James 4: 13-17 Knowing, Wanting and Living the will of God

The Alley Church Podcast

Psalms 139:16 - You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. NLT

Will (GREEK word: thello) Desire, Intend, Wish Want

WE ALL WANT IT - we might not have words for it… we want to know what am I supposed to do with my life, should I date this guy, should I go to this college, what should I do with this bonus I got, what should I do to pay this bill I have to pay?

It’s called God’s Will - The Will of God – JESUS came to do the WILL of FATHER

James 4: (13) Look here, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit.” (14) How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone. (15) What you ought to say is, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.” (16) Otherwise you are boasting about your own pretentious plans, and all such boasting is evil. (17) Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it.

James is addressing a problem to 1st Century Christians. Today we call it the AMERICAN DREAM. This is the land of opportunity. There are millions of different ways to make money and live this American dream.
However, the major pitfall to living the American dream is this:

The more we pursue the things of this world, the less we pursue the things of God. (repeat)

And this is the Devil’s favorite tool for ambitious people and lazy people, this scheme of the devil tricks us into temporary living. Temporary living is living for things that have no permanent benefits. Either we are in hot pursuit of our own ambitious goals or we are jellyfish with no plan. Going with the flow.