Michael Youssef - God, Just Tell Me What to Do

HARVEST HOUSE PUBLISHERS

EUGENE, OREGON

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GOD, JUST TELL ME WHAT TO DO

Copyright 2014 by Michael Youssef

Published by Harvest House Publishers

Eugene, Oregon 97402

www.harvesthousepublishers.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Youssef, Michael.

God, just tell me what to do / Michael Youssef.

pages cm

ISBN 978-0-7369-5297-2 (pbk.)

ISBN 978-0-7369-5298-9 (eBook)

1. Bible. JamesCommentaries. I. Title.

BS2785.53.Y68 2014

227'.9107dc23

2013045511

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To Roy Anthony Adams in thanksgiving for thirty years of giving me and my family faithful and wise counsel and advice.

I am grateful to Jim Denney and Don Gates for using their gifts to help make this book more relevant and practical.

Special thanks to the entire team at Harvest House Publishersand especially to Bob Hawkins Jr., LaRae Weikert, and Rod Morris, who shared my dream and helped to enlarge the vision of this book.

Finally, thanks to the people of The Church of The Apostles in Atlanta, Georgia, for their constant encouragement and support. They were the first audience for this message, and they helped me to refine the message with their questions and helpful comments.

Contents

P eople used to cross the Amargosa Desert in western Nevada on a lonely, seldom-used trail. There was just one spot along the trail where hardy travelers might find drinking water for their journey. At that spot there was an old-fashioned pump with a tin can tied to the handle. Rolled up inside the tin can was a note that read:

This pump is all right as of June 1932. I put a new sucker washer into it and it ought to last five years. But the washer dries out and the pump has got to be primed. Under the white rock I buried a bottle of water, out of the sun and cork end up. Theres enough water in it to prime the pump, but not if you drink some first. Pour about one fourth and let her soak to wet the leather. Then pour in the rest medium-fast and pump like crazy. Youll git water. The well has never run dry. Have faith. When you git watered up, fill the bottle and put it back like you found it for the next feller.

(signed) Desert Pete

P.S. Dont go drinking the water first. Prime the pump with it and youll git all you can hold.

What do you think Desert Pete means when he says, Have faith?

First, Pete is telling the thirsty traveler to believe that theres water in the well, that the pump will work as promised, and that the well has never run dry. Hes also telling the thirsty traveler to take the risk of faith, to uncork the bottle of water and to pour every drop into the pump instead of yielding to the temptation to drink it.

Moreover, Pete is telling the thirsty traveler to take action, to add work to his faith, to grab the handle and pump it like crazy in order to bring more water out of the ground. And finally, Pete is telling the thirsty traveler to refill the bottle, bury it under the white rock, and leave it as he found it for the next thirsty traveler.

That is what faith means, as it is defined in the book of James.

The book of James is all about having faith, taking risks for that faith, putting that faith into action, and sharing the refreshment of authentic faith with others. The book of James is like a well of cool water in the desert of this harsh, dry life. Its not good enough to merely believe theres water in the well. We have to prime the pump, seize the handle, and vigorously put our faith into action.

Thats why Ive written a book that explores the practical insights of the book of James. I call this book God, Just Tell Me What to Do because James tells us how to set our beliefs into motion. It tells us, specifically and concretely, how to transform our creeds into deeds day-by-day.

Theres nothing theoretical about the book of James. Its filled with practical advice and insight on how to live for God, whether in the first century AD or the twenty-first century AD. The book of James is short enough to read in fifteen or twenty minutesa perfect length for todays on-the-go, high-speed-Internet Christians. Its made up of 108 verses into which James has distilled many clear, concise insights for living the life of faith in these difficult times.

These principles will transform our family relationships and friendships, our business relationships and church relationships, and even our interactions on social media. The instructions in the book of James will show us how to live effectively for Christ whether we are rich or poor, successful or struggling, on a spiritual high or in the valley of persecution.

If you need comforting, the message of James will sustain you. If you need to be confronted, the message of James will convict you and point you in the right direction. Because James wrote his letter to persecuted first-century believers scattered across the pagan Roman Empire, it still speaks to us todaytwenty-first-century believers who are increasingly mocked and hated by the pagan, post-Christian culture that surrounds us. We live in an age of conflict, and James has a message we desperately need to hear.

The book of James challenges the easy believism of churchianity, and urges us to take our faith to a deeper, more dynamic level. Real faith, James says, is demonstrated by action, not mere words. He wants us to know that the only faith that lasts, the only faith that has real meaning, is a faith that works .

The five chapters of the book of James pulsate with life-changing power. Whatever you are going through right now, the book of James has an intensely personal message for you.

Have you lost your job, your business, or your home? Are you struggling in your marriage? Have friends or family members turned against you? Have you lost your reputation? Are you being persecuted for your faith? Then James 1:1-12 is for you.