Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. (Colossians 3:15 NIV)

Do you have days, sometimes weeks, months, even years, when you find it hard to be thankful? …times when life’s disappointments and burdens weigh you down and you find yourself dwelling and stewing over them? It seems unpatriotic or sacrilegious to mention such a thing now, one day before Thanksgiving, but for many it is reality. Thanksgiving and Christmas bring with them great expectations of family celebrations and traditions… and disappointment over unmet expectations.

I suggest Colossians 3:16 may offer some insight to how we can rise above these situations and cultivate a spirit of thankfulness. If we cultivate the peace of Christ in our hearts, and if we make it a matter of will to keep our eyes on Jesus, we will feel his presence lifting us up even in our disappointments. The Bible often mentions a “sacrifice of praise.” This happens when we praise God in spite of our disappointments, even daring to praise him for the things that cause us grief. In my own experience, it has been the hard times that brought me closer to God. What I would have missed if life had always gone my way – what a spoiled brat I would have become.

Make your Bible your favorite book. A good concordance may help you find scriptures to meet your particular needs for the day. The Psalms are a great place to go when your spirit needs a lift. Spend time in prayer, and sing praises to God. If you listen to Christian music, especially scripture and praise songs, you bring in the assistance of those recorded voices to lift your spirit. Be pro-active in your praise and sing with them. God isn’t concerned over how well you sing, but he loves the sound of your voice when it is praising him. If you feel like crying, then cry your heart out to God. Remember that the shortest verse in the Bible is “Jesus wept.” He cares about your grief. Keep the music playing until you have cried it through, and let the praise songs lift you up into his presence.

A song that brings out how God blesses us through our trials is entitled, Through it All. Click the link and listen to the version I found on YouTube by The Booth Brothers. I hope these words bless you like they do me.

Father God, help us to truly be thankful to you as we experience the Thanksgiving holiday this year. Bless the needy out of your bounty so they can see your face and feel your peace.

© 2009 by Janice D. Green

Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

Read John 14 (Click on the link to read it in NIV or select your prefered version when the window opens.)

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:6)

You hear it a lot today… “I’m a good person. I don’t need the church or all that Bible stuff. I’ve tried to live a good life like Jesus said we should. I’m not worried about the afterlife because I believe God will be okay with how I’ve lived my life.”

Others will ask, “How can God punish these ‘good’ people?”

I don’t believe God wants to punish people as much as people want to imply. That isn’t the problem at all. The problem is that God didn’t create a perfect and glorious place like heaven for people who don’t want him.

At the beginning of time God created the heavens and the earth. He brought mankind onto this earth, and he gave them the choice to accept or reject his commandments. Just as Adam and Eve rejected his first and only commandment in the Garden of Eden, man has continued to reject his commandments unto this day.

God gives us the opportunity to accept his forgiveness for our sins through the blood of Jesus Christ. It was no small sacrifice for Jesus to endure the crucifixion and death on a cross to pay for our sins. The choice is ours. Do we want God or don’t we? If we choose Jesus we choose God. If we don’t choose Jesus we are saying we don’t want his Father, the God of all creation.

Those who don’t want God, have no right to expect him to open heaven’s doors to them when their time comes. By choosing not to follow God’s commandments people have messed up the earth already. The problems of humankind’s sins are escalating before our very eyes. Why should we expect God to allow this to happen to his glorious heaven as well?

So what about the punishment of hell? Do people who have tried to be good in their own strength but didn’t choose to accept Jesus have to be punished the same way as terrible criminals do? I won’t attempt to give an absolute answer here, only food for thought. If all the people who accepted Jesus go to heaven to be with God, Jesus, and all the heavenly angels; and only those who chose not to accept Jesus are left outside to fend for themselves with Satan and all his demons who are eager to offer their brand of spiritual help, what is it going to be like? 

The final word will be one of two: You wanted him and accepted him. {Or} You didn’t want him - you rejected him.

Father God, I pray for those who don’t understand, for those who are so willing to let themselves be fooled into believing their only measuring stick for entering heaven is how they measure up to the persons around them. Wake us all from our slumber and give us eyes to see who you really are. Show us your compassion.

Read the entire passage of John 14. It is so powerful.

© 2009 by Janice D. Green

Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

Deuteronomy 6:1-9 Click on this link to read the passage. You may select your preferred version of the Bible after the link opens.

In the fifth chapter of Deuteronomy, Moses read the Ten Commandments to the people after he brought them down from the mountain where God gave them to Moses.

In chapter six Moses instructs parents to pass on the teachings and commandments of God to our children and our children’s children. Verses 4-9 are so powerful:

 ⁴ Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.  ⁵ Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. ⁶ These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. ⁷ Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. ⁸ Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. ⁹ Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

How powerful and convicting are these words! I’m divided over how I should punctuate that last sentence… Perhaps it should read, “How powerful and convicting are these words?” At question is the spiritual temperature of Christian people today in a land that has been blessed to the point that God’s people have taken him for granted.

Re-read verse 4. Is God really first in our lives? We don’t have the option of setting God on a shelf along-side our wide-screen TVs, and our other personal treasures and beliefs. First means first, as in number one.

Re-read and consider verse 5. Where are our hearts and our souls? Where do we put our energy and our strength? Are we giving God our all, or is he getting snacks along the way – like the biscuits we throw to our dogs every now and then?

Verse 7 should be written on the heart of every Christian parent.     “Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.”  Is this happening in our Christian homes today? Do our children hear about God and Jesus at home, or do we expect our Sunday school teachers to do all the teaching on the Sundays we happen to show up? I am thankful that I have known a few strong Christian parents who took this verse seriously, and their children are a living testimony to the fact that they did. But unfortunately this doesn’t seem to be the norm in many church-going families today. When was the last time you talked to your child about Jesus? How are you setting the example to put God first in everything? Have your children seen you reading your Bible today? Have they heard you pray? God holds parents accountable to instruct their children in matters of faith. If you love God with all your heart, you are teaching your children faithfully.

Father God, you have told us what you want us to know, but we haven’t always been willing to listen. Enable us to clean out our spiritual ears so that we may hear you. Help us to clean up our rusty dusty hearts so that we may love you fully. Never let us forget the price you had to pay just to get our attention, let alone to forgive us of all of our sins. Help us to draw nearer to you every day of our lives. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

© 2009 by Janice D. Green

Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

⁹And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, ¹⁰so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, ¹¹filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.

Philippians 1:9-11 Click on this link to read the passage. You may select your preferred version of the Bible after the link opens.

I can’t help but have a mixture of feelings as I read this passage. God’s love is so true, so faithful, so deep…  But my love is so faltering, and so conditional, so dependent on my fickle moods.

