Proverbs of the New Testament

A Relevant Study of the Book of James

By: Lara Velez, Founder of Moms of Faith

Copyright © AliBelle, LLC All Rights Reserved

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Cover Art: Dreamstime.com

Scriptures: Most Scriptures in this ebook are taken from the Amplified Bible stated otherwise. Amplified Bible, Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

Scriptures were also taken from the following versions:

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

King James Version. Scripture quotations marked "KJV" are taken from the Holy Bible, King James Version, Cambridge, 1769.

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Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION

TRIALS, TESTS AND PATIENCE

HOW TO ACQUIRE WISDOM, PART 1

HOW TO ACQUIRE WISDOM, PART 2

DOUBLE-MINDEDNESS

THANKFULNESS

MATERIALISM

PATIENCE WHILE GOING THROUGH TRIALS

TEMPTATION

COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS: BIG & SMALL

QUICK TO HEAR…

OBEDIENCE, PART 1

OBEDIENCE, PART 2

THE TONGUE

TRUE AND PURE WORSHIP

JUDGMENT AND MERCY

FAITH WITHOUT WORKS IS DEAD

MORE ON OBEDIENCE

PRICE OF LEADERSHIP

FORGIVING YOURSELF

GAINING CONTROL OF THE TONGUE

BLESSING AND CURSING

JEALOUSY, ENVY & SELFISH AMBITION

TRUE AND PURE WISDOM

THE GIFT OF PEACE

STRIFE AND CONFLICTS

WRONG MOTIVES

GOD’S ENEMY

WE SERVE A JEALOUS GOD

HUMBLE AND WILLING

SUBMIT AND RESIST

COMMITTING ADULTERY AGAINST GOD

GOD AND GOD ONLY IS JUDGE

THE FUTURE

GENEROSITY

PATIENCE

BE ON GUARD AND ALERT

THE COST OF COMPLAINING

ENDURANCE

RELIABILITY

PRAYER, PART 1

PRAYER, PART 2

PRAYER, PART 3

REACHING OUT…

FINAL THOUGHTS

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Introduction

James was one of Jesus’ brothers and was very familiar with His teachings. I am certain there were few who knew our Lord better. I am very excited to share this study with you…

The book of James has been called the “Proverbs of the New Testament”. I would venture to say that it is basically a “guidebook” for the Christian life. It is filled with valuable information that teaches us how to live and conduct ourselves in this world—and with others. It is my favorite book in the New Testament—so far.

This is a very in depth study. I encourage you to take your time and get the most out of it!

Trials, Tests and Patience

James 1:1-4

James, A servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes scattered abroad [among the Gentiles in the dispersion]: Greetings (rejoice)!

Consider it wholly joyful, my brethren, whenever you are enveloped in or encounter trials of any sort or fall into various temptations.

Be assured and understand that the trial and proving of your faith bring out endurance and steadfastness and patience.

But let endurance and steadfastness and patience have full play and do a thorough work, so that you may be [people] perfectly and fully developed [with no defects], lacking in nothing.

We will start with the original Greek.

Joyful - chara (khar-ah’): cheerfulness, calm delight, exceeding joy.

Temptations - peirasmos (pi-ras-mos’): a putting to proof, provocation, adversity, try.

Proving - dokimion (dok-im’-ee-on): a testing, trial, trustworthiness.

Bring Out - katergazomai (kat-er-gad’-zom-ahee): to work fully, accomplish, to finish.

Patience (both verses) hupomone (hoop-om-on-ay): cheerful endurance, constancy.

The Christian walk is filled with tests. Thankfully, when we fail, our loving Father allows us to take the test over and over and over again until we pass!

Simple example:

If I get cut off while driving and then step out in my flesh and yell out the window, beep my horn in anger and even flick them off, I am not exhibiting grace and mercy. So, God will allow me to take this test again.

Application: If we pay close attention, we may notice a pattern of the same seemingly “irritating” events happening over and over in our lives. It may well be God trying to teach us something! If we try acting the way HE would want us to, we may see how much easier it gets when tests comes a knockin’!

These life tests prepare us for Heaven and help us to grow and learn what life is like in a Kingdom. Our focus in life should be to please our God and to walk humbly before Him. Our lives are to be a light in this dark world and only a life of obedience can bring that about.

In order to obtain the fruit of patience we must go through periods of testing and trials. They are what make us strong and help us to learn patience. The trials are like a training ground. You don’t just get patience. You must earn it through experience and endurance.

Not only do we have to go through the trials, but we must be calm and have a cheerful enduring attitude--as if the trial itself wasn’t enough. I don’t know too many people that get excited over trials. The first thing that most of us do is ask God to take the trial away. Then we ask Him for patience. It is hilarious.

In this world we will have trials. There is no way out of it. It is part of life. However, even though we must go through these trials, our Wonderful and Mighty God threw in a benefit.

The benefit is that when we go through these trials calmly, with a good attitude, and stand strong in our faith, we will become fully developed and lack nothing. Can you imagine lacking nothing?

How to Acquire Wisdom, part 1

James 1:5

If any of you is deficient in wisdom, let him ask of the giving God, Who gives to everyone liberally and ungrudgingly, without reproaching or fault finding, and it will be given to him.

What an incredible verse! It makes me think of Solomon. He had the opportunity to ask God for anything, and he asked for wisdom. God was so moved that he didn’t ask for wealth that He made Solomon not only the wisest man to ever live, but also the richest! Wisdom is to be sought after much more than wealth. For with wisdom we can attain wealth and much more.

I would love to have an abundance of wisdom. There are times I wish I knew what to do or how to handle a certain situation. When we are given the gift of wisdom we have a direct line to the same wisdom that Solomon had: God given wisdom--the kind of wisdom that helps us to lead happy and productive lives.

Another thing that comes to my mind when I read this verse is ask and receive. If we go before the throne of God and ask Him for wisdom, He will give it to us. However, there is an “if” involved. We’ll get into that in part two.

So, we know there is a way to get this wisdom--now we will dig deeper into how to not only obtain this godly wisdom, but keep it…

How to Acquire Wisdom, part 2

James 1:6-7

Only it must be in faith that he asks with no wavering (no hesitating or doubting). For the one who doubts is like the billowing surge out to sea that is blown hither and thither and tossed by the wind.

For truly, let not such a person imagine that he will receive anything he asks for from the Lord.

In part one; we learned that we will receive wisdom simply by asking… well almost. There was an “if” involved. The “if” is what we will talk about in this lesson.

This is the key to anything that we want from God. We must have faith. Without faith, God is unable to grant our requests: for we must believe before we can ever receive. First, we ask, then we believe without doubting, and finally we receive--in God’s timing, of course.

I often wonder why we doubt God. All of us have doubted, will doubt, or are doubting God. It amazes me that we do this. Why would we doubt the Creator of all things? Why would we doubt a God that cannot lie? Why would we doubt the One Who sent His Precious Son to die for us? Why?

The only answer I could come up with is: our flesh. It is our flesh that doubts. Our spirit man knows how to operate in the spiritual realm. When we are living and walking in the spirit we are more likely to stand firm. However, when we step out in our flesh and start trying to figure things out. That’s when we doubt.

Our minds (a.k.a. flesh) cannot wrap around the things of God. And the things of God all operate in the spiritual realm. Our flesh cannot understand that God created time. Our flesh cannot understand how God can be three distinct Persons, yet One. Our flesh cannot understand how God can come down from Heaven and live as a man, and then die and be resurrected.

Even though our fleshly minds cannot understand many things, it does not change the fact that they are the Truth. When we renew our minds with the Word, we are letting go of our earthly, fleshly thinking (mind) and gaining the Mind of Christ. We begin to understand the things of God and we begin to trust Him.

Starting today, I challenge you to let go and let God. I challenge you to ask and believe. I challenge you to trust the One Who loves you, and will never leave you or forsake you. I challenge you to renew your mind daily. I challenge you to challenge yourself and get into the Word and learn how to trust your God.

Double-Mindedness

James 1:8

A man of two minds (hesitating), he is unstable and unreliable and uncertain about everything he thinks, feels, and decides.

Most people have probably been double-minded about something at one time or another. Some people may even struggle with it on a regular basis. Either way this is not a place that you want to spend a lot of time in. It is a very unstable and unhappy place to be.

When we are double minded we are not giving God 100%. We are giving Him just enough to get by and be considered a “good” Christian. If we are serving God with our whole heart then we have a close relationship already established with Him. And if we have a close relationship with the Lord we have no reason to doubt. We trust Him. We trust Him, because we know Him. We know that He does not lie. We know that He is true to His Word. We know His character. We have faith. We go from faith to faith. We give no place to doubt.

The only way to be free from double-mindedness is to develop a personal relationship with God and give Him your WHOLE heart…not just a piece of it.

How do we give God our whole heart? How do we know when we are not giving Him our whole heart? Let me list some examples for you. I may not hit on an area that you need to hear about, so, I suggest that you pray and ask God to reveal where you may be lacking in your dedication to Him.

Here are some examples of what hinders us:

You don’t attend church on a regular basis.

You don’t go to church because your spouse won’t go.

You think that it’s OK to tell “white” lies when necessary.

You become offended easily or regularly.

Your Bible has dust on it.

You can’t remember the last time you spent time with the Lord.

You get irritated when you are under conviction.

You frequently watch immoral programming and “feel” no conviction.

You rarely make prayer a priority.

You feel stressed out and/or irritable on a regular basis.

You have become very negative.

You feel like things are hopeless.

Your children (if you have them), various activities, friendships, hobbies, etc. are more important to you than spending time with God.

I could go on for quite awhile….

If you are experiencing two or more of these symptoms, then you may be someone who has begun to lose their focus. You are becoming desensitized. You are no longer pursuing God with your whole heart.

