Category Archives: Bible

James: Do Not Slander

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(Today is James 4)

“Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister or judges them speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor?”
‭‭James‬ ‭4‬:‭11‬-‭12‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Speak life!

Slander- . A false tale or report maliciously uttered. and tending to injure the reputation of another. (Webster’s 1828 Dictionary)

We are to be careful of how we talk about others. If we slander, or speak evil, of others, we judge them. We also judge “the LAW” —The one law that Jesus stated that completed and fulfilled all the others: 

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.””
‭‭Mark‬ ‭12‬:‭30‬-‭31‬ ‭NIV‬‬

When we speak evil of our neighbor, or our spiritual family — brother or sister in Christ, we are not loving them as we would love ourselves. So we have judged the second of the greatest commandments, that Jesus stated, as irrelevant to us. We are not keeping it or obeying it!!

Loving our brother and sister is to desire to benefit them and prosper them and to act accordingly to that desire. It is action. When we love we “do.” We display that love by what we do and say.

Our words must be used to build up and encourage, NOT defame and destroy.

“Who am I to judge my neighbor?” Jesus didn’t instruct us to judge (condemn/ punish – Greek) our neighbor…

He told us to love!

James: Surrender – Total Dependence, Total Obedience, Total Submission

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“Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.”
‭‭James‬ ‭4‬:‭7‬-‭8‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Submit- “To surrender; to yield one’s person to the power of another; to give up resistance.” Webster’s 1828 Dictionary

It amazes me how resistant to God I have been throughout my life. Often I have wanted my way, when and how I wanted it. Submission to God by surrender and total obedience was rare…

My lack of surrender also meant that I was experiencing a lack of peace, joy, and love. Because nearness to God cannot be achieved without obedience to Him! You and I will only experience death, darkness, and destruction when we pursue our own ways…

James gives us the key to a victorious life — total dependence on God, total surrender to God, and total obedience! Dependence occurs when we come near to God. Dependence is when we admit we cannot do it on our own. Surrender is when we submit our will, our ways, and our desires to Him. Obedience is when we do what He says. When we do these things we are resisting the devil who wants us to do the exact opposite. When our life is “in Christ” — totally, entirely, and completely His, the devil has no choice but to “flee from” us. That is because our choice to draw near to God is followed by His response to draw near to us. Our close relationship to Him is a place of safety.

Humble submission to Him will result in God Himself lifting us up to dwell with Him in His victorious life He gives!

James: Friendship With the World… It’s a Spiritual Affair!

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“You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.”
‭‭James‬ ‭4‬:‭4‬ ‭NIV‬‬

An adulterous affair will destroy a marriage. We are meant for a relationship of oneness with our spouse that no one else is invited to participate within. This is true of our spiritual relationship with God. “Friendship with the world…” or adopting the world’s “values and priorities, which are contrary to God’s.”(Berean Study Notes – Bible Hub) is “enmity against God.” Or “the quality of being an enemy.” (Webster’s 1828 Dictionary)

When we desire to live according to the ways of the world and chase after sin, we are choosing to pursue other lovers (spiritual adultery). Our love for God is less than our love for our selfish desires. We may wear the label of “Christian”, but our actions display the opposite. This simply will not work!

God “jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell within us.” (James 4:5) He desires for us to live in an intimate relationship with Him. He will not have competing lovers.

Is God the desire of our lives or are we consumed with chasing everything else?

James: I Am The Problem…

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(This week we are reading James 4)

“What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.”
‭‭James‬ ‭4‬:‭1‬-‭3‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Self focus is deadly!!! It produces fights and quarrels with others. It leads us to atrocious sins.

The self focused person wants what they want when and how they want it. Their theme is “it’s all about me…” But when we live our lives focused on us and our desires, we cannot receive from God. That is because our motives are wrong. Our desires are set on getting what we want — our pleasures.

If our lives lack peace and God feels distant, there is one phrase that will describe the root of what is going on. It is worthy of saying it out loud so understanding can come. “ I am the problem…” I need to get my eyes off of me and onto God who holds everything I need.

