Friday, June 30, 2023

Every Good and Perfect Gift is From Above

Every good and perfect gift is from above. James 1:17

Every Good and Perfect Gift is From Above

Every good and perfect gift is from above. This truth is taken from James 1:17. The entire verse says:

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

Sometimes life gets messy and ugly. God never promised us that life as Christians would be easy. In fact, some days are hard. Some days are so hard and heavy that you feel like the air is sucked out of your lungs. The heaviness of sorrow and grief makes it hard to breathe. What do we do when we experience days like this?

1. Pray

Prayer is essential to the life of the Christian. How can we have a relationship with someone we never talk to? We can't. As Christians, our life is about a relationship with Jesus. Talk to God in the name of His Son, Jesus. If you are so filled with anxiety or grief over a situation that you don't know how to pray or what to say, the Holy Spirit does. Ask Him to intercede for you.

Now in the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know what to pray for as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. Romans 8:26

It's a beautiful thing, my friends and fellow believers, that we have a Holy Spirit who intercedes for us in our weakness with groanings too deep for words.

2. Get into the Word

Read your Bible. Just like we can't have a relationship with someone we never talk to, how can we have a relationship with someone who writes to us but we never read what he writes? When my husband was in Somalia in 1993, our only means of communication was snail mail. Remember the letters we used to write and the letters we used to get in the mail before the internet? When I received a letter from my husband, I didn't put it aside or place it on a shelf. I didn't save it for later. Trust me when I tell you that I opened it up immediately. I couldn't wait to read what he wrote to me.

Why was I in such a hurry to read his words? I love him. I love him so much that my number one priority was to read his letters as soon as I received them.

Why then do we who love the Lord sometimes not possess the same hunger and thirst to read the Words that God has sent us? Some have said that the Bible is God's love letter to us. God is real. We can talk to Him and we can read His words in THE WORD. Scripture is living, active, inspired by God, beneficial for teaching, correction, training, and equipping us for every good work.

For the word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, even penetrating as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Hebrews 4:12 (NASB)

All scripture is inspired by God and beneficial for teaching, for rebuke, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man or woman of God may be fully capable, equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NASB)

3. Focus on the good and perfect gifts from above.

Life is sometimes ugly, messy, and hard. Sometimes life is so hard that it seems crippling, but oh there are so many good and perfect gifts fighting for our attention in the shadowy spaces of sorrow and grief.

In troubling times, we can talk to God, read His Word, and focus on His good and perfect gifts. God's Word tells us to think about whatever is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, and worthy of praise. Look around you and take note of anything in your life that fits this description. All these things are good and perfect gifts sent from God to lift us up and point us to Him when the shifting shadows of this earthly life seem too heavy a weight for us to carry alone.

Finally brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Philippians 4:8 (NASB)

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. James 1:17 (NIV)

Coming Soon!

Do you know what babies are? Good and perfect gifts sent from God! Babies are not mistakes. They are blessings. They are fearfully and wonderfully made, knitted together in their mothers' wombs. I'm so excited about my first full Christian fiction pro-life novel, Heartbeat, that is coming soon! Stay tuned!

New in Our Etsy Shop

Who can resist a laughing baby? I can hear this little darling giggling away. There is not a sound in the world that will lift your spirits like the sound of baby giggles. This printable is perfect for the baby nursery. Download it, print it out, and add your own frame. Display it in your baby's nursery or give it to a new mommy and daddy as a baby shower gift.