If God is For Us, Who Can Oppose Us?

“What shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?” Romans 8:31

We learn from this passage to have confidence that God will always be with us. When I was little, I would get scared when a loud thunderstorm came through at night. However, I always prayed to God because I knew that He would hear me. Even if the storm was bad enough to kill me, I knew God would take me to His home where no storms and nothing bad would ever hurt me.

God loves His children and will never leave them. Though we may have to face bullies in school, sadness and disappointment when something does not happen the way we wanted, or loneliness, God is always there with us to give us strength and to listen as we open our hearts to Him in prayer.

When we pray, we should tell God all of the things that we are happy and sad about. We should ask Him to help us with problems and to help other people do what is right. God wants us to talk with Him and to share our feelings with Him. God can help us, and He is always ready to listen.

A favorite story of mine is in 2 Kings 6:15-17. The king of Syria was mad because every time he took his army to fight Israel, the king of Israel would move his army away before they arrived. The king of Syria thought someone in his army was telling the king of Israel where he was going to attack. One of the Syrians told the king that it was Elisha, the prophet, who warned Israel.

The king of Syria went by night and surrounded the city where Elisha was staying. The next morning, Elisha’s servant woke up and saw the Syrian army all around the city. He was very scared. He asked Elisha what they should do. Elisha was not scared.

Elisha said, “Fear not, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” Then Elisha prayed and God allowed Elisha’s servant to see the great army of God, full of horses and chariots of fire surrounding Elisha. Although Elisha’s servant did not see God’s army before, it was there.

Like Elisha’s servant, we cannot see God or know for sure what He is doing, but we have His promise that He will never, ever leave us or turn His back on us. God does not lie so we can trust that He is always with us, helping us.

Living Like A Champion

“Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.” 1 Corinthians 9:24-27

In 1 Corinthians 9:24-27, Paul compares the Christian life to running a race. Paul often uses examples from sports to teach about living as a Christian. Lessons we learn in playing sports can help us live better lives as God’s people.

Competition Most sports involve two people or two teams competing against one another to win a game. Each team will try hard to win. Paul tells us to live so that we might get our eternal reward. Some people, when they compete, do not really care and do not give much effort. But if we want to go to heaven, we must give our best effort. Satan is giving his best effort to win so we must fight even harder. We have God on our side to help us but He expects us to do what is good, resist temptation, and help other people learn about Him.

Rules Every sport has rules that must be followed. If you break the rules you will get penalized. If you break enough rules, you will lose the game. God has rules to follow in life. If we break His rules, He will punish us. If we ignore His rules completely, we will not get heaven as a reward. Some people think that they can make up rules or ignore some of God’s rules. However, God says that we will be judged by what He has revealed, so we must play by His rules.

Training Before a person enters into a competition, he often has trained for many hours to prepare for the event. He spends time learning what to do. He practices hard so he will not be tired when he has to compete. He eats good food so he will have the energy to compete well. He also prepares his mind for the event. Christians also train every day. Our spiritual food is the word of God. We do not put bad things in our mind from TV, movies, books, or video games so we can think the way we should. We read God’s word and learn how to use it, just as a person would learn to use a sword. We ask ourselves what God would want us to do in certain situations so we exercise our mind to think godly. These things help us train for opportunities to do good or to resist temptation when we fight Satan.

Prize God has promised His people a home in heaven when they die. Paul says we must prepare ourselves and try hard so that we will be able to go to heaven. Keep heaven in your mind so you will not be tempted to give up.

Avoiding Filthy Language

“neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks.” Ephesians 5:4

An easy way for people to know whether we love God or not is how we talk. If we use filthy words, people will think we do not love God.

When Peter denied that He knew Jesus, he “cursed and swore” that He did not know Him. Peter tried to prove that he had not been with Jesus and used filthy language to prove it. If people didn’t think Peter was with Jesus because of the way he spoke, what if we use bad language?

Imagine going to get a drink out of a water fountain. The person in front of you says, “Mmm, that water is good.” You get a drink of water and it tastes salty and bad! You try to drink again and it is delicious. James says that people who love God are not to be like this. He says that a spring of water does not give sweet and bitter water from the same opening, so Christians should not speak good things about others and bad things as well. We must control our tongues.

The memory verse says to put off:
Filthiness—Dirty talk coming from a dirty mind.
Foolish talking—Talking about things one should not talk about.
Coarse Jesting—Dirty jokes, joking about good things.

Paul says this is not proper for people who love God. We should speak good things that please God.

Be Swift to Hear and Slow to Anger

“So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.” James 1:19-20

This is an important verse for us to learn. Some people do not really listen when others are talking and get mad about something that they heard wrong. James tells us to listen quickly, but then answer slowly. We need to think about what the person has said. We should also be very slow to anger.

Some people have a quick temper. This type of person gets mad about things that are not important. They will throw temper tantrums if they do not get their way or pout if someone does not do what they want to do. We must strive to be people who do not get mad easily.

Not all anger is bad. Psalm 4:4 tells us to “be angry, and do not sin.” Even God is angry when people disobey Him. However, most of the time when we get angry it is about the wrong things. Anytime that we get angry and say mean or hurtful things to others it is wrong. We must learn to control our anger since ungodly wrath will not make us righteous and will hurt our influence for good.

How do we control our tempers? Breathe deeply or count to ten slowly and give yourself time to calm down. Remember that you will not think clearly if you are angry. Listen carefully and speak slowly. Pray to God to help you control your temper. Your example is important.

Ask God For Wisdom

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. James 1:5

One of the greatest blessings we can ask of God is wisdom to do what is right. When Solomon became king of Israel God gave him wisdom far above any man has ever had because Solomon asked for it.

James tells us to ask for wisdom from God. Wisdom is not the same thing as knowledge. Knowledge is an understanding of the facts. We only get knowledge through study. The more we study, the more we will know. This is why we should be studying a little bit of our Bible every day.

Wisdom is the ability to use our knowledge to make good decisions. We get wisdom from our experience. If you touch a pot on a stove and burn your finger, you quickly learn not to touch pots on the stove.

You can also get wisdom from other people’s experience. If you read or hear about someone who did some foolish thing and was hurt, or who did a good thing and was rewarded, you learn how you should and should not act. It is smart to learn from other people’s mistakes and success. The Bible is filled with such stories for our benefit.

But James says we can also pray for wisdom and God will give it to us as long as we ask without doubting. Pray every day for wisdom and God will give it to you.