Latest / Jessi Morgan Devotions for the Christian Heart Podcast / Are You Seeking God's Wisdom or Your Own? | James 3:13-18

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Are You Seeking God's Wisdom or Your Own? | James 3:13-18 · Jessi Morgan Devotions for the Christian Heart Podcast

0:00
SPEAKER_00: Hello, hello.
0:00
SPEAKER_00: You're listening to the Jesse Morgan Devotions for the Cushion Heart Podcast episode 119.
0:05
SPEAKER_00: This week's devotional is titled, Are You Seeking God's Wisdom or Your Own?
0:09
SPEAKER_00: James 3, 13 through 18.
0:11
SPEAKER_00: Let's go.
0:14
SPEAKER_00: Hi, I'm Jesse Morgan.
0:16
SPEAKER_00: I used to just share home decor and renovation tips on social media, but now I'm sharing something even closer to my heart.
0:22
SPEAKER_00: My journey in love for Jesus Christ, my Savior.
0:24
SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Jesse Morgan Devotions for the Christian Hawk Podcast.
0:28
SPEAKER_00: This is a weekly devotional I started back in May 2024.
0:32
SPEAKER_00: But the inspiration for it came much earlier.
0:35
SPEAKER_00: It was rooted in a faith journey that began when my daughter was born four months early in 2023.
0:40
SPEAKER_00: Through that challenging time, God worked in ways that truly amazed me.
0:44
SPEAKER_00: On this podcast, I share personal stories of faith woven together with Scripture to show just how incredible God's word can be in our everyday lives.
0:54
SPEAKER_00: My hope is that through these stories, you'll be encouraged, uplifted, and reminded of God's love and presence, no matter what you're going through.
1:02
SPEAKER_00: So I invite you to spend less than 15 minutes with me each week as we reflect on these devotionals together.
1:08
SPEAKER_00: Let's all pray within.
1:11
SPEAKER_00: Hello and welcome back to the podcast.
1:14
SPEAKER_00: I'm really excited to be back in fellowship with you guys as we continue our study of James.
1:20
SPEAKER_00: So, have you ever tried so hard to make something work that you had to stop and admit, okay, this isn't working, something needs to change.
1:31
SPEAKER_00: So earlier this year, that was me with my daughter.
1:36
SPEAKER_00: We were trying to balance school with her occupational, physical, and speech therapies.
1:42
SPEAKER_00: At first, I cut back on some of her therapy sessions because I couldn't keep pulling her out of school.
1:48
SPEAKER_00: You know, I wanted her to have the classroom experience, but she also needed the therapies.
1:54
SPEAKER_00: So then we started noticing regression.
1:57
SPEAKER_00: She had been making progress, and now I feel, and now I basically felt like we were losing some of that momentum.
2:05
SPEAKER_00: I knew I needed to make a change, but I was so busy making phone calls, researching options, and trying to figure out everything that I hadn't really slowed down to ask for wisdom from the Lord.
2:19
SPEAKER_00: And that brings us to today's passage.
2:22
SPEAKER_00: As we as you know, James is such a practical book about living the Christian life.
2:28
SPEAKER_00: And one thing about James is it will hold you accountable.
2:32
SPEAKER_00: Last week I didn't record because honestly, to be honest, guys, I struggled with this passage.
2:38
SPEAKER_00: I had writer's block, I kept thinking, what do I say?
2:42
SPEAKER_00: What story do I share?
2:44
SPEAKER_00: But I also needed to sit with it.
2:47
SPEAKER_00: And I was and sit with it as I was reading it.
2:51
SPEAKER_00: Because one thing to talk about wisdom, but it's another thing to look at your own decisions and ask, am I actually seeking it?
3:01
SPEAKER_00: Am I actually seeking wisdom the right way?
3:04
SPEAKER_00: And today we're looking at James 3, 13 through 18.
3:08
SPEAKER_00: Let me start by reading verses 13 through 15 to just give some context here.
3:12
SPEAKER_00: So here we go.
3:14
SPEAKER_00: Among let me start over, sorry.
3:17
SPEAKER_00: Who among you is wise and intelligent?
3:20
SPEAKER_00: Let him by his good conduct show his good deeds with the gentleness and humility of true wisdom.
3:27
SPEAKER_00: But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not be arrogant, and as a result, be in defiance of the truth.
3:36
SPEAKER_00: This superficial wisdom is not which comes down from above, but is earthly secular, natural, and unspiritual, and even demonic.
