Look In the Mirror by Pastor Chuck Vedral

Take a Look In the Mirror by Pastor Chuck Vedral

James 1:19 reads, "My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life 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."

When the Scriptures say "take note of this" they are trying to relay something very important to us. "Man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires," and our message is Daddy's not angry but if we're angry all the time, people are going to think we're crazy! If we're going to say Daddy's not angry, then we better be sweet like He is. If we're not sweet we need to cry out to the Lord and ask Him to change us.

We live in a world where things can constantly make us angry but let's get it right, Daddy's not angry, we shouldn't be either. We need faith to do this! It's easy to say what God's Word says but it's another thing to say it for your own life. We need to be quick to hear God's Word and slow to react to our surroundings. "Therefore, get rid of all moral filth (don't be angry, Daddy's not angry)... and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you (from offending God.)"

When we become angry God's heart is grieved and He sends the Holy Spirit to convict us of our sin. Ephesians 4:26 tells us, "in your anger do not sin." When we're angry we should cry out to God to help us instead of saying other things. If you know who you are in Christ you can tell the devil to take a hike when he comes against you. We don't need to respond to circumstances because they have to change when we speak God's Word into them. These are the words that are planted in us.

Verse 22 goes on to say, "Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in the mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like."

See, if you've heard the Word of God, you will know who you are in Christ, you will know how to act and speak by looking into the Mirror of God's Word. You can see you are healed, you don't have to be angry, you don't have to struggle with poverty and much more! It's when we don't look in the mirror that we forget who we are and the cares of this world become our focus. We will forget we are healed and accept our sickness. We will forget our inheritance and accept our poverty and lack.

When a mirror becomes scratched from behind it becomes a glass you can see through. It becomes useless to us. We need to get out our mirrors (Bibles) and constantly look inside them to see what's really happening! Look in the Mirror! God's word in verse 25 instructs us to "look intently into the perfect law that gives freedom," if we do this and not forget what we have seen or heard we will be blessed in all that we do!

God's Word tells us that because Jesus paid the price for our sin and restored us to our proper place with God we can cry out "Abba, Father" and receive all that He has for us! We need to not forget what we look like through God's Mirror. Others need to hear the message God has given us and we need to back up that message with a reflection of God's Word and a demonstration of His power. Let's not forget what we've seen in His mirror!

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