It does not have to continue. You can get joy, peace, contentment, and a sound mind. All you have to do is let go of the world and self. Then hang on tight to God. And begin a new relationship with Him. He is waiting with open arms for you. He longs for you to give Him your whole heart. He will cherish it and never break it. He is all you need. Begin to put Him first in your life and your life will become more than you had ever hoped it could be! (To go deeper into this topic, read “Holiness Revealed”)

Thankfulness

James 1:9

Let the brother in humble circumstances glory in his elevation as a Christian, called to the true riches and to be an heir of God.

In this verse we are being told that if we lack in finances, we should still be content. Content in knowing that even though we do not have earthly riches we are an heir to eternal treasure in Heaven.

This can be a very difficult thing. It is very hard to “feel” content when you don’t know how you will pay your rent or where your next meal will come from. I have been there. It can bring bitterness and frustration. It almost did me in. Praise God, though, He said He will never give us more than we can bear--even if we “think” we cannot bear anymore.

No matter what your financial burdens are, the way to break free of the mental poverty is to be thankful. And yes, there is ALWAYS something to be thankful for…

If you have arms and legs, be thankful you have them.

If you have eyes, be thankful you can see the beauty around you.

If you have a roof over your head, be thankful you are not in the streets.

If you have health, be thankful you have no diseases.

If you have children, be thankful for their laughter.

If you have a bed to sleep in, be thankful you are not on the floor.

If you had a meal today, be thankful you did. Many did not.

If you have even one outfit to wear, be thankful you’re not naked.

If you are reading this be thankful you can read.

If you have a car, scooter or bike, be thankful you don’t have to walk.

And…

If you are saved, be thankful that you won’t burn in hell for all eternity!

These examples were only to get you started. I’m sure you can come up with MANY more reasons to be thankful.

The most important thing to remember is exactly what James said, “Glory in your elevation as a Christian, called to the true riches and to be an heir of God!”

Materialism

James 1:10-11

And the rich person ought to glory in being humbled by being shown in his human frailty, because like the flower of the grass he will pass away.

For the sun comes up with a scorching heat and parches the grass; its flower falls off and its beauty fades away. Even so will the rich man wither and die in the midst of his pursuits.

Last chapter, we talked about lack and finding things to be thankful for. In this chapter, we will talk about having plenty.

These two verses can almost appear to scorn the rich. However, two things stand out to me.

The first is in verse 10. This verse is explaining that being rich may give you many material possessions, but it cannot protect you from the trials of life. When you are rich you are still human with human problems and circumstances. Remembering that will humble you…lest you get “puffed” up.

The second thing that stands out for me is in verse 11. Even so will the rich man wither and die in the midst of his pursuits. This is a very powerful statement. The pursuit of riches can be a very dangerous one. We can get so caught up in having material things and luxuries that we forget what is really important.

This verse clearly says that the person who spends all of their time pursing the riches of this world will die in the midst of it. Our purpose is to fulfill God’s purpose, not what our flesh wants. Money will NEVER make you happy. The treasure you earn that is waiting in Heaven is what our focus should be. That is eternal treasure where neither moths nor thieves can take it from us. When we put all of our time and effort into creating wealth in this world, we are fools. This is only a grain of sand in eternity.

Am I saying wanting wealth is wrong? NO WAY! I want to be wealthy and have requested it from God. However, my life does not revolve around pursuing it. It revolves around God and His will for my life. If HE makes me wealthy…YIPPEE!! If not, YIPPEE! Either way, I know that He knows better than I what is best for me. I also know that if having wealth would harm me or veer me away from Him, I would not want it. Sadly, I have seen this happen to people I know right before my eyes…

Another thing to remember: if God has blessed us with wealth, it is NOT only for us to enjoy and give scraps here and there. It is meant to further His Kingdom, help others when we see a need, give MUCH, and then think about ourselves.

When we spend it all on ourselves and only give a small portion of what’s left over, we are being poor stewards with what we have been blessed with. We will grieve the Holy Spirit when we are selfish. That is something that I never want to do.

Patience While Going Through Trials

James 1:12

Blessed is the man who is patient under trial and stands up under temptation, for when he has stood the test and been approved, he will receive the victor’s crown of life which God has promised to those who love Him.

Let’s start with the original Greek text for blessed.

Blessed - makarious (mak-ar’-ee-os): supremely blessed, fortunate, well off, happy.

That sounds good to me! If I am patient and stand firm when I am tempted and under trials I am blessed. It doesn’t stop there though. I also earn treasure in Heaven--treasure that no thief can steal and no moth or rust can destroy. It is a promise of God.

He wants to give us something we can have while we are here on earth. When we stand firm and remain patient under temptation and trial, we become SUPREMELY blessed. We gain true happiness. Why? Because, we are trusting and confident in our Mighty God and His Hand over our lives.

God also wants to give us an eternal reward for standing strong. He wants to give us a crown. I will wear mine proudly! I plan on getting that crown. I hope you do too.

Standing firm is an act of will. We must want to do it. It is never a matter of “can we?” It is always ONLY a matter of “will we?” God has given us the power to do all things. It is our job to receive that power and exercise it by faith.

Temptation

James 1:13-15

Let no one say when he is tempted, I am tempted from God; for God is incapable of being tempted by evil and He Himself tempts no one.

But every person is tempted when he is drawn away, enticed and baited by his own evil desires.

Then the evil desire, when it has conceived, gives birth to sin, and sin, when fully matured, brings forth death.

When we go through trials and temptation, we have this need to put the blame anywhere except the image in the mirror. We not only put the blame on God, but we put it on the world, our spouses, our children, other people, the way we were raised, our past hurts, and of course the most common one: the devil.

The truth is that God has given us free choice and if we choose to be tempted then we will be. We are the ones that get drawn away. We are the ones with the evil thoughts and desires. We allow ourselves to be baited.

When we allow it to go from a thought to an action, we sin, and when we sin, we are opening the door to death and destruction. This doesn’t necessarily mean you physically die. Depending on the sin, it could mean the death of a relationship, finances, dreams, job, spiritual death, and of course physical death.

The only way to really overcome temptation is to renew your mind. The only way you can renew your mind is to study the Word. Every sin that we commit started in our mind. When we allow our minds to go astray we are opening the door to sin and death. This does not have to happen. God has given us power over sin. God has shown us through His Word how to overcome sin and death.

However, it is our choice. We can choose to be overcome by temptations or we can choose to overcome temptation. Remember, we must submit our thought life to Him and stop the thought before it ever becomes a manifestation.

Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live! - Deuteronomy 30:19

Count Your Blessings: Big & Small

James 1:16-18

Do not be misled, my beloved brethren.

Every good gift and perfect gift is from above; it comes down from the Father of all that gives light, in Whom there can be no variation or shadow cast by His turning.

And it was of His own free will that he gave us birth by His Word of Truth, so that we should be a kind of first fruits of His creatures, a sample of what He created to be consecrated to Himself.

It is very easy to forget where our blessings come from. We remember where the “big” blessings come from (house, job promotion, etc.). However, many times we don’t realize that ALL good things come from God--even the tiny ones.

Have you ever noticed that when money is tight it seems like everything that you need is on sale?

Do you ever wonder how your clunker car still starts every day?

Have you ever been given grace for a late fee?

When it’s hot, have you felt a refreshing cool breeze on your face?

Have you ever found that perfect parking place?

Are you breathing?

There are many things that may seem like normal every day life. I am here to tell you the same thing James is telling us. Do not be misled! Every good thing comes from the Lord.

We should walk through life with our eyes wide open to His constant blessings. When ANYTHING good or positive happens to us, we should immediately thank the Creator of all things.

Another thing that we should realize from these Scriptures is: consecration.

He created us to be His very own. The best way that we can thank Him for life and Salvation is by dedicating our lives to Him and His purpose--making every day about Him. Every Christian on this planet should be living their lives for the Lord. Unfortunately, that is not the case.

Most Christians today, look like carbon copies of the world. That is a very sad thing. We as a Body, should be a shining example of the love and mercies of our Wonderful and Mighty God! We should be living lives totally and completely consecrated to Him!

Let’s stand together and begin to make changes in our lives for God. Let’s commit our daily lives to the One Who loves us more than His Own life. Let’s begin to look more like reflections of Christ than mirror images of a world that hates God.

Let’s show God how much we love and know that every good and perfect gift comes from Him--including our very lives.

Quick to Hear…

James 1:19-20

Understand this, my beloved brethren. Let every man be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to take offense and get angry.

For mans anger does not promote the righteousness God wishes and requires.

I am a strong woman with a sometimes big mouth. God is always having to deal with me about this. I have struggled with trying to be a good, quiet, Christian woman. Thank God I was delivered from that. God does not want me to become what I am not. He wants me to use my voice and strength for His glory. It is when I step out into the flesh that I become out of alignment.

I find verse 19 to be a challenge at times. I am not always quick to hear and I can whip a slew of words out faster than a thought can form. I don’t get offended too often. However, I ask God’s forgiveness on a semi regular basis for my temper. I am much better than I used to be--thank God. I am still a work in progress though and have by no means “arrived.”

The best advice I can give those of you who struggle in these areas is to keep pressing on. Keep getting into the Word. Keep asking God to help you. And one day you will wake up and realize how far you have come. It will happen if you choose to never give up and never let your mistakes get you down.

That is the key. The devil loves to make us feel like dirt. He loves to throw our faults and mistakes in our faces. In order to find victory we must begin to recognize these attacks and throw it back. Stand up against the little worm. He has no authority. He is under our feet. Jesus put him there. The only way he can get out from under us is when we let him.

Verse 20 is what keeps me from staying down when I slip. I do not want to be the kind of Christian that makes our God look bad. I do not want to be a poor example of my Beloved Savior. I want my light to shine so bright that every demon in hell will be blinded and people will know Who and what I stand for. That is why I write these devotionals: to encourage and equip you. My desire is to help you become all that God created you to be.