3:46
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so those three verses alone give us a lot to sit with.
3:50
SPEAKER_00: Whenever I think about wisdom, um, I think about Proverbs.
3:55
SPEAKER_00: Much of that book is coming from King Solomon, who is David's King David's son, of course, who took over after David uh passed away.
4:04
SPEAKER_00: And King Solomon is the king who asked God for wisdom.
4:10
SPEAKER_00: It's Proverbs is a full, it's full of teachings about our choices, our character, and how we live.
4:18
SPEAKER_00: And last year I studied wisdom with my Bible study group, and it was life-changing for me.
4:24
SPEAKER_00: One thing that stayed with me was the difference between knowledge and wisdom.
4:30
SPEAKER_00: Knowledge is the information we gather, the facts, the research, the things we learn and discuss.
4:36
SPEAKER_00: Wisdom is um the ability to use your knowledge, life experiences, and good sense to make good choices, to solve problems, and to possibly guide others.
4:49
SPEAKER_00: And when we talk about wisdom, especially godly wisdom or spiritual wisdom, we're also talking about seeking the Lord's guidance and how we use what we know.
5:01
SPEAKER_00: We consider the situation, we pray, we ask God to help us respond faithfully.
5:07
SPEAKER_00: And sometimes that means changing a plan, we really wanted to work.
5:11
SPEAKER_00: That's what happened with my daughter.
5:14
SPEAKER_00: As many of you know, my daughter was born prematurely at 23 weeks and has had some developmental delays.
5:20
SPEAKER_00: Her therapy plan called for occupational, physical, and speech therapy twice a week.
5:26
SPEAKER_00: Each, you know, um, each discipline received two sessions a week.
5:30
SPEAKER_00: So six sessions all together every week.
5:33
SPEAKER_00: But fitting all those around school was hard.
5:39
SPEAKER_00: And she was attending a cute little Montessori school from 9 to 12.
5:44
SPEAKER_00: My daughter was two at the time.
5:45
SPEAKER_00: And on Thursdays, I would pick her up around 10 and she would have three therapy sessions back to back to back.
5:52
SPEAKER_00: By that third session, she was exhausted.
5:55
SPEAKER_00: We were also trying to fit appointments into other mornings and afternoons, and eventually we gave up some therapy times because I couldn't keep taking her out of class.
6:06
SPEAKER_00: So she was at six, and then I took her to three.
6:09
SPEAKER_00: I thought I was finding a balance, but when we started noticing regression, I knew we needed to reconsider the arrangement.
6:18
SPEAKER_00: Around that time, um, someone suggested looking into behavioral therapy because some of the challenges she was having at school, especially with her attention span, could benefit from having behavioral therapy.
6:31
SPEAKER_00: So I started digging.
6:33
SPEAKER_00: I called our insurance company, I went through, I had an assessment about her, her neurologist signed off on the request.
6:40
SPEAKER_00: I was making calls, asking questions, and trying to, you know, find help.
6:44
SPEAKER_00: But after all of that, I was told our insurance would only cover the particular behavioral therapy we were requesting with an autistic autism diagnosis.
6:55
SPEAKER_00: Um, my daughter does not have that diagnosis, so they wouldn't cover it under the benefit in my insurance.
7:02
SPEAKER_00: Then I noticed therapists coming into her Montessori school to work with other children.
7:07
SPEAKER_00: I thought, wait a minute, could they work with my daughter here?
7:11
SPEAKER_00: Several said they could, but there were insurance issues and additional costs.
7:15
SPEAKER_00: Every, it's like every possibility seemed to come to a complete stop every single time, another obstacle.
7:22
SPEAKER_00: It was getting really, really depressing.
7:25
SPEAKER_00: And I was just wearing myself out.
7:28
SPEAKER_00: And one day I was sitting in my living room studying Proverbs and reflecting on wisdom.
7:36
SPEAKER_00: We had been discussing how to consider a situation honestly and seek God's guidance.
7:41
SPEAKER_00: That was our focus for the week at Bible study.
7:44
SPEAKER_00: And I finally stopped and prayed.
7:46
SPEAKER_00: And I said, Lord, my daughter needs this therapy.
7:49
SPEAKER_00: What can I do?
7:51
SPEAKER_00: As I sat there, I felt reminded that God loved my daughter and that I could trust him with her care.
7:59
SPEAKER_00: I didn't have to carry all this burden by myself.