But one thing I can count on – if I immerse myself in His word and bathe myself in prayer, my feelings of relationship with Christ become like a full cup. And as I drink my fill, I find myself wanting more.

The problem is that even though I know this in my head, and it penetrates into my heart when I take the time; I all too often get too busy with stuff, and days pass with only spurts, bits and pieces of relationship.

This verse is Paul’s prayer for the Christians in Philippi. This should be a reminder for us – to pray for each other that we will continually seek, find, and grow in the love of Christ, that we will grow in knowledge of Christ, and that our insights will be deep. Then we will have Godly wisdom to guide us in all our lives and we will be able to joyfully serve Him and bring peace to our hearts and glory to His name.

Father God, lead us in your righteousness. Draw us unto you. Give us willing spirits to continually seek and love you with all our hearts. Help us to bear the fruit of righteousness that only Jesus Christ can give to us. In Jesus name we ask. Amen.

© 2009 by Janice D. Green

Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

1 John 2:1-6 Click on this link to read the passage. You may select your preferred version of the Bible after the link opens.

Sin. Repentance. Forgiveness. Freedom from sin or freedom to sin again?

Jesus’ redemption on the cross is the greatest gift ever given. We ask for forgiveness and Jesus forgives us. It’s free. It’s a gift.

Read the passage above from 1 John 2:1-6.  According to verse one, the apostle John wrote this so that we wouldn’t sin. His goal was to help us to rise above sin. Then John added that IF we sinned, that Jesus would come to our defense speaking to God on our behalf.

We live in a time when sin is flaunted in public everywhere we turn. I quit watching TV years ago because it sickened me to see virtuous living ridiculed and sin exalted on a regular basis. Sadly, Americans have allowed the media to deaden our senses to sin so that tolerance of sin is now virtuous while standing up for morality is portrayed as bigoted and an affront to the world. Of course virtuous living is an affront to Satan, but now we have allowed Satan to cloud our vision.

We have been given a standard to live by. God has given us his word in both the Old and the New Testaments of the Bible. Most homes have at least one copy of the Bible somewhere. People who identify themselves as Christian are likely to have several Bibles in various translations. But the percent of people, even Christians, who spend time daily, or even weekly or monthly reading God’s Word, is very low. We make great claims about how we believe in the Bible, but we don’t take time to read it for ourselves. We have allowed the self-serving elite of Hollywood redefine our values while we make our own assumptions about what the Bible probably says, or what it would say if God decided to re-write it today (as if even God had changed his mind).

Verses 5-6 in the above passage say “But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.” How can we obey his word if we don’t read it? How can we walk as Jesus did if we don’t take the time to learn how he walked?

All the spiritual praise in the world cannot cover up our blatant willful sin. God is merciful, but he is also just. He knows our hearts. We may have praise on our lips even while our hearts are far from him.

Yes, God forgives our sins, and he keeps forgiving. But repentance is agreeing with God that our sins are sinful. If we are not trying to overcome sin, we are making a farce of our repentance. God is not mocked. He knows our hearts.

Father God, thank you for your gift of salvation. Thank you that you were willing to make the sacrifice for us while we were yet sinners. In you mercy, enable us to come to You with our whole hearts. May our praise be sincere. Help us to trust You, the one who created us, to know what is best for our lives. Help us to accept Your commands and to walk in them. Help us to live by Your Spirit and to be empowered by it. And never let us accept any counterfit spirit or way of life as Your will. Give us Your discernment that we will always know Your voice. May our love for You be pure. Help us to order our steps in Your Word that we may please You in everything we do.

Copyright © 2009 by Janice Green

The LORD detests all the proud of heart. Be sure of this: They will not go unpunished.  Prov 16:5 

In the present generation little attention is given to the sin of pride, yet pride was the sin that caused the downfalls of both Satan and the first man.

The downfall of Satan is recorded in Isaiah 14:12-15 . His sin was his pride. He was the most glorious of all the angels God had created. His glory led to his pride, and he attempted to set himself above God.

Satan tempted Eve with the same sin of pride. (Genesis 3) He said to Eve, “…you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” You know the story, Eve ate the fruit and gave some to Adam who was with her. They could be like God, they could make their own rules.

It was Satan’s pride that cost him the highest position among the angels in heaven and separated him from God. It was Adam and Eve’s pride that got them banned from the Garden of Eden and separated them from God.

The same sin of pride and the desire to do things our own way have separated mankind from God since the beginning of time. Throughout the Old Testament the Israelites continually turned their backs on God and went their own way. When Jesus Christ came to earth, the religious leaders of the Jewish people were jealous of Jesus’ popularity and power. They were proud of their positions and didn’t want people to honor Jesus over them. Jesus challenged their hypocrisy, and their jealousy in turn led to their Crucifixion of Jesus.

The cycle didn’t stop then, nor has it stopped today. Human nature tends to want to do it “my way.” It is nowhere more obvious than in today’s supposedly “enlightened” society. Many universities turn out students who blatantly challenge the existance of God. Some people revere the Bible only as long as they are not expected to read it or use it for a guide to make decisions. Others mock those who take the Bible seriously.

Proverbs 14:1 tells us: The fool says in his heart, ”There is no God.” 
Proverbs 16:5 says: The LORD detests all the proud of heart. Be sure of this: They will not go unpunished. 

There are many forms of pride, and they touch us all. It can be blatant as the denial of the existance of God. Or it can come in more subtle forms such as the deliberate choice to ignore the commandments in the Bible. We are prone to assume we know more than God about what is best for us. We fail to pray because we think we can handle whatever will come our way. Then when our backs are against the wall and we are desperate, we pray fervently and wonder why He seems distant.

Galatians 6:7 tells us: Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 

What seeds are you sowing in your life? Are they seeds of faith or seeds of foolish pride and self sufficiency? Allow God to examine your heart and reveal the sins that puff up so quickly and separate you from Him. Agree with Him in confession and seek his face with all your heart.

Father God, you know our hearts. We think we know ourselves until we get close to your light. Then, if we are honest with ourselves, we don’t like what we see.  Help us to daily seek your face and to put our full trust in You, come what may.

Copyright © 2009 by Janice Green

Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.. Proverbs 14:34

What an appropriate verse for our Independence Day weekend. Our nation began with a group of people who valued righteousness enough to sail across the ocean and start a new life in a land that would allow them to worship God according to their own consciences. Others crossed the ocean for varied reasons, but the very words of our Declaration of Independence and our US Constitution support the fact that our country was established by people who had an awesome respect for God.

