Lamentations 5 -- Never Going There Again

Jeremiah’s prayer included pronouns that were plural, indicating that he was praying not just for himself, but also for those left in the land and those in Babylonian captivity, according to my commentary.  He asked, “Remember, Lord, what happened to us.”  Of course God hadn’t forgotten.  “He and the people wanted the Lord to act on their behalf and deliver them from their painful and humiliating situation.  Jeremiah knew that the Babylonian captivity would not end for seventy years, but he still asked the Lord to be merciful to the poor people left in the land and to the exiles in Babylon.”

In verse 7, we read, “Our ancestors sinned against You, but they are gone;  now we suffer because of their sins.”  That wasn’t quite right, but in verse 16, we finally read, “How terrible it is because we sinned.”

They asked hard questions in the last verses, with the book ending on a pessimistic note:  “Why have You forgotten us for so long?  Have You left us forever?  Bring us back to You, Lord, and we will return.  Make our days as they were before, or have You completely rejected us?  Are You so angry with us?”

Just prior to those verses, though, they said, “But You rule forever, Lord.  You will be King from now on.”  My commentary said, “Though the throne of Judah was disgraced and destroyed, by faith Jeremiah and the remnant saw the living and unchanging God on His throne in heaven, and this gave them courage.  Yes, they felt forsaken and forgotten, but they knew God would return to them if they would return to Him… Without God’s presence and power, their lives could never be renewed, and they didn’t want to go back to the old ways that had caused so much trouble.”

It must have been terrible knowing that 70 years would have to pass before they could begin returning home and rebuilding their destroyed nation.  Like the Hebrews who’d left Egypt for the Promised Land, most of those living would never see those promised good times return.  That’s what sin can do.  It is blinding, binding, and grinding according to my commentary.  Give me a healthy fear of ever going there again, Father!

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Lamentations 4 -- Utter Destruction

Jeremiah’s descriptions of the results of the siege and fall of Jerusalem are frightening:

The people of Israel had been described as precious in the sight of the Lord, like gold and jewels.  But their sins had caused them to lose that beauty.  “Nobody was ever made better, more attractive, or more valuable because they sinned,” my commentary said.

People longed for a quick end to their misery, rather than having to endure the long siege and the starvation that resulted.  Sodom and Gomorrah’s residents had died in an instant.  “Israel’s sins, though, were greater, because Israel had seen the glory of God, been given His holy law and had entered into covenant with Him.  Privileges always bring responsibilities.”

“Because they rejected the light of God’s law, the people were defiled and unable to see the truth,” my commentary said.

When we spit in God’s face, distrust Him, and decide to live our lives in total opposition to Him and His Word, as the people of Judah had done, we can expect God to make life unbearable as He works in love to bring us back to Him.

Father, I remember moving away from You as I went to college and in the years that followed, thinking that I had it all figured out and that You were wrong.  To this day, I still thank You for loving me enough to not let me go my own way!  Thanks for bringing me back to You!

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Lamentations 3 -- Seeing Our Circumstances Through God, And Not The Other Way Around

My commentary said:

“Jeremiah had faithfully proclaimed God’s message for 40 years, and yet the nation had turned a deaf ear.”  Forty years of ministry with what would seem to be no tangible results would cause anyone to face depression!

“But this cry of despair was the turning point in Jeremiah’s lament, for now he focused on the Lord and not on himself, and he said, ‘I have hope.’  He turned from contemplating his misery to remembering God’s mercy.  He still experienced pain and sorrow, but he also called to mind the faithfulness of the Lord, and this gave him hope … Because the Lord loves us, He chastens us, but He doesn’t consume us.  He disciplines, but He doesn’t destroy.  Unbelief causes us to look at God through our circumstances and this creates hopelessness; but faith enables us to look at our circumstances through the reality of God, and this gives us hope.  If the Lord is our portion, then we are strengthened by that which cannot be used up or destroyed.  God is our eternal source of strength, hope, and blessing.  Our circumstances change, and so do our feelings about them, but God is always good, loving, merciful, and kind, and He never changes.”

“The secret to victory in tough times is simply to submit to the Lord and accept the fact that ‘the Lord had laid it on him’ … We must bow before the Lord – even putting our faces in the dust – and submit to Him without complaining, knowing that in His time, He will see us through … Jeremiah laid hold of some wonderful assurances:

                The Lord doesn’t cast off His people and forget them.

                In the midst of pain, we know He loves us.

                God doesn’t enjoy chastening His own, and He feels our pain.

                God sees the way people treat us.

                God is on the throne and in control of all events.

                If He chastens us for our sins, we shouldn’t complain, for even His chastening is evidence of His love.”

Father, thanks for changing my perspective on the last two years.  I’ve not forgotten that I trust You.  I just needed reminding not to look at You through my circumstances, but instead to look at my circumstances through the reality of You.               

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Lamentations 2 -- Sinning Away The Day of God's Grace

“That the God of Israel would ever permit the Gentiles … to enter and destroy Jerusalem and the Temple was something inconceivable to the Jewish people.  By ignoring the covenant and depending on the presence of the temple and its sacred furnishings, especially the ark, the leaders and most of the people had replace living faith with dead superstition,” my commentary said.  I don’t think those actions are exclusive to the Jews at that time.  We can fall for that belief today, believing that our nation or our city is special to God and therefore protected, regardless of the sins of the people.

The people had been freed from Egyptian slavery only to allow themselves to be enslaved by the idolatrous worship of the former inhabitants of the Promised Land.  “Sin always promises freedom, but brings bondage.”  How I’ve seen that in the lives of kids who get hooked on drugs!  Rather than paying attention to God’s Word to keep trouble from coming, the Jews had waited until it was too late, ignoring His Word.

The Israelites had once followed God’s cloud of glory to reach the Promised Land, but now God had sent them a cloud of anger, my commentary said.  “He also put a cloud between Himself and His people so that their prayers would not reach Him, and He even told Jeremiah not to pray for the people because they were so wicked that they were beyond His intercession!”

“The elders sat on the ground mourning, too overwhelmed to utter a word … famine was so severe that mothers even killed and ate their own children.”