8:04
SPEAKER_00: That really calmed me in the moment.
8:08
SPEAKER_00: And I was able to just look at everything right in front of me and just look at the facts.
8:16
SPEAKER_00: So she needed her recommended therapy sessions.
8:20
SPEAKER_00: She needed six a week, right?
8:22
SPEAKER_00: Three appointments in a row were too tough for her.
8:25
SPEAKER_00: She needed rest.
8:27
SPEAKER_00: And the schedule we had wasn't meeting those needs.
8:30
SPEAKER_00: Those are all the facts.
8:32
SPEAKER_00: So I picked up the phone and called the therapy coordinators.
8:36
SPEAKER_00: I said, My daughter cannot keep doing three sessions in a row on Thursdays.
8:41
SPEAKER_00: By the third session, she's she's exhausted.
8:43
SPEAKER_00: Can we break these up?
8:45
SPEAKER_00: And we are also we also need to add back the sessions she's missing.
8:50
SPEAKER_00: We spent about 30 minutes working through the schedule.
8:54
SPEAKER_00: We found an early morning appointment before school.
8:58
SPEAKER_00: We moved other sessions into earlier afternoons with with time for her to take a nap beforehand.
9:04
SPEAKER_00: We spread her six sessions across four days instead of trying to squeeze so much into one stretch.
9:11
SPEAKER_00: I still had to take her out of school once, but the rhythm was much better for her.
9:17
SPEAKER_00: And we started seeing progress again.
9:20
SPEAKER_00: Was it more work for me?
9:22
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
9:23
SPEAKER_00: There was more driving and more coordinating.
9:26
SPEAKER_00: I spoke with my boss, who was very supportive at the time, and we made it work, but it was worth it.
9:32
SPEAKER_00: That's part of parenting, right?
9:34
SPEAKER_00: Recognizing what your child needs and being willing to adjust.
9:37
SPEAKER_00: But looking back, I had spent weeks gathering information.
9:40
SPEAKER_00: The research was useful, the professionals were helpful.
9:43
SPEAKER_00: I had been so caught up in solving everything myself that I hadn't really slowed down, you know, to pray or talk it through enough with my husband or the or my Lord.
9:55
SPEAKER_00: For me, um, seeking wisdom meant becoming willing to reconsider the whole arrangement.
10:03
SPEAKER_00: Now let's talk about earthly wisdom because James uses some strong language here in verses 14 and 15.
10:11
SPEAKER_00: He connects it with bitter jealousy and selfish ambition.
10:16
SPEAKER_00: That's the kind of thinking that asks, how can I get what I want?
10:20
SPEAKER_00: How can I come out of come out of this ahead?
10:22
SPEAKER_00: How can I make sure I look better than the next person?
10:27
SPEAKER_00: We can have, you know, plenty of knowledge and still use it to compete, manipulate, or justify whatever we already want to do.
10:37
SPEAKER_00: We can, you know, become so focused on our own plans that we stop listening and stop considering how our choices affect other people.
10:47
SPEAKER_00: And that's something we have to examine as Christians.
10:51
SPEAKER_00: Research, facts, and professional advice are valuable, but what is motivating us to use them?
10:59
SPEAKER_00: Are we willing to bring our plans before God?
11:02
SPEAKER_00: Are we willing to receive correction?
11:05
SPEAKER_00: And with my daughter, I had to ask myself, am I paying attention to what she needs, or am I just trying to make this arrangement work because it's the arrangement we already have?
11:15
SPEAKER_00: I needed to slow down.
11:17
SPEAKER_00: I needed to seek God and be willing to change direction.
11:20
SPEAKER_00: And then something else happened recently that gave me another opportunity to practice this.
11:25
SPEAKER_00: So check this out.
11:26
SPEAKER_00: So maybe that's the writer's block, gave me a little bit more to have something to share with you guys this week.
11:32
SPEAKER_00: So thank God for the writer's block last week, and that's why I didn't record.
11:36
SPEAKER_00: No, anyway, so here's the story.
11:38
SPEAKER_00: Check this out.
11:38
SPEAKER_00: We had a test, we have a Tesla, and we've been leasing it.
11:43
SPEAKER_00: It's a good car for our family.
11:44
SPEAKER_00: And a couple of weekends ago, like maybe two weekends ago about, my husband was coming home from an overnight shift when one of his tires blew out.
11:53
SPEAKER_00: Like four o'clock in the morning.
11:55
SPEAKER_00: He had to get the car towed.
