The Muchness of God

“The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.” James 5:16 NASB

Quite frankly, I’m “out” on posh restaurants that have things on the menu you can’t even pronounce and nothing to show for it but two bites of fish and an empty wallet! All I want is a full plate of food, thank you!

Which reminds me of how the Israelites must have felt when, soon after their miraculous escape from Egypt, their stomachs started rumbling. They started grumbling, “If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death” (Exodus 16:3). A lot could be said about their lack of faith in that moment, but notice God’s immediate, generous response: “I will rain down bread from heaven for you” (Exodus 16:4). The people then gathered as much as they could eat. How great is that?! You’d think, after that, they would have never again doubted God’s generosity and His power to supply all their needs.

Wrong.

Unfortunately, we are often a lot like them. In times of distress, it’s easy to forget God’s past generosity and to doubt what God can do—or even what He is willing to do—about our problem. We find ourselves grumbling, “Why doesn’t He do ‘more’ for me?” But we need to be “out” on that kind of thinking, because, actually, God is a God of abundant generosity. In fact, I like to think of Him as a God of “muchness”—with both the desire and capacity to fill our lives with His goodness and grace.

In James 5:1-20 we see the contrast between the leanness of our lives and the muchness of God. James mentions suffering, sickness, and sin—three constant realities that underscore the fact that we are impoverished, needy people. And the antidote is found in prayer. Not ritualistic, passionless prayer, but prayer that is rooted in the reality of our leanness and our desperation for God’s muchness. As James reminds us, “The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much” (James 5:16).

God, I praise You for Your generosity and desperately need You to replace my leanness with Your “muchness.” Please keep me from grumbling, and turn my attention toward the incredible and abundant spiritual blessings that You provide to Your children. In Jesus’ name, amen. (NASB)

YOUR JOURNEY…

• In what ways are you “lean”? In what ways is God “much”?
• Do you think your prayer life is “effective”? Why or why not? If not, how can you increase its effectiveness?
• What is the key to unlocking the “muchness” of God in your life?

http://getmorestrength.org/daily/the-muchness-of-god/

Wait With Patience

“Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him” (Ps. 37:7).

Have you prayed and prayed and waited and waited, and still there is no manifestation?

Are you tired of seeing nothing move? Are you just at the point of giving it all up? Perhaps you have not waited in the right way? This would take you out of the right place the place where He can meet you.

“With patience wait” (Rom. 8:25). Patience takes away worry. He said He would come, and His promise is equal to His presence. Patience takes away your weeping. Why feel sad and despondent? He knows your need better than you do, and His purpose in waiting is to bring more glory out of it all. Patience takes away self-works. The work He desires is that you “believe” (John 6:29), and when you believe, you may then know that all is well. Patience takes away all want. Your desire for the thing you wish is perhaps stronger than your desire for the will of God to be fulfilled in its arrival.

Patience takes away all weakening. Instead of having the delaying time, a time of letting go, know that God is getting a larger supply ready and must get you ready too. Patience takes away all wobbling. “Make me stand upon my standing” (Daniel 8:18, margin). God’s foundations are steady; and when His patience is within, we are steady while we wait. Patience gives worship. A praiseful patience sometimes “long-suffering with joyfulness” (Col. 1:11) is the best part of it all. “Let (all these phases of) patience have her perfect work” (James 1:4), while you wait, and you will find great enrichment. –C. H. P.

Hold steady when the fires burn,
When inner lessons come to learn,
And from this path there seems no turn
“Let patience have her perfect work.”
–L.S.P.

http://devotionals.ochristian.com/mrs-charles-cowman-streams-in-the-desert-devotional.shtml

Faith With Works

Because of his arthritis, Roger could no longer handle the winters of Illinois, so he moved to tropical Bangkok, Thailand. One day he remembered his grandmother’s favorite song, “What You Are”: What you are speaks so loud that the world can’t hear what you say; they’re looking at your walk, not listening to your talk; they’re judging from your actions every day.

This song prompted Roger to feed the homeless who stayed along a half-mile stretch of road. Every morning, he served hot food to more than 45 families. Years later, one of the homeless women came to know Jesus as Savior and sought out Roger to thank him for introducing her to the love of Christ.

