“If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him” (James 1:5).

“Jason, you will be finishing fourth grade in a few months. Your mother and I are thinking of letting you play an instrument. If you’d like, you may choose the instrument you want to play, but that means you will also have to choose to give up either soccer or basketball,” Jason’s dad was saying.

“Wow, Dad, I’ve always wanted to play trumpet. I can’t wait to play trumpet!” Jason tapped his fingers up in the air in front of him, playing a mock trumpet. But then he thought of having to give up one of his favorite sports. “Give up soccer or basketball? I don’t know which one I could give up.” Jason spoke out loud.

“Well, son,” said his father patting him on the back, “you have some time to think about it. Meanwhile, can you think of someone in the Bible who had to make a tough decision a long time ago? He was a king in the Old Testament.”

“Is it King David?” Jason asked.

“No. I’m thinking about his son, King Solomon. Let’s read 1 Kings 3:16–28,” Jason’s dad said.

After they finished reading the passage, Jason said, “Wow! King Solomon was smart, Dad! I’m not that smart. I wouldn’t have known who that baby’s mom was.”

“Well, most of us are not that smart, Jason.” Dad said. “Remember what the last part of the last verse says: ‘They saw that the wisdom of God was in him [Solomon], to do judgment [justice].’ The people in Solomon’s kingdom understood that it was God Who had given Solomon his great wisdom.”

“God can give you wisdom, too, Jason. Let’s read James 1:5. God says He will give you wisdom if you ask for it. You know son, Solomon asked God for wisdom in the early part of his reign. It’s right here in 1 Kings 3:5–9.”

“God came to Solomon in a dream and asked him what he wanted. Solomon said in 1 Kings 3:9, ‘Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people?’ Just like God said He would in the book of James, God gave Solomon wisdom when he asked for it. God gave it freely, generously and abundantly.”

God will give you wisdom when you ask.

» Have I ever asked God for wisdom?

» Do I ask God for wisdom when I have to decide something?

» Do I realize I need God’s wisdom to make good decisions between right and wrong?

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“But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint” (Isaiah 40:31).

Have you ever watched an eagle fly? If you have, you’ve probably gazed in awe as the eagle spread its powerful wings and gracefully soared higher and higher in the sky above. The World Book Encyclopedia lists these fascinating facts about an eagle’s wings: A golden eagle has wings that span, or spread, about seven feet across. The shape of the feathers allows the eagle to stiffly spread out its wings. As the air flows easily over the surface of the wings, the eagle can glide for great distances. With help from the wind, the eagle can carry prey that weighs as much as the eagle itself weighs!

Isaiah 40:31 is talking about more than just physical, or bodily, strength. Difficult situations sometimes occur. For example, do you have a family member that’s suffering from an illness? Are things difficult for you at school? Are you struggling with a problem, and you don’t see how you’re going to get through it? God promises in Isaiah 40:31 that we can turn to Him for the spiritual strength we need to face any situation. That means if we trust and depend on Him, He will make us strong to face the problem. In fact, He promises us that we can “mount up with wings as eagles.”

God wants us to depend on Him for the strength we need to face difficult situations.

My response:

» When I have a problem, is the first thing I do to pray and ask God to help me?

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“Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8).

Jesus tells us in Matthew 5:8 how we can see God. What does He say we need to be in order to see God? That’s right, we need to be pure in heart! But what does it mean to be pure in heart? What does it mean to be pure?

Being pure means not having anything that isn’t supposed to be there. If you have a glass of pure water, that means nothing except water is in the glass – no dirt, no bugs, no poison or anything else but water. If the water has something else in it, the water is not pure.

For a person to be pure means he has nothing in him that isn’t supposed to be there. He is just as God made him to be. In other words, there is no sin in him. He is not sinning on purpose. He is trying to be free from sin – in what he does and in what he thinks and desires. That is what it means to be “pure in heart.”

