Who Is Exalted?

Aug21

Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.”
But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil. Therefore, to one who knows the right (good) thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.
James 4:15-17 NASB1995
https://bible.com/bible/100/jas.4.15-17.NASB1995

Boasting is a sin when speaking of oneself. It is drawing attention to oneself to be noticed, exalted.
But is it evil when we lift up another person by boasting about them? I suppose it could be if it’s done for selfish reasons. But what if it is done to encourage one’s walk with the Lord by pointing out God’s work in them. Boasting about God and His divine work in others and ourselves will encourage, teach, uplift as we learn from one another, giving all the glory to God.

Is that boasting without arrogance?

Paul said it best:
🌹Therefore in Christ Jesus I have found reason for boasting in things pertaining to God.
Romans 15:17 NASB1995
https://bible.com/bible/100/rom.15.17.NASB1995

Continually Seeking Him,

Sharon
https://indasharonjesus.org

Please Inquire First for the Word of God*

Aug20

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.” Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.
James 4:13-14 NASB1995
https://bible.com/bible/100/jas.4.13-14.NASB1995

Example:
Then he said, ‘This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry.” ’ But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?’
Luke 12:18-20 NASB1995
https://bible.com/bible/100/luk.12.18-20.NASB1995

So is the man who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”
Luke 12:21 NASB1995
https://bible.com/bible/100/luk.12.21.NASB1995

Do not boast about tomorrow, For you do not know what a day may bring forth.
Proverbs 27:1 NASB1995
https://bible.com/bible/100/pro.27.1.NASB1995

Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.”
James 4:15 NASB1995
https://bible.com/bible/100/jas.4.15.NASB1995

And this we will do, if God permits.
Hebrews 6:3 NASB1995
https://bible.com/bible/100/heb.6.3.NASB1995

for if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.
Romans 14:8 NASB1995
https://bible.com/bible/100/rom.14.8.NASB1995

🌹So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
Ephesians 5:17 NASB1995
https://bible.com/bible/100/eph.5.17.NASB1995

Continually Seeking Him,

Sharon
https://indasharonjesus.org

*1 Kings 22:5 NASB1995
https://bible.com/bible/100/1ki.22.5.NASB1995

Only One Lawgiver and Judge

Aug19

Do not speak against one another, brethren. He who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks against the law and judges the law; but if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge of it. 
There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and to destroy; but who are you who judge your neighbor?
James 4:11-12 NASB1995
https://bible.com/bible/100/jas.4.11-12.NASB1995

How easily it comes to us to point the finger, speak against, and judge a person for their words and/or actions without knowing the why of it. We all have been on both sides in this. We say or do something we regret and have been judged for it.

“Do not judge so that you will not be judged.
Matthew 7:1 NASB1995
https://bible.com/bible/100/mat.7.1.NASB1995

Do not complain, brethren, against one another, so that you yourselves may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing right at the door.
James 5:9 NASB1995
https://bible.com/bible/100/jas.5.9.NASB1995

For the Lord is our judge, The Lord is our lawgiver, The Lord is our king; He will save us—
Isaiah 33:22 NASB1995
https://bible.com/bible/100/isa.33.22.NASB1995

But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.
James 1:22 NASB1995
https://bible.com/bible/100/jas.1.22.NASB1995

If, however, you are fulfilling the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well.
James 2:8 NASB1995
https://bible.com/bible/100/jas.2.8.NASB1995

🌹If God is our Judge and the Judge of all His Creation, who are we to judge anyone? Especially a brother or sister. We are to love one another in obedience to the royal law.

Continually Seeking Him,

Sharon
https://indasharonjesus.org

Gloomy

Aug18

Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom.
James 4:9 NASB1995
https://bible.com/bible/100/jas.4.9.NASB1995

. . . For all the people were weeping when they heard the words of the law.
Nehemiah 8:9b NASB1995
https://bible.com/bible/100/neh.8.9.NASB1995

The words of the law draws one to be convicted. When conviction causes us to mourn and weep in our souls, making us miserable, it is time to humble ourselves before God, seeking His forgiveness.

So that He sets on high those who are lowly, And those who mourn are lifted to safety.
Job 5:11 NASB1995
https://bible.com/bible/100/job.5.11.NASB1995

🌹Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.
James 4:10 NASB1995
https://bible.com/bible/100/jas.4.10.NASB1995

Continually Seeking Him,

Sharon
https://indasharonjesus.org

Drawn by Lovingkindness

Aug15

Testimony:

🙏God, You make me so happy!🙌

Have you ever had a day when God pours out His everlasting kindness on you from a pitcher of everlasting love?

I took a walk. 87° degrees with a feel like of 91°.