In James, we are clearly told that faith without works is dead (2:17). It does not mean that works will result in faith, but that good works will affirm that our faith is real. It is easy to say we believe in God, but only our works can prove the truthfulness of our words. Abraham was an example of this. He didn’t just talk about his faith; he demonstrated it by his willingness to give up his only son in obedience to God (James 2:21-24; see Gen. 22:1-18). And Isaac was spared.

Today, how can we actively demonstrate our love for God and trust in Him?

Faith is the power that prompts us to go And give to the hungering, bread— Faith means much more than a doctrine or two, For faith without works is dead. —Woodrum

What matters is not faith and works; it is not faith or works; it is faith that works.

http://odb.org/2012/08/03/faith-with-works/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+odb%2Ffeed+%28Our+Daily+Bread%29

Wall-Bangers Anonymous

My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials. —James 1:2

I’ll never forget the time during college when, after I had  finished writing a big paper that was due the next day, I heard a loud  commotion in the room across the hall. My neighbor was in a state of  panic, throwing stuff around his room looking for his paper. Frustrated,  he banged his fist against the closet and shouted, “Thanks a lot, God.  You make life one big laugh!”

I might have given him an A+ for theology—at least he knew that God  was ultimately in charge—but an F for his response to the problem.

For those of us who get mad at God when life takes a wrong turn, we  need a good dose of biblical therapy. So, welcome to “Wall-Bangers  Anonymous”—a two-step program toward a positive, God-honoring response  to pain.

Step One: Think straight about trouble. It’s not only  inevitable, it’s indiscriminate. Trouble comes in all shapes and sizes.  “Various trials” (James 1:2)  affect our health, our careers, our relationships. Once we understand  the facts, we can begin appreciating their significant value in our  lives.

Step Two: Trade resistance and resentment for receptivity  and rejoicing. “Count it all joy” (James 1:2). The joy is not in the presence  of pain but in the knowledge that God is using our pain to refine us and  make us better, not bitter.

If we embrace adversity, Accepting every pain, Then we will learn what we should know; Our grief will turn to gain. —Sper

God chooses what we go through; we  choose how we go through it.

http://getmorestrength.org/daily/wall-bangers-anonymous/

Becoming Entirely His

Let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing —James 1:4

Many of us appear to be all right in general, but there are still some areas in which we are careless and lazy; it is not a matter of sin, but the remnants of our carnal life that tend to make us careless. Carelessness is an insult to the Holy Spirit. We should have no carelessness about us either in the way we worship God, or even in the way we eat and drink.

Not only must our relationship to God be right, but the outward expression of that relationship must also be right. Ultimately, God will allow nothing to escape; every detail of our lives is under His scrutiny. God will bring us back in countless ways to the same point over and over again. And He never tires of bringing us back to that one point until we learn the lesson, because His purpose is to produce the finished product. It may be a problem arising from our impulsive nature, but again and again, with the most persistent patience, God has brought us back to that one particular point. Or the problem may be our idle and wandering thinking, or our independent nature and self-interest. Through this process, God is trying to impress upon us the one thing that is not entirely right in our lives.

We have been having a wonderful time in our studies over the revealed truth of God’s redemption, and our hearts are perfect toward Him. And His wonderful work in us makes us know that overall we are right with Him. “Let patience have its perfect work . . . .” The Holy Spirit speaking through James said, “Now let your patience become a finished product.” Beware of becoming careless over the small details of life and saying, “Oh, that will have to do for now.” Whatever it may be, God will point it out with persistence until we become entirely His.

http://utmost.org/becoming-entirely-his/

The Rewards For Following Jesus’ Teachings

James and John, the sons of Zebedee, once came to Jesus and said, “Master, we want you to do for us what we shall ask.” So he said, “What do you want me to do for you?” They answered, “When you enter into your kingly glory, let one of us sit on your right hand and one on your left.” But Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup of woe that I am to drink, or be baptized with the baptism of suffering with which I am to be baptized?” They said to him, “We can.” Jesus said, “You will drink the cup that I am to drink and be baptized with my baptism, but to sit on my right hand and on my left is not mine to give; for it is for those for whom it has been prepared.”

