“What you ought to say is, ‘If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.’ Otherwise you are boasting about your own pretentious plans, and all such boasting is evil.” (James 4:15–16 NLT)

James is talking to successful Christian business leaders. These are people who worked hard to reach the top of their field. You’ll notice that he doesn’t rebuke them for their success or their efforts to be the best.

No matter what you do for a living, if you’re a follower of Christ, you should strive to be the best at what you do. You should work harder than anybody else. You should arrive early to your job. You should leave a little later than others do. You should work cheerfully. And you should do everything for the glory of God, wherever you are.

God hasn’t called everyone into so-called ministry. He hasn’t called everyone to be a preacher. But He has called us all to minister and to serve Him and to bring honor and glory to Him, whatever our profession is. If you’re a doctor, attend to your patients for the glory of God. If I need surgery, I don’t want a preacher. I want a godly surgeon who knows what he’s doing. I may need a Christian attorney. I may need someone else in another field—in construction, in music, in art, in politics. We need strong believers in all fields to represent us well.

But in your striving to be the best, you need to maintain your focus and priorities. That’s what James is saying. He offers you a valuable reminder. He gives you the key to maximize your success.

The people James was talking to had lost their focus. They were believers, but they were living like atheists. They weren’t factoring God into their plans. So James reminded them to keep God’s will at the forefront of their lives.

Ultimately, every plan anybody ever makes is dependent on “if the Lord wants us to.” If you humbly acknowledge that and plan accordingly, God will bless your plans. That’s why Paul told the believers in Ephesus, “I will come back later, God willing” (Acts 18:21 NLT). And it’s why he wrote to the believers in Corinth, “I will come—and soon—if the Lord lets me” (1 Corinthians 4:19 NLT).

God’s will covers a lot of ground—everything you do, in fact. If you’re going to give it the consideration it deserves, it must be one of the first things you think about in the morning and one of the last things you think about at night. It needs to be a frequent topic of conversation with your spouse or loved ones. It needs to be the main focus of every prayer, every business meeting, and every decision-making process.

No matter what field you’re in, keeping God’s will at the forefront means thinking about what you’re sacrificing, thinking about what you’re prioritizing, thinking about how you’re using your resources—including your time, finances, and people—and making sure that they align with God and His will.

You can glorify God wherever you are and in whatever you do. Just remember to factor in His will.

Reflection question: How do you factor God’s will into your workday?

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“Elijah was as human as we are, and yet when he prayed earnestly that no rain would fall, none fell for three and a half years!” (James 5:17 NLT)

The showdown between Elijah and the prophets of Baal in 1 Kings 18 is one of the most triumphant scenes in the Old Testament. One man of God versus 450 false prophets in a winner-take-all contest to determine whose God was the true God of Israel.

The rules were simple. Elijah built one altar and placed his sacrifice of a bull on it. The false prophets built another altar and placed their sacrifice of a bull on it. The god who sent fire to burn his sacrifice would be declared the true God.

The false prophets went first. They prayed for hours, begging their god to respond. They worked themselves into a frenzy. They cut themselves, hoping their blood would get Baal’s attention. But nothing happened.

When Elijah’s turn came, he instructed people to pour water on his altar until it and the ground around it were flooded. He wanted to make it impossible, in human terms, for his altar to ignite. And then he prayed. And God sent fire from Heaven that consumed Elijah’s sacrifice and altar, as well as the ground around it.

The Lord left no doubt as to who the true God of Israel was. Yet Jezebel, the queen of Israel, stubbornly refused to acknowledge Him. When she heard what had happened, she sent word to Elijah that he would be killed the next day.

Like that would scare a prophet of the one true God. A man who’d just played a role in God’s miraculous display of power. A guy who literally had just come down from a mountaintop experience. A man brimming with confidence and courage, knowing that he enjoyed the protection and blessing of God.

First Kings 19:3–4 describes Elijah’s memorable response this way: “Elijah was afraid and fled for his life. . . . He sat down under a solitary broom tree and prayed that he might die” (NLT).

Wait . . . what? Why? The simple answer can be found in the passage from James 5 above: “Elijah was as human as we are.”

People tend to put spiritual leaders—teachers, preachers, evangelists, podcasters, influencers—on pedestals. Oh, they’re so spiritual. They never get down. They never struggle with depression or anxiety like I do. Every day is great for them. Not true. Every spiritual leader you admire is just as human as you are and struggles with vulnerabilities and weak moments, just as you do.

The devil knows that the most vulnerable time for many Christians—leaders and laypeople alike—is right after a spiritual victory. Maybe you’ve experienced that. Maybe you took a bold step of faith to do something for God’s glory, and it went well. But immediately afterward you faced a spiritual attack. Maybe your marriage foundered. Or your kids turned from Christ instead of to Him. I’ve experienced these attacks. Waves of depression have hit me after great spiritual victories, such as any crusade we’ve ever done.

Don’t focus on your emotions. Focus on God. Remember, you’re not as good or as bad as people think you are. You’re God’s servant. Just do your job. Give Him the glory and keep moving, whether you’re a leader or a layperson.

If you’re married, you and your spouse can work together to keep one another on an even spiritual keel. You can lift up one another or gently keep one another grounded, as necessary.

Understanding that leaders are as human as you are helps you resist the urge to put them on pedestals. It helps you be more realistic about your expectations for them. It helps you empathize with their responsibilities.

Perhaps most importantly, though, it encourages you to pray for them. The best thing you can do for the spiritual leaders in your life is to ask God to give them the strength, compassion, wisdom, discernment, and patience they need to accomplish God’s work.

Reflection question: What prayer requests will you take to God on behalf of the spiritual leaders in your life?

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“Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it.” (James 4:17 NLT)

Name a reason you might not use a gift that someone gave you. (You can imagine that you’re playing Family Feud, if it helps you think better.)

Maybe the gift isn’t practical—you have no use for it. Maybe it’s not your style or size. Maybe you think you don’t deserve it. Maybe you don’t have a good relationship with the gift giver.

Now name a reason you might not use a gift that God gave you. That’s a harder one, isn’t it? It’s not a theoretical exercise. God has given you a gift. The apostle Peter wrote, “God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another” (1 Peter 4:10 NLT).

Since God is the One who gave it, your gift is perfectly practical. And since He created and knows everything about you, it’s exactly your size and style. It’s true you don’t deserve it—but then again, none of us deserves any good thing from God. He gives because He’s merciful and gracious. And if you want to enjoy a healthy relationship with your Gift Giver, you’ll learn how to maximize your gift.

If that’s not motivation enough, there’s always James’ words in James 4:17: “Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it.”

There are countless people who will benefit from your putting your spiritual gift to work. If you choose to ignore your gift, you’re choosing to ignore them. You wouldn’t dream of neglecting your spouse or your family members or the people closest to you. And you should carry that same attitude toward the people in your church.

Romans 12:4–5 says, “Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other” (NLT). Christianity is not an individual pursuit. Everyone who trusts Christ becomes a member of His body. Biology teaches us that each part of the human body plays an important role. Your eyes, ears, fingers, toes, and internal organs all perform vital functions.

God’s Word teaches us that each member of Christ’s body plays an important role. Your role is determined by the spiritual gift God has given you. In 1 Corinthians 12:18, the apostle Paul says, “But our bodies have many parts, and God has put each part just where he wants it” (NLT). One verse earlier, he asks, “If the whole body were an eye, how would you hear? Or if your whole body were an ear, how would you smell anything?” (NLT).

His point is that God has a plan for His people to use their individual gifts to benefit the church, the body of Christ. He helps mesh believers’ different gifts so that they work together as one.

The takeaway is that we all have a part to play in the body of Christ. God has seen to that. If God has given you a gift, it’s irresponsible to not use it. Look at the words of James 4:17 again. And then ask God to show you what your supernatural gift is so that you can begin to use it.

Reflection question: How can you use the gift God has given you in your church community?

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