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devotional mp3 podcasts for young people

Lost your dog? Pray. Is a friend dying? Pray. Got a maths test? Pray. Simply feeling rubbish? Pray. After everything else James says his final piece of wisdom is, “actually whatever you do pray.” James has spent his entire book, saying do this, do that, and don’t do that, now at the end we are told to pray, pray, pray. He tells us that our prayers will be heard, but they will be all the more effective if we pray and live the life Gods wants us to. If we go about school or college being the best disciple we can be then our prayers will be all the more effective. But actually if we spend our day praying to God, then as we go then we will not be able to do anything other then be a great witness for God. If we talk to God all day long asking him for help here and wisdom there, then we will become so close to our Father God that we will never want to do anything he wouldn’t want us to do. So pray and you will be a great disciple, and be a great disciple and you will pray. It’s the real circle of life.

Author - Max Cross, James | No Comments »

To be honest, I promise to tell the absolute truth in everything I do. Opps that’s what James is on about isn’t it. There’s no need for me to say I promise or I swear in Gods name. If it is true I should just say yes and if it’s not no. If your mate comes over and says look you said you would help me and you haven’t, there’s not need for you to say I promise Ill do it this time, just do it. If you have mucked up in the past no need to say Ill never do that again, just don’t do it again. So how does this effect the way we handle ourselves at school or college? It simply means doing what we say and no less. It also means not doing what we say. All too often we actually want to help everyone and we say things like ill help out at youth group, Ill get that home work project done, Ill listen to aftershock, Ill do the shopping for that old lady, Ill, Ill… and the list goes on and on. If we get involved with everything then our yes will never we our yes because we couldn’t possible have the time. Far better to commit to help in a few things and do them well, then to let many people down. So when someone approaches you and asks you to help, just pause and ask your self does this need to be a time when my yes is yes or does my no have to be no this time?

Author - Max Cross, James | No Comments »

You see that’s the thing about James is he doesn’t say what’s on his mind! Hmm, I don’t think we could ever accuse James of not saying things like they are, could we? So just because James is being blunt, does that means he isn’t telling the truth? Well I can tell you something I have never exploited and cheated any workers, so phew at least I am safe. Or am I? I like a bargain like anyone and when I buy a shirt from the local supermarket for under a fiver, do I know that I am not exploiting and cheating workers. Tearfund are a charity that ask us to think about whose hands have touched the clothes we wear. When I buy a shirt someone has ploughed the land, planted the cotton, picked the cotton, turned the cotton into cloth, sewn the cloth into a shirt, packed the shirt and then shipped it around the world. It seems a little strange that I could then pick that shirt up for under a fiver, without anyone being exploited. And that ties in with what James is saying, I may not be a powerful landowner who can exploit workers in the fields, but I am a well off guy who can buy shirts for less then a fiver where the people who make it, get exploited. Is that right? Is that what God would have me do? And it seems that paying lots of cash for that shirt may not exclude me from this problem, you see it’s all about where the money goes. It’s down to me to find out more about the food I eat, the gadgets I buy and the clothes I wear. It’s down to me to lift the label and find out where they come from and who gets the money. Thanks to Tearfund I can go to www.tearfund.org and click on the lift the label link to help me find out the truth.

Author - Max Cross, James | No Comments »

What are you going to do tomorrow, next week, next month? Straight talking James says it like it is, he says, “You don’t know the first thing about tomorrow!” Man that’s right isn’t it. What do we know about tomorrow, what do we know about the next ten minutes? We hear all the time about people saying things like, if only I knew that was going to happen. But we don’t get to see into the future, that’s Gods domain. We can only do what James talks about here. He says when ever we plan, pray that we will plan something that is Gods will. Are you planning to go to university? Pray that you will go where God wants you. Whenever you plan something pray that you are doing what God wants.

Author - Max Cross, James | No Comments »

I love the book of James, it’s down to earth, straight talking, get on with it advice. James could say, “I know you trying your best, but could just try to do better in this area.” James could say, “it really doesn’t matter just go to Church on Sunday and say sorry you will be OK.” But James isn’t that kind of person, he shoots from the hip. James says things like, do this, do that, don’t say these things, do say these things. Some times when someone is plain talking they leave the person they are talking to slightly bruised. If you feel slightly bruised from reading the book of James, then maybe you need reminding why James is chucking out all this fantastic advice. Your God, the one that created you, sent his son to die for you on a cross, so that you can party forever in a place that is beyond your wildest dreams. Now I don’t know about you, but I can put up with the odd Bloody nose, knowing that the guy delivering the words is just trying to help me receive a humungous reward in Heaven. You see our God isn’t a god of do’s and don’ts, he isn’t a God that says you have to follow these rituals to get into Heaven. No our God has done that on the cross already. Actually our God gave us only one thing to do, and if we do the one thing Jesus said to do then actually we will be doing all the other stuff anyway. Oh yes that one thing. Well simply really Jesus says, that we are to love each other as he loves us. Try doing that and you will do OK.

Author - Max Cross, James | No Comments »