When you mess up don’t give up. Get up. Brush yourself off, and move on.

Obedience, part 1

James 1:21-22

So get rid of all uncleanness and the rampant outgrowth of wickedness, and in a humble spirit receive and welcome the Word which implanted and rooted in your hearts contains the power to save your souls.

But be doers of the Word, obey the message, and not merely listeners to it, betraying yourselves into deception by reasoning contrary to the Truth.

These are great verses. These are not merely milk. They are meat. These are very powerful Scriptures. Some of you may find this message too hard to swallow, and others may want to rise up and make a change. Let me explain…

As a Body we are filled with sin and worldliness. We do not separate ourselves from the ideas and foolishness of this world. Instead, we embrace it and “go with the flow.” We allow our children to watch and listen to things that we ourselves shouldn’t be. We then say that we must “choose our battles.”

We go to church and we put our Jesus stickers on our cars. However, do we really take the Truths of God to heart and walk them out? Do we even look like Jesus lives in us? Or do we do what makes us feel good? It’s like we are afraid to be who God called us to be.

We participate in conversations that I am certain we would not dare to if Jesus in the flesh was standing next to us. As a result, we become desensitized to the Holy Spirit’s conviction and remain light covered by the world’s influence and darkness.

I think that most of today’s Christians are hiding in a closet somewhere. No, I take that back. I KNOW that most Christians are hiding in a closet. I know this because;

         evolution is taught in our schools

         gay marriage is becoming more and more acceptable

         sex changes are not quite as taboo anymore

         innocent unborn babies are murdered daily

         television is filled with sex, drugs, and violence

         pornography runs rampant

         children have no respect for authority

         the countless gossip magazines (that WE also buy) at the grocery checkout

         we have the same if not higher divorce rate than the secular world

I can keep going…but, I think you get my point...

The Church needs to humble itself before the Lord. We need to do what the Word tells us. We need to live our lives for the Lord. We are aliens. This world is not our home. Why do we embrace it so? We embrace it because we are cowards. If even half of those who “claim” to be Christians would pry their way out of the closet and get a back bone, we would see incredible changes in the world. Instead we sit back and make it easy for the devil to run rampant.

If we do nothing and just “go with the flow” and remain closet Christians, future generations will grow up in a world unbelievably more wicked than what we must endure. We hold the future in our hands each day by the decisions that we make…

Obedience, part 2

James 1:23-25

For if anyone only listens to the Word without obeying it and being a doer of it, he is like a man who looks carefully at his own natural face in a mirror.

For he thoughtfully observes himself, and then goes off and promptly forgets what he was like.

But he who looks carefully into the faultless law, the law of liberty, and is faithful to it and perseveres in looking into it, being not a heedless listener who forgets but an active doer who obeys, he shall be blessed in his life of obedience.

The original Greek word for blessed in verse 25 is the same one from James 1:12: makarios (mak-ar'-ee-os) and means; supremely blessed; by extension, fortunate, well off: -- blessed, happier.

Again, we can see that God never asks us to do something that will not benefit us in some way. In this case, we can hold onto the promise that when we ‘live out loud’ and become active doers of the Word, we will be supremely blessed. Notice how it doesn’t just say blessed. It says supremely blessed.

When we live our lives as “closet Christians,” and never stand up for the Truth, we are hindering what God wants to give us. What could we possibly gain by being fleshly people and/or flesh pleasers? We will gain nothing but sorrow and disappointment, and never have all that Jesus died to give us.

The Tongue

James 1:26

If anyone thinks himself to be religious and does not bridle his tongue but deludes his own heart, this person’s religious service is worthless.

The original Greek word for worthless in this text is mataios (mat’-ah-yos) and means; empty, profitless, an idol, vain, vanity.

We all know that the tongue is a dangerous weapon. It can cause the same kind of destruction that a catastrophic category five hurricane can…and worse. The words we speak are either life or death. They cannot be taken back, and they are more powerful than you or I could ever imagine.

I know this from personal experience. Throughout my entire childhood my Mother blamed me for everything, and spoke very cruel things to me. She continually uses her words to this day to cause me pain. As an adult, I now know that she has many issues, and only when she makes the choice to submit her mouth to God will she change. However, the words spoken to me as a child/teenager/adult still ring in my ears. I must call out to God, and quote Scriptures with my mouth in order to get through those dark moments.

I share this with you because we must be very careful how we speak, and what we speak to our children (if we have them), coworkers, friends, family, etc. We must not be foolish and let our tongues run rampant. We must learn and train ourselves to be slow to speak and quick to submit our tongues to Jesus Christ.

There is another harmful consequence to letting our tongues run wild, and that is what James is trying to tell us. He makes it clear that when we allow our tongues to be used as a destructive force we are no longer effective in our ministry or service for the Lord.

And trust me, that does not mean you must be working in a church. If we are married, our ministry is our spouse. If we have children, they are part of our ministry. If we have job, our coworkers are our mission field. There is no escape from the call when you belong to the King. Letting our tongues run amuck will destroy anything we are trying to do as a Christian, and our testimony will be useless--as we tarnish the Name of our King through the foolishness of an unbridled tongue.

The tongue is an issue I can just keep going and going on like the Energizer Bunny. I will stop here though. However, if I remember correctly, James has more to say on the tongue later…

True and Pure Worship

James 1:27

External religious worship, religion that is expressed in outward acts that is pure and unblemished in the sight of God the Father is this: to visit and help and care for the orphans and widows in their affliction and need, and to keep oneself unspotted and uncontaminated from the world.

The first part of this verse clearly explains that worship that is pure and pleasing to God is unselfish. It is when we care for those in need with our wallets, time, and actions that we are truly worshiping God.

The second part of this verse is very interesting to me. James just told us that we must take care of those in need in order to really be expressing true worship. However, there is a very important word after that, “and.”

And to keep oneself unspotted and uncontaminated from the world.

As I mentioned earlier, the Church as a whole looks like a carbon copy of the world in many cases. The Church has embraced the ideas and ways of this world. As a body, we watch movies that we would never invite Jesus to come and watch with us. We read garbage gossip magazines that are filled with lies and information that is really none of our business anyway. We live our lives as “closet Christians.” We tolerate sin to the extent of participation. We have become desensitized.

We have forgotten our First Love.

God had this problem with the Israelites and I believe that what He said in 2 Chronicles 7:14 is fitting for the Body as a whole today.

If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land.

Prejudice and Favoritism

James 2:1-9

My brethren, pay no regard to people, show no prejudice or partiality. Do not attempt to hold and practice the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ together with snobbery!

For if a person comes into your congregation whose hands are adorned with gold rings and who is wearing splendid apparel, and say to him, sit here in this preferable seat! While you tell the poor man, stand there! Or, sit there on the floor at my feet!

Are you not discriminating among your own and becoming critics and judges with wrong motives?

Listen, my beloved brethren: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in the faith and in their position as believers and to inherit the kingdom which he has promised to those who love Him?

But you have insulted, dishonored, and shown contempt for the poor. Is it not the rich who domineer over you? Is it not they who drag you into the law courts?

Is it not they who slander and blaspheme that precious Name by which you are distinguished and called?

If indeed you really fulfill the royal Law in accordance with the Scripture, You shall love your neighbor as you love yourself, you do well.

But if you show prejudice and favoritism for people, you commit sin and are rebuked and convicted by the Law as violators and offenders.

We all have preconceived ideas about people. We stereotype, and yes, we have all been guilty of showing favoritism. James is pretty clear in these Scriptures that prejudice and favoritism are sin.

It does not matter if a person is of a different class, race, or education. We are all equal in the eyes of God, and as soon as we step out and become judgmental and stereotype we are stepping into some serious sin.

Think about it this way:

God’s chosen people were the Jews. When many of them rejected Him, He decided to allow us, the Gentiles to be grafted in. We are adopted. God looks past our faults, race, class, education, and sex. He looks into our hearts and loves us from the inside out.

We are all sisters and brothers. We are all children of the same God. We are all heirs to the same Kingdom. Let’s all start acting like it. Let’s all do what Jesus said to do and Love our neighbor as we love ourselves.

Judgment and Mercy

James 2:10-13

For whosoever keeps the Law as a whole but stumbles and offends in one area has become guilty of breaking all of it.

For He Who said, You shall not commit adultery, also said, You shall not kill. If you do not commit adultery but do kill, you have become guilty of transgressing the whole Law.

So speak and act as people should who are to be judged under the law of liberty, the moral instruction given by Christ, especially about love.

For to him who has shown no mercy the judgment will be merciless, but mercy exults victoriously over judgment.

We must always keep in mind that we are all saved by Grace. We cannot assume that because someone is sinning in an area that we see as a more “severe” sin than our own, that we are better than they are.

James makes it very clear here with the comparison of adultery and killing someone. James is pointing out that sin is sin. Just because you may not commit one type of sin does not mean that you won’t commit another type of sin. Sin is sin, and all sin is putrid in God’s sight.

When we show no mercy and judge others, we are forcing God to judge us with no mercy. We must never assume that we are better or know more than another. They may be struggling in areas that we do not struggle in, but we most certainly have our own sin struggles.

We all struggle with something. For example: smoking, swearing, over eating, lying, stealing, gossiping, lust, etc. Oh, yes, Christians struggle in these areas and many more. Who are you or I to judge though? It is no different to steal diapers from a Walmart than it is to lie to your sister or brother in Christ when you want to avoid having to spend time with them, because they “annoy” your flesh.

However, if we choose not to judge, and to show mercy, to pray for that person, and try to help that person; then we are operating in the realm of mercy and we have no worries. We have removed any judgment from us. We will also be judged with mercy.

This goes for self too. Don’t be so hard on yourself when you mess up. Take it to God, pick yourself up, and try again. The wonderful thing about God is that He is faithful to forgive when we repent. He loves you. He forgives you. Put yourself in His Loving Hands and He will help you through your struggles.

