are you ready?...

james in 4.13 changes direction. he says (ms), and now...

we have been dealing here with something that is very important. we have been looking at judging other people, in other words, playing GOD but now james says, and now. and i am glad for the and now.

i was telling denise at church sunday that i am ready for a change. i am ready for an and now. i needed to deal with judging, to get a handle on it, to do something about it, but i am now ready for an and now.

do you ever do that to your family or your friends? do you ever get on a subject and just stay on it and stay on it and stay on it until they are no longer listening to you. that is so easy to do isn't it? but that is now what GOD is like. HE lets us know and then HE moves to the next things HE wants us to see. and we accept what HE says or not.

but HE also wants us to deal with it and then move on. my dad was killed in an truck accident many years ago and i had real trouble coming to grips with it. my focus became so narrow that i finally went and spent some time with a man who showed me how to get though the grieving that i was going through. he really helped me. he shared that i had gotten to the place that i was living with a tunnel vision that was giving me a narrow focus on life and that i had to somehow break through those walls and broaden my vision of life.

so are you focusing on something in your life and not dealing with it, not handling it? maybe you are focusing on the insecurity of your life because of what you have lost: a relationship, financial security, a job? i understand it if you are.

now in this time that i went through in my tunnel vision, i finally got to the point that i was tired of the pain and i was ready to do something about it. i was ready to listen to what i needed to do to get out of the rut that i had gotten into. dad wasn't coming back. i had to come to grips with it and then move on with my life.

so james here says, and now but then he goes on and says, i have a word for you...

some of what GOD allows us to go through is to get us to the point that we will listen to the word that HE has for us. it really doesn't matter that GOD has a word for us until we are ready to hear it and to do it. some of what GOD is allowing us to go through in the insecurities of our lives is to get us to the point that we will stop and hear HIS word and do something about it.

i have heard what you said about judging, james, and i am putting your word into practice, now i am seeking for more of what GOD has for me.

so are you ready to hear what james is ready to share with us? i know i am.

so why don't you read james 4.13-17 and meet me here on the front porch tomorrow...