What is the promise to those who are pure in heart? “They shall see God.” Wow! What a promise! What could be more amazing than seeing God? Nothing! That is what every Christian wants. We want to see God, Who created us.

We who are saved by Jesus Christ, God’s own Son, will one day see Him in Heaven. Those who have turned away from their sins and asked Jesus to save them are made pure by His Holy Spirit, Who lives in them. They want to be godly and not sin. They want to do right and are really sorry when they sin, which means doing wrong. So, the pure in heart really will see God.

Do you want to see God? Have you been made pure in heart by asking Jesus to save you from your sins? If so, you will see God!

My response:

» Do I want to do right?

» Do I fill my mind with God and His Word so I can live in a pure way instead of constantly sinning and displeasing God?

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“The everlasting God the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not” (Isaiah 40:28).

“Hey, Tim—will you look at that moon?” James poked his friend’s sleeping bag.

“Hmmm . . . hey—I was just falling asleep!” Tim rolled over on his back.

“Sorry—it takes me a while to fall asleep when I’m in the backyard like this. So how long do you think the moon has been there?”

“Well, it has been there for the ten and one-half years that I have been alive.” Tim yawned.

“Be serious, Tim. My Sunday School teacher said God created the world about six thousand to ten thousand years ago. So, if the moon was created on the third day, then it could be close to ten thousand years old.”

“That is a long time to be hanging around in one place,” Tim replied.

“But Tim, that is not long at all to God—He has been around forever.” James folded his pillow to get comfortable.

“How could someone do that? That would mean he was never born and would never die.”

“Exactly, Tim. But God is not just anyone; He is the eternal God.”

“Wow—I think I would get tired or bored living that long. He must be really old. Does He have white hair?” Tim leaned on one elbow and looked toward James in the darkness.

“Well, no one has ever seen God, but I know He does not look like us, and He does not live by time like we do. He doesn’t use any calendars or clocks.” James tried to explain.

“Hey—how does He know when to do things? Does He ever forget?”

“Shh! You’re going to wake up my parents. I am glad you are coming to church with me tomorrow. We can talk to my teacher about it. But if we are going to be ready in the morning, we should go to sleep now.” James yawned.

“Okay, but I hope I can remember all my questions. Now I’m the one who is wide awake!”

Our God is eternal. He lives forever.

My response:

» Have I ever just sat and thought about how long forever is?

» Do I use opportunities to talk to my unsaved friends about God?

» Do I feel secure because I know that God is everlasting?

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“This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5).

When the apostle John says, “God is light” what does he mean? Is he saying that God is like a giant flashlight? Or maybe God is like the sun? The Bible often uses darkness to describe sin. Hell is said to be a very dark place because God’s glory is not there. If sin is like darkness, then God is like light, because He is pure and holy. Have you ever noticed how darkness and light cannot be in a room at the same time?

When I was a boy, I went to an Atlanta Braves baseball game. The game was held at night. I remember as the sun went down and the sky grew darker, the huge stadium lights suddenly came on. The stadium that had been growing darker became as bright as day. What happened? The light drove away the darkness.

In the same way, God will not stay in the same place as sin. That is why John writes, “If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness [sin], we lie, and do not the truth” (1 John 1:6). You can say that you are walking with God all you want, but actions will tell the real story.

But thankfully, the opposite is also true: when you are walking with God and choosing to please Him, there will be no room for sin in your life. Remember that God is light “and in him is no darkness at all”! You should walk closely with God so sin does not have a chance to creep into your life.

One night in Australia, the driver of the car I was in turned off the highway, driving slowly and then turning off his headlights. “Watch this,” he said as he turned the lights back on. We were on a golf course. There, blinking in the light, stood dozens of kangaroos, grazing on the course. They looked at us and then slowly hopped away. Until the light was turned on, I did not even know they were there.

Many times, the light of God’s Word will show us things that we need to change. When that happens, we need to come to God in repentance. First John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Remember that God is light!