When the ten other disciples heard this request, they were at first angry with James and John, but Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that those who are rulers in foreign countries lord it over those under them, and their great men have authority over them; but it is not so among you. Whoever wishes to be great among you must serve you, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be ready to be the servant of all. For I did not come to be served but to be of service to others, and to give my life so as to secure freedom for many.”

Then he took a little child and set him in their midst. And taking him in his arms, he said to them, “Whoever receives a little child like this, in my name, receives me; and whoever receives me receives not only me, but God who sent me. Whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water to drink because he is my disciple will, I tell you, not lose his reward.

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory and with him all the angels, he will sit upon his glorious throne, and all people shall be gathered before him. And he will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, placing the sheep on his right hand and the goats on his left.

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you whom my Father has blessed, enter into possession of the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you cared for me, I was in prison and you came to me.’

“Then the upright will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you? Or naked and clothe you? Or when did we see you sick or in prison and come to you?’ The King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you have done it even to the least of these my brothers, you have done it to me.’”

http://kids.ochristian.com/Childrens-Bible/The-Rewards-For-Following-Jesus-Teachings.shtml

Jesus Heals A Little Girl

When Jesus again crossed the Sea of Galilee in a boat to the other side, a large crowd had gathered to meet him; so he stayed beside the sea. One of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name, came up, and, on seeing Jesus, fell at his feet and earnestly begged him, saying, “My little daughter is dying; come, I beg of you, and place your hands on her that she may be cured and live.” So Jesus went with him, and a great crowd followed and pressed about him.

In the crowd was a woman who had suffered from hemorrhage for twelve years and had been treated by many physicians, spending all that she had, yet was none the better, but rather had grown worse. Having heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his robe, for she said to herself, “If I can but touch his garments, I shall be cured.”

Immediately the hemorrhage stopped, and she knew that she was cured of her disease. Jesus, knowing at once that healing power had gone from him, turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched my garments?” His disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing around you, and yet do you ask, ‘Who touched me?’” But still he looked for her who had done this, until the woman, frightened and trembling, knowing what had happened to her, came forward and fell down before him and told him the truth. He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has cured you. Go and live in peace, and be healed of your disease.”

While Jesus was still speaking, messengers came from the house of the ruler of the synagogue, saying, “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Master further?” But Jesus, overhearing the message, said to the ruler of the synagogue, “Have no fear, only trust.”

Jesus would allow no one to go with him except Peter and James and John the brother of James. When they came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, he found a crowd of people weeping aloud and wailing. Entering, Jesus said to them, “Why are you making an uproar and weeping? The child is not dead, but asleep.” And they laughed at him scornfully. But he sent them out and took the father and mother of the child and those who were with him into the room where she was. Then, taking her by the hand, he said to her, “Talitha koumi,” which means, “Little girl, arise.” To the astonishment of all, the little girl (who was twelve years of age) got up at once and walked about. But Jesus charged them strictly to let no one know of this, and told them to give the little girl something to eat.

http://kids.ochristian.com/Childrens-Bible/Jesus-Heals-A-Little-Girl.shtml

Pureed Pursuit

James was diagnosed with heart problems, and his wife, Becky, was no longer able to care for him or herself very well. They started looking for an assisted living home. One of Becky’s first questions as she visited each home was, “Do you puree your food?” She was concerned that James have the kind of food he needed for his swallowing difficulty. Several places answered “no,” so she kept searching. Finally she heard “yes” at a Christian assisted living home.

Even though they weren’t believers in Jesus and had often argued with a Christian neighbor about Him, James and Becky chose the Christian home because of the pureed food. They began attending chapel services, heard the gospel, and felt well cared for by the workers there. One day James surrendered his life to Christ. He believes that God was pursuing him (John 6:44), and He used pureed food to bring them to the Christian home where he received the care of God’s people and heard of Christ’s forgiveness.

Conversion is a work of God; in love He draws people to Himself. He uses circumstances, His Word, people, and even pureed food to pursue hearts. Be encouraged in your witness for Him. He will use your words and deeds in His pursuit of those who need Christ.