“What had caused such calamity and tragedy?  The spiritual leaders had given the people a false message and they had believed it!... The false prophets refused to expose the sins of the people and call the nation to repentance.”  They preferred to “whitewash the wall instead of exposing its weaknesses and repairing it.”

“They had sinned away the day of God’s grace … God’s ear is open to the cries of His people, but He doesn’t answer until His hand is finished with the discipline He promised.”

Father, where there is sin, don’t let us whitewash over it but instead guide us to expose our weaknesses so You can repair them.  Open our hearts to any Word You have for us and remind us what will happen if we ignore You.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Lamentations 1 -- Crying Out For Our Own Stupidity

My commentary said, “Jeremiah expressed his own sorrow at the destruction of the Holy City and the beautiful Temple of the Lord.  It looked to him as though 40 years of faithful ministry were wasted, for the people didn’t heed his messages … But it was reasonable for … Jeremiah to raise theological questions as he beheld the ruins of the Holy City.  Where was God?  Did He no longer love His people, His house, and the city of Jerusalem?”

Judah had held to three false hopes:  the Davidic dynasty, the sacred temple, and help from Egypt.  “They expected the Lord to protect the royal dynasty and keep the covenant He made with the nation … The Lord made it very clear that Israel’s obedience to this covenant would guarantee protection from their enemies … But if they disobeyed, one judgment after another would come to the people … The Lord is always faithful to His covenant, either to bless the obedient or chasten the disobedient.  His Word will never fail … God would rather His city and temple be destroyed by pagans than to have His name disgraced by the wicked lives of His people … The nation had sinned and deserved chastening, and God was the one who chastened them.”

“The prophet knew that God was in control of history and that the Babylonian army was serving Him … God’s anger is a holy anger, directed against sin … Sin always promises freedom, but brings bondage … Now that they were in trouble, the Jews were turning back to God’s Word.  It’s too bad they didn’t pay attention to that Word much earlier and keep the trouble from coming!”

Father, in Your love, You’ve given us everything we need to know how to live in a manner that honors You.  Yet we still choose to sin against You and You alone.  Please help me to take to heart all of the laments I will read here and to learn from history so that I won’t have to repeat it.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

James 5:13-20 Prayer Power

“Prayer is certainly a high and holy privilege.  To think that, as God’s children, we can come freely and boldly to His throne and share with Him our needs! … Instead of complaining about his situation, a mature Christian talks to God about it, and God hears and answers his prayers,” my commentary says.

When we are suffering in difficult circumstances that are not the result of sin or the chastening of God, our prayers should be requests for the wisdom we need to understand the situation and use it for God’s glory, it says.

My commentary was careful to dissect the section on prayers for the sick.  It said that in this section, the person is sick because of sin.  He was being disciplined by God.  The elders were having to come to him because he could not come to them in the church because he had been removed from the fellowship by church discipline.  The person then confesses his sin.  He is healed by “the prayer of faith”.  1 John 5:14-15 tells us what this is:  “And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will …”  “The prayer of faith is a prayer offered when you know the will of God.  The elders would seek the mind of God in the matter, and then prayer according to His will ... It is not one person praying; it is the body of elders – spiritual men of God – who seek God’s will and pray.  James did not instruct the believer to send for a faith healer.  The matter is in the hands of the leaders of the local church.”

I also read a very important section:  “We must never confess sin beyond the circle of that sin’s influence.  Private sin requires private confession; public sin requires public confession.  It is wrong for Christians to hang dirty wash in public, for such confessing might do more harm than the original sin.”

Thank You for all of this and more that I read today, Father.  Help me to know Your will and to adjust my prayers to it.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

James 5:7-12 The Two-Day Quiet Time

I spent two days on these 6 verses!  Because of a busy schedule, I read the verses and my commentary yesterday, but never got to journal.  I now know that God was giving me a chance to put into action what I’d read and also to see where I didn’t follow what I’d read so that I could compare the results before rereading it again today to see what I’d forgotten or ignored. 

Yesterday, I spent a large part of the day alone with my dad for a doctor’s appointment of my own plus two for him.  As his Alzheimer’s continues to rob him of the ability to be the man he once was, I know God was showing me more of the man he is now, and what I can still value in that, along with how I can better relate to him in a Christ-like way.  I discovered that I could get along very well with him by remembering what it was like when Josh and Joseph were 7 and 8 years old and still filled with wonder at this new place called America, which they didn’t understand, including much of the language.  Just as they would not know everything about where we were headed and why and needed to be entertained in the interim, I found that my dad needs that, too!  More than anything, I discovered that the fatherly love and patience I had with them is very fitting to be used with my dad now.

In my commentary, I read about the power of patience:  “God is not going to right all the wrongs in this world until Jesus Christ returns and we believers must patiently endure – and expect.”  It pointed out two words used – longsuffering refers to patience with persons while endurance refers to patience with conditions or situations.

James gave three examples to help us better visualize what’s needed in regard to patience:  farming, the prophets, and Job. 

“James pictured the Christian as a spiritual farmer looking for a spiritual harvest … Our hearts are the soil and the seed is the Word of God.  There are seasons to the spiritual life just as there are seasons to the soil.  Sometimes our hearts become cold and wintry, and the Lord has to plow them up before He can plant the seed … Here, then, is a secret of endurance when the going is tough:  God is producing a harvest in our lives … He wants the fruit of the Spirit to grow and the only way He can do it is through trials and troubles.  Instead of growing impatient with God and with ourselves, we must yield to the Lord and permit the fruit to grow.”

This really hit me:  “Impatience with God often leads to impatience with God’s people, and this is a sin we must avoid.  If we start using the sickles on each other, we will miss the harvest.”

James also mentioned the prophets and how, despite their obedience to God’s will, they suffered.  “Satan tells the faithful Christian that his suffering is the result of sin or unfaithfulness, and yet his suffering might well be because of faithfulness!  ‘All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution (2 Tim 3:12)’  We must never think that obedience automatically produces ease and pleasure.  Our Lord was obedient, and it led to the cross! … The will of God will never lead you where the grace of God cannot keep you.”

“Like the farmer, we keep working, and, like the prophets, we keep witnessing, no matter how trying the circumstances may be.”