Faith Without Works is Dead

James 2:14-17

What is the use, my brethren, for anyone to profess to have faith if he has no good works to show for it? Can such faith save his soul?

If a brother or sister is poorly clad and lacks food for each day,

And one of you says to him Good-bye! Keep yourself warm and well fed, without giving him the necessities for the body, what good does that do?

So also faith, if it does not have works, deeds and actions of obedience to back it up, by itself is destitute of power, inoperative, dead.

The original Greek word for works is ergon (er’-gon) and means; an act, deed, doing, labor, work.

Faith is something that does not stand alone. There must be some kind of “doing” behind it to make it work, otherwise it is dead! Following are examples of faith that works, and faith that is dead…

FAITH THAT WORKS:

Mary has just lost her job due to downsizing. She is a single Mother and is in desperate need of a job. She calls out to God and asks for favor in her search for a job. She hits the pavement every day. And every day she prays and believes that God will provide for her and her children. By the second week, Mary gets a job that pays better than the one she lost.

FAITH WITHOUT WORKS = DEAD:

Mary has just lost her job due to downsizing. She is a single Mother and is in desperate need of a job. She calls out to God and asks Him to help her. She looks through the paper and makes a few calls a day. Then she sits on the couch and watches soap operas while waiting for someone to call her. She puts forth no real effort. She just expects it to happen, then, gets angry at God for not giving her a job. After all, she asked and believed didn’t she?

You can believe and believe and believe and never receive. If you do not step out and DO, then your faith is worthless and dead. Even when we accept Jesus as our Savior, it requires us to step out in faith and confess our sins and believe that we are saved. It requires an action. If we never opened our mouth to confess and receive then we would never have received Salvation.

It is the same for everything that we are believing for….

If we are believing for healing, then we need to be reading books and gaining knowledge about ways to promote healing, or we need to be attending healing services on a regular basis and keep pressing on. Oh, yes! God still heals miraculously today!

If we are believing for a job promotion, then we need to show up for work on time every day and put forth that extra effort. We need to be working as unto the Lord.

If we are believing for a financial miracle, we need to be obedient to what God’s Word says about money. We should tithe. We also need to be exploring practical ways to increase our income and gain wealth. We need to be good stewards with the money that we have now. We need to be thankful.

The point is; no matter what we are believing God for, we need to speak it out every day, open our arms to receive, and step out and do (responsibly, of course).

More on Obedience

James 2:18-26

But someone will say to you then, You say you have faith, and I have good works. Now you show me your alleged faith apart from any good works if you can, and I by good works of obedience will show you my faith.

You believe that God is one; you do well. So do the demons believe and shudder in terror and horror such as make a man’s hair stand on end and contract the surface of his skin!

Are you willing to be shown proof, you foolish unproductive, spiritually deficient fellow, that faith apart from good works is inactive and ineffective and worthless?

Was not our forefather Abraham shown to be justified (made acceptable to God) by his works when he brought to the altar as an offering his own son Isaac?

You see that his faith was cooperating with his works, and his faith was completed and reached its supreme expression when he implemented it by good works.

And so the Scripture was fulfilled that says, Abraham believed in (adhered to, trusted in, and relied on) God, and this was accounted to him as righteousness (as conformity to God’s will in thought and deed), and he was called God’s friend.

You see that a man is justified (pronounced righteous before God) through what he does and not alone through faith, through works of obedience as well as by what he believes.

So also with Rahab the harlot–was she not shown to be justified (pronounced righteous before God) by good deeds when she took in the scouts and sent them away by a different route?

For as the human body apart from the spirit is lifeless, so faith apart from its works of obedience is also dead.

In the last chapter, we talked about how faith without “doing” is dead--doing in the sense of not only believing God for something, but putting our faith into action.

Now, we see James go in another direction with faith and works. He talks about faith and good works of obedience. Again, we learn that it is not only what we believe that makes faith work. It is the action behind the faith that makes it a working faith.

It is believing and obeying. When God told Abraham to sacrifice his only son, Abraham did not hesitate. Why? Because he knew that God could not lie. He knew that God would keep his covenant with him. He knew and did not doubt. So, it made it easy for him to be willing to give his promised son as a sacrifice.

Look at it this way, when we are believing God for a financial breakthrough and we are selfish with the little that He has already given us, then we are not operating in good works of obedience. If we were, then we would know that it is better to give than to receive. We would know that unless we are sowing seeds we cannot reap a harvest.

Let’s say someone is believing God for a new car or house. However, the one they have is unkempt and dirty. If they were operating in good works of obedience then they would know that we must be good stewards with what God has already given us, before He can bless us with more.

There are countless examples I can give. Here are a few more…

You are believing for healing, but you’re eating unhealthy and/or smoking and/or some other unhealthy action…

You are believing God for a better job, but you are a slacker, or you’re consistently late, or you never quite do your best…

You are believing God for a better marriage, but you have yet to do what God tells you in His Word about being a good wife/husband…

You are believing God for deliverance in an area, yet you keep putting yourself in places and opportunities for temptation.

I will stop there.

The point that James is trying to make is this:

Faith is more than believing. It is doing. It is good works of obedience. It is believing. All of these things together are what make faith alive. All these actions together are what make faith work!

Price of Leadership

James 3:1

Not many of you should become teachers, my brethren, for you know that we teachers will be judged by a higher standard and with greater severity than other people; thus we assume the greater accountability and the more condemnation.

Before I knew that God had called me to something more than just wife and Mother, He began to slowly cause me to change my ways. He asked me to give up many things. I no longer watch what I used to watch or listen to what I used to listen to. It was very hard to give certain things up. However, I wanted to become all that He created me to be. I am still on that road to “becoming,” and will be until I die or Jesus comes back.

I did not understand why I had to stop watching and listening to things that I had been. After all, every Christian friend I had was doing it. God wasn’t pressing them to give up those things. Why me? I would ask God that almost every day. No answer. I slowly began to lose the friends that I had loved and known for so long. I guess I was no longer what they considered “fun.”

I became a little depressed, and wondered if something was wrong with me. I tried to go back and do what I stopped doing… I couldn’t. It was too late. Those things now disgusted me.

Fast forward to the present…I now know why God required me to give up certain things. He has revealed to me that I have a call on my life to teach wives and Mothers, and to equip my brothers and sisters in Christ. And, to help them rise up and become a force for the Lord and an example for the next generation.

When God asks you to step out and minister to others, you will be put under a microscope. Your life is no longer only about you. It is about others and God’s purpose for them.

If you are in leadership or feel called to it, do not be discouraged with what you must lose. I promise you that it is worth it and your reward will be greater than you could ever imagine. Do not let anyone or anything hold you back. Step forward and do what you were called to do. God will help you with the rest.

A word of caution is what James is giving us. He is reminding us that our lives will no longer be the same. He is making sure that we understand the HUGE responsibility we have and will have as leaders. Be ready to fight your flesh. Be ready to lose some friends. Be willing. Then get ready for the most wonderful, joyful, and incredible ride of your life.

Forgiving Yourself

James 3:2

For we all often stumble and fall and offend in many things. And if anyone does not offend in speech, never says the wrong things, he is a fully developed character and a perfect man, able to control his whole body and to curb his entire nature.

This is a very important Scripture to understand for those of us who beat ourselves up with every mistake. We will never be perfect while we live on earth. We can’t. There was only One perfect person and that was Jesus. He was the Only One and there will NEVER be another.

He died so that we no longer have to be slaves to sin. We will still sin, but it no longer has to control our lives. We have the power to overcome sin. As we grow in the Lord, we will most definitely sin less. The closer you get to God, the less and less you will want to sin. However, we are still human in human bodies. We still have a flesh and are still capable of making mistakes.

When we make a mistake, God wants us to repent and then receive His forgiveness. You see, when we ask Him to forgive us, He forgets. He chooses to no longer remember the wrong that we did. That doesn’t give us license to sin…that can be a dangerous game and is another subject. It does, however, give us the assurance that when we make a mistake, God loves us and will forgive us when we truly repent.

We are the ones who have a problem forgetting. We are the ones who seem to have this ridiculous desire to have a self loathing pity party that never ends. Who are we to throw the gift of forgiveness back in the Father’s face?

Gaining Control of the Tongue

James 3:3-8

If we set bits in the horses’ mouths to make them obey us, we can turn their whole bodies about.

Likewise, look at the ships: though they are so great and are driven by rough winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the impulse of the helmsman determines.

Even so the tongue is a little member, and it can boast of great things. See how much wood or how great a forest a tiny spark can set ablaze!

And the tongue is a fire. The tongue is a world of wickedness set among our members, contaminating and depraving the whole body and setting on fire the wheel of birth (the cycle of man’s nature), being itself ignited by hell.

For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea animal, can be tamed and has been tamed by human genius.

But the human tongue can be tamed by no man. It is a restless, undisciplined, irreconcilable, evil, and full of deadly poison.

I think that the tongue can be the most destructive force in a person’s life. I believe that what James is telling us in these Scriptures must be taken very seriously. The tongue is not to be taken lightly.

I agree that the tongue cannot be tamed. However, if we prevent the tongue from ever becoming contaminated we will have no need to tame it. It will already be under the authority of the Lord.

I am certain that our battle with the tongue begins in the mind. 2 Corinthians 10:5b says; …and we lead every thought and purpose captive into the obedience of Christ. We need to submit before there is ever a word said. When an unclean, wicked, or useless thought enters our mind--that is when we must reject it and submit it to the Lord. Let me try to give you a practical example from my own life…

Let’s say that my husband and I are having a nice day, and we decide to go for a walk. While on our walk a very attractive and scantily clad young woman walks into my husband’s line of sight. I see him take a quick peak and move on. At first I say nothing. However, I am thinking up a storm. I am thinking one or more thoughts like these; “Who does he think he is? I can’t believe that he checked out that bimbo! What a jerk! How could he do that with me walking right next to him? I guess I can’t blame him…I wish I had a body like that.” (You may think different negative thoughts. These were just for my personal example.)

