Good evening, everyone. We’re going to be in James chapter 4 tonight. Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. It’s good to see everyone. Hope you enjoyed some good food, good time with family. I know we had a good restful time. Too bad we have to go back to work tomorrow. We’re going to be in James chapter 4, starting in verse 13. Verse 13.

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 a sin. We all make plans in life. We plan our days from what time we’re going to get up to what time we’re going to get our family up, how we’re going to get everybody to school if your kids are at that age, to how we’re going to get to work. We may be planning what we’re going to do that day at work. You may be planning to meet someone. You may be planning to meet a friend for lunch. You may have dinner plans with the family. Then there’s always things like doctor’s appointments and school meetings and getting kids to practice. Countless other things we plan in a day. You may also take it a step further and plan your week out. Some of you are organized. You plan your week out. Maybe on a Sunday night you sit down, plan out what you’re going to do for the week for you and your family. You may not know exactly what you’re going to do each day, but you kind of have some idea of what you have to accomplish. And then you may take it even further. And plan goals for a month. You know, for this month or for the year. And we even plan long-term things like education and career and finances and retirement and so on. The question I want to ask you today is, who drives your plans? Who drives your plans whether they are for something short-term like a day or a week or something more long-term like for retirement? Are you the driving force behind your plans? Or do you seek? Or do you seek wisdom and direction from God as you plan your life? I want us to see what James tells us today in our passage about how you and I can plan our life wisely.

First, your life should have plans. Look in verse 13. It says, In this verse, James describes a scenario that would be typical of a life plan. It’s typical for businessmen of his day. It’s not explicitly stated in these verses we read, but these are Christian businessmen. And we gather that from the context of what James has told us previously when he’s addressing brothers and then also what he says toward the end of our passage. That these are Christians. And he says to them, And this was a colloquial kind of phrase that we used in James’ day that meant, pay attention. Give me your undivided attention. In fact, commentaries I read said, his tone was probably rather abrupt. You know, we might think of it as being fatherly or parental. You know, when you have, you’ve heard your kid say something a thousand times, and okay, now it’s time to sit down and let’s talk about, you know, you need to be reprimanded because your behavior is inconsistent with the values of the family. So as parents, you’ve probably experienced something like that. And then James goes on in verse 13 to describe what we might call a go-getter. We know go-getters. People that are very organized, goal-driven. People who are business-minded and very detailed. And in verse 13 he says,

So these businessmen have it all planned out. They’ve answered all the questions. They know what they want to do. They’re going to make a profit. They know when they want to start. It’s going to be today or tomorrow, so there’s no procrastination. They’re ready to get going on the plan. They know where they will do this. They’ve already, it says such and such a town. They’ve already picked out the town. They’ve done their market research. They know exactly where they want to do their business. And then they know how long it will take. They say, we’re going to plan this for a year. So it’s not some impulse kind of venture. It’s something that they’re committed to for a year. On the surface, this sounds like a great business plan. It seems reasonable. All the questions have been answered. All the T’s have been crossed. The I’s dotted. In fact, it’s the kind of plan that we would say makes sense in business today. Plans like this are made in businesses all around the world. However, for these men, there’s one big problem. They’re believers, but there’s no mention of God in their plan at all. Have they even considered if this is what God wants them to do?

Before we continue on, let’s understand that God, God wants us to have plans. God wants us to look forward in our life. We see that God himself is a planner. We see that his plan stated from Genesis to Revelation all throughout Scripture. He’s a planner, and we see those plans fulfilled. Think about Noah. God said, Noah, I’m going to judge the earth. There’s going to be a great flood, but I have a plan. You’re going to build a big boat. You’re going to build an ark. I’m going to use that ark to rescue you and your family and the animals. And we see in Scripture that it actually happened the way God did. The way God said it would. We also see the life of Moses. His life was threatened when he was a baby. He was put into the river, rescued by Pharaoh’s daughter, grew up in Pharaoh’s household, kills an Egyptian, flees to the backside of the desert. Maybe forgotten. But God came to him and said, I have a plan. Moses, it’s you. It’s you that’s going to go back to Egypt, and you’re going to be the one to lead my people out of captivity, and you’re going to lead them to the promised land. For believers, we probably best see God as a planner in the redemptive work of Christ. In Adam, through his sin, we were all declared sinners. We were all separated from God. But praise God he had a plan. And in Jesus, he left heaven, came to earth, lived among his people, and he bled and suffered and died on the cross as payment for our sin so that we could, by faith, be born again and be reconciled back to him. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Scripture also gives us examples and guides us for planning our life too. In Luke 14, Jesus is describing the cost of discipleship, and he gives a practical example of wise planning. In Luke 14, starting in verse 28, Jesus says, For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, This man began to build a tower, and was not able to finish. Jesus says the wise builder plans ahead.