My response:

» Has God’s Word showed me something I need to change?

» Have I confessed my sin and turned away from it?

» Am I living in the “light”

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Kids4Truth Clubs Daily Devotional – Christ Suffered to Bring Us to God

 “For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well doing, than for evil doing. For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit” (1 Peter 3:17–18).

Have you ever suffered? Some children have. You or someone you know may be fighting against a painful disease. Some children have suffered under physical or emotional abuse. Maybe that has happened to you. Or maybe you have lost a friend or a loved one who died. You may have heard of families who have been persecuted for worshiping the God of the Bible.

But most children have not seen heavy, hard suffering yet. Suffering is intense pain that we feel, either on the inside or the outside. Nobody likes suffering! Think about it. Let’s say you are sitting in a lawn chair, sipping pink lemonade under the hot sun, when all of the sudden you hear a strange buzzing sound near your right arm. It’s a bee! A very large bee with a very sharp-looking stinger! What is your first reaction? Do you calmly say, “Mr. Big Scary Bee, sir, please do not poke me today with that painful stinger of yours! I’m right in the middle of my lemonade!”? No! You would probably jump out of your lawn chair really fast, screaming and swatting and running around in circles until you were sure Mr. Big Scary Bee, sir, was gone!

Why is that your response? Because you hate pain. You dread it. You would never seek after it. You would be crazy if you did. From a human point of view, suffering is always a bad thing! We never enjoy pain, and we always try to get out of it if we can!

But the Bible tells us that Jesus Christ did choose to suffer. He had a choice, and He chose suffering. Why? Because our sin separated us from God, and solving that problem would require Jesus to be sacrificed for the sins of the world. He chose to undergo suffering to bridge the gap between us and God.

Jesus Christ endured the suffering because He really wanted what was waiting on the other side of suffering. The Bible says in Hebrews 12:2 that Christ chose suffering “for the joy that was set before him.” In other words, it meant more to Jesus to save us from our sins than to be safe and comfortable. His sacrificial suffering made it possible for us to become children of God and live with Him forever in Heaven. What a courageous, selfless, and loving Savior we have!

Jesus Christ endured suffering to provide sinners a way of salvation.

My response:

» Do I ever spend time thinking about what Christ went through so that I could be saved from my sins?

» When I go through suffering, can I find comfort and strength through Christ?

» How can I show others that I trust this Savior who suffered for me?

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“Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work” (2 Corinthians 9:7–8).

It was Thursday morning, and Tonia and Ruben had gotten up early so they could go with Uncle Dirk to the market. They loved the Thursday markets because there were so many interesting things and all kinds of people to see. Each of them had saved a little money since last Thursday, and they jingled the coins in their hands as they walked with Uncle Dirk from the train station to the marketplace.

But today wasn’t just Thursday. Today was their mother’s 40th birthday! They knew that even today—even on her own special day—she was at home doing things for them. Right about now, she was probably preparing their lunch: slicing bread, setting out dishes, washing vegetables for some soup. That was just how their mother was. Always doing, doing, doing, but never doing things for herself. Just yesterday, she had fixed Ruben’s bicycle chain and added a bell to the handlebars. Last week, she had mended Tonia’s favorite scarf.

“Look here, Uncle Dirk!” cried Ruben. “Don’t you think Mother would love these soaps? There are all kinds of scents and colors to choose from! I’m sure I could find one she would love.”

“What about these flowers?” Tonia asked, pointing toward a nearby cart loaded with flowers. “She loves flowers ; especially tulips and poppies!”

“We could give her this carved frame to put a picture of Father in.”

“We could buy her that embroidered tablecloth.”

“How about these skeins of yarn? Or, instead of yarn, maybe this sweater!”

“What did you think about those bracelets we saw a few booths back?”

“Wait, children!” Uncle Dirk was laughing. “I can’t keep track of all your ideas! You are so enthusiastic about choosing a wonderful gift for your mother!”

“That’s why it must be a wonderful gift!” said Ruben. “Because we have such a wonderful mother!”

“Well, she will be happy to know that her children have such a wonderful spirit,” said Uncle Dirk, still smiling. “You could never afford to buy her all of these gifts, but you are sure to please her with the cheerfulness of your gift-giving!”

When you have an opportunity to give to God and to others, do you have a spirit as eager and grateful as Ruben’s and Tonia’s? They loved their mother, and they wanted to pick out a special present for her to show their love for her.

What about your gift-giving spirit? When it comes time to take up an offering in a church worship service, some people get a little grumpy. They would rather keep as much of their money as they can for themselves. They tell themselves that saving money for “more important things” is best. The Bible plainly teaches that we should be cheerful givers! And if we are having a hard time being cheerful, we can ask God for help. He is able to give us the grace we need to do anything that pleases Him.

If we are right with God, we will want to give cheerfully to Him. We will feel grateful for all He has done for us. We will be enthusiastic about offering gifts that would please Him most. Ruben and Tonia were excited to choose a wonderful gift for their mother, because they thought of her as the most wonderful mother in the world. When we are excited to give to our Heavenly Father, we show that we love Him and honor Him more than we love and honor ourselves.

The Lord is pleased when we give with a cheerful spirit.

My response:

» Could I be more cheerful about giving to God and others?

» What does my attitude about giving to God and others say about my attitude toward them?

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“But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison” (James 3:8).

At times, you will say something that you wish you hadn’t. There is a saying, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” This isn’t true. Physically, sticks and stones can hurt you if someone throws them at you, but you will probably recover from the injury. Emotionally, when someone says hurtful words, recovery isn’t as easy. You may be able to forgive—this is what God wants you to do—but forgetting is almost impossible. No matter how old you get, at times you will remember how you felt when someone hurt you with their words or by their actions.

We are taught in James 3 how our tongues can harm others. (We use our tongues to speak, so “tongues” here means “words.”) Sometimes you may intentionally want to say something against another person because you are angry and you want to get even. This is a time when you must decide to be a godly example and say nothing.

Today make sure that what you say does not harm someone. You are the only one who has control over your tongue.

My response:

» Do I ask God to help me control my tongue?

» How can I use my tongue to build others up instead up tearing them down?

» When someone says something hurtful to me, do I pray for the person and for myself so that I don’t say something hurtful in return?

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 “As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy” (1 Peter 1:14–16).

Are you a picky eater? You know what I mean. You have to inspect anything new or different just looking for something wrong. OH, NO! IS THAT A SPECK OF GREEN OR BLACK? And there had better not be any onions in this meal! That is a picky eater.

God is picky too. He can be because He is holy. That means that nothing in Him or about Him is wrong, dirty, out of place, or bad. He is the One Who sets the standard, or measurement, for holiness. When the Israelites sacrificed a lamb, it had to be as perfect as possible. No spots, no blemishes, no sicknesses of any kind. Only the best is good enough for a holy God.

First Peter 1:14–16 command Christians to be holy, as God is holy. How is that possible? It is not. We are sinners. Our sin disqualifies us from holiness. How then can we obey this impossible command? God is holy. If you are a Christian, the Holy Spirit lives in you. The Holy Spirit is God. You have God living in you. He makes you holy.

Think of it this way. You are a child of God. God is the King of Kings. That makes you the child of a king. You had nothing to do with it. You were born into this royal family. You need to act like a king’s child. It starts with your thinking. Learn how God in His holiness thinks. Then think the same way. Your actions will follow your thinking.

God is holy.

My response:

» When I think about God, do I stop to consider how holy He is?

» Do my actions show that I care about pleasing my holy God?

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“Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul” (Hebrews 10:38–39).