It is not always words galore Nor brilliancy of speech That opens wide the gospel door Within the sinner’s reach. —Rotz

Love is the magnet that draws believers together and attracts unbelievers to Christ.

http://odb.org/2012/06/25/pureed-pursuit/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+odb%2Ffeed+%28Our+Daily+Bread%29

Jesus Cures A Maid

When Jesus came back to Capernaum He found the crowd of friends at the little wharf full of concern about Him, and glad that no harm had come to Him during the storm. Among them was one who had watched anxiously for the boat, for he had a little daughter at home very ill indeed, so ill that she was “at the last breath.” His name was Jairus, and he was a ruler of the synagogue. He was so troubled that he fell at the feet of Jesus, begging Him to come and lay His hand on his child that she might live.

Jesus went with him, a throng of people with them, hoping to see Him do a great work.

While He was on the way a woman who had been sick twelve years followed close behind Him, and put forth her hand timidly toward Him.

“If I may touch but His clothes I shall be whole,” she said to herself, and she touched them with faith in her heart.

Jesus, who knew all hearts, turned straight around and said:

“Who touched My clothes?”

How the woman shrank back and trembled when she heard that, for she was afraid she had done wrong.

The disciples thought it strange that He should ask this, as the people thronged so close that they could not help touching Jesus But the woman knew what He meant and she came and fell down before Him, fearing and trembling, and told Him all the truth.

Jesus did not look sternly at her as she thought He would do, but He said gently,

“Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague.”

While the woman was still at His feet full of gratitude and love because she felt herself cured, some friends came from the ruler’s house to bring sad news.

“Thy daughter is dead,” they said, “why troublest thou the Master any further?”

Jesus saw the looks of grief on the father’s face and said quickly,

“Be not afraid, only believe.”

So they went to the ruler’s house, and into the inner room where the little maid lay. Many wished to press in after them to see what Jesus would do, but he took only Peter and James and John with the father and mother of the maiden into the quiet, darkened room. As He went in He said to some who were mourning noisily in the outer room,

“Weep not; she is not dead, but sleepeth.” Jesus loved to call death a “sleep,” for He knew that we never die. Then He took the little maid by the hand and called her. She had not gone so far into the country we cannot see that she could not hear a divine Voice calling to her,

“Talitha cumi!” (“Maiden, arise!”) At once she rose and walked. She was a little girl of twelve, and very dear to her father and mother, and there was no doubt great joy as well as wonder in the house of the ruler that bright morning after the storm. In their joy and wonder there was danger of forgetting to give her the food she was in need of, and so Jesus gently reminded them, commanding that something should be given her to eat, but he charged them not to talk about the return of their little daughter.

http://kids.ochristian.com/Children-in-the-Bible/Jesus-Cures-A-Maid.shtml

 

The Quarter In Your Pocket

The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. —James 5:16

Some things are irresistible. For me, it’s bubble-gum  machines. I can hardly resist the urge to watch one of those colorful  gumballs roll down the tunnel so I can pop it into my mouth. But without  a quarter, those gumballs are locked up inside. You can be sure that as  long as I have the right coin, I won’t pass up an opportunity to enjoy  the mouth-watering treat.

Prayer is the quarter in your pocket when it comes to releasing the  vast resources of God’s character and blessings in your life. The  “muchness” of God stands in sharp contrast to the leanness of our souls,  and without prayer we cannot begin to tap into the reservoir of all  that He is waiting to bestow on us. When we long for a satisfying taste  of His resources, prayer is essential.

James makes it clear that our prayer needs to be “fervent” and  “effective” (James 5:16). God is not into ritual but reality. He wants us to  avoid formulaic prayers in exchange for a persistent passion. We are to  approach His throne of grace with a keen awareness of our need for Him.

As James stated earlier in his book, “You do not have because you do  not ask” (James 4:2). The more we pray, the more we receive, and before long  our lives will demonstrate the life-changing reality of the muchness of  God.

The more we go to God in prayer Intent to seek His face, The more we’ll want to be with Him Before His throne of grace. —Sper

Much prayer, much power; little  prayer, little power; no prayer, no power!

http://getmorestrength.org/daily/the-quarter-in-your-pocket/