He plans the entire project out front to ensure he has counted the cost, and he knows he’s going to be able to complete it. Otherwise, Jesus says he’s subject to ridicule and mocking when he’s unable to finish it. So, this is logical and practical planning. We would expect builders in our day to follow this guidance too. It makes sense. Let’s also hear what Scripture says. Let’s hear what Scripture says in the Proverbs about planning. Proverbs 16.3 Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established. So, we plan, but it’s essential that we commit our work to the Lord. Proverbs 16.9 The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps. We plan, but it’s God that directs and redirects us as we walk through those plans. And then Proverbs 16.21 Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord, that will stand. We plan, but it is God who sovereignly works to accomplish his purposes through those plans. So, when we look at the practical example that Jesus gave us of a wise builder, and we look at what Proverbs says about committing our work to the Lord, and we look at the businessman described in verse 13, we see evidence that they planned ahead. They were wise in their planning, as Jesus said the wise builder was, but they did not follow the wisdom of the Proverbs. They did not commit their work to the Lord, or look to him for guidance in those plans.

So, we have to wonder, does this Christian businessman conduct his business any differently than a non-Christian businessman if he is not seeking God’s counsel? To a person not familiar with their beliefs, would it look to them that they hold a secular worldview that denies God? That seems like a real possibility. In our systematic theology study, we learned that a person that has a worldview that denies God, they’re called a materialist. And Dr. Grudem made this statement.

Christians today who focus almost the entire effort of their lives on earning more money and acquiring more possessions become practical materialists in their activity, since their lives would not be much different if they did not believe in God at all. And I think this statement seems like an accurate description of the businessman, that James describes for us in verse 13. So, the perhaps uncomfortable question we have to ask ourselves, can someone say this about us? Do others see evidence of God in the way we plan our lives? So, friends, we should have plans. The saying goes, most people don’t plan to fail, they fail to plan. God doesn’t want us to be lazy. He wants us to look forward into the future. I think God blesses those people. Let’s prepare. But clearly, the wisdom of Proverbs says, the plan should be directed and given by God. We should always ask, God, is this what you want me to do? How prone are we to leave God out of our plans and set our minds and hearts on earthly things?

This is the culture we live in. That’s what they teach us, right? You see commercials. You’re reading a news story, and there’s commercials popping up in the middle of your story or on the side. So, we’re always bombarded with, this is what you need. You always need this. And if we’re not careful, that philosophy can get in our own hearts and minds. It’s something we must be watchful about.

Next, I want to see that James gives us two reasons why making plans apart from seeking the Lord’s guidance is foolish. Your life is uncertain and brief. Look at verse 14. Yet you do not… You do not know what tomorrow will bring. First, he says, life is uncertain. If we look back in verse 13, we see the businessmen say, we will. We will. We might read this verse for emphasis. Today or tomorrow, we will go into such and such a town, and we will spend a year there, and we will trade, and we will make a profit. So, you see over and over and over, the words they use were self-assured, self-confident. And they’re spoken as if they’re fact. We will. We’re going to do this. We’re going to do this. So, these businessmen seem to think they control all the events, that their plan is totally in their control. Whatever they want, they have the power within them to complete it, and it’s going to come to pass. They believe they’re planning for a year. But James says, you don’t even know what tomorrow will bring. How can you know about a year from now? You don’t know what tomorrow will bring. So, while businessmen like this, we even, we don’t know anything certain about tomorrow, but God does. God holds tomorrow. In making their plans so boldly, they failed to recognize God’s providential control over all things. Proverbs, one of the Proverbs we read earlier said, it’s the purpose of the Lord that will stand. Only He knows what the future holds. Only He can speak with such certainty about the future. Man’s plans are always tentative, speculative, uncertain, apart from God’s guidance. But God’s plans are always certain, and they will be completed in exactly the way He wants.

