My Online Faith Journal

This last week Dr.Charles Stanley had a sermon titled "Getting Ahead of God" where he talked about Genesis 16:2-5 . Abram had been in the land of Canaan for ten years and they didn't have any children, so Sarai decided to give Hagar to Abram as his wife. Dr.Stanley talked about in his message about how we can also get ahead of God. People do this for a variety of reasons. Some of the reasons mentioned were afriad of failure, afraid they are missing out on something, impatient, deceived by appearances, listening to others and not God, unbelief. I've had this happen in my own life where I didn't pray as much or as often as I should and just did what I thought best without asking God what he wanted. This is exactly what happened to Joshua when the Gibeonites came to see them in Joshua 9. It says, "They did not ask for the counsel of the Lord." Joshua 9:14 . And this led to a huge problem for them from that point on because they made a covenant wit

     There is a place that I pass when I am driving to work where road crews have planted sunflowers in the median.  A few weeks ago, these flowers were all in bloom.  After a few weeks, they began to wilt and now they have been plowed over for a new planting to occur.  James tells us in James 1:9-11, that the rich man is like those flowers.  They might look glorious for a period of time, but they quickly fade away (1 Cor 7:31).       Rather than seeking to become rich, which leads to many problems (1 Timothy 6:9), the believer should seek the crown of life.  The crown of life is the reward that God has promised to those who love him and persevere in the midst of trials (James 1:12).  The word perseveres is the word hypomeno which means to remain, to endure.  This idea began back in verses 2-5 when James said that the one who endures under trial builds endurance and character.  This is a theme that runs throughout scripture that there is a purpose behind the trials of the believer.