{"id":269,"date":"2008-07-23T06:00:14","date_gmt":"2008-07-23T13:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/devonline.us\/dailyevotional\/archives\/269"},"modified":"2008-09-24T13:31:44","modified_gmt":"2008-09-24T20:31:44","slug":"who-does-what","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyevotional.com\/prior2020\/who-does-what\/","title":{"rendered":"“WHO DOES WHAT?”"},"content":{"rendered":"

James 4:7-10<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and He will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up.”<\/font><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Have you ever listened to your own prayers to God? If you are like me it will be a sobering experience. Over and over I hear myself asking God to do things that I should be doing myself! Don\u2019t act so pious, I am sure you just as guilty as me!<\/p>\n

There are many passages of Scripture that demonstrate our part and God\u2019s part in having a closer walk. I think of the parable that Jesus told in Luke 15:11-24. It was the son who made the move to return to the father. The father did not send out a search party for the son. (This is a hard truth for parents whose hearts are being broken by wayward children). God uses circumstances to bring rebels to their knees, but it still remains their choice to rise and return.<\/p>\n

Think of the many times you have prayed for the Lord to make you do something: \u201cMake me love You better.\u201d \u201cMake me pray more.\u201d \u201cMake me have a better attitude.\u201d \u201cMake me _______.\u201d You get the picture.<\/p>\n

Look at today\u2019s Scripture. There are three things mentioned that I think most of us desire in our life: The devil to flee from us, the Lord to be near to us and the Lord to lift us up.<\/p>\n

That is all well and good, but what are we told to do? What steps of action are we to take?<\/p>\n

1. Submit yourselves, then, to God.<\/strong> (Not my will but Thine!)<\/p>\n

2. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.<\/strong> (Say no!)<\/p>\n

3. Come near to God<\/strong> (Make a choice to go God\u2019s way)<\/p>\n

4. Wash your hands, you sinners<\/strong> (Confess your sins)<\/p>\n

5. Purify your hearts, you double-minded.<\/strong> (Bathe yourself in God\u2019s Word)<\/p>\n

6. Grieve, mourn and wail.<\/strong> (Experience brokenness for the lost)<\/p>\n

7. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom.<\/strong> (Recognize that this world will pass and eternity is waiting)<\/p>\n

8. Humble yourselves before the Lord<\/strong> (Turn everything over to God and rest in His provision for your life)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The next time you pray for God to do something for you, stop and ask yourself if you have been obedient to do the things He calls each of us, as His disciples, to do for Him. Perhaps it would be better to pray: \u201cLord show me what You want me to do or be”, not just “What I want You to do for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blessings dear hearts. Walk with God today. Trust Him completely and be a blessing.<\/p>\n

— Pastor Cecil<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

James 4:7-10 “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and He will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-james"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyevotional.com\/prior2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyevotional.com\/prior2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyevotional.com\/prior2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyevotional.com\/prior2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyevotional.com\/prior2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=269"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyevotional.com\/prior2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyevotional.com\/prior2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyevotional.com\/prior2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyevotional.com\/prior2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}