We should also see that the uncertainty of life means that plans can be disrupted, even once we feel that we’re given and directed by God. We see an example of this in the life of Paul on the second missionary journey in Acts 16. And it says, And they went through the regions of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go to Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus said, This did not allow them. So passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas, and a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, Come over to Macedonia and help us. And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

So Paul, in this verse, he was going to Bithynia. But it says the Spirit of Jesus stopped him.

So that maybe was surprising, confusing. Lord, I’m doing your will. I’m out spreading the gospel. This is what you want me to do, right? And it says the Spirit of Jesus forbid him from going, and the answer came to him in that dream. Macedonia needed him even more. And it was there that Paul planted the first church in Europe.

Just as with Paul, God may allow disruptions in our plans, to move us in a different direction, or to give us a different perspective. Perhaps we misunderstood the plan. Or perhaps, sometimes we’ll make a plan and say, Okay, I see how I’m going to get from A to B. But God may have a different path from A to B. So we may misunderstand how he wants us to carry out that plan. You might think you’re planning for one thing, but God may actually be preparing you for something else.

So friends, what is your response when plans get disrupted? Do you respond with frustration? Even anger? Does it cause you even to doubt God?

When it feels like life is shifting, when plans go awry, we can get disillusioned. We can feel like, I’m stuck in quicksand. It’s like, I can’t move, I’m just stuck and I’m slowly sinking. Or you might think of the analogy of being on ice. You know, Lord, I’m moving, but I’m unsure, and I’m not getting anywhere fast.

So the question we have to ask ourselves during those difficult times is, will you trust him? Will you trust him? Will you trust him when you don’t understand why something happened that wasn’t according to plan, at least your version of the plan?

If we truly believe God is sovereign and providentially controlling all things in our life, as we say when we quote Romans 8.28, and we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose, and it says all things. So if we really believe that, should we not see disruptions, while they may be painful, as good things in the life of us as believers? And it’s during those times we must look to Jesus, who is our firm foundation, in the midst of all the uncertainties of life. When we don’t understand, we trust, and we respond in faith. And church, this is the proper response when doubt creeps into our life. James also says in verse 14, life is brief, 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.

The Greek word here for mist denotes a swirl of smoke from a fire, like a smoky vapor. I had the image in my head of a count fire. If you’ve ever been around a count fire, it’s dark. You have the light from the fire. And from the light, you can see smoke going up, but it quickly disappears into the darkness of night.

I think that’s kind of the image that James has given us here.

So planning life apart from God’s guidance is also foolish, because no one knows the times of his or her life. Not only did we not know what tomorrow may bring, we may not be here tomorrow. God may have a different plan. We may pass from this life, even in the next five, five minutes. The years we have been given on earth are brief when we think about eternity. While we’re living in them, they sometimes just seem to move along slowly. I just need to get through this. I just need to get through this. I just need to get through this. You know, life is busy. Work is stressful. It’s hard. I’m just trying to get to the end of the week. As I was preparing for this, I came across a picture, a powerful picture. And it was a picture of an old man shaving. And he’s looking in the mirror. And in the mirror, it’s a young man shaving, looking back at him. We’re young, and then suddenly we’re older. We grew up. We have a family of our own. We have a baby. The baby’s come. We have so many sweet babies here. Next thing you know, they’re starting kindergarten. They’re going to high school. They’re going to college, starting a new job, even getting married themselves.

As we look back on those times, it’s when we often realize how quickly time does move. When we look back on those times, we step back and look at how much has really passed. And it’s in the day-to-day that sometimes I think we lose perspective on that.

Moses tells us in Psalm 90.10, the years of our life are 70, or even by reason of strength, 80, yet their span is but toil and trouble. They are soon gone, and we fly away. Their span is but toil and trouble, just the responsibilities of life. And then we say, and he says we soon fly away, like James says we’re a mist. And then in verse 12, Moses tells us, so teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.

The brevity of life should motivate us to greater obedience as we make each day that God has given us to count for His glory. So Lord, teach us to number our days. Give us a heart of wisdom.

There’s an illustration in Luke 12, where Jesus tells the parable of the rich man who foolishly planned his life apart from God’s guidance.

