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James Study by murielgregory

Glorify God

Please take the time to take a short survey:

1. The purpose of my life is:

a. To be happy
b. To raise a family
 c. To do something important and lasting
 d. To glorify God 

2. The purpose of my marriage is:

 a. To make me happy and fulfilled
 b. To have someone to take care of and love me
c. To have a family and raise children
 d. To reflect and glorify God 

3. The purpose of raising children is:

a. To give me someone to love
 b. For my parents to get back at me for everything I did to them growing up
c. To bring up happy, well-adjusted adults
d. To raise up more people for the kingdom so that they can glorify God 

 4. The purpose of my work is:

a. To make lots of money
 b. To give me fulfillment
 c. To get me out of the house
 d. To give me a venue to glorify God 

5. The purpose of my worship is:

a. To fill me and make me feel good
 b. To use my gifts in the church body
 c. To get me into heaven
d. To glorify God

 6. The purpose of my rest/free time is:

 a. To have fun because I work so hard all the time
b. To watch my favorite TV shows and keep up on all my social media
c. To refresh me
d. To renew my strength so that I can more effectively glorify God. 

7. The purpose of my prayer is:

a. To get things I want from God
b. To be a good Christian
c. To prove how righteous and holy I am
d. To assist in the works of God and so bring glory to Him 

Have you ever given much thought to your purpose in life? 

To the purpose behind the things you do?

 I speak for myself, but I know that what I say is true for many (dare I say all?) of us. I get caught up in this life a lot. My kids have needs, and it’s my job to fulfill them - food, clothing, help with school, etc. My husband has needs, too - sex, food, affection, a sounding board… Then there are the endless chores, errands, bills, all those things that go along with my role as a wife, mother and keeper of the home. And I don’t even have a paying job. I can’t imagine trying to manage that along with all the other stuff I do. My hat is off to all you working women out there. But it’s easy, in the midst of our busy schedules, to forget that there is a purpose behind all that we do. 

This life is not the end. It’s just a beginning. This is the womb of eternity. Just like a baby passing out of its mother into her presence, we will pass from this life into God’s presence. A baby has nine months in its mother’s belly, but that is less than 1/100th of its life. Compared to eternity… well, compared to eternity, this life is not even worth speaking of. Except that what we do here determines what our life in the presence of the Lord will be. (Mt 25:14-30) This life is the only chance we have to save up for our retirement. My husband and I have spent 18 years investing little in our retirement portfolio, thinking all along, “We’ll do it later, when our finances are a little better.” But our finances are not getting any better. The older we get, the more there seems to be to spend our money on. Many people are like that in their Spiritual lives. They keep thinking, “I’ll do it later, when I have more time.” But like the rich man in Lk 12:13-21, our life could be demanded of us this very day.

Will you have treasure in heaven if you are called today?

 I’m supposed to be coming up with prayer helps for you. This may not seem very helpful in learning to pray. But this is what God has laid on my heart. All the prayer helps in the world will not help you if you are not motivated to pray. So I pray that you will read this and meditate on the verses here. When all is said and done, nothing on this earth matters. It will all pass away. But the treasures we have laid up in heaven will last for eternity.

“You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.” (James 4:2b-3) 

Ask today for that which glorifies God, and see what He will do in your life. 

•  Is 43:7 “…everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.” 

 

• 1 Corinthians 6:20 For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body. 

•  1 Peter 4:10-11 As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. Whoever speaks, is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. 

•  John 15:8 "My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. 

• Philippians 1:9-11 And this is my prayer:that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God. 

•  1 Corinthians 10:31 Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. 

• John 14:13 Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 

All scripture quotes are from the NASB.

In the beginning.....

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters." Genesis 1:1-2

And God said Let there be light

And God said

Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters and let it separate the waters from the waters.

Let the waters under the heavens be gathered into one place and let the dry land appear.

Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants, yielding seed and trees bearing fruits.

let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth

God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves

Let us make man

 With man came lies, deceit, adultery, corruption, greed, idol worship, war............

I will not pretend that I fully understand what it means for the word to become flesh. One thing I know for sure is that the word of God is THE MOST powerful thing there is.

Without the word we would not be here, if the word does not dwell in us we do not have eternal life. Everything you see around you is because of the word.

This immense power is available to us at no cost and we have the freedom and the ability to take hold of that power and live a life of miracles.

The Bible is the word of God and you are holding it in your hands. Do we treat it the way it should be treated? Do we respect it? If you truly regarded the Bible as a book with power, wouldn't you dust it off?

Let's be honest here. We are more consumed by the words on the facebook feed or the reality magazine at the check out line than the word of God.

When we have aches and pains we google our symptoms until we can safely reassure ourselves that we do not have a brain tumor but a simple headache.

We share words with our friends in gossip...
We share words with our husbands in frustration...
We share words with our children in anger...
We share words with God too about all the things and people that need fixing in our lives.

But do we receive the word and do what it says.

 Read Colossians 3:16-17

Commit yourself to reading the word and apply it to your life.

When asked which Bible translation was best Rick Warren answered that "the best translation is when you translate the word of God into your daily life."