How is a person saved? You have probably memorized a verse that gives the answer to that question. Ephesians 2:8 says that we are saved by grace, through faith. If you are a Christian today, you were saved only by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

But does that mean that we Christians don’t need faith anymore? No, we need faith for the rest of our lives! All of the Christian life is like a long journey toward Heaven, and the road that we’re traveling could be called “Faith.” God says that “the just,” or those who have been made righteous through Christ (Christians), will live by faith.

Faith, as Hebrews 11:1 explains, means being confident of something that we cannot see. If there is anything in your life right now that seems difficult, sad, or confusing, God is asking you to live by faith. You cannot see how the situation is going to turn out. You cannot see what direction your life will take in the future. Perhaps you are having trouble seeing anything good about the situation you are in. If that is the case, you are going through a trial that God is using to strengthen your faith. He wants to see whether—and how much—you will trust Him, even when you can’t see all of the answers, results, and reasons.

What do you know about the God you cannot see? You know that He is wise. You know that He loves you. You know that He wants you to grow into a stronger, more contented, and happier Christian. So exercise some faith! Believe that God is working for your good in ways that you cannot understand right now. Praise Him for the things He is doing and for the things He is going to do in the future. It takes faith to do this—but faith is what we live by!

God wants us to live by faith when things happen that we can’t understand.

My response:

» What do I need to have faith about?

» What seems sad, confusing, or difficult in my life today?

» Am I complaining and questioning God about it, or am I living by faith, trusting God even when I can’t see any good?

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“For we ourselves were sometimes foolish, disobedient, . . . but after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared” (Titus 3:3a–4).

Have you disobeyed your parents recently? How did they treat you the day after you disobeyed? They probably gave you food to eat, provided you with clothing to wear, and allowed you to keep living under their roof—at the very least. They may even have done something especially nice for you. Your parents’ love for you does not change after you disobey them. They continue to show love and kindness to you, day after day, even when you disappoint or disobey them. That’s because loving you is natural for them. You are in their family. Loving you is part of who they are as your parents.

God loved us even when we were not in His family. Romans 5:8 says He showed His love for us while we were outside His family, still lost in our sins. Titus 3:3–4 tell us that He loved us even after we had been foolish, disobedient, and hateful. If you are saved today, God loved you and showed mercy to you after you had sinned against Him thousands of times. He brought you into His family and gave you eternal life (Titus 3:7). He saved you just because of His mercy. He showed kindness and love to you—because that is His nature. It is part of Who He is. God is kind to sinners.

Are you ever tempted to think God is not kind? Have you ever thought that because He has not given you some of the things you want, He does not love you? God has already proven His love and kindness toward you. He has already shown you much greater love and kindness than you could ever deserve. He will not keep back His kindness from you now. Sometimes God waits to give us good things, and sometimes He refuses to give us things we want because He knows they would harm us. When you are tempted to doubt God’s kindness and love, just look back to the day He saved you. He loved you when you were still a sinner—and He will always love you. It is part of Who He is.

God is kind and loving toward sinners.

My response:

» Have I remembered God’s gift of salvation today?

» Have I thanked Him for His love and kindness?

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“Then said the Lord unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you” (Exodus 16:4a).

“And the house of Israel called the name thereof Manna: and it was like coriander seed, white; and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey” (Exodus 16:31).

Every evening at dusk, I fill my bird feeders with bird seed. In the morning—to the birds’ amazement, I’m sure—there is more seed for them to eat. If they could talk, I wonder if they might say, “Where did this come from? It was almost gone when we went to bed. Does the seed grow overnight? This is a mystery we don’t understand. But we sure are happy when we see the food again!” I give my birds food because I care about them.

When Moses was leading the Israelites through the wilderness to the Promised Land, the people were hungry and needed food for their health and strength. Moses couldn’t go to the grocery store to buy food. Instead, He depended on God to supply what the people needed. But the Israelites were unhappy with Moses. They accused him of taking them into the wilderness to kill them (Exodus 16:4b).

God heard the complaint from His people and told Moses that He would “rain bread” from Heaven. God also gave strict instructions, telling the Israelites how much food they could have each day, but some did not obey Him. They did not believe there would be enough food for them the next day, so they gathered more than God had instructed, and they kept some overnight. During the night worms infested it, and the next day it stank and had to be thrown away. God provided manna during the morning, but as soon as the sun came out, the manna melted. In the evening God provided meat. He wanted the Israelites to know “that I am Lord your God” (Exodus 16:12b). The Israelites did not have to worry about food again. They knew exactly where it had come from.

God wants us to trust Him and believe that He will provide all that we need. Today, thank God for all the provisions that He gives you daily. Can you name some of His blessings?

My response:

» Do I tell God my needs and trust Him to provide them?

» Do I thank God for the blessings He has already given me?

» When God meets one of my needs, do I remember to thank Him?

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“They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness, and shall sing of thy righteousness. The Lord is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy. The Lord is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works” (Psalm 145:7–9).

Psalm 145 was a well-known song among the Israelites in Old Testament times. What do you think the people in the neighboring nations thought when they heard the words to this psalm? The neighbors were godless people: they didn’t believe in the God of the Bible. Some of them were idolaters who worshiped many gods. Some of them would not bow the knee to any kind of god at all.

Do you think these godless people were happy? Were their idols hearing or answering their prayers? Were these people able to get themselves through hard times on their own, without God? In our time, we can only imagine what people might have been thinking back then. But you can look around at people today. You can watch how godless people respond in a crisis and see how hopeless they are. You can read about them and see what they do and say. You can watch how it is for them to live life apart from belief in the God of the Bible. And you can see for yourself whether they really are happy or at peace.

Many people do not know God and do not really want to know Him. But if they could believe what Psalm 145 teaches about God’s character, maybe they would be able to trust Him and obey Him. If Israel’s neighbors had understood that their homemade idols could never be “good to all” like the Lord is, maybe they would have listened more carefully to the Israelite psalms.

Do your neighbors believe in the God of the Bible? Do they have any clue how great He is in His goodness and how that goodness extends to everybody? If they did, do you think we could watch their lives and see them happy and peaceful? Could we think of ways to show them the truth of God’s goodness, even in the way we live in front of them? The Israelites’ neighbors had heard of them and knew the stories about the Israelites’ God. Maybe we should be singing the goodness of our God a little louder here in the twenty-first century.

The Lord is good to all.

My response:

» Do I really believe that the Lord is good?

» If so, how does that change the way that I live?

» Can people around me tell what I believe about the Lord’s goodness?

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And a certain woman named Lydia . . . heard us: whose heart the Lord opened” (Acts 16:14).

When Paul received a call from God to go to Macedonia and preach the gospel, he and his missionary companions immediately set sail. One of the first major cities they came to was Philippi. They found a group of women meeting beside a river, so they sat down with them to tell them the good news about the true God.

One of these women was Lydia. She lived in the city of Thyatira and made her living by selling purple cloth. The Bible tells us that Lydia “worshiped God.” She was interested in the Jewish God and tried to worship Him in her own way, but she had not yet become a believer in Christ. Acts 16:14 says that Lydia heard Paul’s preaching because the Lord had opened her heart. Lydia’s heart was not hard and cold, nor was it doubtful and questioning. She had a heart that was open and ready to receive God’s Word because of a work that He had done inside of her. After hearing Paul’s preaching, she and her entire household were willing to show the world publicly, through baptism, that they were believers in Christ.

Is there someone you would like to share the gospel with? Pray for that person, asking God to open his heart. Maybe you have a neighbor that you have tried several times to witness to, but she has never been willing to listen. Ask God to open her heart. Perhaps you have a family member that is not saved, but you feel a little fearful to talk to him about the Lord. God can open his heart too!

God wants us to share the gospel with the unsaved people around us, but salvation is His work, not ours. The story of Lydia reminds us that God is the one who makes people ready and willing to receive the good news of Jesus Christ. Each time you hand someone a gospel tract, write a letter to someone explaining how to be saved, or talk to an unsaved person about Jesus, remember to ask for help from the God, Who opens hearts.

In salvation, God does a special work of opening hearts and making people ready to accept Jesus Christ.

My response:

» Am I making an effort to tell unsaved people the good news of Jesus Christ?

» When I do that, am I depending on the power of God to open their hearts?

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“Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever” (Hebrews 13:8).

Have you ever gotten ready for school in the morning and decided you did not like your outfit? Unless you are short on time, it is usually okay to change your clothes. People do it all the time.

Have you ever realized that a food you used to hate is starting to become a favorite food now? Maybe you used to hate spinach. After all those years of hating spinach, you are starting to love it. People are like that. As we grow older, our tastes change.

Did you ever lose track of someone who used to be a good friend of yours? Some friends will always be a part of our lives. But some of our friendships will change over the years. We make new friends. We may never forget the old friends, but we might spend less time with them or go a long time without seeing them.

Change is a part of every human being’s life. We have to deal with that change. Sometimes it takes a very long time for us to change, just as it takes a long time to grow taller or wiser. On other things, we might change overnight.

Every human being has to change. But one encouraging thing about Jesus Christ is that He is always the same. He is God, so He will always have the great character that only God has.

Because Jesus never changes, we do not have to wonder about Him. We can trust that Jesus will always be exactly Who He always has been. He will never lose His love for us. He will never forget us or let us down or change His mind about us. He will never make mistakes. He will never do wrong. Because He is faithful and never changing, Jesus deserves our trust and worship. What a great God He is!

The Lord Jesus Christ is always going to be exactly Who He always has been.

My response:

» Do I ever doubt whether Jesus is still the same person He was in Bible times?

» Do I ever wonder how Jesus could keep on showing grace to me every day?

» How should I respond as I learn more about the unchanging goodness and greatness of Jesus Christ?

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“As the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart; with good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men” (Ephesians 6:6–7).

Kara walked quickly down the church hallway. She was late for orchestra practice. When she reached the auditorium, she searched the chairs for her usual empty spot. To her surprise, it was filled by her friend Melanie. Kara stalked up the stairs and stood in front of her chair. Melanie stopped practicing and looked up.

“Oh hi, Kara. Pastor Fox just moved me up here this morning,” she explained.

“Okay. Did he say why? This has always been my spot.”

“Not really, but it’s not a big deal. I mean, if you need to sit here, I can just move back,” Melanie offered.

Kara gave a plastic smile. “It’s fine. I’ll just move somewhere else.” She found an empty stand at the back of the first violins and flopped down.

After a couple of minutes, Pastor Fox came in. As he passed Kara’s chair, he stopped and said, “By the way, Kara, I moved you because I thought it’d be nice to give Melanie a chance to sit in the front. You don’t mind, do you?”

“No—it’s fine,” she said sourly. They began practicing the Sunday offertory, but Kara’s heart wasn’t in the music. All she could think about was the injustice of her new seat. It’s not fair. I’m so much better than Melanie, she thought.

After practice, she made a beeline for the door but was stopped by Pastor Fox. “Kara, can I talk to you for a minute?”

“Uh, sure,” she swallowed.

“I noticed you didn’t seem very happy about your new seat. Maybe Melanie isn’t as good a musician as you, but this is a leadership opportunity for her. I want you to really think about why you play in the orchestra. Are you doing it for God, or for yourself?”

Kara thought a minute, then said, “I guess, myself.”

God wants us to serve Him because we love Him. When we do something to be recognized by other people or to make ourselves feel good, we are being selfish in our ministry.

We glorify God when our motivation is to honor Him.

My response:

» What is my attitude when others get attention that I don’t get? What does this show about me?

» What’s my reason for ministry—do I do it for God or for myself?

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One of the saddest verses in the Bible is Genesis 6:6. It says, “And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.” Our God, Who had seen “everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good” had decided that because of people’s sinfulness, He could no longer look upon His creation. He decided it was better to destroy everything.

But God did not want to destroy Noah and his family. Instead He told Noah what He was going to do—bring a flood of waters upon the earth so that everything would die—and what Noah must do to save himself and his family. Noah was to make an ark.

Noah had a very big responsibility. He listened, obeyed, and began a job that seemed absolutely ridiculous to those around him. Yet Noah did just as God had said.

God is looking for those who are willing to serve Him, who will work even though others may criticize them. He is looking for those who will complete a task He has told them to do.

God wants the people who worship Him to serve and obey Him.

My response:

» Am I obedient like Noah?

» Can God depend on me?

» Do I listen, obey, and do the job God wants me to do, like obeying my parents or studying the Bible?

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“In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul” (Psalm 94:19).

How many thoughts go through your mind in a single day? Would you like to take a guess? Hundreds? Thousands? It is estimated that the average person has around fifty thousand thoughts in one single day! That means you think about thirty-five thoughts per minute. Wow! That’s a lot of brain power. What kind of things do you think about during the day? You likely have thoughts about school, family, friends, chores, entertainment, what’s for dinner; the list goes on and on.

Out of all of the things that you think about in a day’s time, how often do thoughts of God cross your mind? If you could somehow track how often you think about God or His Word, you would find that the number of thoughts you have about God are not very many compared to fifty thousand thoughts per day!

The writer of Psalm 94 realized that out of all of the thoughts that went through his mind in a single day, his thoughts of God were of greatest comfort to him. We all go through times when we need comforting. Maybe you are facing sickness or are nervous about the big math test next week; or maybe you have experienced the death of someone close to you. No matter what the reason, God is always there to comfort you, but you have to practice thinking about Him and what you know to be true about God from His Word, the Bible! The more you practice this type of thinking, and the more you read Gods’ Word, the more often you will find that God helps to comfort you in your time of need.

Thinking about God and His Word can comfort us.

My response:

» Am I turning to God for comfort by thinking about Him?

» Am I spending more time in God’s Word so I know Him better?

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“And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us” (1 John 5:14).

Have your parents ever told you, “You have selective hearing”? That means you hear only what you want to hear. For example, your mom asks you to stop playing with your Lego set and go clean your room. Then, thirty minutes later, she finds you still playing with your Legos. You tell her, “Oh . . . sorry, Mom. I didn’t hear you.” But a few minutes later you just happen to overhear her talking on the phone to your best friend’s mom about plans for a sleepover, and you instantly go to her and start asking for details.

Parents, too, can have selective hearing. Some dads may seem more interested in the sports page than the teenage son who his telling him of his day’s activities, until the son lists wrecking his mom’s car among the day’s events.

Though we consider it a weakness for a child or parent to have “selective hearing,” when God chooses to have selective hearing with us, it’s a good thing. God tells us what He will hear and what He won’t hear. Because God has told us exactly how He wants us to pray, the Bible says we can have more confidence that He will hear us. He wants us to pray “according to His will.”

The word will refers to what God desires or to anything that pleases Him. First John 5:14 is telling us that if we ask for anything that pleases God, He will hear us. And the next verse goes on to assure us that He will answer our requests: “And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.”

You might ask, So how do I know what pleases God? Well, that’s what His Word is all about! If you know God through His Word, if you know of specific things that please Him—for example, obedience to parents (Ephesians 6:1); kindness to others (Ephesians 4:32); diligence in your work (Ecclesiastes 9:10)—then you already know how to pray “according to His will.” All you have to do is apply what you know about what pleases God to your specific circumstances, and pray from that perspective. Then God promises He will hear and answer your prayer!

God promises to hear us when we pray according to His will.

My response:

» Am I praying for what I know would please God as I pray about my circumstances?

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