SPIRITUAL
DIARY FOR 10-25-03
My
Worship Time Focus: Trust God with Future Plans
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: James 4:14a
Message of the verse: “Yet you do not know what your life will be
like tomorrow.” (NASB) “How do you know what will happen tomorrow?” (NLT)
1.
The
uncertainty of life (4:14a). Proverbs 27:1 “Do not boast about
tomorrow, For you do not know what a day may bring forth. I do not think that it is wrong to have
plans, in fact the Bible teaches us to plan ahead, but the problem comes in when
we leave God out of our plans, and even boast about what we are going to
accomplish in and of our own strength.
We are to remember that God is in control of all things and that we are
to submit our lives to His care, for He knows the beginning from the end, and
He has promised us to work all things out for our good and for His glory.
2.
The
brevity of life (4:14b). “For
your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s
gone.” (NASB) “For your life is like the morning fog—it’s
here a little while, then it’s gone.” The Bible has much to say about how short
life is, and that we cannot be sure of tomorrow. Our author quoted a number of passages from
the book of Job to point this fact out.
He also wrote that it would be better if we would be investing our lives
and not just spending our lives. If we look at life as an investment then we can see
that someday when we get to glory that the investment of this life will pay big
dividends. Rick Warren spoke about this
in the “Purpose Driven Life” book where he spoke of life on this earth as just
a warm up lap compared to what we will spend in eternity, however how we invest
our lives here, as said before, determines on how we spend our lives in
eternity.
3.
The
frailty of man (4:16) “Otherwise you will be boasting about your
own plans, and all such boasting is evil.”
(NLT) “We may throw the dice, but the LORD determines how
they fall.” Proverbs 16:33 (NLT)
“Man cannot control future events. He
has neither the wisdom to see the future nor the power to control the
future. For him to boast is sin; it is
making himself God.” “Be Mature” (See quote on pg. 133 and paragraph 1)
Spiritual meaning for my life
today: I have learned or been
reminded about life in this passage, and that is that I am not to brag about
what I will accomplish in my life on my own, that I must realize that life is
short, and that I am frail. I have
learned that I must stay close to my Guide, and that my life is an investment
for eternity.
The
Word of God was very convicting to my soul as I studied it this morning.
My
Steps of Faith Today: The trials that
I am going through are for certain a tremendous burden to my heart and
soul. I am more perplexed about the
trial that our church is going through because I am hurting for my very close
friend Bruce Konya and all of his family.
I do not think that what he is going through is right, but I do think
that it is a symptom of what is wrong in our church, and that is cynicism, which
Dr. Jeremiah says is the opposite of wonder, the wonder of God, and the wonder
of worshipping God.
I
must continue to ask the Lord to control my anger about all of this and I must
continue to ask the Lord to teach me what He wants me to learn through all of
this, and I must continue to ask the Lord to search my own heart through all of
this.
Memory
verses for the week: James 1:1-4
(review)
1. James, a
bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes who are
dispersed abroad, greetings.
2. Consider it all
joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials,
3. knowing that the
testing of your faith produces endurance.
4. And let
endurance have its perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete,
lacking nothing.
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