Work in Progress

The 3 things I loved about James were:

1. James 1:17
   “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights”One of the things that humbles me the most is when I look at the things I have in my life, and acknowledge that it all came from God. And then as you pour your thankfulness out to Him by serving Him, you realise that Him allowing you to serve Him is yet another one of His gifts to us.

   So, not only does He pour His gifts upon us, be He then allows us to used them to glorify Him. Keep me humble.

2. James 3:1
   “Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly”This is not a common verse to be excited over! It’s scary… God has called me to a level of leadership within churches that involves teaching, and as the result of following my calling, I am raising to a level of more strict judgement.

   This means it’s even more important that I be a man of integrity!!!

3. James 4:3
   “When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your own pleasures”This is one of those heart-check things for me. What is my attitude as I pray? What are my motives for the things I ask for? One thing that really struck me when reading Rees Howells ‘intercessor’, was that he developed a principle that he would not pray for something that he was not willing to be the answer for. This then makes prayers more selfless.

   It’s easy when someone is struggling for cash, to say “i’ll pray”, but can you pray expecting to be the answer? If I am willing to give them the cash, then I have more right to pray that God provides someone else who will.

   What is your motive? Ask, that you might receive.