Tag Archives: James 5

December 21, 2023 Bible Study — We Must Accept Responsibility for the Temptations Which We Experience

Today, I am reading and commenting on  James 1-5.

James tells us that God does not tempt us.  In fact, he says that the Devil does not tempt us either.  Rather, temptation is a result of our evil desires.  Our own evil desires entice us to do wrong.  All too often, instead of thrusting these desires away from us, we entertain these desires until we take action on them, which is sin.  James makes the point that we should not attempt to lay blame for being tempted and the subsequent sin outside of ourselves.  We need to take responsibility for our own actions and recognize that our sins result from the choices we make.

James then gives some practical advice on how to live holy lives.  He tells us that we should put extra effort into listening and understanding, while keeping a tight rein on what we say.  Additionally, and just as importantly, we should resist getting angry, because human anger does not produce righteousness.  James tells us to get rid of the moral filth within us, which generates the temptations we face, and the evil that goes along with it.  Instead, we should accept and act upon the word which God has given us.  He repeats the need to control our tongues and take action to care for those in need.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

December 21, 2022 Bible Study — Learning To Not Say Anything Which Does Not Bring Glory To God

Today, I am reading and commenting on  James 1-5.

The letter which James wrote is full of many things which I would like to write about today, but I will only get to a few of them.  He writes that we should be quick to listen and slow to speak, and slow to anger.  I find it interesting that he seems to link speech and anger here by telling us that we should be slow to both while being quick to listen.  James also writes that we should not only listen to the word of God, but do what it says.  So, we should be quick to listen to God’s word, and then do what it says.  A little later James explains the importance of being slow to speak (and perhaps to a degree how that relates to being slow to anger).  He writes that if we can learn to regulate our tongue, regulate what we say, we will be able to control everything else we do with our bodies.  I believe that when James writes this he means that we should control both our outside and inside voices.  However, the first step to controlling ourselves is learning to not say out loud those things which do not bring glory to God.  As we do that we can gradually teach ourselves not to think things which do not bring glory to God (or perhaps I should say that we can be gradually taught by the Holy Spirit to not think anything which does not bring glory to God).

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

December 21, 2021 Bible Study — Ask God For Wisdom And You Will Receive It

Today, I am reading and commenting on  James 1-5.

James begins his letter by writing that if anyone lacks wisdom they should ask God for it, and God will give it to them generously.  However, when we ask we must believe and not doubt.  Later in today’s passage James writes that fights and arguments among believers occur because we desire and do not have.  He goes on to tell us that we do not have because we do not ask.  Finally, James writes that even when we ask we do not receive because we ask in order to please ourselves rather than in order to please God.  James makes it clear that we should allow godly wisdom to guide us in asking God to give us things.  At the beginning of the letter, he tells us that we should ask God for wisdom, following that up by telling us that God gives generously to all.  Then later James writes about distinguishing between true wisdom, the wisdom of God, and the wisdom of this world.  The latter contains envy and selfish ambition.  The wisdom of this world is about promoting oneself either to fame or to wealth (or to both).  On the other hand, true wisdom leads one to humbly do good deeds peaceably, with purity, and impartiality.  So, James tells us to request wisdom from God, and then to pray for whatever that wisdom leads us to desire.  If we have faith that God will answer our prayers offered with His wisdom, He will grant us our requests.  And how do we know that we have the faith needed to obtain that which we desire?  Because we act on the basis of that faith.  Or as I have written from time to time about Jesus’ statement that if we have faith no larger than a mustard seed if we tell a mountain to move into the sea it will move.  If we genuinely have faith that what God desires will come about by a mountain moving into the sea, we will pray for it to move and then grab a shovel and start moving it.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

December 21, 2020 Bible Study If We Start By Asking God For Wisdom, He Will Grant Us Everything We Ask Of Him

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on James 1-5.

I love the Book of James.  It contains so many lessons for us.   James starts off by telling us that we should take joy in whatever troubles come our way, because troubles test our faith.  The testing of our faith gives us the opportunity to grow our faith and as our faithful endurance improves we become better people. From there James segues into a topic which he comes back to later in this letter: if we lack anything, we should ask God for it.  In this case, James tells us that if we need more wisdom, God will provide it to us if we ask Him for it.  Later, James tells us that quarrels and fights happen among us because we want what we do not have, and we do not have it because we do not ask God for it.  Even when we do ask, we ask in order to please ourselves rather than to please God and others.

In the beginning when James speaks of asking God for wisdom he warns against seeking wisdom other than God’s.  Then when he later speaks of asking God for what we want he warns against seeking the pleasures of this world.  I cannot emphasize enough the connection between these two things.  The world considers wisdom to be those things which will show us how to obtain the pleasures of this world.  God’s wisdom shows us how to serve others in faithful obedience to God.  The foundational principles of godly wisdom teach us to do those things which are necessary to accumulating material possessions, which often misleads people into thinking that wisdom leads to the acquisition of wealth.  Thus, if we put our focus on the material instead of on God, we can be misled into following the wisdom of the world rather than the deeper principles of true wisdom.

