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Lessons from James - 4

The 4th chapter of James focuses on worldliness. What is worldliness? According to the dictionary it is:

• 1. Of, relating to, or devoted to the temporal world.
• 2. Experienced in human affairs; sophisticated or worldly-wise: "an experienced and worldly man who had been almost everywhere"

Ok, now we have a better understanding of that word but what kind of worldliness do we need to be concerned with?  Listen to what James, the brother of Jesus says:

What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions^[a] are at war within you?^[b] 2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. ³ You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. ⁴ You adulterous people!^[c] Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. ⁵ Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”?

Friendship of the world has to do with trying to walk that line...you know the one, the line that lets us put one foot in the world and the other in the Lord/church. Well, it will not work. We cannot be a friend of the world and be acceptable to God.

James says we have to "humble ourselves before the Lord and He will lift us up."

Love Never Fails

Lessons from James - 3

Wisdom from Above

In the 3rd chapter of James we read about the tongue and James closes with a few remarks on wisdom. 

¹³ Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom.¹⁴ But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. ¹⁵ This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. ¹⁶ For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice.¹⁷ But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. ¹⁸ And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

How can we tell who is wise? James says it will be evident by their works. Not by their words or their abilities to teach or talk a good talk but by their works. These are sobering thoughts. Wisdom is from above. I refer you back to the 1st chapter of James...

⁵ If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.⁶ But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. ⁷ For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; ⁸ he is a double-minded man,unstable in all his ways.

Are you seeking God's wisdom or wisdom from the world. As I have been reading in I Corinthians this month I am reminded that Paul says the wisdom of the world is folly to God. (I Cor. 3:19) Whose wisdom are you seeking?

It’s All Good

Then God said to him in the dream, "Yes, I know that you have done this in the integrity of your heart, and it was I who kept you from sinning against me. Therefore I did not let you touch her.” 

[Gn 20:6 ESV]

Now that’s a rather intriguing verse, don’t you think? Mind-boggling, to say the least. But what encouragement! To know that the Omnipotent God is for us—to keep us from sinning. He is not some hardened ogre watching and waiting for us to mess up. Especially when we don’t mean to. He wants to keep us from sinning; for when we sin, we sin against Him, The One most hurt and offended.

 Here, Abraham had deceitfully claimed his wife Sarah to be his sister (for the second time!). Abimelech, king of Gerar, was not aware that she was another man’s wife. God approached this pagan in a dream, warning him so that he might then choose to do the right thing and be spared judgment.

 There are two aspects to this verse that encouraged me. First, there are times when there is more to a situation than meets the eye. We approach it with “integrity of the heart”, unaware that it will lead us to sin. Thankfully, God sees our heart. That is when, I believe, the Holy Spirit convicts us, pricks our conscience to heed and change our course of direction. 

And the second is the fact that God is willing and able to help us in our weakness to avoid sin. As He said to Abimelech, “It is I who kept you from sinning against Me.” The Great I AM, Creator of the Universe, Parter of the Seas, Sovereign Warrior is . for . us !

“Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”

 [Mt 26:41]

Jesus taught us to turn to God when tempted to receive power to overcome. He showed us what a holy life looks like, that our main line of defense is prayer. Calling upon the name of the Lord invokes the power of the Holy Spirit in order to defeat temptation. His brother James wrote that when we submit to God the devil flees from us. (Could that be where we get the saying, “run like the devil?”) 

May this thought encourage you to be empowered in your walk today, dear one. Whether in times of trial when we are vulnerable or times of plenty when we are comfortable. The tempter is always on the job--so is God. Turn to I Am in those times of tempting into deliberate sin and those times we become aware that we are unintentionally about to sin, when there's opportunity to choose to turn before it’s too late, that we may avoid hurting the God we love.

Lessons from James

I have faith and I am sure that you do too. But does it always show? How can you tell I have faith? James says that our faith is shown in our works. So, it is not just good enough to claim to have faith or to be a Christian. We must show it by our good lives, by our actions and by our deeds. 

James goes on to give us two examples or Old Testament people who were judged faithful not by what they said but by what they did. Look at Abraham. He did not just say he would obey the Lord. He actually prepared and set out to sacrifice his son because God had asked him to do it. Whew, I am glad He didn't ask me to do that!

Also Rahab. She was not even a Jewish woman...in fact, she was a prostitute, a woman of the night or even a "ho."  Whoa, James put her in his chapter on faith? Yes, check it out...
²⁵ In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? ²⁶ As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.

Get out there and show God your faith!

A Tiara Kind of Day

“The king loves your beauty.” 

[Ps 45:11a NCV]

She pulled it out of the basket, hidden safe beneath the seat of her walker.


She always has it on her . . . but she doesn’t always wear it.


Every once-in-awhile she places it high atop her head and sports it like she owns it.


It’s a tiara.


I wonder what provokes this occasional crowning. Is it a confidence in her royalty? Is it defensive—when doubt plagues? Is it a battle strategy to lift her assaulted spirit? Is it the escape of fantasy or just plain fun? Whatever the prompt or circumstance, cause or need, it suits her—for she is a daughter of the King. A beautiful, beloved princess with a rich inheritance.


As are YOU!

“Listen, my dear brothers and sisters!

God chose the poor in the world to be rich with faith

and to receive the kingdom God promised to those who love him.”
 [Jms 2:5 NCV]

Do you see yourself through that lens?


What if you did?

Wouldn't owning that truth change your perspective? In a good way?


Won’t it help us to better realize the worth of His children? God has made this truth known, knowing it would make a difference—effecting change in both our attitude and conduct accordingly. That it might encourage the low-esteemed, down-troddened. That it would empower us to act as royalty and hopefully treat others in the same regard.


Wearing that tiara is knowing you are loved.


And . You . Are!


You are loved by God, rescued by God, romanced by God, redeemed of God into the kingdom of His Son, the King.


Esther comes to mind—reluctantly crowned as the king’s bride for the sake of her people. She wore her tiara with strength, courage and wisdom.


Your tiara? It’s the radiance of joy and the gleam of hope of your salvation; the peace and contentment of your faith. It’s wearing the banner of the Name of Jesus, your crowning glory, in a noticeable way.

Wearing that tiara is knowing Whose you are.


So, c’mon ladies, don those crowns and let the world know you are the prized daughter of the King. Release the princess in you!


Everyday can be a tiara-kinda-day.

Lessons from James

I recently finished a month of studying the book of James. It is a wonderful book and I always love reading it. I once memorized and quoted the whole book at one sitting for a couple for Lads to Leaders. It has lots of good lessons and I will be sharing somethings that I have gleaned from my recent studies over the next few weeks. 

From James 1: ¹⁹ My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, ²⁰ because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. ²¹ Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.

²² Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. ²³ Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror ²⁴ and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. ²⁵ But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.

²⁶ Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. ²⁷ Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

Well, that is a mouthful. First of all, who of us is actually quick to listen? I know that for myself I am much more quick to answer than to listen. I am always working on this but I fail many times.

How about anger? I am one who likes to get it off my chest right away and be done with it. What about you? Do you like to simmer and dwell on it until it festers into an absess. Move on and forgive...forgiveness frees you not them!

We have all heard that sitting in a hen house does not make us a hen...so what about hearing the word of God and not doing it. Is that what a Christian should do? NO! We must hear it an do it...keep on keeping on.

Finally, our tongues. Oh my, James will talk about this one later too. I guess having a tongue problem is not just new to us today. But if we want our religion to be pure and faultless...we must keep ourselves from being polluted by the world. Let's make the Bible our standard as we decide on movies, laws, relationships etc...

How Much is Too Much?