Time Out! Devotions

James 4:6-10 (NCV)

⁶ But God gives us even more grace, as the Scripture says, “God is against the proud, but he gives grace to the humble.” (Proverbs 3:34)

⁷ So give yourselves completely to God. Stand against the devil, and the devil will run from you.⁸⁹ Be sad, cry, and weep! Change your laughter into crying and your joy into sadness. ¹⁰ Humble yourself in the Lord’s presence, and he will honor you. Come near to God, and God will come near to you. You sinners, clean sin out of your lives. You who are trying to follow God and the world at the same time, make your thinking pure.

“Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” That is an amazing promise! As we open ourselves up to the Lord, He opens up to us. If we come to Him in submission, repentance, and brokenness, He rushes in with forgiveness, love, and faithfulness. There is no room for self-sufficiency or self-protection in this interaction. Only in the humility of helplessness will we discover the sufficiency of His presence.

At first glance, we may seem to be the ones who begin this open relationship, but in reality, it is God who has taken the initiative; we are merely responding to His overture (John 6:44). Many times He uses situations and difficulties to get our attention and stimulate our thirst for Him. What appears to us to be a painful or desperate situation is His invitation to draw near.

Even our greatest failures and sins can lead us to Christ, as we seek forgiveness from the Father. With an attitude of humble repentance, we can enter into a more intimate relationship with God. However, if you and I continue living in rebellion and are unwilling to confess and repent, He will not open up and reveal more of Himself to us. Sin always blocks our ability to know the Lord.

Have you let adversity or failure pull you away from God instead of toward Him? To put distance between you and Jesus, Satan will misuse the very situations that the Lord can utilize to draw you to Himself. Don’t let the Enemy win the battle. “Resist the devil and he will flee from you” (James 4:7).

(by Dr. Charles Stanley from the May 2010 issue of In Touch Magazine)

(by Max Lucado from UpWords Ministry)

Water. All Noah can see is water. The evening sun sinks into it. The clouds are reflected in it. His boat is surrounded by it. Water. Water to the north. Water to the south. Water to the east. Water to the west. Water.

He sent a raven on a scouting mission; it never returned. He sent a dove. It came back shivering and spent, having found no place to roost. Then, just this morning, he tried again. With a prayer he let it go and watched until the bird was no bigger than a speck on a window.

All day he looked for the dove’s return.

Now the sun is setting, and the sky is darkening, and he has come to look one final time, but all he sees is water. Water to the north. Water to the south. Water to the east. Water to the …

You know the feeling. You have stood where Noah stood. You’ve known your share of floods. Flooded by sorrow at the cemetery, stress at the office, anger at the disability in your body or the inability of your spouse. You’ve seen the floodwater rise, and you’ve likely seen the sun set on your hopes as well. You’ve been on Noah’s boat.

And you’ve needed what Noah needed; you’ve needed some hope. You’re not asking for a helicopter rescue, but the sound of one would be nice. Hope doesn’t promise an instant solution but rather the possibility of an eventual one. Sometimes all we need is a little hope.

That’s all Noah needed. And that’s all Noah received.

Here is how the Bible describes the moment: “When the dove returned to him in the evening, there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf!” (Gen. 8:11 NIV).

An olive leaf. Noah would have been happy to have the bird but to have the leaf! This leaf was more than foliage; this was promise. The bird brought more than a piece of a tree; it brought hope. For isn’t that what hope is? Hope is an olive leaf—evidence of dry land after a flood. Proof to the dreamer that dreaming is worth the risk.

Don’t we love the olive leaves of life?
“It appears the cancer may be in remission.”
“I can help you with those finances.”
“We’ll get through this together.”
What’s more, don’t we love the doves that bring them?
Perhaps that’s the reason so many loved Jesus.

To all the Noahs of the world, to all who search the horizon for a fleck of hope, he proclaims, “Yes!” And he comes. He comes as a dove. He comes bearing fruit from a distant land, from our future home. He comes with a leaf of hope.

Have you received yours? Don’t think your ark is too isolated. Don’t think your flood is too wide. Receive his hope, won’t you? Receive it because you need it. Receive it so you can share it.

Love always hopes. “Love … bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” (1 Cor. 13:4–7 NKJV, emphasis mine).