After a few minutes of useless pondering, I may say something like; “I saw you looking at that woman, and I don’t appreciate it!” Then he may respond; “What woman?” Then I may lose my cool and a fight begins. Why? Because I let my thoughts run amuck. Then, I allowed them to form words that are pointless to say. Who really knows if he was lusting? A quick look is certainly not a sin, and allowing my thoughts to gain the best of me would only cause a ridiculous fight that I could have avoided by letting it go.

The point is, think about what you are thinking. If your thoughts are negative, or have the ability to go places that are unhealthy or pointless, then lay them down. Hold EVERY thought captive under the authority of Jesus Christ. Then they will never become a hurricane like force of words that have the power to destroy relationships. This was just one example. You can use this same concept with just about any annoying or troublesome situation.

Blessing and Cursing

James 3:9-12

With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse men who were made in God’s likeness!

Out of the same mouth come forth blessing and cursing. These things, my brethren, ought not to be so.

Does a fountain send forth [simultaneously] from the same opening fresh water and bitter?

Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives, or a grapevine figs? Neither can a salt spring furnish fresh water.

One thing that stands out for me here is a “two face.”

We have all been guilty of this to some degree. We put on a smile to someone’s face and when they are not around we say something rude about them or participate in gossip about them. It can also be something less dramatic. It can be as simple as being nice to someone’s face, but then not ever wanting to get to know them because of status or some other issue.

We are children of the King of Kings. We should never allow our mouths to become something that brings dishonor to His Holy Name. When people of the world see us participating in gossip or speaking rudely about another person, it gives our Savior a bad rap. It gives the world yet another reason to scoff at the Church. When we participate in such talk we look like hypocrites. We “say” that we are Christians and then we speak like heathens. We need to remember that we are the ONLY Bible that some people will ever read.

We also need to remember that we can affect other Christians too, especially baby Christians. We can either turn them off or mislead them into behaving as sinfully as we are. So, it is always best in all circumstances to speak with love and kindness. We should use our mouths to be a blessing to all who hear us no matter what and no matter who!

Another thing that stands out for me is our dialog. If we cuss and swear when we talk not only do we look uneducated, but we are speaking in a manner that we don’t even allow our children to. In school, if a child swears they may be given detention. Why is it OK for us adults to do it?

Speaking as a parent, I look at it this way. If I tell my children they shouldn’t do something, should I be doing it? What will I be teaching them? Living as a person who says, “do as I say, not as I do” is nothing more than a hypocrite. And that, my dear sisters and brothers, will cause our children to run from God not to Him when they grow up.

The bottom line is speak well of others and speak like intelligent God loving Christians! Our God deserves nothing less!

Jealousy, Envy & Selfish Ambition

James 3:13-16

Who is there among you who is wise and intelligent? Then let him by his noble living show forth his good works with the unobtrusive humility which is the proper attribute of true wisdom.

But if you have bitter jealousy, envy, contention, rivalry, and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not pride yourselves on it and thus be in defiance of and false to the Truth.

This superficial wisdom is not such as comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual animal, even devilish (demoniacal).

For wherever there is jealousy, envy, and contention, rivalry, and selfish ambition, there will also be confusion, unrest, disharmony, rebellion and all sorts of evil and vile practices.

Jealousy and envy are ugly emotions. Throw in selfish ambition and you have a recipe for pain. It is truly sad that churches, ministries, and Christian businesses “compete” with one another.

Recently, I was reading over some book proposal guidelines from a Christian publishing company. One of the things that they want is for the writer to investigate books that will be in “competition” with the writer’s book. I felt a sting in my gut when I read that. Don’t misunderstand; I understand that it is a business. However, when it comes to the Body of Christ there should be something deeper going on then just “business.”

We should all have the same goal in mind. We are all either helping the lost or encouraging other Believers. There should be a comradery, not “competition.” Even in my website dealings, I make it a point never to let the ugly head of “competition” creep in. I would rather partner with other Christian sites and complement each other than to compete. Our goals are the same…hopefully.

There are even rivalries in churches. There are denominational lines, my church is bigger than your church syndrome, we have the better church disease, and many more.

Why? What exactly are we competing for? Do we really think that God is smiling at such behavior? Didn’t Jesus say to love one another? To love our neighbor as we love ourselves? Shouldn’t the Church as a whole be concentrating on supporting one another?

I believe that rivalry, selfish ambition, and jealousy are one of the causes to the lack of power in the Church today. If we got over ourselves, stood together, and supported each other, we would change the world! For sure!

True and Pure Wisdom

James 3:17

But the wisdom from above is first of all pure; then it is peace-loving, courteous, considerate, and gentle. It is willing to yield to reason, full of compassion and good fruits; it is wholehearted and straightforward, impartial and unfeigned, free from doubts and insincerity.

I believe that there are two types of wisdom. There is the kind of wisdom that we gain through education and life experience; and then there is the wisdom that we gain from our consistent walk with God.

When we seek after the things of God and make Him and His ways a priority in our lives, we gain a type of wisdom that you cannot find in any book or class. It is a gift that the Lord gives you little by little. The closer you get in your relationship with God, the wiser you become.

It is not the same kind of wisdom that the world classifies as wisdom. It is a change in your heart and mind. It is an insight and understanding into the very character of God. Just look at the words that James uses to describe it. He says that the wisdom from above is pure, courteous, considerate, and gentle. Who does that sound like?

The more we seek God and the more we yield to His will, the more wisdom we will receive. It’s almost like fruit. I guess you can call it the fruit of wisdom--a gift from God: true and unblemished by the world’s kind of wisdom.

The Gift of Peace

James 3:18

And the harvest of righteousness (conformity to God’s will in thought and deed) is the fruit of the seed sown in peace by those who work for and make peace which means concord, agreement, and harmony between individuals, with undisturbedness, in a peaceful mind free from fears and agitating passions and moral conflicts.

Last chapter, we learned that true wisdom comes from a life dedicated to God. We receive this wisdom little by little as we grow. Part of this wisdom is learning to submit to God and His will for our lives.

When we lay down our desires and live our lives to please our God, we begin to want the things that He wants for our lives. We begin to turn from the sin that used to so easily entangle us. As we develop the wisdom that comes through a consistently submitted life, we also gain a “harvest of righteousness,” which is a peaceful mind set. We become people who seek peace rather than our own way.

This is a wonderful gift. It is a quality that can save countless marriages and relationships. If more of us would seek and strive for peace and harmony there would be a major decrease in our divorce rate and harmful conflict in the Church as a whole.

Unfortunately, the only way to get this gift is to receive the wisdom we talked about last chapter. And the only way we can obtain that wisdom is by letting go of “self” and grabbing onto God and His ways. That is the biggest obstacle in this pursuit.

Not many of us want to let go of “getting our way.” Not many of us want to give up the things that our flesh loves so much. Not many of us desire to be God pleasers. No, most of us are very comfortable living somewhere in the middle: somewhere not too radical and not too liberal, but just enough middle ground to keep us from real victory and blessings in our lives.

Will you make a change? Are you willing to step out of the middle ground and onto the Holy ground? Do you really want all that Jesus died for you to have? Do you?

Strife and Conflicts

James 4:1-2a

What leads to strife and how do conflicts, quarrels, and fighting originate among you? Do they not arise from sensual desires that are ever warring in your bodily members?

You are jealous and covet what others have and your desires go unfulfilled; so you become murderers. To hate is to murder as far as your hearts are concerned. You burn with envy and anger and are not able to obtain the gratification, contentment, and happiness that you seek, so you fight and war….

Conflicts almost always begin because someone either does not get their way, or people do not agree about something. When we get into arguments for these things, it comes from pride. We don’t want to be wrong, we don’t want to let things go, we don’t want to give something up, or we are just plain stubborn. When the Church allows quarrels and conflict to go unchecked, it weakens us. That is why our adversary works overtime trying to generate discord in the Body.

The only way we can overcome this is to recognize it, and then not allow it to manifest itself and disable the Church. Until we get over ourselves and start loving each other and being obedient children, we will continue to see the Church become more and more powerless.

James goes so far as to say that when we hate it is like we are committing murder in our hearts. That statement sounds a lot like when Jesus said that by simply looking at another person with lust, adultery has already been committed. These are HUGE statements.

It is an issue that begins on the inside. It is a heart matter. And where does it all begin? Our minds. Our minds are the first line of attack. The enemy sends all his forces to the mind, because he knows that if he can get our thought life, he will get our hearts.

The only way to protect our minds from becoming the devil’s playground is to consistently study…not just read…study God’s Word. Most Christians go to church, but few have an active and consistent life in the Word. Most of us are too busy making sure we don’t miss the next episode of our favorite show. Most of us hardly ever feed our spirits outside of our church visits. And that my friends, is why we have a Church that is overcome with the mind of the world, instead of the Mind of Christ.

If we would just set our hearts and minds on Him, we would have less discord and more productivity in the Church. And the devil would not have so much control over our entertainment, government, and the Body as a whole.

Wrong Motives

James 4:2b-3

…You do not have, because you do not ask.

Or you do ask and yet fail to receive, because you ask with wrong purpose and evil, selfish motives. Your intention is to spend it in sensual pleasures.

God is all about the heart. He couldn’t care less about how many nice faces we put on, church services we attend, and how much money we give away. He looks at the “why” not the “do.” He looks deep in our hearts to find our hidden agendas and motives that we even hide from ourselves.

You do not have, because you do not ask.

This tells me, if I ask, I can receive.