For many years our nation has been blessed by God as the people have given Him a place of honor in our nation. Sadly, there has been an eroding of that sense of honor for God, especially in our governing bodies. Those of us who came of age in the “Hippie Generation” should have seen it coming, but we were too willing to look for wisdom in all the wrong places. Some of us have recognized the folly of our ways and turned to God allowing Him to show us where we went wrong.

We can scold our government officials and put the blame on other people until we exhaust ourselves in wearyness. Or we can choose self-examination. Exactly where is my own heart in matters of righteousness? Would I be embarrassed if someone were able to read my thoughts at any given time? We can’t hide them from God, but we can put up a front that others can’t break through.

What is my model for righteousness? God has given us His Word in the Bible. Most people who call themselves Christians will say that the Bible is the greatest book ever written. They will revere it by keeping it in a special place and dust it if needed, but seldom take the time to read it or use it to search out God’s heart on a special concern. Sadly, when many who call themselves Christians hear what the Bible says on a given topic they are quick to add, “Yes, but I think …”

If there is hope for our nation, it will come when righteousness replaces the rampant sin that we have embraced. And that will happen one person at a time.

Father God, forgive our foolish ways. Incline our hearts to you before it is too late for our country. Bring your church to its knees in repentance. Then send your disciples out to the world when they are equipped to bring in a harvest. Start with me Lord. Clean out the places that only You and I know need cleaning out.

Copyright © 2009 by Janice Green

Isaiah 53:1-9 Click on this link to read the passage. You may select your preferred version of the Bible after the link opens.

What was behind it all? Why did Jesus allow people to abuse him the way He did? I remember a time when a friend of mine suggested that Jesus had just given up on the world and let His enemies put an end to His life. According to my friend there was an article in Playboy magazine about it.

Read what God had to say about Him before Jesus ever came to earth. Here is Jesus’ destiny spelled out in words only those who choose to be ignorant can deny. Don’t take my word for it, read it for yourself in Isaiah 53:1-9.

Jesus didn’t attract crowds because he was handsome or winsome in his manner. He attracted crowds by doing miracles of healing and feeding people.

The people loved him for the things he could do for them, not for his messages of faith. His true followers were few. He knew the people’s hearts and thoughts. He knew they would abandon him when there was conflict.

Jesus experienced the sorrow of this knowledge long before he experienced the sorrow in its highest hour: his crucifixion, separation from God Himself, and death. He experienced the torture of the Roman soldiers. First their ridicule, then the crown of thorns, then the beating with the whip containing fragments of bone to tear His flesh. Then he had to carry his own cross up the hill (until he stumbled and fell under its weight and a bystander was ordered to carry it the rest of the way). He was then nailed to the cross, the cross was lifted up and dropped into the post-hole that had been dug in the ground. There he was left to die a grueling death of suffocation that resulted from the way crucifixion was designed to torture its victims.

Why did Jesus do this? Why did he allow this to happen to Him without opening His mouth to defend Himself? Because He knew that He was the only person in all eternity who would be in a position to be the sacrifice to pay for our sins. The only sacrifices God would accept had to be perfect in every way. No other human would ever be able to come close to this, yet Jesus had fulfilled the requirement completely.

All of Jesus’ sufferings were endured for one reason alone: to show us his unconditional love and to pay the price God requires to cover our sins. Put your name in the scripture verse every place you see a pronoun such as “we” or “our” or “us.” It is that personal.

If you accept this wonderful news along with this most gracious gift, then you are accepted by God as His own. You will be welcomed into His Kingdom when this fleeting life is over. If you reject this news as foolishness, then you declare yourself to be a fool who says in his heart there is no God. (See Psalm 14:1) There is no hope for you outside of what you get in this life.

If you have accepted His gift of salvation, you will be blessed. Consider how you have thanked Him? Do you simply say “Thank you, sir” and then go your own way forgetting the price he paid for your sins? I can not imagine a more ungrateful heart.

A gift is free, true, it is getting something for nothing. But I can’t help but wonder if many think they have accepted this gift when in fact they only accepted a fake ticket, like the thousands who ate the bread on the hillside when Jesus fed the multitudes. They ate the physical bread but rejected the spiritual bread Jesus had to offer. They ate to fill their stomachs, not their hearts.

Consider fresh and new if you have indeed accepted God’s gift of salvation. Reread Isaiah 53:1-9. If you heart is not filled with the kind of gratitude that makes you want to serve Him, you may never have accepted his true gift of salvation in the first place. Don’t settle for temporary bread to fill your stomach, accept the true Bread of Life. Accept Jesus for who He is, not who you want to make Him out to be, and your heart will be filled with gratitude and joy.

Father God, you know my heart. Break it if you must, but don’t allow me to settle for temporary bread that makes me think everything is OK with You when there may be real problems I need to deal with. Open my eyes and my heart to the awesomeness of your sacrifice for me so that I can respond with nothing less than full gratitude and a life dedicated in service to you.

Copyright © 2009 by Janice Green

1 Timothy 6:10 Click on this link to read the passage. You may select your preferred version of the Bible after the link opens.

Timothy warns us against the love of money which causes us to turn our eyes away from God. This principal comes to mind when I watch the flocks of Pine Siskins that have covered our bird feeders this winter. Most of these birds are content to gather together and enjoy the free food. But there are a few in each flock that are determined to claim the whole dish for themselves and agressively chase all others away. We onlookers laugh at the absurdity of it all, as the tiny bird could not eat the pile of seeds in the dish. Furthermore, while the bird so relentlessly defends his claim he doesn’t have time to eat.

God owns everything. He promises to care for us, his flock. If we trusted Him to keep his promises, we wouldn’t have to expend so much energy guarding our posessions. Is God watching out His window in heaven and laughing at our pettiness? Let us keep our eyes on Jesus and allow the Heavenly Father to bless us out of his unlimited supply.

Father God, help us to keep our eyes focused on You. Restore our trust when our anxious thoughts take our eyes off of You, and restoreYour peace. Enable us to be satisfied with Your provisions and to hold them with open generous hands.

Copyright © 2009 by Janice Green

1 Kings 19:15-21 Click on this link to read the passage. You may select your preferred version of the Bible after the link opens.

Elijah was given an assignment from God to anoint two kings and the person who would become his own replacement at the beginning of this passage. God was planning judgment on Israel for its activity in Baal worship.

When Elijah found Elisha he was a prosperous farmer and was plowing his field with a pair of oxen. Elijah conveyed the message that Elisha was to become the new prophet by placing his cloak on Elisha’s shoulders. Elisha was willing and ready to leave his wealth to follow God’s call on his life. He sacrificed all of his oxen and used the farm equipment as fuel for the sacrifice. He could no longer turn back to farming.

