Taught by Grace

If you are a son or daughter of God, you know that you need to pray, need to pray, and do pray. However, if we’re honest, most of us feel pretty unremarkable about our praying. We don’t pray fervently enough, regularly enough, or enough at all. Prayer becomes a burden upon many shoulders instead of being the means to lay burdens at the feet of our Father. Perhaps, we may even feel like it’s pointless to continue praying when you compare how little you pray compared to how much those stalwarts of church history prayed.

There is good news! This doesn’t have to be the case. You can pray. You can grow in prayer. We need to learn to pray.

If that is the case, then we need someone to teach us how to pray!

Who is better to teach us how to pray than the Lord Jesus Christ Himself?

If Jesus was sitting in the room with you, teaching you how to pray, wouldn’t you listen?

If you heard that He would be giving a sermon at a local church about how to pray, wouldn’t you do anything you could to get there?

Of course, we would! But we don’t have to have Jesus sitting across from us or standing before us because He has already taught us how to pray in His Word. You can learn how to pray from Jesus Himself. We learn how to pray from Him in the Lord's Prayer

I know many have a re-invigorated desire to read, study, and know God’s Word, so I’ve decided to take a couple of episodes at the beginning of this year and speak to you on the priority and practice of Bible reading and study in our lives as Christians.

This week, I want to remind you about what the Bible is. If we have the correct view of the Bible, we will be moved to read, study, and live the Bible more. You may be a faithful, fluctuating, or frustrated Bible reader. Regardless of where you are, I hope this episode will move you closer to God through His word this year. 

 I wanted to let you know that there will not be another new episode until January 17th. I wanted to take a couple of weeks off from recording so that I can lock into the next series, which I am very excited about.

What is that next series going to be? A couple of months back, I sent out a poll on my Instagram story about what people would like to hear coming up. I gave three options in that - The Lord’s Prayer, the 10 Commandments, and a series called Big Picture - tracing the major story of the Bible. By a pretty overwhelming majority, Big Picture won the votes. The first episode of that series will come out on January 17th.

We have heard the Christmas story hundreds of times before, do we really need to listen to it again? In a brief episode this week, I want to remind you to listen to the Christmas story again. 

It's not about a decree from Caesar, a couple going to Bethlehem, or even that there was a babe lying in a manger. It is about the babe in the manger being the Savior of the world. The good news the angels declared then is the good news we must hear again now. It's the news we need in our dark nights, discouraged moments, and failures. It's the news we needed when we were saved and the news we need now as believers. We never grow past our need to hear the story so I urge you - hear the good news again and worship Christ again! 

There's a goldmine for us at the bottom of James 5:12, however, we have to dig a little for it. 

Join me as we dig out the truth that God has laid at the bottom of this verse. We will answer these questions: 

James 5:12 calls us to be people of truth in the everyday routine of life. Instead of needing to make oaths about anything and everything, we simply live in the truth at all times and before all people.

Suffering is routine. It’s something that we face and deal with in diverse ways and at different times. It ranges from trials that aren’t really that big to difficulties that are massive.

From the nuisance of a runny nose to the devastation of a cancer diagnosis.

From a bad breakup to the unexpected death of a loved one.

From not getting into the college of your dreams to losing the job you have been working for years.

From someone cracking a joke about your Christian faith to being beaten, imprisoned, and martyred for the faith.

While there is an incredible spectrum of suffering there (being martyred for your faith is far worse than a runny nose), the truth is that each of those things I described is difficult when we face them. So then, the question is what attitude are we to have in all of our sufferings? In episode 104, we saw that we’re to rejoice in trials! This time, we see another part of what our response should be in suffering.

Very simply - We are urged not to give up in James 5:7-11.

In this week's episode, we dive into James 4:13-17 to examine this passage and answer the big questions that it raises about the future, decisions, and life in general. 

First - Is it sinful to plan for the future?

Is it sinful to think about what college I will go to?

Is it sinful to consider what job I’d like to have?

Is it sinful to think about where I want to live and who I want to marry?

Is it sinful to think about retirement?

Further, verse 14 would make us ask another question - should I plan at all?

I don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow.

I don’t know how long my life will be, but I know it’s going to be short.

James 4:13-17 shows us that there is a Biblical and godly way to look into the future and it is centered around one phrase - "If the Lord will."