And Jesus told him a parable saying, the land of a rich man produced plentifully. And he thought to himself, what shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops? And he said, I will do this. I will tear down my barns and build larger ones. And there I will store all my grain and goods. And I will say to my soul, soul, you have ample goods, laid it for many years, relax, eat, and be merry. But God said to him, fool, this night your soul is required of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be? So like the merchants that James describes for us in verse 13, this man also planned like everything was in his control. They said, we will. This man says, I will. It’s a statement of self. I will do this. And what’s God’s proclamation? You are a fool. You are a fool to plan like you hold all the answers. And in the morning light, his possessions were going to be held by someone else. Life is uncertain and brief.

So church, we must not be foolish and plan life like we hold all the answers. We must look to the one who truly holds the future in our life as well in his hands. We look to him for guidance.

Next, let’s see that your life belongs to God. Verse 15.

Instead, you ought to say, if the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.

In contrast to what he says in verse 13 where the businessman, C. Will, says, we will, James says, you should instead say, if the Lord wills, we will. If the Lord wills, we will live. If the Lord wills, we will do this or that. As believers, this should be our heart’s cry. If the Lord wills, we will live. If the Lord wills, we echo the heart of Jesus in Gethsemane when he said, yet not what I will, but what you will. As believers, we no longer live for ourselves. 2 Corinthians 5, 14 and 15, Paul says, for the love of Christ controls us because we have concluded this, that one has died for all and therefore all have died. And he died for all that those who might live no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. Paul says here, he no longer lives for himself. He puts Christ’s interest in, he makes those priority. Put Christ first, put Christ first. That’s the way Paul tried to live his life. And that should be our heart too. We sacrifice our will in favor of pleasing him. Obedience to the Father’s will should be the desire of our heart just as it was for our Lord. So we’re making plans, but we’re not first making them and then asking the Lord to bless us. We’re seeking his will before, during, after making plans. We earnestly are seeking his guidance and perspective both as the plans are made and as they unfold. Realizing that adjustments may need to be made along the way. Think of a soldier in battle. So what if the soldier went to his commanding officer and got the plan? But then he goes away and doesn’t check back in with his commanding officer until he thinks he’s fulfilled exactly what was commanded. And we know in a battle, the parameters of battle are constantly changing, right? And so if the soldier is not constantly checking in with his commanding officer, he may not be doing what the commanding officer wants him to do. And I think that’s similar to what we think about when we plan life. We should be in constant contact with our Lord, our commanding officer, as our plans unfold because life is uncertain.

Next, James says, to plan apart from the Lord’s will is boasting. Verse 16. As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.

James says, not acknowledging the Lord and talking about future plans is arrogant. It is prideful. It is boasting. And James calls it what it really is. It is evil. Boasting is opposite of humility, which James addresses a few verses earlier in chapter 4. In verse 6, he says, God opposes the prayer of the Lord. He is proud, but gives grace to the humble. Which was a quote from the Old Testament. In verse 10, he said, humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you. Arrogant boasting is pride, which God says He hates. Why does God hate pride? It puts us back on the throne of our life. It exalts ourself. And as we read in 2 Corinthians, we died to ourselves when we were made new in Christ. So to plan, to plan life apart from God is an attempt to put ourself back on the throne. It’s to live life as if it belongs to us.

James says we must live life in humility. How quickly does self want to get back on the throne? How quickly does self want to proclaim what it wants? This tendency to pursue our own will is a sin that is always crouching at the door. Pride is always there. It’s always, it creeps in. And we don’t even realize it sometimes. It’s always crouching at the door. So how do we avoid it? The key is to maintain that godly perspective. And Scripture tells us we do that by daily dying. It’s a daily thing. We have to die to ourselves. Pastor Ched said a few weeks ago, we write a eulogy to ourself every day. Here lies Chris Price. He’s dead. He lives for God now. He lives for Christ.

