James 1:13-14
The failures of your
life are a result of the course which you have chosen to travel… The message of
today’s devotional is simple; be accountable to yourself and God if you want to
be transformed and grow in Christ… The problem of accountability is one that
has plagued mankind since his creation… Adam ate of the forbidden fruit and
when God inquired about his actions, the first thing he said was the woman that you gave me… Understand that the biggest hurdle we face is
the acceptable our mistakes and failures as our own instead of trying to point
the proverbial finger at someone else as if they are in control of our every
single step… This happens when we blame others for our situation or even try to
speak ill-advised words regarding the absences of God in our circumstances… You
can be tempted by evil; however, God (conquering death and the grave) cannot… The first things that we must realize on this
earth, is that we are sinners from birth and the natural feel is to do what the
flesh desires… This must understood
as we take this Christian journey because this will help us not only deal with
temptations as they arise, but it will also help us to keep a proper
perspective of what is of God and what isn’t… We face many trials and test
throughout our walk; however, James reminds us today to remember that the
temptations we face are only tempting because of the lust that lies within…
Temptation is a desire to do something especially something wrong… We break
down the meaning of temptation because doing something wrong and walking with
God does not go hand and hand… We must realize that enemy is busy and when we
choose to walk with the Lord we choose the narrow path that few find… This path
takes a trained eye to find; however, the broad path, the path that can be seen
very easy and appealing to the eye is the temptations that we face on a day to
day basis… God desires that all men would come to know Him and that known
should perish, this shines light on the fact that God doesn’t tempt you, He
doesn’t want you to be enticed to do something wrong; however, the enemy will
always place temptations in front of you to make you second guess or become
apprehensive about the direction in which you are going… This walk with God is as much about obeying
Him as it is about being accountable to yourself… Accept the things that you have done, take
your sins before the Lord and stop trying to make excuses or blame others for
your shortcomings… James says, “…God cannot be
tempted with evil…” Remember when Jesus
was baptized and led into the wilderness, Satan tried Him three times, but
eventually Jesus rebuked him and he fled… Today know that you face temptations;
however, know that through the power of Jesus Christ you can rebuke the
temptations you face and they will flee…
Don’t blame God for the
temptations that you either entertain or incur… James reminds us today that we
must know the difference in the things that take place in our lives as it
relates to God’s will and plan for us… God never is nor will be tempted by evil, the desire of God is
that we will come to know Him and develop a more intimate relationship with
Him; however, often times we associate learning and developing in our Christian
walk with being tempted and dealing with evil… The message that James brings to light today
is that we must be accountable for our actions and take ownership of the
decisions that we make… Again, too often we want to blame everyone and
everything except ourselves for the predicaments that we end up in… How often
do we take ownership for the decisions that we make? Likewise, how often do we
blame God when things don’t go as we imagined? James reminds us today that God
doesn’t desire us to be tempted, but that we allow certain things to grasp our
attention which leads us down a road of temptation and despair… We must
remember that we came into this world as sinners and those who accept Christ
offering of Salvation we will be changed over when we leave this earth… Daily
we will wrestle with temptation because of the sinful nature that still resides
in us; James is saying that we must know that this is because of our sin and
not because of God’s neglect! It is of the utmost importance that we realize
where we are and where we are trying to go in order to understand the uphill
battle that we face… The devil wasn’t mad when you were born but when you were
born again… Jesus was not tempted of the devil until He was baptized and
accepted His father’s calling for His life… Temptation is a device used by Satan to entice and lure us away
from the will of God, this is why James says that we are not tempted by God nor
is God ever tempted… Adam and Eve brought a
curse on every child conceived and it is because of that that we deal with
trials and tribulations… The bible says that we reap what we sow, there are a
lot of things that we sowed yesterday and they are reaping in our lives today…
I lot of decisions that didn’t impact us yesterday are tearing us down today;
this is what James is talking about… Yes you have accepted Christ as you’re
personal savior, but know that there are still certain things that you must
endure and handle! A lot of times we come into the fold of Christ and begin to
expect things to happen, in reality we assume that peace is a given and
heartache will be removed… James says today that
you must know that you have a sinful nature and that there will be times when
you give into that sinful nature, when this happens don’t blame God, but go to
Him in prayer and acknowledge your sin!
BE BLESSED!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment