Verses to Abide In
“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”— 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. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.”
James 4:13-17 ESV
Digging Deeper
Class Notes from Don Anderson
Studies in the Life of James
Study Number Nine—James 4:13-17:
v.15 Instead you ought to be saying: “If the Lord wills, we shall both live and do this or that.”
That’s the key verse for the study but it could be the key verse to the whole book. If we could learn together to really implement a program for developing increasing dependence upon the Designer and we could say “You can trust Him!” That would be our byline. And we would back off and we would really truly trust Him in every circumstance.
I discover sometimes when I hear you praying and I see prayer requests, it’s requests that are not open ended. It’s requests for this, for that, prove You love me by doing this or doing that.
If I’m depending upon the Designer, I’m saying “Oh God, I’m laying hold for the suffering saint but more than what I would ask from a human point of view of alleviating their suffering and healing them” is “God, I want your will. I want Your greater purpose that I do not know right now. And I’m telling You that I’m trusting You fully and completely to do what You want to do in this set of circumstances because You can be trusted. And I’m telling You right now, I trust You fully and completely.”
The sin actually that’s described here in these verses is the sin of leaving God out of our daily lives and activities. We should be saying “If the Lord wills. Is this what You want from me Lord? I want Your will in the basic decisions.…”
The Rope Illustration from Francis Chan
https://youtu.be/jF_x8dsvb_4?is=0KrdUgvfh5TbnNem
Let's Pray
Dear God,
We bow our hearts before you as the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End (Revelation 22:13).
We come before you.
We rest in you.
We take the time right now to be still before you.
We cry out to you that our hearts would be right before you.
As we consider this other form of worldliness presented in these verses in James, is there anything that I need to confess to you, any time when I don’t put you into the equation of daily planning and living out life?
Please forgive me for…
Forgive me for my pride, my self-reliance. Forgive me for my resentment and bitterness and any complaining I do with words or in attitude when my agenda is thwarted. Forgive me when I get tired and weary and I forget to praise you and press on well. Forgive me when I make any plans and don’t seek you. Forgive me when I get task oriented and am driven to finish what I started, forgetting that you may interrupt my plans for your reasons and purposes.
We acknowledge that we don’t know what life will bring. We recognize that our life is a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes (James 4:14). O, that we would take this truth to heart and live each day well in you!
Help us to say and mean—in attitudes of humility—“If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that (James 4:15).”
Forgive us when we boast in our arrogance.
We acknowledge that all such boasting is evil (James 4:16). Show us when we do this. Bring this abstract principle to our understanding in the reality of our daily living. Show us when we not only make plans without seeking your will and sovereignty, but we boast about it too.
We acknowledge that when we lean on our own understanding, when we fail to do what is good and right, it is sin for us (Proverbs 3:5–6; James 4:17).
I give to you this (situation that I need to trust in the Lord with) right now.
I seek your will…
Your will be done.
We trust in you with our whole hearts (Proverbs 3:5–7).
You are our trust (Jeremiah 17:7).
In the name of Jesus, the true vine (John 15:1), through the Holy Spirit, the Advocate (John 15:26).
Amen.
May God advice you and watch over you (Psalm 32:8 NLT),
Laura
laurabreece.com
Saturday, August 1, 2026, 7-9pm
Acts of Grace Coffeehouse
1609 Woodburne Road
SUITE 403B (very back of complex)
LEVITTOWN, PA 19057
Monday, August 3, 2026, 7-9pm
Karen's Place Outdoor Concert
Doylestown Mennonite Church
590 N. Broad Street
Doylestown, PA 18901
Saturday, August 8, 2026, time 7 PM
Red's Room Online Concert
Red's Room Entertainment
Monday, August 31, 2026
Boardwalk Chapel Concert
with Eddy Mann and Friends
Boardwalk Chapel,
4312 Boardwalk,
Wildwood, NJ 08260