In Need Of Wisdom? Just Ask In Faith, Sounds So Simple

As I was reading the next part of James for this week’s talk I thought James make this sound so simple, as we read James 1:5-8 it sounds simple yet it is not.  “If you need wisdom—if you want to know what God wants you to do—ask him, and he will gladly tell you. He will not resent your asking.  But when you ask him, be sure that you really expect him to answer, for a doubtful mind is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. People like that should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. ⁸ They can’t make up their minds. They waver back and forth in everything they do.”(James 1:5-8)  It says ask God for Wisdom and He will give it to you, ask Him what He wants you to do, and He will let you know.  But then comes the second part, have faith that He is going to answer.  That is the hard part, having faith that God is going to let us know.

As adults we have lived and experienced much more then children, I have six nieces and a nephew.  I have spent a lot of time with them and there are times that they are about to do something that is going to harm them or someone else.  When this happens one of the adults around quickly lets them know that is not a good thing to be doing, they almost always ask why?  Why because we know that is going to cause harm, how? Because it is you are just going to have to trust me.  See as followers of Christ we ask God for Wisdom or what direction He wants to go, and we have to realize that God knows more than we do, that His answer is always going to be correct and we are told to have Faith and follow.  I believe the problem also comes with a misunderstanding of what wisdom is or how we receive it.  Most wisdom is received by experiences, being wise and being intelligent are two different things.  When we ask God for wisdom, He is most likely going to give us wisdom through allowing us to go through different experiences. Some of the experiences are not always going to be easy that is where true wisdom comes from; from times of difficulties or times or being disciplined.  The writer of Proverbs says; “To discipline and reprimand a child produces wisdom, but a mother is disgraced by an undisciplined child.”(Pr 29:15)

We must come to the understanding that God is in control of all things, “And we know that God causes everything to work together^* for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.”(Romans 8:28)  Knowing that God is control, and that He desires for us to know Him better, and to grow His wisdom is a great thing.  We are able to put our faith and trust in God with knowledge that there is no reason for us to waver in our faith when we remember who God is.  When James says, “but when you ask him, be sure that you really expect him to answer, for a doubtful mind is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. People like that should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.  They can’t make up their minds. They waver back and forth in everything they do.” (Jm 1:7-8)    He is saying, do not be double minded, do not ask God for something yet fall back into the things of the world, expect God to do mighty things for His Kingdom in your life, not to do mighty for us or our kingdom.  We are to live for God obediently and with reverent fear.  “Reverence for the Lord is the foundation of true wisdom. The rewards of wisdom come to all who obey him.”(Ps 111:10)  “Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Knowledge of the Holy One results in understanding”(Pr 9:10)

Growing in Christ Isn’t Always Easy

As we walk through life, things are not always going to be easy, there are going be problems, temptations, and trails.  The question is how do we handle ourselves during these times? Are we going to complain about what’s going wrong, are we going to put on a strong face in front others yet inside we are falling apart and complaining?   Or maybe we can lift our head toward heaven and thank God for these times and realize how much love He has shown us.  Not to many years ago I was going through a rough spot, it seemed everything that could go wrong went wrong.  I wish I could say that I handled it  with grace and thanked God for it every day, in fact I wish I could say that I lifted my head towards heaven and not praised God but asked Him for Wisdom.  But instead I went around complained about it to Autumn and to anyone in the family who would listen, stuck my foot in my mouth more often than not, and just made those around miserable.  I wish that at some point during this time I had taken a closer look at James tells here in his letter; “Dear brothers and sisters, whenever trouble comes your way, let it be an opportunity for joy.  For when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be strong in character and ready for anything.  If you need wisdom—if you want to know what God wants you to do—ask him, and he will gladly tell you. He will not resent your asking. But when you ask him, be sure that you really expect him to answer, for a doubtful mind is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.  People like that should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. They can’t make up their minds. They waver back and forth in everything they do.”(James 1:2-7)

