Wednesday, November 2, 2011

 “For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.”  James 4:15

James is not promoting the ritualistic receitation of this phrase every time a future tense is used in our conversation.  He’s not saying that every time we say something that speaks about something in the future we should insert this phrase.  “Megan, what do you want for dinner?”  She replies, “If the Lord wills, we should eat pizza.”  That’s not the point of this verse when we consider the context.

Really James is making the argument that before we make our plans, as we make our plans and after we make our plans God Himself must be consulted.  We must ask Him what He would want us to do.  We must ask for wisdom.  We should look to scripture to see what He says about our future.

Application:  Here are some great questions that you should ask when you are making plans:

• God, what should I do? (Action)
• God, when should I do it? (Timing)
• God, how long should I do it? (Duration)
• God, how should I do it? (Method, Values)
• God where should I go? (Location)
• God, with who should I do this? (Association)
• God, what should my goals be? (Purpose)

Are these questions, and questions like them a part of your planning?

When was the last time you prayed some of thesevkinds of questions?  Why not start to ask them today?