The Book of James
A 10 day devotional series on thriving and surviving this Thanksgiving break
Day 9
Read: James 5:1-6
Devo: Now that Thanksgiving has passed and Christmas is around the corner, many of us will be tempted to flip our attention from a heart of thankfulness to a list of gifts we want to buy ourselves on Cyber Monday. The culture around us is about to blast messages in our face that encourage us to treat ourselves and collect more and more possessions. You won’t last an entire day without seeing tens to hundreds of advertisements trying to convince you to buy more stuff that we don’t really need. There is no doubt that the American church needs to address their unhealthy relationship with wealth, riches, and possessions. Will we be brave enough to address it in our own hearts this holiday season? Most of us are guilty of living on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence as James describes. He explains that these Christians have fattened their hearts in a day of slaughter and that their corroding gold and silver will eat their flesh like fire! Those are pretty harsh words- why is this such a big deal to James? Many of us have read in 1 Timothy 6:10 that the love of money is the root of all evil, but have we asked the Holy Spirit if we have the love of money festering in our own hearts? God being full of grace and mercy will draw near to you if you draw near to Him! You don’t have to cling to money and possessions any longer- God is the great provider and comforter!
Process with the Lord through the journaling questions!
Pray: Lord, forgive me for harboring the love of money in my heart. Would you heal me in the ways that the love of money, possessions and self-indulgence has corrupted my heart. Holy Spirit, help me to replace the love of money with love for Jesus, and replace false comfort that comes from possessions with true comfort from you alone!
Devo: Now that Thanksgiving has passed and Christmas is around the corner, many of us will be tempted to flip our attention from a heart of thankfulness to a list of gifts we want to buy ourselves on Cyber Monday. The culture around us is about to blast messages in our face that encourage us to treat ourselves and collect more and more possessions. You won’t last an entire day without seeing tens to hundreds of advertisements trying to convince you to buy more stuff that we don’t really need. There is no doubt that the American church needs to address their unhealthy relationship with wealth, riches, and possessions. Will we be brave enough to address it in our own hearts this holiday season? Most of us are guilty of living on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence as James describes. He explains that these Christians have fattened their hearts in a day of slaughter and that their corroding gold and silver will eat their flesh like fire! Those are pretty harsh words- why is this such a big deal to James? Many of us have read in 1 Timothy 6:10 that the love of money is the root of all evil, but have we asked the Holy Spirit if we have the love of money festering in our own hearts? God being full of grace and mercy will draw near to you if you draw near to Him! You don’t have to cling to money and possessions any longer- God is the great provider and comforter!
Process with the Lord through the journaling questions!
Pray: Lord, forgive me for harboring the love of money in my heart. Would you heal me in the ways that the love of money, possessions and self-indulgence has corrupted my heart. Holy Spirit, help me to replace the love of money with love for Jesus, and replace false comfort that comes from possessions with true comfort from you alone!