“As you know, we consider blessed those who have persevered (James 5:11).  But you cannot persevere unless there is a trial in your life.  There can be no victories without battles; there can be no peaks without valleys.  If you want a blessing, you must be prepared to carry the burden and fight the battle … God has to balance privileges with responsibilities, blessings with burdens, or else you and I will become spoiled, pampered children.”

“The book of Job teaches us that God has higher purposes in suffering than the punishing of sins … Jesus suffered not for His own sins, but for the sins of the world … God never wastes the suffering of His saints … If there is nothing to endure, you cannot learn endurance … When you find yourself in the fire, remember that God keeps His gracious hand on the thermostat! … Satan wants us to get impatient with God, for an impatient Christian is a powerful weapon in the devil’s hands  … When you find yourself in the furnace, got to the throne of grace and receive from the Lord all the grace you need to endure.  Remind yourself that the Lord has a gracious purpose in all of this suffering and that He will work out His purpose in His time and for His glory.”

Thank You, Father, for a day spent learning all this.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

James 5:1-6 The Right Use Of Wealth

My commentary said the fifth mark of a mature Christian is that “he is prayerful in troubles.  Instead of giving up when trouble comes, the mature believer turns to God in prayer and seeks divine help.”  In what I read after that, it would seem that the illustration James uses were workers crying out to God about withheld wages.

“James did not say it was a sin to be rich … James was concerned about the selfishness of the rich and advised them to weep and howl.”  There were three reasons he cited:

The way they GOT their wealth, by holding back the wages of their workers or cheating them in court.

The way they USED their wealth, storing it up when it was owed to workers, “Failing to use what God has made us stewards over for the good of others and the glory of God,” and living in luxury, which is self-indulgence.

What their riches will do – Riches will vanish through decay, taxation, and market fluctuations.  Misused riches will erode character.  Also, “Christians will stand before Jesus at the Judgment Seat of Christ, where He will judge not our sins (because they have already been judged on the cross), but our works and our ministry.  If we have been faithful in serving and glorifying Him, we will receive a reward; if we have been unfaithful, we will lose our reward but not our salvation.”

“James did not condemn riches or rich people; he condemned the wrong use of riches and rich people who use their wealth as a weapon and not as a tool with which to build … What we keep, we lose.  What we give to God, we keep, and He adds interest to it.”

My commentary also mentioned a preacher who quoted Proverbs 19:17 for an annual charity sermon:  “He that has pity upon the poor lends to the Lord; and that we he lends, God will pay him again.”  The preacher then finished with, “If you like the terms, then put Your money down.”

Father, continue to show me how You want me to share the resources You have given me as a steward.  Help me to be wise in how I help others.  Let me know the joy of being an answer to prayer.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

James 4:13-17 Knowing & Doing The Will Of God

“When a believer is not in the will of God, he becomes a troublemaker and not a peacemaker … The dangerous life is not in the will of God but out of the will of God.  The safest place in the world is right where God wants you … The will of God comes from the heart of God.  His will is an expression of His love, so I don’t have to be afraid,” my commentary said.

James pointed out three attitudes toward the will of God – ignoring it, disobeying it, and obeying it.  Of course only the last one is the correct response.  About ignoring it, my commentary said, “It is like going through the dark jungles without a map, or over the stormy seas without a compass.”

The second attitude is that of people who know the will of God but choose to disobey it … One reason they choose to disobey His will is pride.  Another is man’s ignorance of the nature of God’s will … It’s not something he can accept or reject … The will of God is not an option; it is an obligation.  We cannot take it or leave it … disobeying God’s will leads to misery …”

As to obeying God’s will, I read, “The will of God is not a chain to shackle us but rather a key that opens doors to set us free … The will of God is tailor-made for each of us … a living relationship between God and the believer.  The relationship is not destroyed when the believer disobeys, for the Father still deals with His child, even if He must chasten … When God cannot rule, he overrules … God adjusts things to bring us back into His will … God wants us to understand His will, knowing not just the what but also the why … How do I determine God’s will for my life?  You start with the thing you know you ought to do, and you do that.  Then God opens the way for the next step.  You prove by experience what the will of God is … and we must do it from the heart, not grudgingly or out of necessity.  If we do, we will miss the blessing.”

Father, You proved yesterday, with the death of 13-year-old Bob Turner, that we don’t know if we have another day or not, so we should use every day as if it is our last, to do Your will.  Help us all to discover Your will for our lives and to obey it willingly, knowing that it comes from Your great heart of love for us.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

James 4:1-12 The Wars Within

Wow! This is so relevant today!  James tells us about the wars going on within us and what causes them.

“Selfish desires lead to wrong actions … and they even lead to wrong praying… When our praying is wrong, our whole Christian life is wrong … The purpose of prayer is not to get man’s will done in heaven, but to get God’s will done on earth … Covetousness can make a person violate all of God’s moral laws … Instead of being thankful for the blessings they do have, they complain about blessings they do not have.”

“The root cause of every war, internal and external, is rebellion against God …Sin is lawlessness and lawlessness is rebellion against God … We must not fraternize with the world, the flesh, or the devil.”

“The flesh means the old nature we inherited from Adam that is prone to sin.  The flesh is not the body.  The body is not sinful.  The body is neutral … The Spirit may use  the body to glorify God, or the flesh may use the body to serve sin.  This Spirit within jealously guards our relationship to God, and the Spirit is grieved when we sin against God’s love.”

“Pride is one of Satan’s chief weapons in his warfare against the saint and the Savior.  God wants us to be humble.  Satan wants us to be proud … God wants us to depend on His grace, while the devil wants us to depend on ourselves.”

Our instruction here are to submit to God, to draw near to Him, and to humble ourselves before Him.  “If we obey these three instructions, then God will draw near, cleanse us, and forgive us; and the wars will cease!  We will not be at war with God, so we will not be at war with ourselves.  This means we will not be at war with others.”

Father, cause me to look inside and be able to see anything that is not of You.  Point out to me where I hold back giving You full control of parts of my life, and reassure me that I can let go and let You be in charge.  Help me to submit to You, Father!