Are we as willing to burn our bridges when God calls us to serve him in a special way? I have entered retirement to begin what I believe is a call to become a writer. I can’t claim to have made the clean break that Elisha made, however. I keep looking back to see if there is part-time work available, yet I am aware of how that too will make demands on my time cutting into my productivity as a writer.

Father God, make me willing to make the clean break to follow your call, wherever that call may lead me. Give me spiritual ears that know your voice apart from all others, and a heart and mind that is willing to follow your call.

Copyright © 2009 by Janice Green

Revelation 19:7  Click on this link to read the passage. You may select your preferred version of the Bible after the link opens.

Are you ready to be married to Christ? If you have given your life to Jesus and have become a Christian, then you as part of the church of Christ are betrothed (engaged) to be married to Jesus at the time you enter heaven. For the skeptical, here are a few additional passages that refer to this relationship: Matthew 9:15; Mark 2:19-20; Luke 5:34; John 3:29-30; Revelation 21:2; Revelation 22:17.

I have been reading Beyond Me by Kathi Macias,  a book that challenges me to step outside my comfort zone to minister to others. Yesterday I read Chapter 9 (Sealed for the Day) and realized it was only two days until Valentines Day. I couldn’t resist sharing some of these new insights about the ancient Jewish weddings and how it relates to us today.

Marriages were arranged in Jewish weddings. The groom had to pay the bride-price to the father of the bride.

Betrothals were the beginning of the engagement period usually lasting one year. The time was used to prepare for marriage. The groom was to build a house and get it ready for his bride. The bride was to learn everything she needed to know to become a homemaker such as sewing, cooking, gardening, and so much more. She would also sew her own bride dress.

The bride did not know the exact day and time of the wedding. Yet she and her bridesmaids must be ready for the bridegroom to come at any time and take them to the marriage ceremony. The groom would take his bride to her new home following the ceremony.

We could learn a lot about marriage and life from these ancient Jewish traditions. First, engagement and marriage weren’t taken lightly. One would have to get a divorce to break an engagement. Second, preparation for marriage was a serious priority.  Both marriage partners went through a time of preparation to assure they would be able to offer more to their intended. They spent a year developing the skills and assets they could offer, not just thinking about what they were going to get out of this new relationship.

When I consider that I am to be the bride of Christ when I enter eternity (yes, even Christian men will be the “bride” of Christ), the thought of it overwhelms me. Jesus, our Bridegroom has already paid the bride-price when He was crucified for my sins. He is now preparing my mansion in heaven. Am I preparing myself to be His bride? Or am I simply taking for granted His total sacrifice and expecting to give as little as possible in return?

Anyone who is or has ever been married knows that marriage relationships take time to develop. We have been given a lifetime to prepare for our marriage to Christ. It takes quality time to know your intended better. How are you preparing yourself to spend eternity with Jesus? Are you using your life to get all you can for yourself, or are you investing your life for eternity?

We do not know when our Bridegroom will come for us. But everyone will meet Jesus on some unannounced day. Are you ready?

Lord Jesus, fill our hearts with a growing and ongoing desire to know you better and to serve you more. May the anticipation of our marriage to you fill our lives with joy.

Copyright © 2009 by Janice Green

Luke 4:23-30 Click on this link to read the passage. You may select your preferred version of the Bible after the link opens.

Jesus had been healing people in Capernaum and the word was out. But in his home country no one was willing to believe and none were healed. The people didn’t want HIM to heal them.

Jesus reminded the people of other situations where God had led prophets away from their own people to perform miracles: Elijah was sent to a widow outside of Israel during the famine and Naaman the Syrian was the only man Elisha had healed of leprosy.

People have a way of putting stumbling blocks in front of those who are closest to them. The people who grew up with Jesus weren’t willing to believe that he could perform miracles. I can’t help but wonder how often brilliant people are held back from doing all they could because the people who surround them find reasons to discourage them.

Even more, how many times are we reluctant to ask God for a miracle because we are limited by our own faith? I must confess that I have at times refrained from publicly praying for a particular need because I didn’t want to “put God on the spot.” Perhaps I was being as callous as the people in Jesus’ home town.

I have known people who refuse to believe in miracles. Because their minds are made up and their hearts are hard, they have denied themselves the opportunity to be fully blessed by God. They remind me of the woman with the headache in the old commercial, “Mother, please! I’d rather do it myself!”

Father God, help us to have trusting hearts. Help us to be willing to believe You are who You say You are. Enable us to shed our own pride and to reach out in faith to You expecting to receive the blessings that can only be granted by a God of love, power, and might.

Copyright © 2009 by Janice Green

John 1:6-9 Click on this link to read the passage. You may select your preferred version of the Bible after the link opens.

John, one of Jesus’ Twelve Disciples, wrote this passage about John the Baptist. It identifies who sent him (God), gives his name and his God-given purpose in life: to bear witness to the light that was to come – Jesus Christ.

John is very emphatic with the use of the word light using it several times in this short passage. Jesus is our Light in every sense of the word. He gives light to our souls. He sheds light into our confusion so we can make the right choices (if we will take the time to seek His direction.) He makes our burdens lighter, using the word in a different sense.

Father God, increase our desire to dwell in Jesus’ light. Help us to give more time to basking in his light.

Copyright © 2008 by Janice Green

Luke 7:24-29 Click on this link to read the passage. You may select your preferred version of the Bible after the link opens.

Background for this passage: John the Baptist was imprisoned because he dared to confront the king in his sin. (see Luke 3) In his apparent discouragement he sent some of his disciples to ask Jesus if He was truly the Messiah.

Jesus’ questions concerning John were rhetorical, designed to lead the thinking of the people. He was reminding them that John did not sway with the breezes of public opinion. Why else would he have ended up in prison? The people came to John for spiritual needs, not financial gain.  John was seen as a prophet, and Jesus affirmed their beliefs.

Verse 28 confuses me in my mortal wisdom. I know God will make it clear to me one day. I will venture a guess at its meaning, however. Jesus said that John the Baptist is the greatest of men born to women. He must surely be excluding himself in this statement, perhaps on the basis that Jesus is both man and God. But then he turns around and says that the one who is least in the Kingdom of God is greater than John. I can only wonder, but perhaps Jesus is speaking of John’s wavering in his faith that Jesus is the Messiah. To enter the Kingdom of God one must believe that Jesus is the Messiah.