Life is not about me at all. It is all about Him!!! If my desires are set on Him, if I ask God for His provision from a heart that is surrendered to Him entirely, totally, and completely, if my life is all about God, I will dwell in God. His peace, joy, and love will fill my life.

“I am the problem” can be changed to “Jesus is the answer.” He is to be our lives. That is the only way to live as we were created to be.

James: God’s Wisdom vrs. The World’s

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(Today is James 3) 

“Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.”
‭‭James‬ ‭3‬:‭13‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Wisdom is the correct application of what we know. God is all-wise. He knows everything, because He is all knowing. His knowledge is complete, and He has the correct application for all the knowledge He possesses.

God’s wisdom is described in verse 17. 

“But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.”
‭‭James‬ ‭3‬:‭17‬ ‭NIV‬‬

God’s wisdom will be on display in the our lives when we truly know Him. What we know we will act upon as we listen to and obey the Holy Spirit. We will act humbly with deeds that produce good fruit.

However, if we are focused on our self, ignoring the voice of the Holy Spirit, we will be all about our own ways — self focused. We will know, or experience, our desires, our wants, our ways… this is far from experiencing the benefits of God’s Wisdom. What we experience will be the outcome of the world’s wisdom — “earthly, unspiritual, and demonic.” “Disorder and every evil practice” will abound.

God’s Wisdom vrs. the worlds. Life vrs. death…What will we choose to pursue?

James: A Little Salty vrs. A Whole Lot Living

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(Today we read James 3)

I grew up in southern Missouri near the Current River. It is a crystal clear river that is spring fed and fresh.

Every once and awhile my husband and I will take a vacation near the ocean. The one thing that impresses me is if I happen to get a little taste of the water in my mouth. YUCK! So Salty.

Our tongues are like a spring. What is down inside of us flows from our tongues in what we say. James says we are either a spring of “fresh water” or “salt water.” We speak either good from the good inside of our hearts or bad from the bad. H says, our mouths should not produce both “praise and cursing.” 

“Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring?…Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.”
‭‭James‬ ‭3‬:‭11‬-‭12‬ ‭NIV‬‬

As believers, we have the Holy Spirit living in us. His life will flow through us. Jesus described it this way: 

“Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.”
‭‭John‬ ‭7‬:‭38‬-‭39‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Our tongue — what we speak — must be under the influence of the Holy Spirit.

“A little salty…” is a slang term here in America for being angry and aggravated. We aren’t meant to be “a little salty.” We are meant to be “a whole lot fresh!”

The Holy Spirit wants to produce in us His fresh life giving water flowing from within. That is what God desires to flow out of our tongues!

James: The Tongue

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(Today is James 3)

Bit’s in horses mouths, rudders on ships… small objects can steer large objects. Our tongue is a small member of our body. (Verse 5) It can make great boasts. It “sets the whole course of one’s life…”. This is because what we speak is what comes out of our spiritual heart. What is inside of us will be displayed by what we say. (Luke 6:45)

When our tongue is motivated by a heart that is consumed with selfishness and sin, it is “a fire, a world of evil among the part of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.” (Verse 6) The truth is, “no human being can tame the tongue…” (verse 7)

BUT God can!

“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.”
‭‭Ezekiel‬ ‭36‬:‭26‬-‭27‬ ‭NIV‬‬

God gives us a new heart and fills us with His Spirit. He gives us His Word to meditate upon, memorize, and speak!

What is coming out of your mouth? When our tongue is submitted to God and His Word, speaking life, the course of our life changes. We will experience the life of God flowing out of us!

James: Be Careful Teachers!

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(Every day of this week I will be reading James 3 — Join me!)

“Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly” James 3:1 NIV

“We all stumble in many ways…” (verse 2) How true this is! It is important to guard our hearts. Sin is crouching at the door wanting to devour us. (Genesis 4:7) That is our enemy’s plan for us — steal, kill, and destroy. (John 10:10)

BUT, God has given us the way to keep our way pure:

“How can a young person stay on the path of purity? By living according to your word.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭119‬:‭9‬ ‭NIV‬‬

James 3:2 also tells us, “Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check.”