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

James 3:13-18 Godly Wisdom vs. Earthly Wisdom

My commentary says it's most important to determine whether we are relying on heavenly wisdom or earthly wisdom from Satan.  The way each operates is clearly different.  If we see envy cropping up, it's clearly not spiritual wisdom working.  Strife -- getting all the support we can -- is another marker.  

Boasting comes with earthly wisdom, and can even infect spiritual things.  "There is a way to report blessings so that God gets the glory, but there is also an approach that gives men the praise," my commentary said.  "Boasting usually involves lies," which bring deceit into the picture as well.

On the other hand, the evidences of spiritual wisdom include meekness -- "Not weakness but power under control"; purity of life; peace; gentleness -- sweet reasonableness; compliance -- agreeableness; mercy; good fruits; and sincerity.

My commentary also noted a contrast in outcomes, with trouble, confusion, instability, jealousy, competition, and self-promotion resulting from worldly wisdom.  God's wisdom, though, results in blessing, fruits, righteousness, and peace.  That sure sounds like a better life!

One last thing I read -- "It is a serious thing to be a troublemaker in God's family.  One of the sins that God hates is that of sowing discord among brethren."  That smacks of earthly wisdom.

Father, I need Your wisdom more every day.  Please help me to recognize earthly wisdom when it tries to invade my soul and help me to put it away.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

James 3:1-12 The World's Smallest But Largest Troublemaker

“The characteristics of a mature Christian include being patient in trouble, practicing the truth, and having power over his tongue,” my commentary said. 

We’re shown in these verses that the tongue has power to direct.  Teachers especially can direct lives in both good and bad ways, and we all stumble.  “Teachers must practice what they teach; otherwise, their teaching is hypocrisy.”

The tongue also has power to destroy.  “A hot head and a hot heart can lead to burning words that later we will regret.  David had a temper and he had to have God’s help in controlling it … Time does not correct the sins of the tongue.  We may confess our sins of speech, but the fire keeps on spreading.”

The tongue has power to delight, and for ours to do so, “we must meet with the Lord each day and learn from Him.  We must get our spiritual roots deep into His Word.  We must pray and meditate and permit the Spirit of God to fill our hearts with God’s love and truth … If the tongue is inconsistent, there is something radically wrong with the heart … The tongue that blesses the Father, and then turns around and curses men made in God’s image, is in desperate need of spiritual medicine … The problem is not the tongue; it is the heart.”

Father, I too need Your help daily in guarding and directing my tongue, but start first with my heart.  Wash it clean, Father, then direct every word I say.  Let me not have regrets because of my tongue.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

James 2:14-26 Determining Our Standing Before God

James takes us through a method of determining whether we have true, saving faith or one of the counterfeits:  dead faith or demonic faith.  And my commentary explains each in great detail.  What I really liked were the nine sets of questions in my commentary that we can ask ourselves as we examine our hearts to determine which type of faith we have:

                First, was there a time when I honestly realized I was a sinner and admitted this to myself and to God?

                Next, was there a time when my heart stirred me to flee from the wrath to come?  Have I ever seriously been alarmed over my sins?

                Next, do I truly understand the gospel, that Christ died for my sins and rose again?  Do I understand and confess that I cannot save myself?

                Next, did I sincerely repent of my sins and turn from them?  Or do I secretly love sin and want to enjoy it?

                Next, have I trusted Christ and Christ alone for my salvation?  Do I enjoy a living relationship with Him through the Word and in the Spirit?

                Next, has there been a change in my life?  Do I maintain good works, or are my works occasional and weak?  Do I seek to grow in the things of the Lord?  Can others tell that I have been with Jesus?

                Next, do I have a desire to share Christ with others?  Or am I ashamed of Him?

                Next, do I enjoy the fellowship of God’s people?  Is worship a delight to me?

                Next, Am I ready for the Lord’s return?  Or will I be ashamed when He comes for me?

It concluded, “There are degrees of sanctification.  But for the most part, the preceding spiritual inventory can assist a person in determining his true standing before God.

Those are tough questions, Father, but questions we must ask ourselves if we are to know that we know that we know!  Thank You for showing them to me today!

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

James 2:1-13 Jesus Did Not Respect Persons

James gave no ground when it came to how Christians treat others.  In my commentary , I read, “Jesus did not respect persons.  He wasn’t swayed by a person’s status … He saw the potential in the lives of sinners … We are prone to judge people by their past, not their future … Jesus was a friend of sinners, though He disapproved of their sins.  It was not compromise, but compassion that caused Him to welcome them and when they trusted Him, forgive them…   How do we practice the deity of Christ in our human relationships?  Look at everyone through the eyes of Christ.  If the visitor is a Christian, we can accept him because Christ lives in him.  If he is not a Christian, we can receive him because Christ died for him… Grace implies God’s sovereign choice of those who cannot earn and do not deserve His salvation … In His birth and life, Jesus broke down the walls between rich and poor, young and old, educated and uneducated.  It is wrong for us to build those walls again;  we cannot rebuild them if we believe in the grace of God … We must never forget that our lives and ministries are the best defense of the truth of God’s Word … If I disobey one law, I am capable of disobeying all of them; and by rebelling, I have already done so …”

We might naturally tend to think that we cannot love all people – there are certain people that are hard for us to love.  About this, I read, “Christian love does not mean that I must like a person and agree with him on everything.  I may not like his vocabulary or habits, and I may not want him as an intimate friend.  Christian love means treating others the way God has treated me… It is an act of the will, not an emotion that I try to manufacture.  The motive is to glorify God.”

And this gets us – “We only believe as much of the Bible as we practice.”

Finally, James assures us that what Jesus and Paul said is true – “Christian believers will never be judged for their sins, but our works WILL be judged and rewarded…. Our words will be judged … Our deeds will be judged … Our attitudes will be judged … God sees our hearts and knows what we would have done had we been free to do so … God’s Word can change our hearts and give us the desire to do God’s will, so that we obey from inward compulsion and not outward constraint.”

