sportstaxi

(continued from posting below) How does this relate to the need for patience? God will supply us with all we need. He desires to give us above and beyond all we can think or imagine. That doesn't mean all of the blessings are going to shower down and once and make us zillionaires! We need to wait on Him and allow Him to lead us. If we're oppressing others or trying to manipulate things to gain wealth and material possessions, we're not behaving as His children and relying on Him.

Q2. (5:5-6) What is the spiritual danger of our demand for comfort and luxury? Extra credit: How might our demand for low-priced goods and services cause us to (1) oppress our own employees or (2) cause workers in this country or abroad to be under paid or oppressed? How does all this relate to the need for patience? What is the spiritual danger of our demand for comfort and luxury? I think one of the dangers is that, in our quest for comfort and luxury, we forget about those who go without and take for granted the luxuries that we have. I can see this through my teen-age daughter who has much more than I ever did. These luxuries are part of the norm for her. They are not bad in and of themselves, but I can see how she takes them for granted. When she talks to some of her friends that are really struggling, she can see how fortunate she is, but I don't think she truly grasps how grateful she should be. Adults are frequently no better. They grow accustomed to the niceties in life, and they become things we 'need'. Our need grows into material things instead of reliance on God and His provision. Like I said, material things and nice things aren't bad, but how we view them and whether or not we're grateful determines if they'll be a detriment in our life or not. Our hope and trust needs to come from Him, not from wealth and material things. It's also of utmost importance that we tithe consistently and give at least our 10-percent back into 'the storehouse'. It's His to begin with! Extra credit: Putting an emphasis on the lowest possible price when it oppresses either employees or others is not showing others Christs' love. We need to be His feet and His hands, and we can't be oppressors through the week and Christians on Sunday. We need to treat others with love, kindness, and respect and give everyone what they're due - not cheating them out of something rightfully theirs in order to make the most money! How does this relate to the need for patience?

Q1. (4:13-16) What danger is James warning us about in verses 13-16? I believe James is warning us that we need to always keep God in the picture when looking to our future. If we start making plans without consulting God and without asking for His divine guidance, we're in trouble. God has great plans for us - and we need to be in tune to what He tells us to do. He may speak to us through His Word or through that 'still, small voice', but He will give us direction. We will naturally have certain gifts and talents and inborn desires to do certain things. Many of these inborn desires will be what God put in us when we were born. We need to be careful, however, to always stay in tune to Him so we don't start leading our own lives without seeking His direction. If we start going off on our own, we could find ourselves very quickly out of His will for us and away from His blessing. Q2: How can we be humble in our planning without being indecisive and wishy-washy? Being humble doesn't mean we need to be flakes. I think the Christian community as a whole has gotten this image of being passive and timid. We need to pursue will all our heart what He has told us to do! We are to stay on that path, working hard for Him, until He tells us to go a different direction. We can be decisive and bold, we just need to remember where our direction is coming from and stay true to all He's instructed us to do.

Thank you to Alan's post that wisdom from the Father comes from something He's already given us - His Word. Whatever answers we need, we can find it by studying His Word. Now, I'm not saying all of the answers are easy to find. Contrastly, frequently we may need help from someone else or an outside source to discover the answer, but His Word is always available and His answers never change. Back to the question....What is the promise the claim in verse 5? That when we ask God for wisdom, it will be given to him. There are no conditions attached to this promise. Not 'if you've been good...' or 'if God feels like giving wisdom to you...' but generously and to all without finding fault. The condition attached to this promise is that we need to believe and not doubt. The wisdom / answer we're searching for may not be what we are expecting. But we need to believe and not doubt - acting on what He tells us. Trials help us achieve this wisdom as we learn through trials how to gain His wisdom and we learn to trust in His wisdom.

Double mindedness comes from asking God for help and/or wisdom during our trials, and then not acting as though we have received from Him. We need to have complete faith that, when we've asked, He will give it to us ~ it's a promise from Him. When we have faith that God will supply us with wisdom in any situation, then fear and worry can be released. When we've come through trials and see what He's done for us and how He has carried us through, it gives us something to look back on when the next trial comes. I agree with an earlier response that didn't like the word 'cure' doublemindedness. I think faith is a process and we gradually come to rely on Him more and more as we see His faithfulness in our lives on a continual basis. Our faith grows each time God brings us through a trail and brings us to the other side.

Q2. (1:13-15) Why do people blame God for evil? Does God tempt us with evil? Does he tempt sinful people with evil? Why does he allow people to sin? Why does he allow evil to exist at all? Why do people blame God for evil? Because they don't understand the spiritual warfare that is constantly at work and don't see Satan as the one who seeks to kill and destroy. And, God is blamed because He doesn't always prevent bad things from happening. We give Satan a foothold in our lives when we're in disobedience to God. Does God tempt us with evil? NO. The temptations come from man's fallen nature and a fallen world. Does He tempt sinful people with evil? No....All are tempted alike. (And saved or not, we're all sinful people). Why does He allow people to sin? God loves us so much that He gives us freewill. We have the power to choose to obey or disobey Him. His will for us is that we choose His way, but, of course, we don't always do that! As we grow and learn from our mistakes, we grow and mature and learn to rely on Him more and trust Him more ~ so that we realize that His way is always the best way. Why does He allow evil to exist at all? Until He comes again, there will always be a spiritual warfare between good and evil. Ultimately, God will reign - every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord! Until then, fallible man will continue to do what they do best - sin - and Satan will have power through that to cause havoc on earth. Again, God's given us free will and we choose how far we'll allow evil to reign in our own lives.

Q1. (1:2-4) What value have trials had in your life? Have you let Satan destroy you with those trials? Or allowed God to refine you? How have you changed? Trials have definitely made me a stronger person and have developed a perseverence in me. I think the biggest benefit is that I can look back at the trials and see how God was faithful to me and carried me through them - even though I didn't see it at the time. He will never leave us or forsake us ~ and I know He was keeping a hedge of protection around me throughout. He still does. Realizing what He's done for me in the past allows me to rely on Him in the present. Have I allowed God to refine me? I'm not sure, but I know that's what He's done with my past trials and will continue to do with ones to come.