James 1:5

James 1: 5 - "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."

Wisdom can be defined as 'the quality of having experience, knowledge, and good judgment; the quality of being wise.'  Wise can be defined as having or showing experience, knowledge, and good judgment.

If you don't have the experience you feel you need, God will place you in situations where you can learn and grow in the ways you are lacking.  If you don't have the knowledge that you want, God will find ways for you to learn.  If you want to be able to have good judgment, He will provide the Holy Spirit and mentors in your life to help guide you.  It begins with reading His Word.

God won't get upset if you ask for wisdom.  He said he would provide and provide without lecturing you.  You can trust Him to keep His Word.  However be careful for what you pray for.  Some have prayed for patience and promptly went through situations that were stressful and tried their patience.  Instead I think one should pray for God's guidance and strength to get through what we are already facing.

In regards to the first half, "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God," I would like to turn you to Revelation 14:6 and Proverbs 2:2b.

Rev 14:6 - Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth - to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people.

Pro 2:2b - And apply your heart to understanding.  (Context is valuing wisdom.)

From there I would like to direct your attention to John 16: 13 which says, "However, when He, the Spirit of Truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come."  This verse tells us that the Holy Spirit will be our teacher teaching us whatever it is the God told Him to say.

Finally 1 Cor 2: 6-16 says "However, we speak of wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.  But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.  But as it is written: 'Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love him.'  But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit.  For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.  For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit which is in him?  Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.  Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.  These things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.  But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; now can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.  But he who is spiritually judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one.  For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?  But we have the mind of Christ.

I want to summarize this and connect it to James 1:5.  When this was written 2000 years ago, the leaders of those times among the Christians and Jews alike did not understand the scriptures and how they pointed to Jesus and His sacrifice for us.  Afterwards though, those that sought God's will and leading were given that understanding.  The Bible means nothing to those who don't want to know or focus on secular viewpoints.  You have to love God and be open to His Holy Spirit's leading.  Otherwise that wisdom will not be understood by you.

The only way to be wise is to ask God.  He will then provide you with that wisdom.

Proverbs 2:3,4 says simply that you need to want wisdom and to focus on understanding it.  If you ask God for help in learning and becoming wise, He will help as a teacher explains a text to his student.

Deuteronomy 4: 29 says that if you seek God with all your heart, that you will find Him.

Jeremiah 29: 13 says that if you seek God, you will find Him.

Matthew 6:33 says that if you "seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you."  Seek first God's justice and being good, and everything else you could want will fall into place.

Back to the top, if you want wisdom then make God your love.  If He is all you need in life, you will be happy and want for nothing.  Why?  God is your life.  You will be happy and content with Him at the center of your life.  Why?  Because having Jesus is enough.  That right there is wisdom to intake and live.

Prayer Request

I would like to share a story with you about my friend Nicole. She really wants prayers on this... also their life has been difficult lately.  So trust please pray for them, that would be greatly appreciated.

"On August 31, I was involved in a fender bender. I was changing lanes, and a car hit me from behind on mine left back side. He was clearly speeding thru the red light as the strip of road from the light to where he hit me was only 100 yards. He was speeding so fast that his little two door car literally turned my car into the guard rail, I have a galloper, much like a bulky jeep. 

I panicked for many reasons, one having to do with the unfairness to expats here, one having to do with the mountain of recent stress, one having to do with Corey not being near me (which as an expat you dint have a community of family and friends to kean on) and one to do with all the chemical changes in my body from IVF...and I did something I never thought I would, I drove off. His car barely had a dent, and he was clearly ok. This is not like me, I usually always bite the bullet and take responsibility, but in a brief moment I committed a crime out of fear before I had the time to process everything. 

Corey went to the station the next day as was requested. I could not go with him as I was on bed rest after the egg procedure. He went in with the mentality that if he fully cooperates, pay the man the fullest damages he requested without fuss then perhaps they will see we are trying to remedy our wrong. 

The man said that the basketball size dent would cost 1,500$ to fix, we didn't question, we didn't argue we paid him, then he requested bogus hospitalization funds saying he was going to be in the hospital for over two eels because of his neck. We paid him the thousand he requested. 

Corey has always literally lived by the scripture that teaches "give to him that ask of you." mt 5:42. But apparently in korea Corey should not have accepted 100% of the blame and this will probably work against us now.

I did wrong, and acted outside of what I know is the right thing to do. I guess I am human and panic too. I must right the wrong I have done, and we haved tried to do that by paying the man in full of what he asked for. But in Korean law apparently there is no set fine for these things, once the officer "investigates" then a prosecutor can set any fine he would like, there are no standards, in fact the officer said one case was charged over $7000 for leaving the scene. again there are no standards. 

I am terrified that this one brief moment of irrational action is going to immensely set us back. I have wrote a letter of remorse and have begged for mercy, a common culture thing here apparently, so now everything from this point is out of my hands. I want to pray, but feel guilty because itis my wrong. But at the same time Corey and I have goals this year and paying out $10,000 would really really hurts those goals. In the end, our fines will rest in the hands of one person with no set limits, and being an expat I fear the worse. If you feel lead please pray that that person will take the entire situation into account and administer a fair fine."