Father, Please help me to be Jesus to those You place in my path.  Give me compassion for their hurting.  Help me to show them Your love.  Don’t let me respect some over others.  Thanks for reminding me that favoritism is sin.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

James 1: 19-27 Quit Kidding Yourself

The last nine verses of this chapter pack a wallop!  My commentary entitles them “Quit Kidding Yourself” and says, “If a Christian sins because Satan deceives him, that is one thing.  But if he deceives himself, that is a far more serious thing.”

We have three responsibilities toward God’s Word, it says:  Receiving it, practicing it, and sharing it.

Receiving it:

We need to be swift to hear, it said, like a mother running to her new baby’s cry.  We need to be slow to speak and slot to wrath, and have a prepared heart, also.  We prepare our heart by first confessing our sins and asking the Father to forgive us, then meditating on God’s love and grace and asking Him to plow up any hardness in our hearts, then have an attitude of meekness – accepting it, not arguing about it, and honoring it as the Word of God.

Practicing it:

Practicing the Word means doing and obeying what it says.  “Too many Christians mark their Bibles, but their Bibles never mark them!”  We are to use it for examining ourselves, restoring ourselves by letting God wash away our defilement from sin, and “transforming us so that we will grow in grace and not commit that sin again … to conquer self and sin.”

Sharing it:

Once God’s Word has impacted us and transformed us, we are to share with unbelievers what God has done so that He can also do the same with them. 

But it all begins when we stop kidding ourselves and deceiving ourselves!

Father, I don’t want to just be a good reader of Your Word or hearer of Your Word.  I want it to change me and remake me so that You shine out of me and draw others to Yourself.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

James 1:13-18 From The Wiersbe Bible Commentary

This is some of the finest stuff I've ever read on temptation and I didn't want to leave out a thing.  It is ABSOLUTELY WORTH YOUR TIME TO READ:

