PLANNING OUR OWN LIFE
Monday – March 16, 2026
Video link: https://youtu.be/kULdxR_k-6s
Greetings dear children of God and other interested parties. Welcome to this ongoing Bible Study of the Bible Book of James. Last week we learned about lusts or covetousness and how we ourselves are at the core of most of our problems. We learned about spiritual adultery and how to draw near to God and become of one mind with Him. Then the Holy Spirit through James spoke to us again about controlling our tongue which of course starts in our thought life. Now, we are going to delve into avoiding being presumptuous before God. Let’s jump into our primary text for today.
James 4:13-17 (ESV)
13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”—
14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.
15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”
16 As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.
17 So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.
As we examine verse thirteen, we don’t see any mention of consulting with God it is all about what we want to do. I don’t know about you, but I tend to plan what I’m doing today and for some period of time down the road with little to no request for input from my Heavenly Father. God has a plan, a great plan for our lives, minute to minute, yet we consult very little with Him unless our plan runs into problems. Is this wise? The One who knows everything independent of time and has all Power lives in us, and we don’t think it is worth our time to talk to Him.
Then as we move forward the Holy Spirit reminds us of the fragility of our lives and how little we really know about tomorrow or our lives. This seems to me a reminder of the briefness of our lives and how we need to make it count for what follows. What follows is judgement and eternity. Then the Holy Spirit tells us how we ought to speak of tomorrow. The Holy Spirit calls this presumptuous speech boasting saying it is evil. Giving no thought to the will of God, the One who is our King, Lord, and Savior is evil. This is like deciding what one wants to do at the workplace with no thought to the purpose and needs of the business which employs us. I have taught at some length concerning “The Kingdom of God” with the following primary Scripture.
Matthew 6:33 (ESV)
33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
When we make plans with no consultation with our King and Lord is certainly not putting the Kingdom of God and His righteousness first. It is putting ourselves first and working the Kingdom in as we have time. Perhaps we need to have more conversation with the Lord about our plans and see what He has in mind for the day, the week, the month, year, and life. Perhaps you have heard the song “I did it my way”. That is the devils song, we want a life that reflects God’s way. This will produce the most fruit and joy.
This brings us to the final verse of this fourth chapter. As we read and study the Word of God, we become more knowledgeable of the will of God. To do the will of God is to do good. God then holds us responsible for what we know. Are you, am I, endeavoring to do all that we know to do? The Lord has brought much to our attention in this one Bible Book alone, are we doing it. For example, are we controlling our thoughts and our mouths? When we know what the will of God is, what is right, and don’t do it we are in sin. Then we wonder why things are out of kilter and the promises of God are not in manifestation in our lives.
TAKE HOME:
- Let us no longer be presumptuous to plan our lives without consulting our Lord. This is boasting, like we know better than the Lord, and boasting is evil.
- Let us remind ourselves that our lives are but a vapor and only what we do in line with the will of God will endure.
- When we know to do good, the will of God, and we do not it is sin.
Lord willing, I will resume right here tomorrow. Remember, we love you, the Lord loves you, and there is nothing you can do about either one.
By: Dr. David R. Wood, Bible Teacher, and Prophetic Voice
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