Today’s Scripture:

11 The mouths of those who do right pour out life like a fountain.    But the mouths of sinners hide their evil plans.

12 Hate stirs up fights.    But love erases all sins by forgiving them.

13 Wisdom is found on the lips of those who understand what is right.    But those who have no sense are punished.

14 Wise people store up knowledge.    But the mouths of foolish people destroy them.

15 The wealth of rich people is like a city that makes them feel safe.    But having nothing destroys those who are poor.

16 People who do what is right earn life.    But sinners earn sin and death.

17 Anyone who pays attention to correction    shows the path to life.But anyone who refuses to be corrected    leads others down the wrong path.

18 Anyone who hides hatred with lying lips    and spreads lies is foolish.

19 Sin is not ended by using many words.    But those who are wise control their tongues.

20 The tongues of those who do right are like fine silver.    But the hearts of those who do wrong aren’t worth very much.

Prayer Transcript:

Lord, I am stirred about how many times the Proverbs talks about our mouths and I am also convicted by that.  Lord, we want to be people who pour out joy, empathy and kindness with our tongues. We want to pour out life like a fountain as the Proverbs say.  We don’t want to stir up fights, we want to be people who are forgiving and loving. Lord, I pray today for the person who is hurting, because they have been broken by somebody else and they are struggling to forgive and they are battling hatred in their hearts towards somebody and Lord, this is not  light thing, this is something deep, especially if the wound goes all the way down to our core. If someone has hurt us, way down to our worth and where we feel our sense of self is.  Lord I know that that journey of forgiveness looks different on everyone and so Lord I would never prescribe how to do that but Lord, You can. You can lead us toward a forgiving heart. You can lead us to be healed from the pain that somebody else has inflicted on others. Lord, I pray that we would not become like those who have harmed us, but instead, we would look to them as cautionary tales of how not to be be, because we understand how deeply wounding it is to be treated that way. Lord, help us to keep a trap over my mouths so we are not spreading strife and also help us to bless others, to be something positive with our words today. Lord help us to speak blessings over our children in their presence, help us to speak blessings over our parents in their presence, help us to speak blessings over our friendships in their presence, help us to speak blessings over our leaders in our church and people that we work with, in their presence. Help us to tell someone that really shows we have been paying attention to them and notice them. Lord, this verse 17 really caught me today “Anyone who pays attention to correction, shows the path to life, but anyone who refuses to be corrected, leads others down the wrong path. Lord, if we pay attention to your correction, we will see that pathway of life. You will show us what the next step is but if we don’t heed correction, it says that only are we going to go down the wrong path, but we are going to lead others down that wrong path and Lord, we don’t want to do that we want to be on the correct path and we do not want to deceive others. So would You shed Holy light on us today, help us to know where our pathway is crooked, help us to know when we should be trusting you more, help us to know when we have a wrong way of thinking about something, about Your word,