Seeking God's Direction

Class,

This past Sunday we looked at verses 13-17 of chapter 4 in our study of the book of James. These verses deal with the issue of presumption.

Most of our study of James has centered on defining genuine faith. James told his listeners that “Faith without works is dead!” He also said that faith will always lead to action. The problem that many of us face (as they did in James day) is trying to determine that when we step out in “faith” how do we know whether we are really being presumptuous by asking God to bless something of our own making.

These 5 verses at the end of chapter 4 give us a warning against presumptuous action.

So in our decision making process how can we tell the difference between “faithful” action and “presumptuous” action?

During our time last Sunday we examined several passages of Scripture to see if God has left us clues that will being this topic in better focus. In fact we as a class are working together to come up with a list of principles from Scripture which will aid us in discovering God’s will in specific circumstances of our lives.

We are looking at the following passages:

1) Joshua 7:3-5
2) Numbers 14:39-45
3) 1 Samuel 13:7-13
4) Math 16:21-23
5) Luke 12:16-21
6) 1 Samuel 23:1-6

Our challenge (homework) is to examine these passages to see if we can learn some key principles to help guide us through the deep waters of the decision making process. For example in our study of Joshua 7:3-5 we discovered a warning against presumption and a principle: The warning: No matter how great a victory God has given in your immediate past (crossing the Jordan river on dry ground, walls of Jericho fall) do not presume to proceed without asking His direction. The truth: Ask God to reveal any unconfessed sin in your life before you proceed with any future decision.

There were several more principles that we learned about making Godly choices and we will share them all after our study is complete.

Be ready to discuss the last four Scripture passages listed above to find warnings or truths related to this subject. You may also look at other passages which relate to how we should make decisions to be sure that our process is right before God. The result should be a much higher level of confidence in your decision making process.

I look forward to hearing what you learned next Sunday as we share our truth nuggets mined from the pages of Scripture.

See you all there.

randy