Father God, increase our understanding of Your Word and forever increase our faith in Jesus as our Messiah and our Savior. May our love for You increase day by day.

Copyright © 2008 by Janice Green

Luke 3:1-20 Click on this link to read the passage. You may select your preferred version of the Bible after the link opens. Better yet, read it in more than one translation.

Read this passage over and over to keep from missing the details. God speaks to our hearts through His Word if we will dwell there. I can only touch on a few highlights here.

As had been recorded in Isaiah hundreds of years earlier, John’s place in history was to prepare people’s hearts to accept Jesus. His message was repentance.

This message was not sugar coated. Speaking to the crowds who came to him in verse 7 he called them a “brood of vipers.” People weren’t attracted to him because of his smooth talk. They must have felt under conviction when they were in the presence of this holy man of God.

John challenged the people’s claim that Abraham was their father telling them that God could cut them down and bring up new children for Abraham out of the very stones that lay on the ground.

When the people asked, John gave them examples of what they should do. Give your extra coat to someone who doesn’t have a coat. Share your food with the poor. Tax collectors were to refrain from charging more taxes than were due. Soldiers were not to take advantage of their authority to get money from their subjects. The general people were told to be content with their pay.

These challenges are still appropriate for us today. We want more clothes and bigger closets to store them in, yet there are people around us who would be thrilled with only one of our dresses or coats. We stuff our cabinets with food and worry about some day in the future when we might not have enough. Yet there are people around us already with not enough to eat. Loan sharks greedily charge as much as they can get to make a profit off of those who have so little. What is legal isn’t always in agreement with what is ethical; yet we will use the law to justify our actions. And being content with our pay? Is anyone content? It appears that those at the bottom of the pay scale are the most likely to be content with their pay – they are the most likely to tithe.

As the people began to wonder if John was the Messiah that had been promised, he told them that he was not, and that he was not worthy to untie His sandals.

John had a following with many disciples, but because he would not compromise the truth, even to King Herod, he ended up in prison and was eventually beheaded at the King’s command.

Father God, help us to take your call to repentance seriously. Prepare our hearts so that we will have more room for you to dwell within us.

Copyright © 2008 by Janice Green

John 5:39-40 Click on this link to read the passage. You may select your preferred version of the Bible after the link opens. Better yet, read it in more than one translation.

In this passage Jesus is talking to the Jews who were critical of Him and who would not believe his message. He was talking to people who knew the Scriptures, people who were diligent in studying them. Yet He was still critical of them because they would not accept His testimony about who He was, the Son of God.

This passage applies equally well to us today. There are those who diligently read their Bibles and there are those who never read them. It is easy for the “readers” to get puffed up in their minds thinking they are superior to the non-readers or the every-now-and-then-readers. I know that I have often caught myself feeling a bit smug when the pastor reads the scripture for his sermon and I discover that is was a passage I had at some point in time highlighted it in my Bible. I have been guilty of taking pride in how fast I can locate a particular scripture passage during a worship service. And then a sense of conviction comes over me and I feel about one inch high.

The test of salvation has nothing to do with how many Bible verses I have read or can locate at the drop of a hat or can quote from memory. And even though the study of scripture is good and necessary for a healthy relationship with Jesus, it isn’t the first thing. The first thing is to accept Jesus into your heart, and the second is to apply His truths to your life.

Have you welcomed Jesus into your heart? Have you allowed Him to sit in the driver’s seat of your life? If not, He is waiting for you to invite Him in. Don’t worry about using the right words, it is your heart He is interested in, not words. He will pick up where you leave off and show you the way.

Jesus we love you and want to know you better. Help us to love you more. Grow us up in our faith and enable us to seek you with our whole hearts.

Copyright © 2008 by Janice Green

The following blog inspired me to write this post: http://windowstomysoul.blogspot.com/2008/10/searching-for-deeper-life.html

James 5:13-18 Click on this link to read the passage. You may select your preferred version of the Bible after the link opens.

Verses 13-18 are about praying in faith. Books have been written on this subject, so I acknowledge that I am only able to touch a highlight or two today.

James is reminding us to pray in every circumstance, not just when we feel desperate. We are called to offer prayers of rejoicing and praise as well as our petitions for help.

We are especially encouraged to pray for healing. James encourages the sick to call for the elders of the church to annoint them with oil and pray in faith for them. In Bible times, oil was used as a healing remedy for many ailments. I have seen Christians take that little piece of information and run with it saying this means to go to the doctor. Other Christians will rebuke them and say to put all your confidence in the oil and the prayer. I don’t intend to straddle the fence here, I intend to take both sides seriously and say that God intends for us to do what makes sense. Yes, do what you know to do for healing – if it is to take an asprin for a headache or if it is to go to the doctor for open heart surgery. We have no excuse to throw away hundreds of years of medical advancements and take the lazy way out by expecting God to just do it. But, we don’t need to put all our confidence in our doctors either. After all, it is God who gets the last word.

So when we are sick, we are called on to use the healing expertise we have available to us, and we are to call upon God. I have often seen church elders (or deacons or other officials depending on the titles used by various denominations) anoint the sick with oil and pray for their healing. God is honored by this and desires to bless their efforts.

Copyright © 2008 by Janice Green

2 Peter 3:8-10 Click on this link to read the passage. You may select your preferred version of the Bible after the link opens.

When my daughter was very young I began reading Bible stories and children’s devotions to her at bedtime. I told her about heaven and that Jesus was going to come one day. I told her that there would be no pain and no tears in heaven. Due to the tension between her father and me, our home was not a happy one, and she often asked when Jesus was going to come. She was so eager for him to come.

In a similar way, many scoffers point out how many years Christians have been waiting for Jesus to come as an excuse to justify their disbelief. This passage speaks directly to this situation. God tells us He is not being slow. Rather, He is being patient. He wants to give us maximum opportunity to accept Him so we may enter His Kingdom according to His time. If a day is like a thousand years to God, we are about to enter the third day since his promise was given.

Likewise, it was approximately about 2,000 years from the time God promised that a Messiah would come until Jesus’ birth. God keeps his promises, but He does so in his own time frame. We have one instruction from him in light of this promise: He tells us to be ready.

Father God, keep fresh in our hearts the reality of Your promises. Help us to appreciate your faithfulness and generosity instead of becoming impatient or losing faith. Thank you for giving us the gift of your Son and for all the promises that He brought to us.

Copyright © 2008 by Janice Green

1 Corinthians 1:3-9 Click on this link to read the passage. You may select your preferred version of the Bible after the link opens.

