Recap: We all have our own "big fat mouth", and that mouth can cause all sorts of problems. In James 1:19 we read that we need to be "quick to listen and slow to speak". We often do the opposite. But we all want to be heard and understood & that happens when we're quick to listen & slow to speak. It guards our anger, it helps us live the way Jesus wants us to and it will help us to be right WITH each other, not AT each other.

Questions:
(1) What's the dumbest or most foolish thing you remember saying with your "big fat mouth"?
(2) Read Proverbs 18:21. Recall a time when you've experienced people speaking words of life to you. What did they say? How about words of death?
(3) Read James 1:19-21. Do a little self-evaluation. How are you doing (really) in being "quick to listen and slow to speak"? Who in your life is this the hardest with?
(4) What can you do this week to seek to hear and understand the person you talked about in the previous question?
(5) How is anger tied to how we use our words? What does James say happens when we get angry? Where and how have you seen that in your own life?
(6) Who have you been trying to be right "AT" vs. "WITH"? What's one step you could take this week to make the shift from AT to WITH?

PRAYER: God, help me to be quick to listen and slow to speak this week. You know I can easily do the opposite. Help me to really seek to hear and understand others and seek to be right WITH them. I want to be produce the kind of life that you desire. Help me to trust that you will care for me and I don't need to get every opinion or truth across. Help me to listen. In Jesus' name, Amen.