If only I knew then what I know now, I would have handled that spot in my life so differently.  I realize that we all go through different trails, maybe your trail is a temptation in your life that keeps creeping back to haunt you, maybe you’re new to the faith and feel that God is telling you, get rid of a sin that you really want to hold on to.  May you are having financial trouble; maybe you don’t like your job but feel trapped in it with no way out.  But this is what I do know, we serve a God who does know and He knows the answers and has the strength to guide and direct us into a new stage of walk with Him.  When these times come to us we need to go to God and seek out His wisdom and His strength.  James tells us as we grow in God we are not to expect  things to be great, but to realize things are going to get tough.  When we realize that change is needed in our lives it is never easy, when times get tough it easy to throw up our hands and say forget it I don’t care anymore.  Yet both James and Peter tell us the same thing that it is during these times of trails our faith will grow in God.  “These trials are only to test your faith, to show that it is strong and pure. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—and your faith is far more precious to God than mere gold. So if your faith remains strong after being tried by fiery trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.”(1^st Peter 1:7)

I remember one day putting on my pants and thinking these seem a bit tight then looking at the size on them and thinking when did I get this big.  It was that day I decided it was time to lose the weight.  I started to run and do pushups and all the things one does to lose weight.  I found out a couple things, one the first week was easy after that it got harder, I was sore I wanted to eat more ice-cream then I needed to be eating.  People would start to give me a hard time about having a salad every day for lunch and try to get to get food from what fast food place they were going to.  But I also found out that it got easier the soreness went away and the results were worth the hard work.  This is true in life, the things that are worth having are generally coming with a great deal of sacrifice and trails but once we have received it no one can take from us. 

Living For God Part Four:

As I sat down and read 1^st Peter I looked at this verse in chapter four verse 5, “Of course, your former friends are very surprised when you no longer join them in the wicked things they do, and they say evil things about you.”  I wondered for a minute is this true of me, have I been growing in God’s love and have I been changing some of my views on things.  At a wedding I recently attended, I saw an old friend I hadn’t seen in a long, I have kept up with her ministry through Facebook.  I told her how exciting it was to see God working through her.  What she told surprised and amazed me.  She said, “I don’t watch football anymore and have no desire to do so either.”  A little surprised at her answer knowing that she was one of the biggest football fans I have known and wondering what this had to do with her ministry I continued to listen to her as she continued.  “Over a year ago I asked God to remove anything in my life that hindered my ministry and my relationship with Him, since then I no longer had any interest in football.”   Watching football is not a sin nor was she implying that it was but it had become one. She had realized it had become a bigger influence over her life then God.  Talk about a change in someone going from being a die-hard football fan to not even knowing who played in the Super Bowl!

When we come to Christ and we want to have salvation we are to realize that we are to walk away changed forever.   We should be changed to the point, that our friends will no long understand the decisions that we make, that we are to no longer desiring the things of this world but desiring the things of heaven.  Just before chapter 4:4 we read these words “So then, since Christ suffered physical pain, you must arm yourselves with the same attitude he had, and be ready to suffer, too. For if you are willing to suffer for Christ, you have decided to stop sinning.  And you won’t spend the rest of your life chasing after evil desires, but you will be anxious to do the will of God. You have had enough in the past of the evil things that godless people enjoy—their immorality and lust, their feasting and drunkenness and wild parties, and their terrible worship of idols.”(1^st Peter 4:1-3)  Paul is telling this group and us that when we give our lives over to Christ we are no longer salves to this world.  We are to no longer be salves to our own sinful desires, we must give them over to God and allow His Spirit take over and be changed forever by His love.  God changes us from the inside we may still look the same on the outside but our mind and soul have been changed forever.  We are to not stop growing in His love and power; we must go and share the very same love that God has shown us with others.

Peter Calls us to change, to come to a point where we are no longer controlled by our old selves, but controlled by the love of God. We must come to the point where we are willing to give everything to God for His Glory; “Then God will be given glory in everything through Jesus Christ. All glory and power belong to him forever and ever.”  It is through God that we find salvation, is it really that much to ask Him, with a sincere heart, what must I give up in order to draw closer to you so others may find your salvation?  For we know how dearly God loves us, because He has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with His love.  When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. Now, no one is likely to die for a good person, though someone might be willing to die for a person who is especially good.  But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.  And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ,H e will certainly save us from God’s judgment. For since we were restored to friendship with God by the death of His Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be delivered from eternal punishment by His life. So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God—all because of what our Lord Jesus Christ has done for us in making us friends of God.” (Romans 5:5-11)

Living For Christ and Not The World Part Three:

We live in a world that tells to push against those in charge and those that do evil towards us, that we must be looking out for number one.  We must make sure that we get our fair share plus a little more.   But as we come to end to 1^st Peter we see peter telling us something different, something that is completely different then what the world tells.  Peter says things like show love to those who wrong you, let the world see Christ through you.  Be ready to give your testimony at a drop of the hat and do so with love and respect.  Let us be honest with each other, it is not easy for the person who has just been belittled and made fun of  to walk away and say I truly do like those people.  The world tells the spouse who has been belittled, abused, cheated on go ahead you are justified in leaving them.  It is normal to mock people who mock us.  But Peter is telling a group of people who are losing everything for Christ stand strong do not give in keep on obeying God and loving people. 