James 1:13–18
HOW TO HANDLE TEMPTATION
The mature person is patient in trials. Sometimes
the trials are testings on the outside, and sometimes
they are temptations on the inside. Trials
may be tests sent by God, or they may be temptations
sent by Satan and encouraged by our own fallen nature.
It is this second aspect of trials—temptations on the
inside—that James dealt with in this section.
We may ask, “Why did James connect the two?
What is the relationship between testings without and
temptations within?” Simply this: if we are not careful,
the testings on the outside may become temptations on
the inside. When our circumstances are difficult, we
may find ourselves complaining against God, questioning
His love, and resisting His will. At this point, Satan
provides us with an opportunity to escape the difficulty.
This opportunity is a temptation.
There are many illustrations of this truth found in
the Bible. Abraham arrived in Canaan and discovered a
famine there. He was not able to care for his flocks and
herds. This trial was an opportunity to prove God; but
Abraham turned it into a temptation and went down
to Egypt. God had to chasten Abraham to bring him
back to the place of obedience and blessing.
While Israel was wandering in the wilderness, the
nation often turned testings into temptations and
tempted the Lord. No sooner had they been delivered
from Egypt than their water supply vanished and they
had to march for three days without water. When they
did find water, it was so bitter they could not drink it.
Immediately they began to murmur and blame God.
They turned their testing into a temptation, and they
failed.
Certainly, God does not want us to yield to temptation,
yet neither can He spare us the experience of
temptation. We are not God’s sheltered people; we are
God’s scattered people. If we are to mature, we must
face testings and temptations. There are three facts that
we must consider if we are to overcome temptation.
Consider God’s Judgment (1:13–16)
This is a negative approach, but it is an important one.
James said, “Look ahead and see where sin ends—
death!” Do not blame God for temptation. He is too
holy to be tempted, and He is too loving to tempt others.
God does test us, as He did Abraham (Gen. 22);
but He does not and cannot tempt us. It is we who
turn occasions of testing into temptations.
A temptation is an opportunity to accomplish a
good thing in a bad way, out of the will of God. Is it
wrong to want to pass an examination? Of course not,
but if you cheat to pass it, then you have sinned. The
temptation to cheat is an opportunity to accomplish a
good thing (passing the examination) in a bad way. It
is not wrong to eat, but if you consider stealing the
food, you are tempting yourself.
We think of sin as a single act, but God sees it as a
process. Adam committed one act of sin, and yet that
one act brought sin, death, and judgment on the whole
human race. James described this process of sin in four
stages.
Desire (v. 14). The word lust means any kind of
desire, and not necessarily sexual passions. The normal
desires of life were given to us by God and, of themselves,
are not sinful. Without these desires, we could
not function. Unless we felt hunger and thirst, we
would never eat and drink, and we would die. Without
fatigue, the body would never rest and would eventually
wear out. Sex is a normal desire; without it the
human race could not continue.
It is when we want to satisfy these desires in ways
outside God’s will that we get into trouble. Eating is
normal; gluttony is sin. Sleep is normal; laziness is sin.
“Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled;
but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge”
(Heb. 13:4).
Some people try to become “spiritual” by denying
these normal desires or by seeking to suppress them,
but this only makes them less than human. These fundamental
desires of life are the steam in the boiler that
makes the machinery go. Turn off the steam and you
have no power. Let the steam go its own way and you
have destruction. The secret is in constant control. These
desires must be our servants and not our masters, and
this we can do through Jesus Christ.
Deception (v. 14). No temptation appears as
temptation; it always seems more alluring than it really
is. James used two illustrations from the world of sports
to prove his point. Drawn away carries with it the idea
of the baiting of a trap; and enticed in the original
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Greek means “to bait a hook.” The hunter and the fisherman
have to use bait to attract and catch their prey.
No animal is deliberately going to step into a trap and
no fish will knowingly bite at a naked hook. The idea
is to hide the trap and the hook.
Temptation always carries with it some bait that
appeals to our natural desires. The bait not only attracts
us, but it also hides the fact that yielding to the desire
will eventually bring sorrow and punishment. It is the
bait that is the exciting thing. Lot would never have
moved toward Sodom had he not seen the “wellwatered
plains of Jordan” (Gen. 13:10ff.). When David
looked on his neighbor’s wife, he would never have
committed adultery had he seen the tragic consequences:
the death of a baby (Bathsheba’s son), the
murder of a brave soldier (Uriah), the violation of a
daughter (Tamar). The bait keeps us from seeing the consequences
of sin.
When Jesus was tempted by Satan, He always dealt
with the temptation on the basis of the Word of God.
Three times He said, “It is written.” From the human
point of view, turning stones into bread to satisfy
hunger is a sensible thing to do; but not from God’s
point of view. When you know the Bible, you can
detect the bait and deal with it decisively. This is what
it means to walk by faith and not by sight.
Disobedience (v. 15). We have moved from the
emotions (desire) and the intellect (deception) to the
will. James changed the picture from hunting and fishing
to the birth of a baby. Desire conceives a method
for taking the bait. The will approves and acts, and the
result is sin. Whether we feel it or not, we are hooked
and trapped. The baby is born, and just wait until it
matures!
Christian living is a matter of the will, not the feelings.
I often hear believers say, “I don’t feel like reading
the Bible.” Or, “I don’t feel like attending prayer meeting.”
Children operate on the basis of feeling, but
adults operate on the basis of will. They act because it is
right, no matter how they feel. This explains why immature
Christians easily fall into temptation: they let their
feelings make the decisions. The more you exercise
your will in saying a decisive no to temptation, the
more God will take control of your life. “For it is God
which worketh in you both to will and to do of his
good pleasure” (Phil. 2:13).
Death (v. 15). Disobedience gives birth to death,
not life. It may take years for the sin to mature, but
when it does, the result will be death. If we will only
believe God’s Word and see this final tragedy, it will
encourage us not to yield to temptation. God has
erected this barrier because He loves us. “Have I any
pleasure at all that the wicked should die?” (Ezek.
18:23).
These four stages in temptation and sin are perfectly
depicted in the first sin recorded in the Bible in
Genesis 3.
The serpent used desire to interest Eve: “For God
doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes
shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good
and evil” (Gen. 3:5). Is there anything wrong with
gaining knowledge? Is there anything wrong with eating
food? Eve saw that “the tree was good for food”
(Gen. 3:6), and her desire was aroused.
Paul described the deception of Eve in 2
Corinthians 11:3: “But I fear, lest by any means, as the
serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your
minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is
in Christ.” Satan is the deceiver, and he seeks to deceive
the mind. The bait that he used with Eve was the fact
that the forbidden tree was good and pleasant, and that
eating of it would make her wise. She saw the bait but
forgot the Lord’s warning: “In the day that thou eatest
thereof thou shalt surely die” (Gen. 2:17).
Eve disobeyed God by taking the fruit of the tree
and eating it. Then she shared it with her husband, and
he disobeyed God. Because Adam was not deceived,
but sinned with his eyes wide open, it is his sin that
plunged the human race into tragedy (read Rom.
5:12–21; 1 Tim. 2:12–15).
Both Adam and Eve experienced immediate spiritual
death (separation from God), and ultimate
physical death. All men die because of Adam (1 Cor.
15:21–22). The person who dies without Jesus Christ
will experience eternal death, the lake of fire (Rev.
20:11–15).
Whenever you are faced with temptation, get your
eyes off the bait and look ahead to see the consequences
of sin: the judgment of God. “For the wages of sin is
death” (Rom. 6:23).
Consider God’s Goodness (1:17)
One of the enemy’s tricks is to convince us that our
Father is holding out on us, that He does not really love
us and care for us. When Satan approached Eve, he
suggested that if God really loved her, He would permit
her to eat of the forbidden tree. When Satan
tempted Jesus, he raised the question of hunger. “If
Your Father loves You, why are You hungry?”
The goodness of God is a great barrier against yielding
to temptation. Since God is good, we do not need
any other person (including Satan) to meet our needs.
It is better to be hungry in the will of God than full
outside the will of God. Once we start to doubt God’s
goodness, we will be attracted to Satan’s offers, and the
natural desires within will reach out for his bait. Moses
warned Israel not to forget God’s goodness when they
began to enjoy the blessings of the Promised Land
(Deut. 6:10–15). We need this warning today.
James presented four facts about the goodness of
God.
God gives only good gifts. Everything good in this
world comes from God. If it did not come from God,
it is not good. If it comes from God, it must be good,
even if we do not see the goodness in it immediately.
Paul’s thorn in the flesh was given to him by God and
it seemed to be a strange gift; yet it became a tremendous
blessing to him (2 Cor. 12:1–10).
James 1
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The way God gives is good. We can translate the
second clause “and every act of giving.” It is possible for
someone to give us a gift in a manner that is less than
loving. The value of a gift can be diminished by the
way it is given to us. But when God gives us a blessing,
He does it in a loving, gracious manner. What He gives
and how He gives are both good.
He gives constantly. “Cometh down” is a present
participle: “it keeps on coming down.” God does not
give occasionally; He gives constantly. Even when we
do not see His gifts, He is sending them. How do we
know this? Because He tells us so and we believe His
Word.
God does not change. There are no shadows with
the Father of Lights. It is impossible for God to change.
He cannot change for the worse because He is holy; He
cannot change for the better because He is already perfect.
The light of the sun varies as the earth changes,
but the sun itself is still shining. If shadows come
between us and the Father, He did not cause them. He
is the unchanging God. This means that we should
never question His love or doubt His goodness when
difficulties come or temptations appear.
If King David had remembered the goodness of the
Lord, he would not have taken Bathsheba and committed
those terrible sins. At least this is what Nathan the
prophet told the king. “Thus saith the Lord God of
Israel, ‘I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered
thee out of the hand of Saul; and I gave thee thy master’s
house, and thy master’s wives into thy bosom, and
gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that
had been too little, I would moreover have given unto
thee such and such things’” (2 Sam. 12:7–8). Note the
repetition of the word give in this brief statement. God
had been good to David, yet David forgot God’s goodness
and took the bait.
The first barrier against temptation is a negative
one: the judgment of God. This second barrier is positive:
the goodness of God. A fear of God is a healthy
attitude, but the love of God must balance it. We can
obey Him because He may chasten us, or we can obey
Him because He has already been so generous to us,
and because we love Him for it.
It was this positive attitude that helped to keep
Joseph from sinning when he was tempted by his master’s
wife (Gen. 39:7ff.). “Behold, with me around, my
master does not concern himself with anything in the
house, and he has put all that he owns in my charge.
There is no one greater in this house than I, and he has
withheld nothing from me except you, because you are
his wife. How then could I do this great evil, and sin
against God?” (Gen. 39:8–9 nasb). Joseph knew that
all these blessings had come from God. It was the
goodness of God, through the hands of his employer,
that restrained him in the hour of temptation.
God’s gifts are always better than Satan’s bargains.
Satan never gives any gifts, because you end up paying
for them dearly. “It is the blessing of the Lord that
makes rich, and He adds no sorrow to it” (Prov. 10:22
nasb). Achan forgot the warning of God and the goodness
of God, saw the forbidden wealth, coveted it, and
took it. He became rich, but the sorrow that followed
turned his riches into poverty (Josh. 7).
The next time you are tempted, meditate on the
goodness of God in your life. If you think you need
something, wait on the Lord to provide it. Never toy
with the devil’s bait. One purpose for temptation is to
teach us patience. David was tempted twice to kill
King Saul and hasten his own coronation, but he resisted
the temptation and waited for God’s time.
Consider God’s Divine Nature Within (1:18)
In the first barrier, God says, “Look ahead and beware
of judgment.” In the second barrier, He says, “Look
around and see how good I have been to you.” But
with this third barrier, God says, “Look within and
realize that you have been born from above and possess
the divine nature.”
James used birth as a picture of desire leading to sin
and death (James 1:15). He also used it to explain how
we can enjoy victory over temptation and sin. The
apostle John used a similar approach in 1 John 3:9,
where “his seed” refers to the divine life and nature
within the believer. Note the characteristics of this
birth.
It is divine. Nicodemus thought he had to reenter
his mother’s womb to be born again, but he was wrong.
This birth is not of the flesh: it is from above (John
3:1–7). It is the work of God. Just as we did not generate
our own human birth, we cannot generate our
own spiritual birth. When we put our faith in Jesus
Christ, it was God who performed the miracle.
It is gracious. We did not earn it or deserve it; God
gave us spiritual birth because of His own grace and
will. “Which were born, not of blood [human descent],
nor of the will of the flesh [human efforts], nor of the
will of man [human assistance], but of God” (John
1:13). No one can be born again because of his relatives,
his resolutions, or his religion. The new birth is
the work of God.
It is through God’s Word. Just as human birth
requires two parents, so divine birth has two parents:
the Word of God and the Spirit of God. “That which
is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of
the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:6). “Being born again, not
of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word
of God, which liveth and abideth forever” (1 Peter
1:23). The Spirit of God uses the word of God to bring
about the miracle of the new birth. Since the Word of
God is “living and powerful” (Heb. 4:12) it can generate
life in the heart of the sinner who trusts Christ, and
that life is God’s life.
It is the finest birth possible. We are “a kind of
firstfruits of his creatures,” James wrote to Jewish
believers, and the word firstfruits would be meaningful
to them. The Old Testament Jews brought the firstfruits
to the Lord as the expression of their devotion
and obedience. “Honor the Lord with thy substance,
James 1
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and with the firstfruits of all thine increase” (Prov. 3:9).
Of all the creatures God has in this universe, Christians
are the very highest and the finest! We share God’s
nature. For this reason, it is beneath our dignity to
accept Satan’s bait or to desire sinful things. A higher
birth must mean a higher life.
By granting us a new birth, God declares that He
cannot accept the old birth. Throughout the Bible,
God rejects the firstborn and accepts the secondborn.
He accepted Abel, not Cain; Isaac, not Ishmael; Jacob,
not Esau. He rejects your first birth (no matter how
noble it might have been in the eyes of men), and He
announces that you need a second birth.
It is this experience of the new birth that helps us
overcome temptation. If we let the old nature (from the
first birth) take over, we will fail. We received our old
nature (the flesh) from Adam, and he was a failure. But
if we yield to the new nature, we will succeed, for that
new nature comes from Christ, and He is the Victor.
A Sunday school child explained the matter in simple
terms. “Two men live in my heart: the old Adam
and Jesus. When temptation knocks at the door, somebody
has to answer. If I let Adam answer, I will sin, so
I send Jesus to answer. He always wins!”
Of course, this new nature must be fed the Word of
God daily, that it might be strong to fight the battle.
Just as the Holy Spirit used the Word of God to give
you spiritual birth, He uses the Word to give you spiritual
strength. “Man shall not live by bread alone, but
by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of
God” (Matt. 4:4).
No matter what excuses we make, we have no one
to blame for sin but ourselves. Our own desires lead us
into temptation and sin. God is not to blame. But God
has erected these three barriers to keep us from sin. If
we heed the barriers, we will win a crown (James 1:12).
If we break through the barriers, we will find a coffin
(James 1:15). Which will it be?