11:57
SPEAKER_00: Meanwhile, I was supposed to leave for the airport at like five o'clock in the morning myself.
12:03
SPEAKER_00: I had to wait for him to get home before I could leave.
12:06
SPEAKER_00: So you can imagine how that morning was going, a bit stressful.
12:09
SPEAKER_00: Thankfully, he got home safely and I made the flight.
12:12
SPEAKER_00: Later, while I was out of town, the service center called me.
12:17
SPEAKER_00: My name was the first one on the paperwork, and I usually handled all those types of, you know, finance things like that.
12:23
SPEAKER_00: Anyway, so they said, You need a new tire.
12:27
SPEAKER_00: Actually, ma'am, all four tires need to be replaced.
12:30
SPEAKER_00: All four?
12:32
SPEAKER_00: My heart sank.
12:34
SPEAKER_00: They could replace the two rear tires right away, but they needed to order the front, the front ones.
12:41
SPEAKER_00: Then they sent the estimate.
12:44
SPEAKER_00: Over a thousand dollars.
12:46
SPEAKER_00: And let me tell you why that hurt even more.
12:49
SPEAKER_00: I had literally just spoken with the contractor who did our bathroom about replacing our interior doors and frames in the house.
12:57
SPEAKER_00: Our interior doors were just beat up.
12:59
SPEAKER_00: They had layers of paint on them.
13:01
SPEAKER_00: I was just so excited to about finally refreshing them.
13:05
SPEAKER_00: And these doors are like 50 years old, so you can imagine.
13:08
SPEAKER_00: I had set aside some money and I thought, yes, one last big update for the year.
13:13
SPEAKER_00: You know I love my home renovations.
13:15
SPEAKER_00: So, anyways, I spoke with my contractor guy on Friday.
13:19
SPEAKER_00: The tires blew out on Saturday.
13:21
SPEAKER_00: So there went my door money.
13:23
SPEAKER_00: My husband felt terrible.
13:25
SPEAKER_00: We talked about whether we should get another quote or look somewhere else for tires.
13:30
SPEAKER_00: Comparing prices can be a sensible thing to do.
13:33
SPEAKER_00: But in that moment, with the car already there and our family needing it back, we decided to move forward with the repair.
13:40
SPEAKER_00: It just made sense.
13:42
SPEAKER_00: And I was calm about it.
13:43
SPEAKER_00: I felt good about it.
13:45
SPEAKER_00: And within about 10 minutes after getting off those calls, something shifted in me.
13:49
SPEAKER_00: And I was walking around New York with my sister-in-law, and I thought, Lord, thank you that we have the money to get those tires replaced.
13:58
SPEAKER_00: Was I disappointed about the doors?
14:00
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
14:01
SPEAKER_00: But my husband was safe.
14:02
SPEAKER_00: We could repair the car and we had the money available.
14:06
SPEAKER_00: Then I thought about the timing.
14:08
SPEAKER_00: I had been planning to give my contractor the money for the materials and start the down payment the following Monday.
14:15
SPEAKER_00: If this had happened a week later with the tires getting blown out, I would have already spent some of that money we needed for those tires on the materials for the interior doors.
14:26
SPEAKER_00: We might have had to put the repair on credit cards or borrow money of some kind.
14:31
SPEAKER_00: I wouldn't have chosen that stressful morning for all this to happen, but I could I I am thankful that we were able to handle that situation and have the money to fix our tires.
14:46
SPEAKER_00: And I had to be content with letting the doors wait.
14:49
SPEAKER_00: That was the part I needed to accept.
14:51
SPEAKER_00: I had to plan for that money, and suddenly there was more urgent need.
14:56
SPEAKER_00: I could have kept dwelling on the update I wasn't getting, or I could thank God that we could take care of our family.
15:04
SPEAKER_00: The decision gave me, you know, an opportunity to practice gratitude, responsibility, and contentment.
15:10
SPEAKER_00: And those everyday moments, they really do matter.
15:13
SPEAKER_00: Our faith shows up in how we handle disappointment, how we speak to our spouses when something goes wrong, and how willing we are to adjust our plans.
15:24
SPEAKER_00: And as we keep reading James, verses 17 and 18, I'm just going to paraphrase here, it describes wisdom from above through qualities such as purity, gentleness, mercy, sincerity, and commitment to peace.
15:37
SPEAKER_00: That gives us something to examine in ourselves.
15:40
SPEAKER_00: What is my approach producing?
