Speaker A
Before we pray together,
A powerful message on the importance of controlling our speech and letting our words be gracious and seasoned with salt.
Key Takeaways
- The tongue is powerful and can defile or bless, so it must be carefully controlled.
- Believers have a higher responsibility to ensure their speech is gracious and edifying.
- Words should always be 'seasoned with salt,' meaning gracious, wise, and beneficial.
- Spiritual growth and time spent with Jesus enable believers to speak with supernatural wisdom.
- Prayer and reliance on God are essential for healing and controlling careless or harmful speech.
Summary
- The video explores James 3:5-12, emphasizing the power and potential destructiveness of the tongue.
- It highlights the impossibility of the tongue producing both blessing and cursing simultaneously.
- The message stresses the responsibility of believers to control their speech and use words to build up others.
- Scriptures such as Colossians 4:6 and Ephesians 4:29 are cited to encourage gracious and edifying speech.
- The speaker explains that words can either bring life or death and that believers must be mindful of what they say.
- The importance of being filled with the life of Christ and staying in the Word to speak with wisdom is emphasized.
- The video calls for self-reflection and prayer for those who struggle with controlling their tongues.
- It encourages believers to pray for grace to speak wisely and to use words as a weapon for good.
- The message concludes with a heartfelt prayer asking God for forgiveness and help in controlling speech.
- Overall, it teaches that the influence of Jesus should be evident in the believer’s speech and actions.
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
Speaker A
let's read James 3:5-12.
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It says, "Even so, the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things.
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Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.
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For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind: But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.
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Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God.
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Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing.
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My brethren, these things ought not so to be.
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Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter?
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Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries?
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Either a vine, figs?
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So can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh."
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These verses are worth a moment of our time.
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But the part I want us to think on the most is verse 11 specifically.
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Can the fountain that is our tongue, in this case, bring forth sweet and bitter water from the same place?
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The Bible says this is impossible.
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You know, when the Lord says to us, let your words always be seasoned with salt,
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He probably knew that without that warning, a lot of us would hurt a lot of people with our tongues.
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He knew that that one weapon would be the hardest for many of us to control.
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The verses in the book of James give such an accurate description of how something so unassuming,
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of how something so little, can cause so much pain.
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He says the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity,
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and check this, the Bible says this little member can defile the whole body.
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This brings to mind what Jesus said when He was speaking to the Pharisees
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in Matthew 15, verse 11.
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Here Jesus says,
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"What goes into someone's mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them."
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The words we speak from our mouths are what defile us.
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Words are powerful.
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They are so strong, so filled with power, that they can either tear down or build up.
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The Bible tells us in many verses how powerful words are even to the believer's life.
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Scripture says by the words of our mouth we are justified, and by those same words
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we can be condemned.
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And as believers, more responsibility is on us to watch what we say.
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The Bible literally tells us to do so,
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to be careful of what we say to one another.
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In the world right now, you will find that the most secular person knows to be careful with words.
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Words have probably hurt more people than guns or wars ever have.
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If unbelievers know to be careful when speaking, how much more us.
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And the charge is not just to be careful.
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Like I said, we have more responsibility, so while the Lord tells us to be careful in speech,
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He also says to make sure that our words are seasoned with salt.
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Colossians 4:6 puts it this way.
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"Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person."
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It says let your speech, your conversations, always be gracious.
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This graciousness is not meant for only some moments,
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or when we feel like it, or when someone is nice to us,
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it is always.
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Ephesians 4, verse 29 also gives us insight
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into what it means for our speech to be seasoned with salt.
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It says, "Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths,
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but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen."
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Let no unwholesome speech come out of your mouth.
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Colossians also says to mind our conversations because what we produce from our mouths
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as Christians should be to edification, it should be to healing.
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It should never be found in us that two worlds are at war in our tongues,
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that is, the world of curses and that of blessing.
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Maybe that gives some people the impression that we are trying too hard,
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but being careless with speech to show what many people term being real is not a flex.
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We can be positive and be real, we can encourage ourselves and be real,
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we can edify ourselves and be real.
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I believe it's also one of the reasons why scripture advises us that as believers we have people
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that can build us up when we are down.
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This is because words of encouragement
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should naturally be found in us as people of faith, such that when people come around us,
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they are strengthened in whatever they are going through, they are renewed.
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Our word should not bring death but life.
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Besides being mindful of how we speak, however, we also have to be careful
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of what we take in as believers.
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Because ultimately, we are products of what we believe.
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We are products of what we feed ourselves.
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We are products of what we have permitted to thrive in our mind and in our souls.
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We can't speak life to others, we can't edify others
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when they are down or when they are around us in normal day-to-day conversations,
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if we don't carry life with us first.
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And the life I speak of here is the life of Christ, that is what should dwell within us abundantly.
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Without that life, nothing we say matters, and nothing we say actually edifies,
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and there is only one prescription by which we can be filled with this life ourselves,
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and that is by staying in the word.