“Finally, all of you should be of one mind, full of sympathy toward each other, loving one another with tender hearts and humble minds. Don’t repay evil for evil. Don’t retaliate when people say unkind things about you. Instead, pay them back with a blessing. That is what God wants you to do.”(1^st Peter 3:8-9)  Peter is telling the people  that they need to be of one mind, what is this one mind?  It is loving one another, not just saying it but truly loving each other.  When one hurts, they all hurt, they are not to just take prayer requests from one another and go home and promptly forget them.  No they must take them to heart.  This goes for us as well, we need to begin to really listen to one another, hurt when one hurts, have joy when one has a joyful occasion.  We should not just show up on Sunday out of habit but we need to show up because this is where people really care about us and our families.  We need to share love with each other.

Church should be a place where we come and feel comfortable and make others feel comfortable in the love that God has shared with us.  When asked about what the most important commandant was, Christ responded; “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the other commandments and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”(Matthew 22:37-40) We keep coming back to loving God because if we want to live as a Christian we must first love God.  Once we decide to love God then we can make Him the King of or lives.  Then we can allow His love to begin to guide and direct us in how we treat people and our spouses, we then begin to see how much people need God and instead of being mad at people we will begin to feel bad for them and desire that they too will come to know and serve God.  

I’m Ok I Don’t Need Help At Least I Don’t Think I Need Help:

              How many times in life do we start a project thinking I have this under control I don’t need any help?  We think we know what we are doing and then realize,  man how did this get to be such a mess?  A few years back I started a plumbing project one with I thought would take me about half a day to do, after the first full day of working on it by myself, I called my dad to see if he could come over and take a look at it the next morning to see if he could help me out and tell me what might need to be done.   He came over and we fixed it, but I would have never finished it up without his help.  Psalm 127:1-2 tells us this; “unless the Lord builds a house, the work of the builders is useless. Unless the Lord protects a city, guarding it with sentries will do no good. It is useless for you to work so hard from early morning until late at night, anxiously working for food to eat; for God gives rest to his loved ones.”  How many times in life do we decide to do something and never consult with God or even ask for His Help?  Many times in life we begin to go forward with projects and half way through realize that we should have consulted with someone.  It would have made the process much easier.

          The Psalmist is saying to us here that we must begin to live our lives by consulting with God, we want our marriage to grow, we must first go and talk to God and truly give Him our marriage, we want to see our children grow and become strong in God’s word we must truly repent and give our own lives to God.  We want to live for God we must be honest with ourselves and with God, we have to start letting Him have control of our lives.  We do not like that idea, we like to think we can conquer life and escape the consequences’ of our sin on our own but that is not true at all.  For Christ tells this in John 15:5.  “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.”  Did you notice the last part where Christ says without Him we can do nothing?   What does that mean, that means we are not able to grow stronger in God’s holiness without Christ.  That we are not saved from our sins just because we believe in Christ.  We have to get real with God and truly repent of our sins and leave that part of our live in the past.  We must begin to live our lives in a way that pleases God.

If we truly want to see God working in our lives then we are to become as Christ, we are to no longer live for ourselves but live for God.  We must allow God to do the building in our lives, we must begin to listen to the Holy Sprite and allow the Holy Sprite to guide and direct us.  We must be watchful of the evil desires that may come our way and not fall back into our old sinful ways.  Paul told the Philippines; “dearest friends, you were always so careful to follow my instructions when I was with you. And now that I am away you must be even more careful to put into action God’s saving work in your lives, obeying God with deep reverence and fear.  For God is working in you, giving you the desire to obey him and the power to do what pleases him.” (Phil 2:12-13)   We must allow the desire of being obedient to God take control of us and live for Him.  That means; when are relaxing, at work, doing house work we are being sure that we are being careful to honor God in it.  Many times we believe that we must fix our lives before we can come to God, the reality is without God we cannot fix it, we are going to make a bigger mess of it.