But God . . .

Communicated His lovingkindness,

In a comfortable breeze.

Shade from trees on a portion of my walk.

And on the last portion of my walk with the full sun blaring down on me, God gave a cloud to cover the sun until I made it back home.

The God of all creation used His creation to pour out His love on me, His creation.

Small and insignificant we are not, who belong to God. He loves you with an everlasting love.

🌹The Lord appeared to him from afar, saying, “I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore I have drawn you with lovingkindness.
Jeremiah 31:3 NASB1995
https://bible.com/bible/100/jer.31.3.NASB1995

Amen.

Continually Seeking Him,

Sharon
https://indasharonjesus.org

Return and Draw Near

Aug14

Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
James 4:8 NASB1995
https://bible.com/bible/100/jas.4.8.NASB1995

“Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Remove the evil of your deeds from My sight. Cease to do evil. Wash your heart from evil.
Isaiah 1:16/Jeremiah 4:14a NASB1995
https://bible.com/bible/100/isa1.16.NASB1995
https://bible.com/bible/100/jer4.14 .NASB1995

“Listen: the Lord is with you when you are with Him. And if you seek Him, He will let you find Him; but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you. Therefore, the Lord says, “Return to Me that I may return to you.” And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure. (Paraphrase)
2 Chronicles 15:2b/Zechariah 1:3/1 John 3:3 NASB1995

🌹. . . the righteous will hold to his way, And he who has clean hands will grow stronger and stronger.
Job 17:9 NASB1995
https://bible.com/bible/100/job.17.9.NASB1995

Continually Seeking Him,

Sharon
https://indasharonjesus.org

Firm in Your Faith

Aug13

Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
James 4:7 NASB1995
https://bible.com/bible/100/jas.4.7.NASB1995

1 Peter 5:6 Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God. . .

Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world. After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you. To Him be dominion forever and ever. Amen.
1 Peter 5:8-11 NASB1995
https://bible.com/bible/100/1pe.5.8-11.NASB1995

Did you catch that? How do we resist the devil? Be firm in our faith.

🌹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.
1 Peter 4:11 NASB1995
https://bible.com/bible/100/1pe.4.11.NASB1995

Continually Seeking Him,

Sharon
https://indasharonjesus.org

Grace

Aug12

But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
James 4:6 NASB1995
https://bible.com/bible/100/jas.4.6.NASB1995

Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted.
Matthew 23:12 NASB1995
https://bible.com/bible/100/mat.23.12.NASB1995

For the hand of God made all things. There is nothing created that did not come into being without Him. God says, “But to this one I will look, To him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word.”
All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.
Isaiah 66:2 /1 Peter 5:5 NASB1995

🌹For though the Lord is exalted, Yet He regards the lowly, But the haughty He knows from afar.
Psalms 138:6 NASB1995
https://bible.com/bible/100/psa.138.6.NASB1995

Continually Seeking Him,

Sharon
https://indasharonjesus.org

Sanctuary of The Holy Spirit

Aug11

Or do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose: “He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us”?
James 4:5 NASB1995
https://bible.com/bible/100/jas.4.5.NASB1995

Or do you not know that your body is a temple (sanctuary) of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?
1 Corinthians 6:19 NASB1995
https://bible.com/bible/100/1co.6.19.NASB1995

What an awesome gift we, who have the Holy Spirit of God dwelling in us, have to be called His children. The Holy Spirit of promise who works in us to bring honor and glory to our God as we walk this earth fulfilling His purpose through us.

. . . For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, “I will dwell in them and walk among them; And I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
2 Corinthians 6:16b NASB1995
https://bible.com/bible/100/2co.6.16.NASB1995

🌹And I will be a father to you, And you shall be sons and daughters to Me,” Says the Lord Almighty.
2 Corinthians 6:18 NASB1995
https://bible.com/bible/100/2co.6.18.NASB1995

Continually Seeking Him,

Sharon
https://indasharonjesus.org

Praise God For Life

Aug8

I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well.
Psalms 139:14 NASB1995
https://bible.com/bible/100/psa.139.14.NASB1995

What a wonder the human body is.
Is your life a life of praise for the gift you are?

🌹Many, O Lord my God, are the wonders which You have done, And Your thoughts toward us; There is none to compare with You. If I would declare and speak of them, They would be too numerous to count.
Psalms 40:5 NASB1995
https://bible.com/bible/100/psa.40.5.NASB1995

How blessed is the man who has made the Lord his trust, And has not turned to the proud, nor to those who lapse into falsehood.
Psalms 40:4 NASB1995
https://bible.com/bible/100/psa.40.4.NASB1995

Continually Seeking Him,

Sharon
https://indasharonjesus.org