A) James 5:12 states; Never take an oath: an oath is defined as to agree to a pledge of truthfulness or faithful performance. It has become a normal part of speech these days when people say, “I swear.” The truth is that I grew up with this. But in this context, it has to do with going to the extreme, because the person is swearing by Heaven of by earth. If your word is good, your word is good. If it’s sketchy, there’s abundant need to back up your word. Forget it. Just let your yes mean yes.

B) What should we do when things are hard? We should pray. I’m not going to explain what hardships are. You know what they are. Even if you are 2 years old, you know what hardship is. When you were born, somebody smacked you to clear your lungs and that’s just the start.

C) On the flipside of this, is the process of dealing with things are great. We often talk about how to handle adversity. But we also need to operate in the success realm. We can’t be “afraid” of success. We need to embrace it by…SINGING PRAISES TO GOD!