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If, as Christians, we stay in the word, when we speak, it will show.
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It was said of the disciples of Jesus that clearly they were unlearned and uneducated men,
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and yet they spoke so wisely.
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Only one thing was recorded as the cause of their wise and edifying words:
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that they had been with Jesus.
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When, as believers, we make out time to be with Jesus, it shows.
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It shows in our actions, it shows in our speech, it shows in the way
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we tackle life problems because we tackle them as one who knows the secrets of the kingdom.
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The same is true in this case.
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We must be so filled with Jesus that the world will see clearly that the influence upon our lives is Him.
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So when we speak, when we have conversations,
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our words are not empty, they are not filled with human wisdom
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but with supernatural wisdom.
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Our words carry the very life and the very wisdom of God.
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If you know that you have not been very good at curbing your tongue,
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if you know you struggle with that part of life,
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and rather than speak death, you would rather speak life,
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if you want your words to be a weapon for good, a weapon that the Lord can use
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to bless people and encourage them in whatever season they are in,
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then I invite you to come pray with me and thousands of believers right now.
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Let us pray.
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Let us pray.
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Dear Heavenly Father, I thank you for today.
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I'm grateful for everything you have done and all you continue to do in my life.
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Thank you for your blessings and for always making your word available to me.
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I'm especially thankful for this message.
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Thank you for showing me the truth in you and for helping me realize I need to heal my words
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and be careful with what I say.
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Thank you, Lord.
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Father, I ask that you forgive me for any way my words have hurt others
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or caused deeper pain in their grief.
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I apologize if my words have led people away from you
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or if I have been careless and not mindful of my speech.
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I pray that you bring healing to those I have hurt,
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especially those still carrying the scars of my carelessness.
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I ask that you touch them.
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Today, Father, I commit myself and my tongue into your hands.
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I place this part of my life before you because I realize I cannot control it on my own.
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I admit I have not always been careful or seen this as important.
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But now, Lord, I see things more clearly, and I want to change.
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Please give me the grace to live out this understanding each day.
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Help me control my words.
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Help me not to speak carelessly or lash out at others, even when I feel hurt, misunderstood,
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or think they deserve a harsh reply.
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Teach me to hold back, to be wise, and to pause before I speak.
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Show me how to answer in a way that shows your heart.
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Help me aim for a higher standard, not to look good to others,
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but because I belong to you.
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Father, I also ask that you take away anything in me that makes me use my words to hurt others,
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in Jesus' name.
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If it is anger, please remove it.
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If it is pain I have not dealt with, take it away.
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If it is trauma, bitterness, insecurity, pride, resentment, or deep wounds that come out in my speech,
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I ask you to remove them.
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If I have become sharp with my words because of my past, please heal me at the root.
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Change not just my words, Lord, but heal my heart.
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Heal the places where I am broken or have grown hard.
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Heal me where pain has made me defensive, cold, or careless.
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Help me think about others' feelings when I speak.
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Remind me that my words represent you.
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Let that truth stay strong in my heart.
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Lord, I also ask that you breathe life into my words and make them words that build others up.
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Let my words have meaning, not just sound clever.
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Keep me from saying things that hurt or tear others down.
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Help my words bring hope to those who are discouraged and help people in whatever season they are in.
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Let my words give strength to the tired,
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comfort to those who grieve, gentle correction, and encouragement to those who feel like giving up.
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Let my speech lead people closer to you and help them trust you with their worries.
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Fill my conversations with grace, my answers with wisdom, and my tone with compassion.
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Father, I also pray for the grace to build myself up.
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I pray for grace to stay with your word, the grace to meditate and to delight in your word.
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Help me to grow even as I remain in your word.
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Help my mind to grow, my thoughts, actions, the way I speak, and even the way I take care of decisions in my own life.
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Let the testimony of people be that it is evident in my life that I have been with Jesus,
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that I have been with His word.
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Fill me with your wisdom, Lord.
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Fill me with your understanding, and let the thoughts of my heart, my meditations, and even my speech glorify you.
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Heavenly Father, thank you for hearing me.
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I'm grateful because I know you are answering my prayer right now.
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Thank you for helping me control my words, so they bring life instead of harm.
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Thank you for teaching me to speak in ways that honor you and for healing what needs to be healed in me.
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Thank you for changing my heart as well as my speech.
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In Jesus' name, I thank you again for your word and for blessing me through it.
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Amen.
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I hope this devotion and prayer have blessed your heart today.
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We pray that the Lord will help you guard your words, heal every wounded place within you,
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and fill your mouth with grace, wisdom, and life in Jesus' name.
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If you have any special prayer requests, we would be honored to pray for you,
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so feel free to share them in the comments.
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May the Lord help you speak in a way that builds others up, reflects His heart, and brings glory to His name.
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May God's peace be with you always.
Topics:Christian faithpower of wordsJames 3seasoned with saltcontrolling the tonguegracious speechspiritual growthBible teachingprayer for speechedifying words
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