God's Sovereign Will (James 1:18)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 08-29-03

 

My Worship Time                                                      Focus:  God’s Sovereign Will

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                         Reference:  James 1:18

 

            Message of the verse:  “18 In the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we might be, as it were, the first fruits among His creatures.”  (NASB)  “In his goodness he chose to make us his own children by giving us his true word.  And we, out of all creation, became his choice possession.”  (NLT)

            As noted earlier, before in this section from James 1:13-18 James teaches us how we as believers are to defeat temptations.  There are three barriers explained to aid us in this battle.  Verses 13-16 speak of God’s judgment, and verse 17 speaks of God’s goodness to us, and now verse 18 tells us of God’s divine nature within us.  I might add that the construction of this verse in the Greek language surely declares the sovereignty of God at work in saving sinners, “Of His own will.” This phrase translates a Gr. Word that makes the point that regeneration is not just a wish, but an active expression of God’s will, which He always has the power to accomplish.  This phrase occurs at the beginning of the Gr. Sentence, which means James intends to emphasize that the sovereign will is the source of this new life.”  (MacArthur study Bible)  “1014 boulomai boulomai boo'-lom-ahee 1) to will deliberately, have a purpose, be minded 2) of willing as an affection, to desire.”  (Strong’s Concordance)

            James uses the picture of birth to explain the goodness of God’s nature within us.  (The KJV uses the word begat in the first part of this verse). 1) The new birth is divine, and this can be seen in the story of Nicodemus in John chapter 3.  God is the One who gives us this new birth.  2) The new birth is gracious, for man can do nothing to earn it; the new birth is an act of God’s grace.  (See Eph 2:8-9) 3) The new birth comes through the Word of God.  Peter puts it this way, “23 for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and abiding word of God.”  And 4) the new birth is the finest birth possible.  Dr. Wiersbe puts it this way, “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.” 

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today: Now that I am beginning to learn that I can defeat the temptations that come my way through knowing about the judgment of God, and also knowing about the goodness of God, and also knowing about the divine nature of God within me.  I think that I need to begin to meditate on these truths so that when temptations come my way I will be better prepared to defeat them through these means that James writes about. 

 

The Word of God has taught me in this verse about correction, about reproof, and about the instruction of righteousness.

 

My Steps of Faith Today:  To trust the word of God to show me how to defeat temptations that comes my way through Satan, and the old nature.