The next verse is the deal breaker though. When we ask: with the wrong motives, for selfish reasons, out of discontentment, for things that have no good purpose for our lives…we find ourselves frustrated and in want.

Why?

Our God is the ultimate parent.

He will only give us what is good for us and part of His perfect plan for us. For instance, He would love to give us His wealth…if and when we can handle it.

We may want something, ask for it, and never receive it. Not because God does not love us, but because He does love us. And He knows us better than we do. He knows what is good and bad for us.

So, when we ask God for something, we should first ask Him to clean our hearts of wrong motives. Then ask Him to show us His will for our life. Then make sure that we have an active personal relationship with Him. Finally, we can ask.

When we are walking closely with God we gain more and more of His character and we begin to want what He wants. Then, when we ask for things, it is not out of selfish motives. It is from a true and faithful heart. Knowing that all things are His and we are not complete in “things.” We are complete in Him. And if we lose everything, it is OK, because we know this and understand it!

For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body. So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority. - Colossians 2:9-11

God’s Enemy

James 4:4

You are like unfaithful wives having illicit love affairs with the world and breaking your marriage vow to God! Do you not know that being the world’s friend is being God’s enemy? So, whoever chooses to be a friend of the world takes his stand as an enemy of God.

Sometimes I feel like I keep saying the same things over and over. I guess God is trying to get this information to penetrate our thick skulls.

The Church, as a whole, is a pitiful example of what Jesus died for it to be. Jesus died for so much more than our Salvation. He also died so that we may have peace, joy, and a sound mind. He left us with a mission:  to tell others about His great love through our words and deeds. He left us the Holy Spirit to comfort us, and His Mighty Name to give us power. He did not intend for us to let the devil make the rules. He did not intend for us to become friends of this world through indifference.

The Body of Christ seems to be asleep, while our cunning adversary swoops in for the kill. Does that sound like a dramatic statement? I think it is an understatement!

Why?

To answer this, we must ask several questions.

If the Church was awake and active would there even be a hint of legalized same sex marriages in the air?

No. If the Church were awake there would have been a march on Washington like there has never been seen before. We would not let such a thing slip by.

Would there be pornography displayed at every turn?

No. Christian men would rise up and not tolerate such an attack on their minds. The Church as a whole would push for better laws to prevent our children from having to see these things when walking into a convenience store, and then have sexual sin problems as adults.

Would prayer be illegal in schools that we pay taxes for?

No. Honestly, I don’t know how we ever let such a thing happen.

Would the divorce rate in the Church be the same and even higher than the world’s?

No. We would align ourselves together and help marriages. We would prepare our young people for marriage. We would teach our children that a happy marriage isn’t about “feelings” and getting your own way. It is about giving, loving and forgiving for a lifetime.

If the Church were awake would the world have such a powerful hold on our entertainment?

No. Unfortunately, the Church has become desensitized. We watch things that I don’t believe we would ever watch if Jesus came to our house for dinner and a movie. We watch movies with language that we would never use in front of our pastors. We watch movies with sexually explicit scenes and then wonder why there is a huge pornography problem in the Church. Yes, the Church!

Need I go on? I don’t think so. I hope and pray that somehow the Church will arise from its slumber, grab their weapons, and put the devil back in his slimy evil place. If we do not, what kind of world will our children be left with? What are we teaching them with our apathetic reaction to the chaos that is whirling all around us?

If we do nothing, it is like leaving them alone in a dark room filled with vipers.

Can you live with that?

I can’t.

We Serve a Jealous God

James 4:5

Or do you suppose that the Scripture is speaking to no purpose that says, The Spirit Whom He has caused to dwell in us yearns over us and He yearns for the Spirit to be welcome with a jealous love?

The original Greek word and meaning for yearns is, epipotheo (ep-ee-poth-eh’-o): intensely crave possession, earnestly desire.

We can be certain that we serve a jealous God. He tells us Himself in Exodus 34:14 - For you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, Whose Name is Jealous, is a jealous impassioned God.

He longs for us to put Him first. His greatest desire is for us to love Him and pursue a friendship with Him. He wants to be our delight. When we put people, hobbies, habits, entertainment, or anything before Him in our lives, we are creating idols. Idols are not just golden statues. They can be anything and anyone.

Instead of writing a passionate speech on putting God first, I am giving you an assignment. I want to encourage you to make, yes make some time to sit down and really examine how you are spending your time (a serious self assessment) and where you find your most joy.

If you find that you have little time with God, then you need to make an adjustment in your life. Don’t get me wrong, there are people and things that are and should be important to us, however, nothing should be more important to us than our Father in Heaven.

We need to make sure that God is our top priority. When we do this we will be the person that He created us to be. And we will find a joy and fulfillment that is incomparable!

Humble and Willing

James 4:6

But He gives us more and more grace, power of the Holy Spirit, to meet this evil tendency and all others fully. That is why He says, God sets Himself against the proud and haughty, but gives grace continually to the lowly, those who are humble enough to receive it.

Verse four warns us that becoming a friend of the world is being an enemy to God. Verse five reminded us that we serve a jealous God, Who wants our whole heart. Now, we find out that He gives us the power to overcome this “evil tendency.”

The key to these verses is to remember that we must be humble and willing to receive that grace and power, or we will never get it. If we become filled with pride and think we can handle the sin in our life, then we are only setting ourselves up for trouble.

God loves us and wants to help us to overcome sin, self, and flesh. He wants us to trust Him with our lives, issues, doubts, and failures. He wants us to lay it all down at the feet of Jesus. He wants us to do this so that He can give us the grace and power to overcome it. When we really give our all to Him, then and only then can we really walk in victory!

Submit and Resist

James 4:7

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

The words in this verse mean pretty much what they say. However, I would still like to look at a couple in their original Greek meanings.

Submit – hupotasso (hoop-ot-as’-so): to obey: be under obedience

Flee – pheugo (fyoo’-go): to run away, to vanish

God always gives us the resources we need to live victorious lives. Many times we just don’t use them. James is telling us yet another way to overcome the enemy.

If we choose to live obedient lives, we gain more than joy. We gain power: the power to drive the enemy away simply by resisting him. He will literally vanish from us. That doesn’t mean he will never return. We will have to resist him until we die or Jesus comes back (whichever comes first).

Obedience to God helps us to more readily want to resist the devil. When we are walking in the flesh, we rarely even recognize temptations--because we are giving in to them so much that we have become desensitized. On the flip side, if we are walking in the spirit and living lives submitted to the Father, then we know and recognize when the enemy comes knocking.

And when we resist him, he leaves us because he knows that we will no longer entertain his foolishness in that area of our lives. The tricky part is to be submitted with our whole life. Not just pieces of it. We can be submitted in one area and have no problem resisting the devil. And then be totally out of alignment in another area and constantly battling him un-successfully.

If we choose to live obedient lives, it will be something we must pursue day by day and minute by minute. It is a constant decision to do God’s will and not our own. When we really get that and put it into practice, we will have many more victories than defeats.

Submit and Resist!

Committing Adultery Against God

James 4:8-10

Come close to God and He will come close to you. Recognize that you are sinners, get your soiled hands clean; realize that you have been disloyal wavering individuals with divided interests, and purify your hearts of your spiritual adultery.

As you draw near to God be deeply penitent and grieve, even weep over your disloyalty. Let your laughter be turned to grief and your mirth to dejection and heartfelt shame for your sins.

Humble yourselves feeling very insignificant in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you He will lift you up and make your lives significant.

Since verse four we have been on basically the same topic. Again, James told us in verse four that being a friend of the world is being an enemy to God. Here, he goes so far as to compare it to adultery. That blew my mind when I read it. I’ve read the verse before, but somehow it hit me differently this time.

Imagine how you would feel if your spouse committed adultery. Or maybe you already know the feeling. To think that by conforming to this world and becoming desensitized by its affects is like committing spiritual adultery against God!! Can you imagine how He must feel when we do that? We know that He has feelings. The Word tells us that in many places. We know that He gets angry, jealous, sad, and happy. Why would we ever choose to hurt Him so?

These verses really make me think. I think we should all ponder these Scriptures for a while and decide who and what we really look like. Are we examples of Christ? Are we living lives that show that to others who don’t know Him? Or are we so caught up in our flesh that we participate in ungodly worldly entertainment and look forward to the next guilty pleasure? Who do we want to hurt more? God or our flesh? This world and the ways of it are like a grain of sand in the vast eternity of time. Is it really worth “cheating” on our Savior?

One final thought….satan is the father of lies and the ruler of this world. And he is no light weight. He is out to destroy you and he will use anything to make you ineffective. Remember that when you make your choices. (ref. Ephesians 6:12, Romans 12:2)

Be well balanced (temperate, sober of mind), be vigilant and cautious at all times; for that enemy of yours, the devil, roams around like a lion roaring in fierce hunger, seeking someone to seize upon and devour. – 1 Peter 5:8

God and God Only is Judge

James 4:11-12

My brethren, do not speak evil about or accuse one another. He that maligns a brother or judges his brother is maligning and criticizing the law and judging the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a practicer of the law, but a judge of it.

One only is the lawgiver and Judge Who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you that you presume to pass judgment on your neighbor.

This is a “meat” kind of Word. It is certainly not for those of us who do not really want to grow.

We all like to assume that we know more, or are more “spiritual” than some of our brothers and sisters in Christ…even the unsaved. Oh, how we love to point our holy finger when we think that we have arrived somewhere or think we have more knowledge.

We judge others sins. We get critical, judgmental and even downright nasty because we must let everyone know that “WE” are right and not our opposers. My dear friends, it is not, I repeat NOT our job to judge. And if we do, we can be SURE that we WILL be judged by the same measure.

Matthew 7:1-3:

DO NOT judge and criticize and condemn others, so that you may not be judged and criticized and condemned yourselves.

