NOVEMBER 5 READING…JAMES 5
In faith we are responsive to the will of God. As we respond to His will He leads us to do what is good and right. The choice to do anything other than God’s will is a sin. Finally, we need to trust in God implicitly. We cannot put our faith in money or material wealth. These temporal things cannot give us what we really need. If we trust in them, they will lead us away from the Lord and toward evil. Only in faith in God alone will we experience the fullness of the promises of God as we walk our path on this earth, and ultimately as we enter eternity. As we take it off the page we will live our lives in complete dependence on the Lord.
The Bible calls us to be a patient people. We are to wait upon the Lord with “cheerful endurance”. Life is a race, which denotes activity, and requires active involvement. Our patience as we wait is not to be passive but active. All that we have been taught, and all that we have been commanded, we are to be doing. Our faith continues to respond to the leadership of the Lord, and as we wait patiently for His return we continue to “take it off the page”, living what He has called us to. The Lord has faithfully given us the examples of those who have come before us. These saints of God proved their faith as the endured much as they followed God. We are able to see how the Lord proved Himself in their lives as He rewarded them for their faith which produced endurance. We too, are called to walk in such a faith relationship with God that we endure until that day when we get to see Jesus, face to face. As we wait we need to refrain from grumbling and complaining about each other and about God. We need to let our words be filled with integrity. We need to trust in our God who is very compassionate and merciful, who will make that which is to come so much greater than that which has been.
The Lord calls us to be a people of prayer. Never trusting in the act of prayer, but trust in the God to whom we pray. We have no power in ourselves, but we are reminded that God has the power to do more than we could ever ask or imagine, “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” (Ephesian 3:20-21) The prayer of faith in always in accord with the will of God. It is Holy Spirit directed. God is able to use our prayers to make a real difference in our lives, in the lives of others, and in His church. Pray allows us to speak to our heavenly Father, and gives us the great privilege of hearing from Him. God has given us a great gift in biblical prayer, for it allows us to be involved with the Creator of the universe in accomplishing His great plan. The Lord calls us to “take it off the page”, and by faith join Him in biblical prayer, that we might both see and join Him in all that He does. What a loving heavenly Father we have, for though He doesn’t need us, He still wants us to be a part of His eternal work.
On our own we are all vulnerable to self-destruction by going off into sin. On our own we open ourselves up to doctrinal error. We are to be so close to one another that we can know the spiritual condition and walk of our brothers and sisters in Christ. And we are to be on watch for each other, that we would not lose one. This not so we can busybodies, but so we can genuinely be there for one another. It’s what makes the body of Christ the church. It is what makes us the family of God, because we care for each other. If we love each other we will be invested in each other’s lives. If we are invested in each other’s lives we can encourage and strengthen each other. If someone slips and falls we can be right there to pick them up. To mend their wounds. To help strengthen them. This is love. We need each other. This is the Lord’s design and plan for His church.
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TOMORROW’S READING…1 PETER 1
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