Responding to God at All Times
Throughout our lives, we will experience both suffering and joy. We will have times of great grief and times of overflowing happiness. Sometimes, they’ll be separate seasons—but sometimes these experiences come together.
In either case, James expected Christians to come to God. If someone was suffering, prayer was the call to action. If someone was cheerful, people were to praise God.
This might seem obvious, but when suffering clouds our thinking, we can sometimes forget to prioritize prayer. And when things are going well and we are cheerful, it’s easy to just enjoy our season and not think to praise God for it. But every season of life is actually just an opportunity to put into practice what James wrote about…
When we are suffering, let us pray. When those around us are suffering, let us pray. When we are cheerful or happy, let us praise God. When others are happy, let us praise God with them. In every circumstance or situation, let’s go to God with everything, and trust Him with everything.
When we do that, we keep our eyes on Jesus, and He helps us endure every situation we face.
So what are you facing right now? Take a moment to pray to God and tell Him all you’re going through. Then, reflect on the good things happening in your life, and tell God, “Thank You.”
God as Your Creator
Have you ever paused to reflect on God as your Creator?
God is unlike any other that is, was, or will be. He alone is able to fully sustain that which He creates. And He alone is able to create—miraculously orchestrating His purposes—merely by speaking it into existence. But there's more…
If you dig even deeper into the pages of Scripture, you learn about this power by which God creates:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Through him, all things were made; without him, nothing was made that has been made.
John 1:1-3
For in him, all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.
Colossians 1:16
The writer of Hebrews assures us that, "By faith, we understand that the universe was created by the word of God so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible" (Hebrews 11:3 NIV).
This ...