James 1:1-12 When Testing Comes

I couldn’t believe how many pages my commentary devoted to just these few verses!  But it was exactly what I’ve been needing to hear, and definitely in God’s timing.  And it’s summed up like this:

“There are four essentials for victory in trials:  A joyful attitude, an understanding mind, a surrendered will, and a heart that wants to believe.”

The joyful attitude, it says, comes from our knowing to expect trials.  Our outlook determines our outcome … We evaluate them in the light of what God is doing for us.

“Faith is always tested … God always tests us to bring out the best … Testing works for us, not against us … Trials rightly used help us to mature … In the Bible, patience is not a passive reception of circumstances.  It is a courageous perseverance in the face of suffering and difficulty … We must go through the difficulties of life, trust God, and obey Him … we know what trials will do in us and for us, and we know that the end result will bring glory to God.”

“God cannot build our character without our cooperation … God builds character before He calls to service.  He must work in us before He can work through us … But God cannot work in us without our consent... There must be a surrendered will.”

We also need wisdom when going through trials.  “We need wisdom so we will not waste the opportunities God is giving us to mature.  Wisdom helps us understand how to use these circumstances for our good and God’s glory.”

“God does not help us by removing the tests, but by making the tests work for us … God uses them to build us up … His motivation is love… And for us, where there is love, there is surrender and obedience … The Christian who loves God, and who knows that God loves him, will not fall apart when God permits trials to come.  He is secure in God’s love.”