I always thank God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. 1 Corinthians 1:4

Whenever I read this passage I think of those Christians who have led me to a relationship with Jesus Christ. This list includes a variety of people, but among the most influential of these was a small group of Christian women who began a Bible study group in which I participated for many years. These women knew Jesus in such a personal way and were able to relate to him in any and all circumstances. They ministered to me through a very painful marriage and gave me the courage to go on.

As I re-read these scriptures I recognized the reason they were able to minister to me so well. It was because the grace of Jesus was so visible in their daily lives. They put their full trust in Him. They spent time with Him daily in prayer and Bible study. And they lifted one another up in prayer on a daily basis. God blessed us all with a fullness of His Spirit that we never could have manufactured on our own.

Re-read the entire passage and you will find that it isn’t about how wonderful the Corinthians were. It is about how wonderfully faithful God was to enrich them in every way. In my Bible study group, it wasn’t how wonderful the women were (although they truly were wonderful to me). But the full picture is about how wonderfully God worked in and through their lives and enriched and blessed us all.

Father God, help us to seek You with all our hearts. And keep us from getting big heads over our own spirituality. May we always remember that is is not about us, but all about You.

Copyright © 2008 by Janice Green

Even though I am not quoting scriptures in this post as I normally do on this blog, there is no doubt in my mind that God has led me to say these things to those who have an ear to hear. God created man in His own image. All human life is sacred. Feel free to copy this post into emails and send it to everyone across this country.

Deaths: American soldiers killed in the Iraq war 4189 Worldometers

Doccumented civilian deaths from suicide bombings and violence in Iraq: 88,780 – 96,900 (2003-2008) http://www.antiwar.com/casualties/

Abortions in 2008 alone 38,639,842 (as of 11/2/2008 a.m.) Worldometers

Regarding abortion, how in the world can anyone who opposes abortion support the killing and maiming of children who are already born and are aware of pain and loss, in the name of war? This question was posed to me by a friend who objected to an email I sent to her yesterday. Wake up and look at a few figures was my response to her…

What makes you think that an unborn child cannot feel pain? That is so untrue. In partial birth abortions the doctors reach inside the womb to make sure the child comes out feet first, then with the head still inside the mother a pair of scissors is inserted into the skull and the brain destroyed to be sure the child is born dead. You can’t tell me that baby didn’t feel the pain because it wasn’t born yet. In abortions performed earlier in the 9 month pregnancy they are killed with an injection of salt – the babies go through great trauma as their life is snuffed out. Other babies are pulled apart in the womb and once out they are a pile of arms, legs, etc. in separate pieces. You can’t tell me they didn’t feel pain. These same babies could have been put into an incubator and saved had they been born prematurely. Pain is very real to them.
 
Do you have a clue how many babies are being aborted every day?    At the moment I looked this up, 38,603,525 had been aborted to date this year. The total number of deaths world wide (not counting abortion) were 44,685,133.  The number of soldiers who have died in Iraq are obviously fewer than the number of babies aborted. The soldiers did make the decision to join the Army and knew they were taking this risk. The babies had no say in what happened to them. These figures came from the following web site: http://www.worldometers.info/

Most of the women and children who are being killed in Iraq have been killed by their own people through suicide bombings, not by American soldiers who unintentionally killed them. Our soldiers are there trying to prevent this from happening.

There is much more to say about the mothers following the abortion of their own children. I found a website called After Abortion that gives much information on this topic. “An average of eight yeas after their abortions, married women were 138 percent more likely to be at high risk of clinical depression compared to similar women who carried their unintended first pregnancies to term. “ Another website Abortion Facts gives much information about the high percentage of women who suffer post-abortion depression. Many abortions are forced upon women by their husbands or boyfriends – this is not woman’s choice, and it never was the choice of the aborted infant. I’ve only scratched the surface in a last-minute attempt to get this message out. Do your own Google search (if you can stomach the pain) for more information with keywords such as abortion, post-abortion, depression, suicide, …

Soldiers who come home from the war suffer the rest of their lives. There is public and open support for them (except for a few cold-hearted people who tell them they shouldn’t have gone in the first place). I have no intention of trivializing their pain and suffering. But I do wish to compare a few numbers.

If over 38,000,000 women had abortions in the first ten months of this year and 30% suffer post-abortion mental disorders, that puts the numbers at around 11,400,000 in only 10 months. These women won’t make the headlines. Our liberal news media supports abortion and would never disclose this, even if the women were willing to have their stories told openly. Most hide their stories in shame. Where is the Christian outcry? Where is the Christian support?

There is Christian outcry and support available but you won’t find it in the headlines of the media. It can be found online, however. Occasionally you might see a bulletin board that addresses this need.

It won’t be found through Obama nor his campaign. In fact Obama has voted in favor of the gruesome partial birth abortion, and he even supported the bill that abortion doctors could let babies die if they were born alive in spite of an attempt to abort it. That means they don’t try to help it start breating. Who knows what else they do to be sure these healthy infants don’t survive. Video Shows Babies Left to Die After Failed Abortions in Method Obama OKed.

How can anyone ignore these numbers? There are two wars taking place in our country, but the liberal media sweeps one under the rug and reports the other with their own liberal bias. I would love to see how the soldiers who are currently serving in Iraq vote in this election. If anyone really knew what was going on in Iraq, these soldiers should know. The chances of survival are greater as a soldier in Iraq than as a pre-born child in the womb.

There are those who will call me racist for not supporting Obama. As you can see these reasons have nothing to do with race. I have worked for the past nine years in a school with a population of 99.5% African American students. There are black politicians I would support with no problem. Obama doesn’t happen to be one of them.

Proverbs 19:20-21 Click on this link to read the passage. You may select your preferred version of the Bible after the link opens.

This passage has my name written all over it, not that I have attained this, but because I need to hear it over and over again. How often I get what I consider a fantastic idea and act on it without seeking wise counsel or even taking time to pray. It’s as if I think this idea is so good it has to be from God himself!

Some of the lessons I seem to have to keep learning over and over are

• to prayerfully seek His counsel in everything I undertake,
• to take time to listen and not make hasty decisions,
• to seek Christian counsel on the weightier decisions I must make, and
• to seek God’s direction in prayer, not only about what I do at church, but on the everyday, at home and on-the-job decisions as well.

Father God, help me to slow down and to put the reins of my life into your hands. Let me not run ahead, but remind me to constantly seek your wisdom and direction in everything I do.

Copyright © 2008 by Janice Green

Disclaimer: I take no credit for the writing of this post. I have simply cut and pasted it from an email into my blog. But I agree, we as a nation must get on our knees and pray over the upcoming election like never before.