What we say matters! Jesus told us “the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.” (Luke 6:45) What is in your heart comes out! It will be on display for all to see. If your heart is full of the Word/ God, your mouth will speak the Word. What comes out of your mouth will build up and give life to those around you who need it desperately.

Teachers — One who instructs … a preacher; a minister of the gospel. (Webster’s 1828) — will be judged more strictly. We must present the Word accurately, not full of our own opinion.

We cannot take lightly the privilege that God has given us to share Jesus with those around us. People are watching us. They are listening to everything we say. Our words have power to influence others. This is why “we who teach will be judged more strictly.” Whatever capacity we are “teaching’ {instructing, informing, communicating to others the knowledge of that of which that person was before ignorant about God (Webster’s 1828)} — whether it be as a parent to our children, or a mentor to their mentee— we are influencing others for good or bad with what we say.

May our hearts be full of God’s Word and may His Word be the overflow of our lives! May we speak His Word accurately in every situation and circumstance! It is alive and active. It will produce good in our lives and in the lives we influence with what we say.

James: Is Your Faith Dead or Alive?

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(Today is James 2)

“As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.”  James 2:26

Faith is the assent of the mind or understanding to the truth of what God has revealed. (Webster’s 1828) It is receiving and believing the truth. Faith requires action! If we believe something is true we will act upon it.

In verse 25 of chapter 2, James refers to the account in the Old Testament of Rahab. She had HEARD of the great miracles that God performed for Israel in delivering them from Egypt. When she heard the truth, she BELIEVED that God was, “God in Heaven above and on the earth below.” (Joshua 2:11) She wanted to be on the right side when God gave the Israelites victory over Jericho. So she ACTED. She hid the Israelite spies. Her faith in what she had heard was alive! 

“So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭10‬:‭17‬ ‭ESV‬‬

God has given each of us a measure of faith. (Romans 12:3) We all have the ability to believe. The Word that is alive and active comes to us. The choice is ours. Do we receive the Word and act upon it with our obedience? If we do, we will experience life. But if we hear the truth in the Word and reject it by choosing to do our own thing, we will live in spiritual death.

If Rahab had heard the testimonies of what God was doing for the Israelites and continued doing what she always did, she would not have acted upon what she heard by hiding the Israelites spies. She and her family would have died with the rest of the people in Jericho who did not believe in God and act upon what they had heard about Him.

God’s word is inspired. Which means it is God-breathed. God’s breath of life is in His Word. When we receive His life being breathed into us through His Word, we will come alive and our actions will display the life of God within us.

Is your faith alive? Or is it dead? Do you hear the Word of God and obey it? 

“Faith without deeds is dead.”

James: “Screen Door on a Submarine”

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“You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did.”
‭‭James‬ ‭2‬:‭22‬ ‭NIV‬‬

(Today is James 2)

Faith without works is useless!

God has given each of us “a measure of faith.” (Romans 12:3) This is the capacity to believe, but we must act on it! Our actions “complete” our faith.

We can say we “believe there is one God.” (verse 19) And James says that is “Good! Even the demons believe that — and shudder.” The question is: “what are we doing with what we believe?”

If we truly believe that we have a loving Heavenly Father and that Jesus Christ came and died then resurrected from the dead in order to set us free from sin, do we live like we believe it?

Abraham believed God and the Scripture says, “It was credited to him as righteousness.” (Verse 23) He was put into right standing with God and He was known as “God’s friend.” He had a personal relationship with God. This relationship was reflected by his willingness to obey God no matter what the cost of obedience may be.

If you and I have faith and believe what God says, then we will act accordingly. In short, we will do it!

Coming to God in faith is just the beginning of what God wants to do in our lives. He wants to consume us! He wants us to receive His Word — what He says. He wants us to believe it to be true. He wants us to act upon it in obedience.

There’s a classic song by Rich Mullins that I am going to attach. Listen to its words and consider. Do I act upon what I believe? Or do I have a “screen door” on my spiritual submarine?