Father, I’ve needed a refresher course on the purposes of testing and Your love for me in bringing it into my life.  Thanks for reminding me!

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Psalm 147-150 Worship Is All About God, Not Me

This book ends with a bang!  God shows us how to praise Him.  In 147, my commentary picked up three reasons why people then should praise the Lord – His people had been restored, the land had been restored, and the Word had been revealed. 

Some awesome truths were seen in 148:  “The sun, moon, and stars praise God simply by doing what they were commanded to do … The hosts of heaven praise the Lord simply because He made them and gave them the privilege of serving Him and His people and bringing glory to His name.  We have many more reasons for praising Him, and yet too often we do not do it!”

In 149, I read, “Everything that God’s people do in serving and glorifying the Lord must flow out of worship, for without Him we can do nothing.  The most important activity of the local church is the worship of God.”

I read about worshipping the Lord fervently:  “Spiritual fervency must not be confused with fleshly enthusiasm … some people who think they are filled with the Spirit are really being fooled by the spirits…. Our purpose is not to please ourselves or to demonstrate how spiritual we are.  Our purpose is to delight the Lord, and humility is one virtue that brings Him great joy … Worship must focus on God, not on us, and it must be enrichment, not entertainment … The church must take worship very seriously and realize that worship is a part of the believer’s spiritual warfare.  To ignore worship, trivialize it, turn it into entertainment, or make it a routine activity is to play right into the hands of the enemy … Worship is not about the worshipper and his or her needs; it is about God and His power and glory.  Certainly we bring our burdens and needs with us into the sanctuary, but we focus our attention on the Lord.”

Father, thank You for reminding me what worship and praise is all about.  Not about me, but You!

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Psalm 144-146 All About Praising Him

I read a lot of praise for God today, and I think that it may be difficult for us to truly comprehend how worthy of praise God is.  That may be a sad result of being told all our lives not to brag about ourselves and being reminded that pride goes before a fall.  But we have to understand that God is God and we are not!  He is therefore worthy of our praise and can never get enough of it –not because He has a self-esteem problem, but because He created us and the universe, and without Him we wouldn’t exist!

My commentary boiled these three psalms down to this:

Bless the loving God who cares for us personally.

Bless the mighty God who delivers us victoriously.

Bless the gracious God who blesses us abundantly.

Praise God from day to day, from generation to generation, from nation to nation, from need to need, and from prayer to prayer.

Understand that life means praising God, trusting God, loving God, and reigning with God.

After reading all of those blessings, praises, and meanings of life, it’s hard to find any reason to complain!  “No matter how dark and difficult the day may be, there is always something for which we can praise the Lord – even if it is only that the situation is not always this bad!” my commentary said.  James 4:2 says, “Yet you do not have because you do not ask.”  Let’s ASK!  “Prayer is a child coming to the heavenly Father, knowing that He will meet the need.  He hears us, watches over us, and supplies our every need.”

Father, I’m sorry that I haven’t been praising You enough.  Remind me often of all the blessings You have given me and help me not to forget to praise You every day for who You are and what You have done!

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Psalm 142-143 -- In The Hard Times, God ...

My commentary said that when David faced uncertainty, “he looked to the Lord for help … He knew about Jehovah and His great promises, and because of his faith in those assurances, he triumphed over his feelings and his foes … God knew David’s difficult situation better than he did.  When we need … our heavenly Father wants us to come and ask … David trusted God to show him the way to go and to protect him on the path … No matter the circumstances around us or the feelings within us, God cares for us.  We can be confident that He is working all things together for His glory and our good …  He is our refuge and strength and our portion… In the Lord we always have all that we need … As David prayed, He realized that it was the name and purposes of the Lord that were really important and not his personal safety, comfort, or promised kingship.  He prayed to be delivered so that he might praise God and glorify Him … the Lord would perfect what He had planned for him.”

About Psalm 143, it said, “David felt the need to confess sins that were keeping him from enjoying God’s help and blessing.  He had concluded that the suffering he was experiencing … was actually God’s chastening, so he asked God for mercy … Sometimes painful circumstances and difficult people are used by God to bring us to repentance – His tools to polish and mature us, not to punish us.”

David prayed, “Hear me,” telling God his situation, and “Answer me,” and he waited in expectation for God to answer.  He wanted:

     To see God’s face

     To hear God’s Word

     To experience God’s protection

     A knowledge of God’s will

     To bring glory to God’s great name.

“’For Thy name’s sake’ was the great motivation of David’s life and ministry.”

Father, in my difficult circumstances, help me to first and foremost desire to honor Your great name and to praise You for Your protection.  Remind me that the hard times are where You polish me and prepare me for what You have planned for my life.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Psalm 140-141 David's Discoveries About Trusting God

“You are my God, Lord.  Listen to my prayer for help.  Lord God, my mighty Savior, You protect me in battle.”

“Lord, help me to control my tongue; help me be careful about what I say.  Take away my desire to do evil or to join others in doing wrong … I trust in You, Lord.”

These two psalms of David detail his trust in the Lord.  My commentary had several good amplifications of what’s being said there:

“As God’s people in an evil world, we must expect the opposition of the enemy and trust the Lord to enable us to overcome … We must humbly ask Him for the help we need to live and work among difficult people who hate us and want to see us fail … Our prayers for godless people must focus on changing their character, and not just stopping their persecution of believers … The Lord will accomplish what concerns me … Yield to Him and He will accomplish what He has planned for you, and you will be satisfied.”

David’s wise decisions were what built his character and his character built his life.  Here are some things he decided here:

“I will seek the Lord’s help.”

“I will keep myself from sin.”

“I will gladly accept counsel.”

“I will let God judge my enemies.”

“I will keep going by faith.”

Also, I read, “We must not allow tough situations to paralyze us but to energize us in trusting the Lord.  Life’s trials are not excuses for doing nothing; they are opportunities for claiming God’s promises and experiencing His miraculous power.”

Father, I’ve watched and seen how faithful You have been to me during the most trying times over the last two years.  I’m so glad that I can trust You to take charge over my life and lead me through the toughest times!

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford