Sunday Morning 17th August 2025
James 4:1-6
Sometimes, we ask God to relieve our distresses and pains, but nothing changes. Why? James says it’s because trials are how a Christian matures into their likeness to Christ. So our main prayer should be that we’ll have the wisdom to respond well to them, rather than purely asking for them to end. But James’ hearers aren’t doing that. Rather, difficult times are triggering really bad behaviour in them, as they try to fix their lives using the world’s ways. That is utterly offensive to God, and certainly not what the Holy Spirit would teach them! So James calls his friends back to the path of faith, where God’s abundant favour will be found.
Photo by Fa Barboza on Unsplash
Sermon recordings
Unanswered prayer