For just as you judge and criticize and condemn others, you will be judged and criticized and condemned, and in accordance with the measure you use to deal out to others, it will be dealt out again to you.

Why do you stare from without at the very small particle that is in your brother’s eye but do not become aware of and consider the beam of timber that is in your own eye?

Be careful the next time you are tempted to get into a heated discussion about Halloween, Christmas trees, television shows, movies, mistakes and choices (sin) that others make, or anything else. None of us are in any position to tell another person what is or isn’t wrong. We must worry about our own conscience and walk. (Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. - Philippians 2:12) OUR walk is what we will give an account for…and how we judged our neighbor. It does not even matter if we are right. God is not impressed with that. He is impressed with how we love and show mercy. After all, didn’t we receive MUCH mercy?

I am considered a VERY conservative person. God has restricted many things from my life. I choose to obey Him and try to walk the walk He has laid before me. However, it is not my place to judge my brother or sister or assume I know more. It is my job to pray for them, love them, and show them mercy. Whether they are right or wrong is for God to deal with.

The Future

James 4:13-17

Come now, you who say, today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a city and spend a year there and carry on our business and make money.

Yet you do not know the least thing about what may happen tomorrow. What is the nature of your life? You are really but a wisp of vapor, a puff of smoke, a mist that is visible for a little while and then disappears into thin air.

You ought instead to say, if the Lord is willing, we shall live and we shall do this or that thing.

But as it is, you boast falsely in your presumption and your self-conceit. All such boasting is wrong.

So, any person who knows what is right to do but does not, to him it is a sin.

We make plans for the future…

We worry about the future…

We think about the future…

None of us know what our futures hold. It is rather foolish to think that we do, or to spend time worrying about it. We should put our future in the Hands of the One Who Created time. He knows best. We should submit our plans to Him and lay our worries at the foot of the cross.

Of course we should save for retirement and have goals for our lives. We need to plan for a future vacation and our children’s college funds. However, all of it needs to be submitted to God, and He must be included in all of our plans and decisions. When we do not include Him we are in sin. And that opens the door for the enemy.

This may sound silly, but we should include God even when we shop. That is the level of closeness we should be striving for. Ask Him to help you pick out a good melon, find the best deals and coupons, pick the best line, parking place, etc. When we acknowledge Him in all our ways throughout our day to day lives, we are building a close relationship with Him. And then when we want to make “plans,” we are ready to include Him and submit to His will…even when it may mean giving something up.

The bottom line is, we MUST learn to trust God with our past, present, and future. His Word says that He will never leave us or forsake us. His Word says that if He be for us, who can be against us? His Word says that He has a good and prosperous future for us. His Word says that He Is Truth, and that He cannot lie. Now we just need to believe His Word and Trust Him with the rest!

Generosity

James 5:1-6

Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you.

Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes.

Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days.

Look! The wages you failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty.

You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter.

You have condemned and murdered innocent men, who were not opposing you.

God does not bless His children with money so that we can be selfish with it. If we are business owners, we should be generous to our employees. If we are wealthy, we should give to those in need on a regular basis, not just send a check somewhere. It does not matter how rich or poor we are, we should always maintain a giving and generous heart.

Money can make the nicest people appear to be self indulgent fools. Especially when others see how much you have, and how your neighbor has very little.

We should not just be giving our “scraps” and “leftovers” either. We should give the way we would like to receive.

James paints these particular rich people as very self absorbed people. However, I do not think he is speaking to every rich person. It is not being “rich” that he is speaking of. It is being selfish with what is not ours in the first place. Everything that we have belongs to God, and we should ALWAYS be ready to give it away…no matter what it is.

Patience

James 5:7

Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains.

Patience is something that I have struggled with for years. I want what I want and I want it now! I am certain that I am not the only one. We live in a society of impatience. We have minute rice, fast food restaurants, express check-out, speed dial, online stores, microwaves…and the list goes on. We all want it our way, right away.

God is not about speed. He has been around forever, since before time. He is in no hurry. When we ask Him for things, we expect our answers ASAP. And He takes His time. He does this to teach us to trust Him.

If we would just slow down and take the time to see people and hear their needs, then we may understand that life is not about “I want it now.” It is about living our lives with purpose. It is about reaching out and shining light. It is about trusting our lives and everything about them to the One who created time with only His Words. When we learn to do this we will have mastered patience….

Mastering patience does not mean we will never struggle with it. It simply means that we will learn what it is and when it needs to be exercised. Yes, we may still struggle with it and we may still need to get on our faces before God because of our lack of it. However, we will become masters of how it works, and when periods of waiting come into our lives, we will learn to embrace them and trust. Yes, trust. Patience is learning to TRUST our King. After all, He is the One Who knows us best and will never harm us. How can we NOT trust Him??

Be on Guard and Alert

James 5:8

You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near.

Standing firm is what stands out to me in this verse. We must stand firm, because the Lord is coming soon. He will come like a thief in the night. He will come when we least expect it. Are we ready for Him? Will we be awake, alert, and ready? Or will we be caught sleeping?

In the Garden of Gethsemane (ref. Matthew 26:36-46) Jesus talks about “sleeping.” He is just about to take on the sin of the world and His heart is heavy. He leaves His disciples to keep watch while He goes to pray. When He returns, they are sleeping. He tells them to wake up and keep watch, and then he goes back to pray. He comes back a second time, and they are sleeping again! He becomes very disappointed in them and warns them not to sleep, but to keep watch lest they fall into temptation. (I encourage you to read these few Scriptures.)

Jesus is speaking of much more than just this moment in time with His disciples. He is speaking to us, the Church. He is warning us to be alert and keep watch. He is warning us not to fall asleep and allow those little foxes to come in and spoil our vines. We need to be on watch or we may fall into temptation.

Revelation 16:15

Behold I am going to come like a thief in the night. Blessed is he who stays awake and alert and who guards his clothes, so that he may not be naked and have the shame of being seen exposed!

We do not know when Jesus is coming back, but we do know that He is. And we do know that it is sooner than it has ever been. We must also realize that the enemy knows this too. And he is working overtime to lull us into a deep sleep. He does not want us alert in these final days. He wants us weak so that he can swoop in for a surprise attack. Don’t let this happen to you. Stay alert and be ready for the Master’s return.

The Cost of Complaining

James 5:9

Do not complain, brethren, against one another, so that you yourselves may not be judged. Look! The Judge is already standing at the very door.

We all find ways to complain in life. We complain about almost everything.

Gas – The prices are too high!

Restaurants – Our food was not cooked right or our service was not “up to par.”

Driving – Am I the only one on the planet who didn’t get my license from a cracker jacks box?

Church – The service was too long, too short, too loud, or not enough of something…

Children – When will they listen and appreciate me?

Husband – When will he put down the seat, take out the trash, and grow up?

Wife – Will she ever stop talking??

Pets – Will they ever smell better?

Grocery Shopping – Why is everything so expensive? Where are all the good parking spaces?

Do any of these scenarios sound familiar? Now come on… be honest… We are a society of complainers. Unfortunately, complaining will get you nowhere, except maybe to the drug store for a bottle of headache medicine.

If there is one thing that irks God, it’s murmuring and complaining. Just look at the Israelites. They could have gotten to the Promised Land in eleven days! Instead it took the forty years! And most of them never even got to see it. Why? Simple, they murmured and complained every day about every little thing. So, God just let them walk around in circles year after year…

How long have you been walking around the wilderness? Does it seem too long? Well, how much time do you spend complaining?

The cure for complaining is thankfulness:

Gas – Be thankful you have a car to drive and don’t have to walk.

Restaurants - Be thankful you have the money to go out to eat…or better yet, stay home and be thankful for a roof over your head.

Driving – Be thankful that you have some extra time to yourself or with your kids (if you have them) when you’re in a traffic jam.

Church – Be thankful that you live in a country that you can even go to church freely.

Children - Be thankful that you have them. Be thankful for hugs and kisses and their precious laughter.

Spouse – Be thankful that you are not alone and then find some positive things (even one) and focus on them.

Pets – Be thankful that they love you unconditionally and for the happiness they bring you and your family.

Grocery Shopping – Be thankful that you have food to eat and the privilege of shopping at a grocery store. Many people in the world don’t have that option.

The point I am trying to make is that no matter how big or small, there is ALWAYS something positive, and ALWAYS something to be thankful for in every situation. Yes, every situation. If we would focus on the positive, spend more time thanking God, and establishing a thankful heart, we would spend a lot less time in our self made wildernesses.

Endurance

James 5:10-11

As an example of suffering and ill-treatment together with patience, brethren, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord as His messengers.

You know how we call those blessed, and happy who were steadfast, who endured. You have heard of the endurance of Job, and you have seen the Lord’s purpose and how He richly blessed him in the end, inasmuch as the Lord is full of pity and compassion and tenderness and mercy.

In the Webster’s College Dictionary, endure means to hold out against, sustain without impairment or yielding. To bear patiently or without resistance, suffer without yielding.

I also looked up endure in the thesaurus. Some other words for endure are: sustain, withstand, experience, undergo, cope with, go through, suffer, bear up under, brave, last, persist, prevail, live, live on, continue, and remain.

Do you see how Amazing and Wonderful our God truly is? This life will have trials and tribulations. That is the cost of sin. There is no way out of it. Trials are part of life. However, our Glorious God still found a way to bless us: if we would just endure…if we would just remain in Him…if we would just persist and press on to the finish line…if we would just….

…without complaint…

We will be RICHLY BLESSED!

Praise be to our God!

Reliability

James 5:12

But above all, my brethren, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath; but let your yes be yes, and your no be no, so that you may not sin and fall under condemnation.

Have you ever had an unreliable friend? Have you ever been one?

Here are some examples of how we fail to obey this verse:

We make plans to do something with a person, a better offer is made, and we find an excuse to get out of our first plan.

We tell someone that we will do something for them and we do not.