Because our life belongs to God, we must do the good He commands. Verse 17. So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin. This verse reads like one of those proverbs we read in Proverbs earlier. God has revealed many things in Scripture that we should do and not do. For Christians, to do that which He said not do is sin. But also, to not do that which He has said to do is sin. God sees them both the same. We sometimes refer to those as the sins of commission, things we do that we shouldn’t do, or omission, not doing the things we ought to do. And certainly James has said many things in this letter to believers that they should do good. This letter abounds with exhortations to do good. James in chapter 1, verse 22 said, But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. And I think that’s kind of the tone of the letter. Do what you know to do. So from the first chapter, James has made it clear that we should be doing the things we know we are to do. When we think about that when it comes to planning, believers should recognize that planning apart from God’s leading is failing to do the right thing. It is failing to do the right thing. It is failing to be obedient to the teaching of Scripture. It is back to still planning life as if it is our own. It’s boasting in ourselves and our abilities when Scripture says, let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord. So if we’re going to boast, there is a good boasting, and that’s boasting in the Lord. It’s boasting about Jesus, making much of Jesus, not making much of ourselves. We have nothing that we can do or have done that we could ever boast about in our own. Everything we have, everything we are, is because of God’s goodness in our life.

So we must in humility be what God wants us to be, do what God wants us to do, and speak as God wants us to speak. We must live our life as if it belongs to God.

So church, I think these reminders from James are timely. We just finished Thanksgiving. Next thing you know, it’ll be Christmas. And the next thing you know, we’re in 2023. God willing, we’ll all make it to 2023. And it’s during this time of the year that people often examine plans. They want to make New Year’s resolutions. And we should do that. I encourage you to do that. As you do that this year, let me give you some things to think about or some points to consider.

It is a common New Year’s resolution to plan to have a healthier lifestyle. We all want to eat better. We all want to exercise more. We want to take care of ourselves. And that’s good because God wants us to do that. He wants us to take care of the body that we have and He’s given to us. But it’s so important also as we’re making plans to improve our physical health that we’re also making plans to grow spiritually. We’re improving our spiritual health. So personally first, make sure you’re spending quality time in God’s Word every day. If you’re not following a Bible reading and study plan, make one and begin following it. If you have one but you’re not following it, ask the Lord to help you be self-disciplined. Actually do it. Because not following a plan is really the same thing as not having a plan. If you’re not following the plan, you’re not really doing the plan. In addition to being in God’s Word, make sure you’re praying every day. You’re praying for yourself, your family, your church, and others the Lord has placed in your life.

I think it’s important to have set aside times to pray. Sometimes I pray in the morning usually. Some people pray in the morning. Some people pray at night. Some people pray, both. And certainly, we have set aside times to pray, but there’s also prayer throughout the day as plans of life are unfolding, right? We need to be checking in all along the way. Lord, is this what you want me to do? Is this where you want me to go? And I also want to say, make sure you’re listening for God’s response to your petitions. We talked about this in systematic theology a couple weeks ago when I taught. But prayer is communication with a person. It’s a two-way street. So we’re not coming in. We’re not just, telling God, here’s what I want, here’s what I want, here’s what I want. There’s a listening component to that, right? We have to sit and be quiet and be still before the Lord and let Him speak to our hearts and our minds and impress things upon us.

Make sure you have plans to be a good steward of what God has given you. I think two areas we struggle in is a good steward of our time and a good steward of our money.

So when it comes to being a good steward, a good steward of time, are you being a good steward? Are you numbering your days as Moses commanded? We may have to make plans to turn off the TV more, spend less time on social media, spend less time surfing the web. Those things still are time. And if they are, we really need to replace those things with things that help us grow spiritually, things that will help us invest in our family.

Are you being a good steward of the money God has given you? If you have trouble with spending, make sure you have a budget. Budgets are good. Budgets are wise. That’s wise, logical planning. Are you faithfully and cheerfully giving to the local church as Scripture instructs? If not, make a plan to be obedient to what God directs you to do.

