jesus, the more I'm in his presence, the more he changes me. It's not all about what you have to do. It's who you become. says, "And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother to be obedient, saying, ' Know the Lord, for they shall know me from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity and remember their sin no more." Come on, can we can we can we just lean into this right now? Like, this is a promise from the Lord that we can know him for ourselves, that we can call upon the name of Jesus. The scripture says when we draw near to him, he draws near to us, we can know God and we can be forgiven and transformed. And again, some of you in this room right now, you're faithful. You love church. You're trying to be a good person. But I'm telling you today, I'm telling us as as a people, we have to undergo a heart transformation that only God can do. >> We can try to cover it up. We can try to modify our behaviors. But only God can truly do it. So again, I don't have a plan for you today, but I have a prayer for you. Write this down. It's Psalm 19:14 for the next week while while you're on spring break or traveling or whatever, wake up before the kiddos. Take some time and I want you to pray this prayer. It says, "Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight. Oh Lord, my rock and my redeemer." God, let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight. Oh Lord, my rock and my redeemer. You can pray like this. You can say, "God, today I need to get my heart right with you. And I know that if I get my heart right, it's going to affect everything that I do today. How I speak to people, how I treat others, how I speak to myself. God, give me words of life for people who've been hurt by words. That's an even greater action step for us. This isn't just a selfish prayer. is God, give me the right words to speak to my wife, to my husband, to my parents, to my family, to my co-workers. There are words from heaven that have not yet been spoken to his children, to his people. There are there are people that we we said it earlier they're still a child in their hearts that didn't get the love that they needed that didn't hear the words that they needed to hear and you have those words for them you us. So we pray God get my heart right. And then secondly we pray even what is being prayed here help me filter what enters my heart. Proverbs 4:23 guard your heart with all vigilance for from it flows the spring of life. Like there's no way you're going to be able to maintain a pure heart if you're allowing negative people, music, shows, videos to pollute your soul. Jesus said it this way. The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good and the evil person out of the evil in his treasure produces evil. For out of the abundance of the heart, his mouth speaks. What in your life? Just just let's let's go here right now because the Holy Spirit's moving. And just begin to ask him, Holy Spirit, what in my life is storing up evil right now? Ask him. Say, "Where is this negative talk coming from? Where is this complaining coming from? Where is this comparison? Where are these curses coming from in my heart? Maybe it's from my past. Maybe it's an area that I haven't healed yet or I haven't fully surrendered to you. Let me tell you, I there there's been so many disappointments in my heart and in my life when I look back on the moments where I wasn't eve