When we are asked a direct question, we are vague.

We “swear” that we are “telling the truth.” We should not need to.

We expect someone to swear that they are being honest with us.

We are consistently late for things.

There are many angles that this verse can take. The point James is making is this: do what you say you are going to do. Mean what you say. Be honest and up front. When you make plans, take them seriously and follow through. Be there when you say that you will be there.

Yes, even being someone who is consistently late fails to be a reliable person. There is nothing worse than waiting around for someone who is chronically late. It’s one thing to be late once in a while. It is quite another to be late on a regular basis. It ruins plans, causes stress, is inconsiderate to others, and it makes your word worthless. Get ready earlier and manage your time better. Be there when you say you will be! Be considerate.

We need to be people of integrity. We need to be people who do what we say, when we say, and how we say. We should always be striving to be people who are known for being honest and reliable people. Christians should look and behave like our Lord desires us to! Our God deserves no less than our best. He gave us His best, didn’t He?

Prayer, part 1

James 5:13-15

Is anyone among you afflicted, ill-treated, or suffering evil? He should pray. Is anyone glad at heart? He should sing praise to God.

Is anyone among you who are sick? He should call in the church elders. And they should pray over him, anointing him with oil in the Lord’s name.

And the prayer of faith will save him who is sick, and the Lord will restore him; and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.

These are instructions to us to pray. We must pray. There is nothing more powerful and effective than when the saints of God pray. There is a list of verses that I want you to look up and study at the end of this chapter. Write them down. Learn them. Remember them when life happens.

We must never underestimate the power of prayer.

Try to spend time every day praying….even if it’s on the go…under your breath. Try to keep a constant line of communication going between you and God. Then when trouble comes, you will already be in the habit of prayer.

Reference Scriptures:

2Chronicles 7:14

Jeremiah 33:3

Psalm 66:20

Matthew 18:19

Matthew 21:21-22

Mark 11:24

John 16:24

John 11:22

John 16:23-24

John 14:13

1Peter 3:12&14

Prayer, part 2

James 5:16

Confess to one another therefore your faults, your slips, your false steps, your offenses, your sins, and pray for one another, that you may be healed and restored to the spiritual tone of mind and heart. The earnest, heartfelt, and continued prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available.

We just love to keep stuff buried inside. We wear our masks and hide behind them. We don’t want to share too much of our struggle or sin. What we need to realize is that when we keep our problems hidden, we are allowing room for the enemy to wreak havoc in our minds and lives.

He just loves when we keep it all bottled up inside. He knows that when we do this, we are crippling ourselves.

When we open up and share our struggles, we are allowing our sisters and brothers to pray for and with us—which is a powerful force for him to contend with.

And when the saints of God really pray there is great power available. Strongholds are broken… Diseases are healed…Breakthroughs begin to happen…and the power of hell is disabled.

So, the next time you want to hide or keep your problems hidden, remember what James has said. Remember that there is healing and restoration through the power of confession and prayer.

Prayer, part 3

James 5:17-18

Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years.

Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced crops.

In part one, I gave you several Scriptures to look up and study on prayer. And in part two, we talked about confession and prayer for one another. Now, we will conclude our prayer discussion with more details on the “power” of prayer.

The last part of verse 16 told us that our prayers are powerful and effective. Now in verses 17 and 18, James gives us one example from the Word on how prayer has worked. I want to give you more examples to encourage you and remind you that yes, prayer does work and should never be underestimated!

In 1Kings 17, Elijah’s prayers increased the widow’s oil and meal. His prayers also raised her only son from the dead.

In 2Kings 20:1-12, Hezekiah was healed through the prayers of Isaiah.

In Daniel 6, Daniel continued to pray to God three times a day even after a law was passed forbidding him to do so. He was then thrown in a lions den and because of his faithfulness to God, he was not harmed.

In the book of Jonah, Jonah disobeyed God and was thrown into the sea, and eaten by a fish. While he was there, he repented and prayed and God delivered him from the fish and forgave him.

If you take the time and do your own search, you will be surprised at how many great things happen through prayer. However, the greatest thing that we receive through the power of prayer is Salvation. We must speak out and pray to God asking His forgiveness and then inviting Him to live in our hearts. After we do this we are forgiven and grafted into the Body of Christ.

If you can believe and receive such an awesome gift as this, shouldn’t you trust God with all of your hurts, trials, needs and struggles through prayer?

Reaching Out…

James 5:19-20

My Brothers, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring him back,

remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins.

When we see that our brother or sister is struggling or has turned from the truth, we should do everything we can to lovingly bring them back to the truth. We should NEVER turn our backs on them.

I remember early in my walk, I was deeply wounded by a sister in Christ who was a leader in the church that I was attending. I was so hurt and confused by her actions towards me that I stopped attending church. I was not just a pew warmer at this church. I was an active member and ran the nursery. It wasn’t like I could just leave and no one notice. Anyway, I never got one phone call from anyone at the church. Not one person took the time to see if I was OK or anything. The result was a complete backslide. I totally turned from church and anything related to it. And I went back to a reckless lifestyle.

I share this with you because, if someone had taken the time to call me and find out what was going on, I would most likely never have backslid. Don’t get me wrong, I chose to turn away. No one “made” me do it. However, it hurt me even more, and it made me feel useless and un-cared for by people who claimed to care for me. It planted a seed of bitterness in me. And since I was still a babe in the Lord I was confused by it.

We need to take the time to “notice” others and care when things go wrong in their lives. We need to take the time to call that sister or brother who used to come to church faithfully, and does not anymore. Even if nothing changes, at least we reached out and showed the love of Christ. And a simple phone call or visit could save that person from a total turn from God, or like James said, even death.

Final Thoughts

I hope that you have enjoyed our study of James. I am truly thankful that God used him to give us insight into what our walk should look like. The Word of God is filled with so much Truth and help for all who reach out and grab hold of the promises therein.

However, before you move on and forget this relevant study, make sure that you have prayerfully examined your heart and the areas that God wants you to deal with in your life. I encourage you to read this study again when you need a refresher.

Let me leave you with some sobering thoughts…

Do not be deceived and deluded and misled; God will not allow Himself to be sneered at (scorned, disdained, or mocked by mere pretensions or professions, or by His precepts being set aside.) He inevitably deludes himself who attempts to delude God. For whatever a man sows, that and that only is what he will reap. - Galatians 6:7

We need to be careful not to fall into the trap of believing we can willfully live in sin and then at the end of our days hand God our Salvation pass.

Living the Christian life is far more than accepting Christ as our Savior. It is a lifestyle that we must choose. Yes, we will fail. We will never be perfect. However, we are still called to be holy and obey God. Salvation is not license to sin… and liberty in Christ does not mean “free to do my own thing.”

A true walk with the Lord is:

Dying to ourselves every day—even every minute.

Repenting when we fall into sin.

Allowing the Lord to work in us and yielding when convicted.

Trusting God and that His way really is the best for us.

Picking ourselves up when we fall on our face, and never giving up just because we are flawed!

You see, that is the beauty of it all, in and through our weakness, HE is glorified!

But He said to me, My grace is enough for you; for My strength and power are made perfect (fulfilled and completed) and show themselves most effective in your weakness. Therefore, I will all the more gladly glory in my weaknesses and infirmities, that the strength and power of Christ may rest yes, may pitch a tent over and dwell upon me! - 2 Corinthians 12:9

About the Author

Lara is a wife, mom, homeschooler, published author, ministry leader, speaker, and supreme multi-tasker! She is honest and forthright in her writing, and shares her heart, struggles, joys, pains, and the many lessons she has learned on her journey–in a relatable way that pulls no punches.

Besides all that, she is a chauffeur, friend, maid, chef, business owner, lover, confidant, mentor, teacher, seeker, nurse, boo-boo kisser, cat lover, coffee drinker, Starbucks follower, Mexican food addict, jean loving, sometimes loud mouth, opinionated, outspoken, web designer, iphone carrier, a teensy bit anal retentive, chocoholic, Survivor fan, Bible believing, animal lover, reptile and crawly things hating, speed walking, honest, working her way back to skinny jeans, and… One heck of a strong woman! (Among other things)

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“O God, listen to my cry! Hear my prayer! From the ends of the earth, I cry to You for help when my heart is overwhelmed. Lead me to the towering rock of safety, for You are my safe refuge, a fortress where my enemies cannot reach me. Let me live forever in Your sanctuary, safe beneath the shelter of Your wings!” – Psalm 61:1-4

You can find her:

LaraVelez.com

Facebook

Twitter

Smashwords

Moms of Faith

Real Christian Wives

More books by her…

Proverbs 31 Wife Handbook

Fruit of the Spirit Series

Proverbs of the New Testament (complete study of the book of James)

He Who Dwells (Psalm 91)

Table of Contents

Introduction

Trials, Tests and Patience

How to Acquire Wisdom, part 1

How to Acquire Wisdom, part 2

Double-Mindedness

Thankfulness

Materialism

Patience While Going Through Trials

Temptation

Count Your Blessings: Big & Small

Quick to Hear…

Obedience, part 1

Obedience, part 2

The Tongue

True and Pure Worship

Judgment and Mercy

Faith Without Works is Dead

More on Obedience

Price of Leadership

Forgiving Yourself

Gaining Control of the Tongue

Blessing and Cursing

Jealousy, Envy & Selfish Ambition

True and Pure Wisdom

The Gift of Peace

Strife and Conflicts

Wrong Motives

God’s Enemy

We Serve a Jealous God

Humble and Willing

Submit and Resist

Committing Adultery Against God

God and God Only is Judge

The Future

Generosity

Patience

Be on Guard and Alert

The Cost of Complaining

Endurance

Reliability

Prayer, part 1

Prayer, part 2

Prayer, part 3

Reaching Out…

Final Thoughts

About the Author