15:43
SPEAKER_00: Am I becoming more willingly to listen or more determined to get my way?
15:48
SPEAKER_00: Am I showing mercy?
15:50
SPEAKER_00: Am I treating the people involved with care?
15:52
SPEAKER_00: With my daughter, I needed to slow down and pay attention to her needs.
15:56
SPEAKER_00: With the car, I needed to accept a disappointment without letting it take away my gratitude.
16:01
SPEAKER_00: Neither situation came with an easy answer that made everything convenient.
16:06
SPEAKER_00: I still had to rearrange my schedule, I still had to postpone my doors.
16:11
SPEAKER_00: But, but I could move forward with more peace.
16:15
SPEAKER_00: So as I close today, I want to ask you this.
16:18
SPEAKER_00: Um, how willing are you to seek God's wisdom when it changes your plans?
16:24
SPEAKER_00: We spend so much time wanting to know more, have the right answer, and look like we have everything together.
16:29
SPEAKER_00: But can we also um but can we also be humble enough to say, you know, Lord, I need your help with this?
16:37
SPEAKER_00: And a good example of this is Noah.
16:40
SPEAKER_00: God told him to build an ark and he obeyed.
16:43
SPEAKER_00: Imagine doing something that big because God told you to told you to do so, even when people around you might not understand.
16:51
SPEAKER_00: Noah trusted God enough to act on it and ask God for help and guidance.
16:58
SPEAKER_00: That's the part that challenges me.
17:00
SPEAKER_00: Am I willing to follow God when his directions really don't make a lot of sense to everybody else?
17:05
SPEAKER_00: Or am I so concerned with how I look that I'll ignore what he's asking me to do?
17:11
SPEAKER_00: Earthly wisdom, as James describes, it is driven by jealousy and self-ambition.
17:17
SPEAKER_00: It set it asks, how can I get what I want?
17:21
SPEAKER_00: How can I come out ahead?
17:23
SPEAKER_00: Godly wisdom calls us to be humble, have mercy and obedience, even when that means changing our plans and it may be uncomfortable.
17:33
SPEAKER_00: Maybe there's something in your life right now that needs your attention: a plan you keep forcing, a decision you've been avoiding, a disappointment you're struggling to accept.
17:43
SPEAKER_00: Bring it to the Lord.
17:44
SPEAKER_00: You know, look honestly at the situation, listen to wise counsel, look at the facts, examine what is motivating you, and be willing to take the next faithful step.
17:58
SPEAKER_00: So are you willing to build the boat, like Noah, when God tells you to?
18:03
SPEAKER_00: Or are you more comfortable following the crowd even when it's taking you in the wrong direction, or even when it's taking you in a way where you might sink?
18:12
SPEAKER_00: That's a question we have to answer, right?
18:16
SPEAKER_00: Love you all.
18:17
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
18:18
SPEAKER_00: Heavenly Father, I thank you for this study.
18:20
SPEAKER_00: Father, the writer's block I had last week, I'm so thankful for it, Lord, because it was just a it was like a come like a full circle for me to be able to deliver this message this week to my listeners.
18:31
SPEAKER_00: Father, I thank you so much for wisdom.
18:33
SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for spiritual wisdom that we can grow in through you, Lord, as we keep collecting facts, collecting that knowledge, but we make sure that we consult with you to make the right decisions.
18:46
SPEAKER_00: Father, we love you and we praise you.
18:48
SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for the study of James.
18:50
SPEAKER_00: Bless everyone who who's listening, Lord.
18:52
SPEAKER_00: In Jesus' name, amen.
18:54
SPEAKER_00: Love you all.
18:55
SPEAKER_00: Till next time.
18:56
SPEAKER_00: Well, that wraps up this week's episode.
18:59
SPEAKER_00: I hope these devotions help you draw closer to God each day.
19:03
SPEAKER_00: If this episode encouraged you, please share it with someone who might need the same message.
19:07
SPEAKER_00: And don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a weekly episode.
19:11
SPEAKER_00: Also, if you feek if you feel compelled, leaving a nice review would be so appreciated as well.
19:17
SPEAKER_00: For more information or to reach out, check the show notes or visit jessymorganhome.com or find me on Instagram at Jessimorganlife.
19:25
SPEAKER_00: Remember, God's timing is always perfect.
19:28
SPEAKER_00: Keep trusting him.
19:29
SPEAKER_00: Until next time, this is Jessie Morgan praying off.