When to Speak and When to be Quiet by Lisa Mick
Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. 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. (James 1:19b-21) NIV
I believe I always skimmed over this verse because I didn’t like the entire passage. However, sometimes God will speak to you through part of a passage. This time He did just that. My lesson was “Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak”. If you know me, you know I talk quite a bit. So this time when I read the verse I thought, “Am I quick to listen and slow to speak?”
Another way our sweet Heavenly Father speaks to us is through other believers. Sometimes what they have to say is not easy to hear and it does hurt. But when the words are spoken in truth and love, you might want to be quick to listen because maybe, just maybe, their might be something very special God is trying to tell you.
When a friend is speaking to you in truth and love, take the time to review the scriptures to confirm that God is speaking to you through this friend. It may be a very difficult situation and some of you might want to run like I did when a friend confronted me about something I needed to change. Running away from problems used to be my M. O. Our Father is teaching me otherwise and I am so grateful.
This road to spiritual maturity never promised to be an easy road. In fact, sometimes it comes with trials to see how we persevere through them. Running for me is not an option anymore. Staying the course and persevering is becoming my new motto. Running was easy and I lost; persevering is sometimes hard, but it is for my good and now I am winning.
So I took this new information and am trying to apply it to my life. Guess what? It is working in a way that I know comes straight from my Father in Heaven. He loves us so. He takes the time to speak to us in all kind of ways. Are you listening?
Do you want me to tell you how I know this is working? Because when I listen instead of speak, God’s voice has an opening to come through to me and I hear him clearer than I ever did before.