2 Chronicles 7:14

This is the scariest election we as Christians have ever faced. From the  looks of the polls, the Christians aren’t voting Christian values. We all need to be on our knees. Do you believe we can take God at His word? Call upon His name, then stand back and watch His wonders to behold. His scripture gives us, as Christians, ownership of this land and the ability to call upon God to heal it. I challenge you to do so. We have never been more desperate than now for God to heal our land.

2 Chronicles 7:14 : If my people, which are called by my name shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

During WWII, there was an advisor to Churchill who organized a group of people who dropped what they were doin g  every night at a prescribed hour for one minute to collectively pray for the safety of England, its people and peace. This had an amazing effect as bombing stopped.

There is now a group of people organizing the same thing here in America.  The United States of America and our citizens need prayer more than ever!

If you would like to participate:  each evening at 9:00 PM Eastern Time, 8:00 PM Central, 7:00 PM Mountain, 6:00 PM Pacific, stop whatever you are doing and spend one minute praying for the safety of the United States, our troops, our citizens, for peace in the world, for wisdom and courage for our leaders, the up-coming election, and that the Bible will remain the basis for the laws governing our land and that Christianity will grow in the U.S.

If you know anyone who would like to participate, please pass this along.

Someone said if people really understood the full extent of the power we have available through prayer, we might be speechless. Our prayers are the most powerful asset we have.  Thank You

manupmen left the following question under the contact section of my blog: If God loved the cardinal, why did He let it hit the car?

Reference my earlier post: God Cares About my Troubles

Your question is so valid.

We people want God to keep everything rosy and perfect for us. You are concerned about the cardinal as I was. But God is seeing the world through a different set of eyes. His eyes are able to see beyond the tragedies and into eternity. Eternity is our final home, the home that is for keeps, our truest security.

The cardinal is a bird, not like human life. Cardinals and people die every day. God loves the cardinals and the people, He made them. God notices when a bird dies and cares that it died for no aparent reason as happened when this one was struck by my car. But in the world He created, there is a food chain that makes use of everything, even if the bird didn’t die a natural death.

As the scripture says, we are worth so much more than the sparrows. (Matthew 10:28-31) God does intervene on our behalf, though not always in the same way we ask. God looks at a much bigger picture than we are able to see though our eyes in the here and now. Sometimes God is using our troubles to re-shape our lives, to teach us new things, or simply to help us to re-focus our attention on Him.

And God sees past our world into Eternity. Once we are on the other side, our troubles will seem much smaller in comparison to how we see them now. There is a song called Until Then that has a line in it that says our troubles “remembered there will only bring a smile.” Follow the link to listen to it on UTube. Our lives are but a breath compared to the time we have in eternity. Look to Jesus during the troubles in your life and trust God with the big picture.

Several years ago when I was struggling in a marriage that eventually failed, I was going through a time of depression and low morale. As I drove down the street that turned beside the Post Office in our town I was suddenly aware of two cardinals fluttering up and down immediately in front of me. One of the birds hit the hood of my car and dropped into the street.

I immediately parked my car and got out to lift the bird from the street and laid it on the grass. I was remembering a time when a bird flew into a window and only knocked itself out, later to recover and fly away. I hoped that the cardinal might revive in a similar way since I had been driving fairly slowly. But the bird showed no signs of life. The other bird watched from a near-by tree.

I circled the block several times in the next two or three hours but my cardinal did not revive. I was reminded of the scripture about how God notices when even a sparrow falls to the ground. Read Matthew 10:28-31.

If I cared enough to circle the block so many times for this little red cardinal that I night not have even noticed had it not flown into my car, how much more God cares about me and the things that were weighing me down. I returned home comforted by God’s love.

I’ve always loved the song “His Eye is on the Sparrow.” Perhaps you will find comfort in it as well. This is a link to Sandi Patti singing it on UTube.

Father, Thank you for watching over me through your infinite love and compassion. Thank you for helping me through many troubles. Help me to remember the times you showed me your love when I become burdened with the cares of today. Help me keep my eye on you like you keep your eye on the sparrow and on me so I can be filled with your eternal joy.

Romans 1:17 Click on this link to read the passage. You may select your preferred version of the Bible after the link opens.

Where do you find your confidence? your security? your trust? your faith? Are these not one and the same? In this fast changing world we live in it is easy to become fretful when we find the cost of living rising so fast. We watch grocery and gasoline prices rise while our savings diminish and we feel a loss of security.

I am facing what I call a “premature retirement.” My position as librarian in a small school is coming to an end in December. My school has been consolidated with a larger school and we have a new building. I was offered another position at a small school an hour away from where I live, and at today’s escalating gas prices, I refused. But I was able to convince them they needed me through December to help consolidate the two libraries into one. I am now facing an early retirement with less than the number of years required for full retirement and with a sizeable deduction for the fact I’m not quite 65. I live in a very small town with a high unemployment rate. All this is to say I know what it is like to be anxious and nervous about tomorrow.

But all my anxious thoughts and worries are an affront to God who has promised never to leave me or forsake me. (Hebrews 13:5) So I must come back to my first question and apply it to myself: Where do I find my confidence? my security? my trust? my faith? My heart tells me I should put my confidence, my security, my trust, my faith in God. In my heart I know this is true, but I need God’s help to take my eyes off my bank account and to keep them on Him. Like Peter who could walk on water until he took his eyes off Jesus and looked at the waves, (Matthew 14:30) I must learn to keep my eyes on Jesus instead of dwelling on the things that worry me.

Our verse for today reminds us to look to the message of the Gospel to find our righteousness. This is where we are to put our faith. We can’t live by faith until we find it in Jesus and in his teachings.

It helps me to look at the ways God has intervened for me in the past. I can recall several critical times in my life when He pulled me out of a crisis at the last minute in a most unexpected way. If He did it then, He can do it again.

So here I am looking to Jesus to pull me out. Something is still amiss. Shouldn’t I be looking to Jesus for the sake of being close to Him? If I’m looking to Jesus only for a rescue of my finances, I’m not really looking to Jesus, I’m looking through Him at myself. It is time to lose myself in Him, time to spend quality time with Him, time to seek Him with all my heart for the pure joy of knowing Him better each day.

Heavenly Father, help me to truly focus my eyes on You and seek to do Your will in everything. Help me to look above the cares of this world to see Your hand at work in everything, and to rest in Your peace.

Copyright © 2008 by Janice Green

Hebrews 11:5-7 Click on this link to read the passage. You may select your preferred version of the Bible after the link opens.

