James 1:1-8 KJV
1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting.
2 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;
3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.
5 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.
6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.
7 For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.
8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.

John the Baptist no doubt wrestle in prison about faith in yesterday lesson, when inquiring by his disciples if Jesus was the Messiah. Yet I have to question what if we find ourselves in similiar circumstance not behind jail, but the jail of the soul that needs freeing. What I mean we learn to serve in the world the way of the world or the way of Christ. Depends on if you working on money or for the Lord, it should not matter. If you are a believer you do work to the best of your ability whether in the church world, on your own, or in the job place. Being a Christian use to have merit, even among heathens. Yet today the words I am a Christian carries little weight even among other Christians. Why because when one gets older they realize the humanity of Christianity and they know the fruit of faith sometimes comes with a few rotten spots in it, because of our humanity and not because of who Christ is. God can take the good part of the fruit and bless another with it. Our humanity often causes our problems in our witness. Yet we fail to understand our humanity is also the one thing that helps the world to connect to us on a different level that not spiritual.

Many people get caught up in thinking asking God for money is going to solve the problem. There things of this earth we need, and God knows it for our living, but there things spiritually we need, that God provides for us. Yet we need to recognize who we need to ask when we in need of the things of God. One thing we need in life is wisdom to deal with spiritual matters, Second we need to pray for faith, because our faith will and can stand against the wiles of the devil. Faith at the weakness times we need to learn to ask of God.

Faith is something we ask of God in our weakness, it not something we can earn, it something we need to request of God. Strength of faith comes from God. We learn to trust either in the things we can produce ourselves by making money or things we can do with our hands, or we learn to rely on God. The money and things we do with our hands as far as work can be given, prayed over and ask God for the right job, for the right tools to work that job, and to teach one to do that job in a godly fashion. There times in life that something we can not afford to earn even by our own means. There things in life that faith takes presidence. There things faith comes only with the hearing of God's word. There time faith must be instilled by God's power alone. There are times faith must come from Evidence of God's handiwork in one's life, or event in one's life. John the Bapist had faith based on experience but not experience alone. Daniel had faith that when he was toss into the lions den he be with his God or still alive going through the experience of the lions den, David after all slew lions, bears and wolves. David also walked not only through God's refining fire, but also through the pasture of his Lord.

Faith can not be earned, you can not buy it, you can only request it from God. I had a person online that constantly wanted to know how he could get faith when he believed not. He wanted to believe but he could not. The things is you have to ask of God, but he believed not enough to even to ask of God for help with unbelief. Only thing you can do is pray for faith for the person, in hopes that someway God will pentrate the soul.

Wisdom is something else need in both this world and in the spiritual world. Wisdom of this world does come from God who knows about this world we are in and how to use godly wisdom on the world through words of hope, and faith. Some of God's wisdom comes with time and age. Believers learn to use God's wisdom instantly by his Spirit to enable one in witnessing and sharing the Gospel. Evidence of Christ is in history of Jewish faith, the witness to the Roman empire. The fall do to corruption of those empires evident in the christian world and prophesied.

Most people are afraid of love, afraid to have hope, to trust in the things of God. We have to ask ourselves is what we need a necessity or are they apart of the will of God in our life. The tools like lemon juicer sparks interesting in a teens as they learn to make lemon ice cubes for lemon smoothy, tasting much like lemon pie. Point is that one has to trust the lemons are ripe enough, and easily squeezed to make the drink just perfect. Taking the lemons of life and turn it into something refreshing for the soul and the lives of others.

God never gives you a lemon without the giving you the ability to make lemonade. God's wisdom not always seen in the lemon, on the production of the lemon. Faith if you ask of God comes often with time, sometimes instant through miracles of faith, and with his power to control the storm to cause it to cease. God can take a little mustard seed of faith that planted in our hearts and grow it into a fine tree of hope.

Where are you going ask of God and you will see God grace is sufficient for you. He will provide the hope and faith you need in troubless time. He will provide the faith, you just not need to ask. It not like him handing you paper or a letter and say it done, it more of his Spirit teaching through open doors, and sometimes through miracles and instant demonstrations, but ones that seem to last the longest are the ones that pentrate our heart that we know no one else could of provided for us. Faith in a storm is valuable to the believer. To be able to know and understand the storm is either of the devil or our own making is powerful. Then when we ask for God to help us in the storm, we know he already ahead of the believer making a way of escape, or taking one through the danger into heaven's gate.

Dear Heavenly Father take me through valleys and allow me to walk in faith knowing you go before me and are behind me as I walk in faith. In Jesus precious name, Amen.

Continual Scripture Study: I Peter 3:21 KJV
21 The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.