James 4:2 – Walking In Power with Nate Ortiz

Hey everyone, this is Nandertese here listening to Walking in Power.

And I want to talk to you about a passage out of James chapter 4 verse 2.

In this life, if you are a go-getter leader, there are things that you set goals for.

There's marks that you want to hit.

Levels success that you personally may navigate for yourself or determine for yourself.

But how we get things in life often speaks to our motives, whether they are pure, impure.

And we always want to get the things that we desire lives in the most appropriate ways,

the proper ways, the way that God's word lines it out.

Because there's times that if we're being honest, we can want certain things in life.

And it might be fueled by things that are not godly, might be pride, might be jealousy,

insecurity.

But there's things that God can give us a passion, desire and a heart that we go after.

And we go about it in a way that is honoring to God.

So wherever we get, when we achieve those goals or reach that destination, we understand

that we can point to God wholeheartedly with a pure heart and mind to say,

God did everything to have an able to accomplish.

Even the shortcomings, even the losses, God has still been there for me.

And I want to read James chapter 4 verse 2 because it touches on this topic.

It says, you want what you don't have so you scheme and kill to get it.

You are jealous of what others have, but you can't get it.

So you fight in a wage war to take it from them.

Yet you don't have what you want because you don't ask God for it.

Have you ever been in a place where you look around and you fight people are passing you

up or you don't feel like you're reaching your full potential?

I want to encourage you just a couple things to do.

First thing is when you're feeling that place of that things are going your way, you just

need to stop.

Take a moment to stop and evaluate.

So stop and evaluate your life.

The first thing I like to tell people is really evaluate where you are spiritually.

That is going to set the course for so many things.

But stop.

If I evaluate your spiritual life, when's the last time you've been praying?

When's the last time you've been to church?

When's the last time you've talked to someone else about what God is doing in your life?

Sometimes those answers, it's kind of hard to come up with.

But for honest, and we just stop and take a moment to say, you know what?

This pride or this jealousy or these other things are keeping up my life because I haven't

been in my word.

I haven't been in the place to say, God, what do you speak into me?

What are you doing in my life?

So it's important that we always do that.

Periodically, we stop in a evaluate to make sure we're heading in the right direction.

We've heard the leadership principle says you can get 1% better each day.

But guess what?

If that's true, the opposite is true as well.

If you aren't careful, 1% you can slide the other way.

And so you want to be someone who's able to stop and be reflective and think about what's

going on in your life.

So when you stop and evaluate, the next thing you have to do is begin to think about what

is the plan of action.

What's the plan of action that you're going to lay out for yourself?

So it's not just say, well, I need to grow in these areas and hopefully that happens doing

the same thing I've always been doing.

No, you have to stop evaluating.

Say, okay, these are areas I need to grow in.

Then what is your plan of action to say, God, with your help, what are the things that

you're asking me to do?

Because if you don't have a plan of action and you're just led by your emotions, you're

just led by your gut instinct or gut reactions.

There are going to be times where you're going to have just regret for I handle something

or you're going to handle things in an godly way.

And when you do those things, sometimes you find yourself always having to course correct

for one bad decision.

You tell one lie here, you do one thing, that's enough filled with integrity here.

Then you find yourself just always having a compensate or trying to maneuver a situation.

But when you are someone who has a plan of action that is honored to God, you're able

to move forward with that plan with all the effort, all the momentum that you have and

that God will give.

And God will lie at the door as God will, a lot of situations, God will put you in the right

place at the right time, but we have to stay faithful in that.

When you do all those things, you stop, you evaluate, you have a plan of action.

I think the last thing is when you go to God and say, God, what is this, what you have

for me?

The things that you maybe don't even have active in your life or be simply because you

haven't taken it to God in prayer.

You haven't been thinking about it or you're reading what the word says.

I think there's people I've seen in life that they either go to the place of, I'm going

to do this, this, this, this, this, this, and then they don't ask God, God, what do you feel

that?

What are you thinking?

Because we have to be people of action.

You can't be someone who just says, well, if God's going to do it, he's going to do it.

Now, you have to be someone who says, Lord, I'm willing to put this plan of action and

obviously it's going to be honoring to God.

You're not going to do something that's not honoring to God and ask God, hey, what do you

think?

You're going to do something that's going to be honoring to God and ask God, God, is this

the direction?

Sometimes I'll hear a definitive yes, right?

It could be relationships or business.

Well, there's times we'll hear a definitive yes and there's other times we'll hear a definitive

no.

But guess what?

There's a good chunk of time where you won't have a clear direction.

If I don't know what God's speaking, but the most important part is that you ask God

to go with you and everything that you're doing.

So when you think about just these decisions and where you are in life and the things that

you're trying to achieve, are you getting them in the best way possible?

The relationships, the accolades and business, the growth are these things that are honoring

to God and how you're going about them and getting them because if they aren't, you've

got to stop, you've got to evaluate, then you have to have a plan of action for things

as God, God, is this the direction that you have?

He is faithful and true to always show you where you need to go.

So listen, remember, as we just read in James chapter four verse two, to say at the end

here says, yet you do not have what you want because you don't ask God for it.

Ask God for the things that you're designing this life.

He'll show you the way.

He'll give you the path, he'll put you, punch in the right direction.

So I hope this has been a blessing and encouragement to you and walking with power.

I'll see you guys next time.