Verse 6 tells us that we cannot please God without faith. We must believe that God exists. If this verse were a stand-alone verse many pseudo Christians could claim they have faith because they believe there is some kind of god out there who does good things for people. But this is not the measure of faith this verse is talking about. This verse is refering to the kind of faith that changes our lives. Let us consider the verses that come before and after this verse.

Verse 7 tells of Noah’s faith. Noah believed God when He told him He was going to flood the entire earth. It would be hard enough for us today to believe and trust God enough to start building an ark. But we must consider that the people in Noah’s day had never seen rain. Up to this time, God had used streams of water coming out of the earth to water the land. (Genesis 2:4-6) The first rain recorded in the Bible is the onset of the great flood, a rain that lasted 40 days. Noah’s ark-building project was no simple task either. It consumed his life for possibly 100 years while the corrupt people of his day taunted him.

Verse 5 refers to the faith of Enoch. This man is not as well known as Noah, but he was definitely well known to God. There are four verses that cover Enoch’s life in Genesis 5:21-24 that tell us he was the father of Methuselah, and that he walked with God for 300 years and then was no more. Hebrews 11:5 enlightens us on exactly what that meant – Enoch did not die, but went with God directly to heaven. I imagine it would be like going for a walk with God and deciding not to go home but to stay with him.

Returning to verse 6, I would like to revisit the last part of the verse. God desires to bless those who earnestly seek after him. How richly blessed was Enoch who walked with him until he was no more.

Read the entire chapter of Hebrews 11 to learn of more giants of faith from the Bible, and consider how you might allow God to stretch your own faith.

Father God, help us to grow daily in our faith. Give us courage to accept the situations when our faith will be tested and help us to grow through them. Help us to sincerely and earnestly seek after you.

Copyright © 2008 by Janice Green

James 5:7-11 Click on this link to read the passage. You may select your preferred version of the Bible after the link opens.

James teaches us to be patient when we go through suffering. How easy it is to turn to fretting instead of faith. We are reminded to think like the farmer who has to trust God to send the rain at the right time and trust God with the timing in our lives.

It is also important for us to remember how God uses suffering to build character in his beloved children. We may feel we are being punished, but punishment and discipline are not necessarily the same. Punishment is often the direct response to outright sin and is intended to cause pain or bring justice. God is always working toward the future. He disciplines those he loves (Hebrews 2:6) to prepare them for service in his kingdom. Discipline may not be in response to a great sin, it may be more like sandpaper working on some rough edges. But the end purpose of discipline is to prepare us for service in the future.

James reminds us not to grumble against one another. It is so easy to give in to grumbling when we struggle with the events around us. Our grumbling stands in the face of developing patience and works against us. God is not pleased when we grumble.

Job was a patient man who held to his faith in God against all odds. By looking to Job and others in the Bible such as Joseph in Egypt, we may find the courage and strength to help us persevere in our times of suffering.

Father God, strengthen our hearts when we are hurting. Help us to trust in you for courage and strength.

Copyright © 2008 by Janice Green

James 5:1-6 Click on this link to read the passage. You may select your preferred version of the Bible after the link opens.

James describes the woes for the wealthy. God doesn’t offer any redeeming words to rich people who obtain their money by taking advantage of the poor. Neither does he condone persons who use all their wealth for self-indulgence. I have occasionally heard wealthy Christians wrestle with what the Bible says about wealth. As I understand the scriptures, both here and elsewhere in the Bible, the bottom line is whether the wealthy hoard for themselves, or hold their riches with open hands asking God to lead them to be good stewards of their wealth in service to his kingdom.

This question may put money in its proper perspective: Does your money own you or do you own your money? If you are consumed in worrying about your money (even your lack of it) that you can’t joyfully serve the Lord with it, then your money owns you.

I find it interesting that this passage isn’t one of the familiar passages we hear frequently in the pulpit or even in our Sunday school literature. James 5 was the passage for last Sunday’s lesson, but the writer of our literature ignored it completely and began with verse 7 to build his lesson. Read the passage again. James doesn’t mince words to avoid offending the wealthy.

Father God, Help us to hold our finances and possessions with open hands that we may serve you with our whole hearts. Give us the courage to make the changes in our hearts and lives that would be pleasing to you.

Copyright © 2008 by Janice Green

Proverbs 3:13-18  Click on this link to read the passage. You may select your preferred version of the Bible after the link opens.

The world today puts great value on wealth and power. Unfortunately, even our churches give in to this kind of small thinking and give leadership roles to those who have “proven themselves” in the world. Out the window goes faith and even honor in too many instances.

But the true student of the Bible will come up with a different take on the source of true knowledge and wisdom. Read Proverbs 3:13-18. There is a wisdom that will bring riches, but not the kind that can be purchased with gold and silver. The riches include things money can’t buy: peace, joy, good will, a free conscience, respect and honor.

God is the giver of this kind of wisdom. It isn’t given to the greedy or to those hungry for power. It is given to those who are willing to seek it by spending time with him in prayer and by spending time searching through the scriptures for the lessons that only the Holy Spirit can teach us. And the riches gained from true wisdom include a relationship with Jesus Christ that will last through the end of our days on this earth and on into eternity. I’ll take riches of this kind over gold and silver any day!

Heavenly Father, incline my heart to seek thee more faithfully and deliberately. Help me to discern between Godly wisdom and the wisdom of this world, and help me to make seeking and applying godly wisdom a daily act of obedience to you.

Copyright © 2008 by Janice Green

James 3:13-16 Click on this link to read the passage. You may select your preferred version of the Bible after the link opens.

What prompts people to do good deeds? Politicians often do good deeds to gain recognition and votes. Businessmen make great donations to get tax write-offs. Some people want to be seen doing good deeds so they will make a good impression on others. Deeds done out of selfish ambition or envy are futile attempts to appease others, nor do they impress God. James calls these deeds evil practices.

There are others who are trying to balance the scales of their lives hoping to have more good deeds piled up on one side than bad deeds on the other as if they could earn their way into heaven this way. These are the most deceived of all.

James challenges us to rise above earthly wisdom and to seek the true wisdom that comes from God alone. The person who seeks godly wisdom will have a daily practice of doing good deeds, but this person will not be looking for man’s approval or applause. He will not be concerned about getting anything in return. He will not desire to have his name engraved on a plaque and hung on the wall for all to see the contributions he has made. He will simply look for ways to serve others sharing what he has with those in need.

Heavenly Father, search my heart and know me. Show me where I have my priorities upside-down. Enable me to serve you fully and completely. Give me the will to put others needs ahead of my self-indulgent spirit.

Copyright © 2008 by Janice Green