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James 1:5, “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.” 

This is an invitation to ‘YOU’ personally. I never cease to be amazed that there are so many Scriptures where God talks to us as individuals.  He cares about each one of us and often addresses us personally in His Word.

I think all of us would like to be ‘wise’ in the way we live, (having the power to discern and judge correctly, 1828 Dictionary) When we are unsure how to handle a situation or decision, God is telling us that we can ask Him for His help and wisdom in making the proper choices.  This can involve any area of our lives.  We all know that life can throw us curve balls when we least expect them.  This should make this promise all the more appreciated by us.

Our heavenly Father says, “Ask Me to help you live wisely and I will do so, freely and bountifully.   I will not reprove you or scold you because you asked and I promise to answer you.”  ( Jackson paraphrase)

Think about it. It really is foolish for us to muddle through life and try to manage on our own when God promises His help and wisdom.  Our job is to ASK for this wisdom.  Don’t forget the verse that follows this promises, James 1:6a, “But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering.”

God gives us promises, but we must believe and claim these promises by faith!

Philippians 2:3, “Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.” 

Let nothing be done through strife (contention in anger) or vainglory (empty pride) – 1828 Dictionary. In other words – not ever, no way, no how, should we allow anger or self promotion to motivate our lives.  Self cannot be allowed to be number one in our considerations.

This is so-o-o-o contrary to our nature. It seems to be automatic for us to make decisions on the  ‘how does this affect me?’  basis.  But, God says – NO.  We are to put others before ourselves and we are to be kind while we are doing it.  We are even to consider that others are better than we are.

God is instructing us here to be humble. God desires that we should be free from pride and arrogance.  The Scriptures are full of God’s directives on how He wants His children to live, they are to be: kind, forgiving, loving, soft spoken, not argumentative, helpful, humble, not grumblers…  I’m sure you can add many more desirable traits to this list.

God does have standards of conduct for our lives if we profess Jesus as our Saviour.   Our desire should be to know these standards (by reading and studying the Bible) and then by striving to incorporate these traits into our lives.  How we live is how we show to the world that God has made a difference in our lives.

We all know that we are not capable of making these changes in our own strength. But remember Philippians 4:13,  “I can do all things through Christ which strentheneth me.”  God is always near to help us – we just need to want to follows His ways and then ask for His help to do so!

Colossians 3:23, “And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;” 

Ecclesiastes 9:10a, follows this thought, “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might.”

The ‘whatsoever’ in these verses covers a lot of ground. Come to think of it – it covers everything.  God is telling us (quite clearly) that any job, small or large should be done with zeal and eagerness and to the best of our ability.  It doesn’t matter if it’s singing in a choir, teaching a Sunday School class, working at a job, or doing the dishes. If our thoughts are wanting to please God in what we are doing, then this will be counted as serving the Lord and God will bless our efforts.

We are all on equal ground.   It’s true that some may have more talents or abilities than others, but it is a matter of the heart.  If the ‘whatsoever’ you are doing is done with a humble spirit and wanting to please the Lord, it has the same value before God.

God made you—you. So thank Him for the abilities YOU have, and serve Him with those abilities to the best of your ability!  (O.K. I overdid the word ability – but I am sure you get the idea.)  You can be a great servant for God by following His leading.  Do the best you can and do it as to the Lord.  This is God’s way and this is what He desires from YOU!

Psalm 112:7, “He shall not be afraid of evil tidings:  his heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord.” 

This verse is the answer in a ‘nut shell’ to all the evil tidings we are bombarded with every day. Morally, politically, economically, spiritual false teachings – the list can go on and on.  It seems to get more bizarre every day.  The world seems to be going crazy and evil seems to be taking over, but —

 Praise God, the Christian needs not to be afraid in the midst of all of this chaos.

Fixed means: settled, established, firm, fast, stable  (1828 dictionary).

God says our hearts (our innermost self) need to be fixed (settled and established) on Him. Our eyes need to be looking at Him and His power, not on man and his evil ways.  When we are trusting God and acknowledging that He is in control, then we will be able to stand firm in our faith, and nothing will be able to shake our resolve to serve God.

Our emotions do not need to be on a roller coaster because our society is so off kilter. Watching the news can make you want to stop the world and get off!  But, God says that if our eyes are focused on Him and we are trusting Him no matter what is going on around us, there will be no room for anxiety and fear.  What a GREAT PROMISE!

II Corinthians 12:9, “And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.  Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” 

This verse is telling us that God’s grace is sufficient – it’s enough. Actually it’s more than enough to meet every need we may have in life.

As we read God’s Word, much seems to bounce back into our laps. God says His grace is sufficient – if it doesn’t seem so to us – guess who has the problem…WE DO!.  God’s promise is there, and He cannot fall short on a promise. Therefore,  all the frustrations and anxieties we face in life are magnified simply because we do not reach out and accept this grace that God has promised to us.

This verse is not saying that there will be no problems or heartaches in this life. What it is saying is that God’s strength is available to us so that we will be able to face these problems with assurance and peace.

“That the power of Christ, may rest upon me.” What a great thing.  We can walk in the power of Christ.  We do not have to depend on our own feeble strength to get us through the day.  This promise sure makes the future look brighter and the hardships we may have to endure seem less daunting.

God’s grace and Christ’s power – This is a promise we need to claim daily!