From A Love Worth Giving
Copyright (Thomas Nelson, 2002) Max Lucado

So give yourselves humbly to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. And when you draw close to God, God will draw close to you. Wash your hands you sinners, and let your hearts be filled with God alone to make them pure and true to Him. Let there  be tears for the wrong things you have done. Let there be sorrow and sincere grief. Let there be sadness instead of laughter, and gloom instead of joy. Then when you realize your worthlessness before the Lord, He will lift you up, encourage and help you.     (James 4:7-10)

How can you draw close to God? James gives five suggestions:

• “Give yourselves humbly to God.” Realize that you need His forgiveness, and be willing to follow Him.
• “Resist the devil.” Don’t allow him to entice and tempt you.
• “Wash your hands (lead a pure life) and let your hearts be filled with God.” Be cleansed from sin, replacing it with God’s purity.
• Let there be tears, sorrow, and sincere grief for your sins. Don’t be afraid to express deep heartfelt sorrow for them.
• “Realize your worthlessness.” Humble yourself before God and He will lift you up (1 Peter 5:6).
  

Don’t criticize and speak evil about each other, dear brothers. If you do, you will be fighting against God’s law of loving one another, declaring it is wrong. But your job is not to decide whether this law is right or wrong, but to obey it. Only He who made the law can rightly judge among us. He alone decides to save us or destroy. So what right do you have to judge or criticize others?     (James 4:11-12)

Jesus summarized the law as love to God and neighbor (Matthew 22:37-40), and Paul said love demonstrated towards a neighbor fully satisfies the law (Romans 13:8-10). When we fail to love, we are actually breaking God’s law.

Examine your attitudes and actions toward others. Do you build people up or tear them down? When you’re ready to criticize someone, remember God’s law of love and say something good about him or her instead. If you make this a habit, your tendency to find fault with others will diminish and your ability to obey God’s law will increase.

(from the Life Application Bible – Living Bible edition)

Dear brothers, is your life full of difficulties and temptations? Then be happy, for when the way is rough, your patience has a chance to grow. So let it grow, and don’t try to squirm out of your problems. For when your patience is finally in full bloom, then you will be ready for anything, strong in character, full and complete.

If you want to know what God wants you to do, ask Him, and He will gladly tell you, for He is always ready to give a bountiful supply of wisdom to all who ask Him; He will not resent it. But when you ask Him, be sure that you really expect Him to tell you, for a doubtful mind will be as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind; and every decision you then make will be uncertain, as you turn first this way, and then that. If you don’t ask with faith, don’t expect the Lord to give you any solid answer.

(James 1:2-8)

James doesn’t say if the way is rough, but when it is rough. He assumes we will have trials and that it is possible to profit from them. James tells us to turn our hardships into times of learning. Rough times can teach us patience. (For other passages dealing with patience, perseverance, & steadfastness, see Romans 2:7; 5:3-5; 8:24-25; 2 Corinthians 6:3-7; 2 Peter 1:2-9.)

We can’t really know the depth of our character until we see how we react under pressure. It is easy to be kind when everything is going well, but can we still be kind when others are treating us unfairly? Instead of complaining about our struggles, we should see them as opportunities for growth.

Thank God for promising to be with you in rough times. Ask Him to help you solve your problems or give you the strength to endure them. Then be patient. God will not leave you alone with your problems; He will stay close by and help you grow.

If we need wisdom, we can pray to God and He will supply what we need. Christians never need to grope about in the dark, hoping to stumble upon answers. God’s wisdom is available to guide our choices.

When James speaks of wisdom, he means practical discernment. Wisdom begins with respect for God, leads to right living, and results in increased ability to tell right from wrong. God is willing to give us this wisdom. To learn God’s will, we need to ask Him to reveal it to us, and then we must be willing to do what He tells us to do.

Doubt leaves one as unsettled as the restless waves, tossed to and fro. If you want to stop being tossed about, believe that God knows what is best for you. Ask Him for wisdom, and trust that He will give it to you. Then your decisions will be sure and solid. To “ask with faith” is to ask with confidence that God will align our desires with his purposes.

(from the Life Application Bible – Living Bible edition)