Am I the Only One, or Does John 15 Keep Coming Up

On day 4 in week six we started looking at James 5:13 -  ¹³ Is anyone among you suffering? He should pray. Is anyone cheerful? He should sing praises (HCSB)  Other versions use similar words for "suffering" - trouble, afflicted, ill-treated, hurting - all of these lead us to prayer. When we are feeling good, cheerful, happy - we are led to sing praises. I don't know about you, but many, many times in my prayer time, when I'm hurting, suffering, troubled, I find myself singing praises. I believe that's the power of prayer. I believe as we spend time in prayer, in the presence of God, abiding in Him, we move from the hurt to embracing His mercy and are able to sing His praise.

We can't begin to move out of a suffering state of life, a victim state, a hurting state, if we aren't living a life with God! I mean truly lving a life with God day in and day out. Jesus tells us in John 15 starting in verse 1  that He alone is the True Vine - our support and that God is the Gardener. We, His children, are the branches on the Vine. We are going to be pruned so that we bear more fruit during our life here on earth. Without the pruning and remaing in the Vine we cannot bear fruit! (I encourage you to read John 15:1-17 several times) To remain in the Vine - is to abide in Christ, which is to live life with God day in and day out. It is to go to God in prayer when we are hurting, suffering, troubled, and allow God, and God alone to turn it into joy, so we can sing praises!

Praise God that His word goes together from the very beginning to the end. James is a small book, with a mighty message. We only have a little more to study, but oh so much more to learn! I can't wait - how about you?

Don't Rush God

Have you ever tried to push or rush God? I mean, have you asked God for something or for direction, then when you didn't get an answer that you wanted, or didn't get it in the time frame you wanted, did you move ahead on your own? Were you satisfied? Were you miserable? Were you somewhere in betweeen?

Many times in some of our discussions, in previous studies, we have talked about spiritual gifts. Do you know yours? I Corinthians 12:1-11 tells of some spiritual gifts, Ephesians 4:11 tells of some more. A good way to identify your spiritual gift if you don't know it, ask someone close to you!

Now back to my origianl question - Have you ever tried to push or rush God? If you know your spiritual gift, and you know what you are supposed to be doing, because God has told you, are you doing it - great! Are you trying to move ahead too fast and do things that are more than what God has told you to do? Just food for thought. Do what God tells you to do. Join Him where he is working. Don't rush God. Don't push God. Let Him grow you and equip you for what He is calling you to do!

You have a couple of weeks to get the work for week 7 done - keep working. Keep checking the blog. I'll be posting some things. If you have comments or questions, post them so that we can see what you are thinking! Love you guys!

Are we Reluctant to go to God?

Last week on day 1 of the study, we had 9 questions that made us think. Then if that wasn't tough enough, and in our face enough, we were faced with the reality of there are times we are reluctant to go to God with things in our life or desires/longings. Now come on don't leave me hanging here - I don't want to be the only one in the world feeling this way....

James 1:16-17 tells us "Don’t be deceived, my dearly loved brothers. 17 Every generous act and every perfect gift is from above..." (HCSB) If we have something in our hearts that we are longing for or desiring, and we are reluctant to go before God and ask for it, then rest assured it is not from God, because God's word does not lie. If God put the desire in our hearts, He wants us to continue to come before Him and ask Him for direction, wisdom, leading, confirmation, and the grace to move forward.

If you are reluctant to go before God and ask Him for the desire/longing, then go and asking Him to remove these from you and put a hedge of protection around you so that Satan will get behind you!

I love you all! Can't wait to see what this week's study will bring.