Do you have unhealthy debt? Debt that kind of handcuffs you. Debt that maybe prevents you from being a blessing to someone. Maybe God lays something on your heart to give you something. Maybe you don’t want to give to someone but maybe you just can’t because you have unhealthy debt and you’re kind of bound by that. So make a plan to get out of debt. And no, it won’t happen overnight, but you’ve got to start somewhere. You make a plan and then you follow it. Keep following it. If you’re married, do you have plans to grow and strengthen your marriage? Prayer and Bible study together strengthens our marriages. As you discuss God’s Word and you lift up common petitions to the Lord, it gives you unity as husband and wife. If you’re not doing this, that’s one of the things you need to consider doing. Make a plan to do it. And husbands, it’s really our responsibility to take the lead on that. I would also say plan for date nights. If you have kids, as they grow up, you feel like you’re spending all your energies on your kids. And sometimes you kind of grow apart as a husband and wife. So make a point to plan for those times you can be together. Those date nights, maybe those weekend getaways, marriage conferences, if you’re able to do that. I’m sure the grandparents will keep your kids. And if they won’t do it, I’m sure you have friends or your church family will do it for you. I just want to say your marriage is important to God, so make plans to strengthen it. Because the enemy in the world will try to pull you apart. And unfortunately, those in the church are not immune to this. So, friends, you need to plan to guard your marriage. Make plans for your family. We mentioned from this stage many times this year the importance of family worship. Make sure you have a plan and you’re following it. Fathers, take the lead on that. Have plans to invest time in your family.

I remember those days at the end of a long work day, sometimes you just want to come in, you want to veg. That’s the time when you turn the TV on or you’re surfing the internet. We have to be intentional. Otherwise, we make excuses and we end up investing in ourself and we don’t end up investing in our family. So, yes, husbands, you need to actually talk to your wife and be present in the conversation. You need to spend time hanging out with your kids. And, of course, that’s going to look differently depending on what age they are and what interests they have. But plan a way to make a real connection with them. God, I believe, honors the time and the effort it takes to build the relationships of husband, wife, and husband. Husband, wife, and parent, child. Make plans to strengthen those relationships. And lastly, I would say, make plans to serve in some capacity in our church if you’re not already.

Jesus came to serve. He served. We should have a servant’s heart. So ask God to show you where you can be a help and a blessing in some ministry of our church. There’s many ways you can serve. If you have questions about that, ask Pastor Chad, one of the elders. We can get you plugged in. We can get you plugged in somewhere. But see where God wants you to be plugged in and where He wants you to work in the church. So, friends, these are just a few things to think about. There’s certainly many other things as you plan life, things that are going to be unique to you, like your job, your career, where you live, how many kids you’re going to have, all that kind of stuff. Those are plans you need to think about as well. But as we stand on the doorstep of a new year, Lord willing, we’re all going to make it to 2023. So I want to encourage you to do the following. Examine the plans you have already and see if they were made and are being carried out with the Lord’s will in mind. Is He getting the glory from your plans?

Our lives should glorify our Lord. He alone should get glory. So if you find that He’s not getting the glory, take heart, because certainly there’s much grace in Jesus when we fail, when we make mistakes, we sin, and we’re going to. We’re human. We follow our own wills. Sometimes we get in a place we shouldn’t be. But if God reveals to you areas that you need to confess, confess those sins and repent, turn from it, and then seek God’s will and direction and adjust your plans as needed. Maybe you have plans that you don’t need to have at all. Maybe they just need to be abandoned completely. Then I would say prayerfully, back to the listening. Make sure you’re talking to God and you’re prayerfully listening. Prayerfully make new plans as the Lord gives you wisdom and direction.

So let me close with this. Let me ask you the question we started with. Who drives your plans?

I think James has clearly told us it should not be us. The bottom line for believers is that God must be central to all we do in life. He must be central to all of our plans. We must acknowledge Him in everything we do. We must remember that our life is not our own. Our life belongs to God. Will you pray with me?

Amen. Amen. Amen.

Lord, we thank you for this passage from James. Thank you, Lord, for the wisdom that’s there about how we can plan our life wisely. Lord, forgive us where we, in pride, made our own plans. We’ve been arrogant in that and we’ve lived our lives in some ways like we’re still in control. Thank you, Lord, for the grace and mercy that you extend to us when we fail. Thank you that we can come to you and we can pour our hearts out and we can confess and repent of those things.

Lord, as we look towards a new year, help us to be humble and lay our plans before you and look to you for wisdom and guidance in both making plans and carrying them out.

We acknowledge that our life belongs to you. Lord, we say that in our mind and we know that’s true. Help us to live that out practically in life and we know that’s true. We need to look to you, Lord, to help us do the right things as your word commands.

Lord, just pray that you would watch over us and carry us into the new year. Lord, that as we start this new year, we will have plans not only to improve our physical health, but also to improve our spiritual health. For your glory alone, I pray these things in Jesus’ name. Amen.