James 1:2 "my brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials"
- Exams!!! (my very small trial. hahaha)

James 1:5 "if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, Who gives to all liberally and without reproach"
- how the Lord knows we lack so many things.. and He is a wellspring of goodness!

James 1:12 "blessed is the man who endures temptation"
- never blame God for any temptation you are unable to resist -- if the devil has a hold on you, its cos you havent been asking the Lord for enough strength

James 1:17 "every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, in whom there is no variation and shadow of turning."
- God is truth. there is also one truth, one morality, and this is judged by God's standard - there is no grey area.

James 1:21 "therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls."
- the Lord's Word implanted in your heart!

James 3:6 "and the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. the tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell."
- be careful with the words you say!

James 4:7-8 "therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. draw near to God and He will draw near to you..."
- the Lord defeats the evil one. He is an everlasting God.. faithful, loving, gracious, forgiving. :)

James 4:14 "come now you who say 'today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit" (THIS TOTALLY SOUNDS LIKE OUR LIFE PLANS SOMETIMES which is terrible hahaha)

James 4:15 "whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. for what is your life? it is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away."

- only the Lord knows how im gonna do for this round of exams.. it is not because of what i plan, what i do, or what i hope. it is the Lord's will for my life.. He has proven to be gracious and merciful - i have no reason to doubt that His goodness will not overflow even in this season of my life!

James 5:16-18 (and all the above... enduring trials... enduring temptation... receiving the implanted Word... reigning in your tongue... trusting in the Lord's will...)

it all culminates into this- effectiveness in prayer.

"... the effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for 3 years and 6 months. and he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit."

Elijah was a man with a nature like ours... and yet God paid very special attention to His prayers.

Daniel 10:12 "do not fear, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come because of your words."

from the day i set my heart to understand the Words of the Lord, He promised to hold onto me, hear me and complete the good work He has begun in me. im not always perfect.. always learning, but i am so much more at peace with the fact that exams are upon me (beginning tomorrow), and as much as there are still gaps in my knowledge of the law, i know ive done my best and the rest of it is in God's hands.

pray for me!!! :)

2 Peter 1
5 But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge,
6 to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness,
7 to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love.
8 For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
9 For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.

10 Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; 11 for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

and again in 2 Peter 3

14 Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless;

being ever more diligent in moving towards an assurance of the Lord's calling for me in my life and being found in Him, pure and blameless. :)

these few days i have been pondering the idea of love..

1 John 3:18-19 encapsulates this so perfectly

"my little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. and by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him."

it is in times of my deepest weakness that i realise how the Lord pre-empts our every move! and with each weakness He gives a promise. Philippians 1:6 says:

"being confident of this very thing, that He who begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ."

cos He knows i am incomplete and im always failing, lapsing into sin time and again, He promises me that He will continue working on me if only i will let Him.

to love is a commandment that i have not fully learnt to practise. it is a commandment that i have barely even begun to understand. but God is faithful, step by step.. :)