Hebrews 10:23, “Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for faithful is He that promised;)” 

This is a commission from God Himself. He is telling us to hold fast, stand firm, and not vacillate in our faith.  Now, we all realize that we cannot do this in our own strength.  BUT, it is our decision if we are going to reach out for God’s help during the trials and challenges of life.  We are not puppets that have no control on how we serve God, it really is our choice.

Basically, our faith and trust in God should be so settled and firm in our lives that nothing will be able to shake it – NOTHING.  We need to be like that tree in Jeremiah 17:8, “For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.”  If our lives are planted deep into the soil of God’s Word, and our roots are reaching for the water of His grace, then our life will be fruitful – no matter what is going on around us.  The wind can blow, the draught can come, the heat can beat down on us, but we will stand tall and firm in our faith.  Our testimony will hold fast for God.

For us to be the faithful people that God wants us to be, we need to read the Word and meditate on the Word daily.  This is how we grow and are nourished in our Christian life.

I know that you know this, but we often let ‘life’ get in the way of what we know we should do.  To know and to do are very different things.

My prayer is that my faith will be strong, and that your faith will be strong; strong enough to stand firmly for God in this unsettled world.  He promised to help us and give us strength and He will do so if we are seeking that help and asking for it.  Remember – faithful is He that promised

Matthew 16:24, “Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” 

If you are going to follow Jesus, He requires that you deny yourself. (Wow!  This is HARD – it’s up there on the top of the list of difficult things to do in life!)  From the time that we are born we seek to satisfy ourselves.  Jesus said if we want to follow Him, we must not allow self to control us or our decisions.

Our first consideration should always be – what does God desire that I should do?  Do the decisions that I make line up with His Word?

I can think of many ways that self and obedience to God are in conflict. We face these choices every day.  Think about which ones win out in your life.  We know that there are certain areas that are definitely in the “I should do – because it pleases God” category.   Such as:

• Spend time in the Bible every day.
• Pray for others and self.
• Be a witness for Jesus.
• Be in church when church is in session.
• Live godly lives – choose right over wrong.
• Be…this list can go on and on. I’m sure you get the picture.

We must decide if these areas take top priority in our lives or do we allow them to be crowded out by the desires of ‘self’? Jesus says if we are to be a true ‘follower’ of His, we must deny ourselves and put God first.  How do you measure up?

Ephesians 4:26, “Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath. 

God’s Word is filled with so much wisdom. He knows man’s nature so well and He pinpoints areas that we need to deal with in order to be the testimony for Him that He desires.

When we are angry, we tend to act with quickness and harshness. We are so opened to acting irrationally during this time.  We seem to lose control and focus concerning what is really important (being a good testimony for the Lord) and we often sin as a result.

God knows that anger will come into our life, and He is addressing this issue here. He seems to be saying, “Okay, I know you will get angry…but don’t let that anger carry you into sin.”  Nip it in the bud, short circuit it, and be the testimony you should be for the Me.   When we are angry it seems that our whole being is caught up in the emotion.  There is no room for praising God, praying, or reading God’s Word.

The second half of this verse, “let not the sun go down on your wrath,” is God telling us not to hold grudges.  We are not to stew and fret over what we perceive as an injustice.  Let go of it.  (You need to give it over to the Lord and then ask for His help to leave it there.)  God knows that fuming and replaying something over and over again in your mind will hurt you more than the person you are angry with.  This advice from God is for you.  God says that before your head hits the pillow, resolve the problem so you can face tomorrow with a spirit that can serve and please Him!

Matthew 6:33a, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness;”

When God laid on my heart to write a blog, I was excited. I can honestly say I love doing it.  I love the Bible and I love the things that God is teaching me through His Word.  It is wonderful to be able to share these verses and thoughts with others.

I determined to spend the first part of the day reading the Scriptures and working on these blogs. WELL – I’m sure you can relate – life keeps wanting to get in the way.  There is so…so…much to do.  Important stuff – or so it seems.

This morning my mind was racing with a list of ‘need to do’ chores. I began to convince myself that I needed to do these first.  I have to smile because God always has a way of reminding me of what my priorities should be.  Logic says,  “I need to do – this, this, and this – first.  As I was beginning to agree with my ‘logical’ thoughts – God simply recalled to my mind Matthew 6:33, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God.”  I realized that the Holy Spirit was telling me loud and clear what is really important. Meet with God first.

Don’t let life crowd God out.  Don’t let the ‘need to do list’ crowd Him out.  Don’t let anything crowd Him out!  Your day will go better and your life will go better if God has the proper place in them.

Remember – God First – before everything else!

Proverbs 25:21,22, “If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink:” “For thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head, and the LORD shall reward thee.”

The concept of feeding our enemies when they are hungry and giving them drink when they are thirsty is so contrary to our way of thinking, yet, God says to help them if they have a need.

Jesus, Himself, gives us similar instructions in Matthew 5:44, “But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;”

Remember, this is how God wants us to behave. This is how HE wants us to live. This is what HE expects of us.

When we can put aside our own feelings, and follow God’s ways above our own, we are accomplishing two things:
One – we are showing obedience and submission to God.
Two – we are being a testimony to the world that God has made a difference in our lives.

Certainly the natural man would not consider helping an enemy, but God’s man would.

There is a little bit of irony here because verse 22 says that this will “heap coals of fire upon his head.” God has a wonderful sense of humor.  He says be kind to your enemy – it will drive him crazy.  Probably trying to figure out your motives behind your kindness.

The best part is that God says if you do this – follow His instructions, even when you would rather not (who wants to help an enemy?) That He (God) will reward you.

Obedience is always the best way!