March 2026
Depending on God
INTO THE WORD
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To be a Christian is to depend completely and utterly on God. Believers in Christ recognize that they have nothing that they have not received from the Lord (1 Cor. 4:7). In the first place, we recognize that we have received salvation from God by His sovereign grace alone. The Lord is so gracious, however, that He not only saves us but also gives us many other blessings besides. As with salvation, we depend on God for these blessings.
Concluding our study of the epistle of James this month, we will see that Christian living is defined by dependence on God. In our study of James 4–5, we will read that the way to exaltation is to reject worldliness and humbly depend on our Creator as Judge (4:1–12). We will be reminded that God alone knows the future, and so we must depend on His wise providence in our planning (vv. 13–17). We will see again the folly of depending on our wealth and our need to patiently depend on God for our rescue in suffering (5:1–12). We will be exhorted to prayer as the fundamental expression of our dependence on the Lord (vv. 19–20).
God is the all-powerful Lord of all, and we are powerless creatures. May we therefore always depend on Him.
Abiding in the Word
- James 4:3
- James 4:10
- Proverbs 11:4
- James 5:16
- James 1:22