LISTEN ALONG TO THIS DEVOTIONAL
Welcome to our first ever Hear the Word to Live the Word devotional. I’m Pastor Jen and I’ll be reading and reflecting on James 1:1-8. I invite you to hear the Word with your head and heart to live it faithfully with your hands. Hear the Word of the Lord.
1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ: To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations: Greetings.
2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. 6 But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8 Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.
What must we do to believe and not be tossed like a wave of the sea? I picture myself on the crowded beach in San Diego. Kids are running all around with buckets of water to dump in the sand. A toddler is crying. Music blasts in the background. Teens toss a football behind me. And I stand with my feet grounded in the sand as the waves rhythmically tap my bare feet. I close my eyes and turn to the sun and focus on the calming sound of the waves hitting the shore… over and over quieting the noise. The world around me quiets and I soak up God’s presence. Here in this chaotic place is where I experience God the most. It grounds me and helps me remember I can quiet the chaos of daily-life by grounding myself in God’s presence in other ways as well. Barefoot in the grass with my eyes closed and turned toward the sun in my yard. I experience God. Reading God’s Word on my porch, I experience God. Sitting in quiet in my blue leather chair in my living room, I experience God. Singing worship songs with you all on Sunday mornings, I experience God. Writing in my prayer journal, I experience God. Dialoguing in a small group of other believers about Scripture, I experience God. How do you experience God the most? I challenge you to do those things. Habits; they become spiritual disciplines that shape us and the more you absorb God’s presence the more you are able to stand firm in the faith and not be tossed by the sea.