I feel like I have failed to completely explain my title, please read the Book of James to see how he explains it.

December 21, 2019 Bible Study — Control Your Anger to Control Your Tongue, and Vice Versa

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.  

Today, I am reading and commenting on James 1-5

Every time I read the Book of James some part of it speaks to me.  Everyone knows that James puts an emphasis on the fact that faith will result in action.  You will act according to what you truly believe.  However, we spend less time seeing the connection James makes between what we say and what we do.  James tells us that we should control what we say.  He links speech we should avoid with anger when he tells us to be quick to listen but slow to speak and to anger.  He does not limit controlling our tongue to when we are angry, but he makes it clear that that is when we are most likely to say things which we should not say.  As important, we often justify saying things we should not say by claiming that we are saying it but would not do it.  However, the more we express angry thoughts, or other thoughts of negative things, the more likely we are to act on those thoughts.

December 21, 2018 Bible Study — Ask God for Wisdom, then act on what he gives us

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on James 1-5.

The Book of James may be my favorite book of the Bible. James makes a lot of good point and they are each logically connected to each other. He starts by telling us to rejoice in our suffering because suffering improves our endurance. or as the NIV translates it, perseverance (or as I have heard it said, “stick-with-itness”). The ability to stick with doing God’s will in the face of difficulty strengthens us and makes us better able to please Him, similar to the way that developing physical endurance makes an athlete better able to excel in his sport. James indirectly reminds us that wisdom will allow us to determine if we should take it as an opportunity to develop our endurance, or as a sign that we should change course. If we are unsure which it is, we but need to ask God for the wisdom to know and He will generously provide it.

I had not noticed before today how James makes a point, makes the next point, or two, then comes back and reinforces the first point. He writes about enduring suffering, then about asking God for wisdom, then about the poor not being inferior to the rich, then back to enduring. Next, he writes that it is not enough to listen to God’s word, we have to actually do what it says. This is a them he comes back to shortly when he writes that having faith is not enough. We must act on that faith. Believing in God does us no good if we still act selfishly. Even demons believe in God, but they are condemned because they rebel against Him.

Finally, James informs/warns us that in order to live our faith we need to control what we say. James tells us that if we can learn to control what we say, we can control all of our other actions as well. More than that, he reminds us of something Jesus said, what we say reflects who we really are. If we use foul language it is because there are foul thoughts and attitudes in our hearts. When we seek to stop using foul language because it is foul, and not just in order to present a better image, goes a long way to removing that foulness from our hearts and minds. Learning to allow the Holy Spirit to filter what we say transforms us into people who serve God in other ways. James words on this do not just apply to foul language, but to any ill-thought words we might speak.

December 21, 2017 Bible Study — Our Faith Is Demonstrated By Our Actions

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on James 1-5.

    James’ letter to believers starts with a theme from Hebrews which I wrote about yesterday: taking joy in facing trials and suffering. He writes that we should joyfully embrace the trials we face because those trials build perseverance and persevering in our faith in the face of trials will make us mature and complete, so that we will lack nothing of importance. James then writes that if we do not know how to endure those trials we should ask God for wisdom. We can be confident that God will grant us wisdom if we ask for it. If we do not receive wisdom from God when we ask for it, it is because we doubt the answers we receive. Later in the letter James returns to the theme of asking God for things. There he writes that the conflicts among believers are a result of wanting things we do not have, and we do not have those things because we do not ask. The main take away from where James writes about asking God for things is that God will give us that for which we ask, with a major caveat. If we selfishly ask for things we will not get them. Or to put that another way, if we ask God for things we intend to use in the worship of something other than Him (such as ourselves), He will not give us what we ask for. When we ask God for anything which will genuinely serve His purposes, He will grant our request.

    I want to write about the two themes which I think in many ways are the core of why James wrote this letter. I see them as connected to each other. James addresses a problem which comes up repeatedly; those who think that since we are saved by grace through faith and not by our actions that what we do does not matter. Writing here, James makes it clear that if our faith does not change our actions we do not really have faith. His point is really quite simple, you can tell what I truly believe by what I do. If I see someone who is hungry while I have food and I do not share with them, I don’t really believe that I should help them. We do not always do as we know, as we believe, that we ought. James acknowledges this and gives us advice on how to work on fixing it. He writes that we should start by controlling what we say. If we succeed in controlling what we say, in keeping ourselves from saying things we should not, the discipline we learn in this process will apply to everything else we do as well. Let us strive to align the words we speak with what we claim to believe. The lesson here is that we need to always choose our words to bring honor to God.

November 21, 2015 Bible Study – If You Want To Change The World, Pray

For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

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Proverbs 28:6-7

    I do not think there is anything I can add to either of these proverbs. Both make a very good point. The truly wise are able to learn from such distilled wisdom without repeating the mistakes that taught this lesson to someone else.

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Psalm 119:1-16

    If you want a life filled with joy seek the Lord. Do not compromise with evil, do not seek the lesser of two evils. Rather seek that which is truly good by consistently following God’s commands. This entire psalm is about the joys and benefits which come from listening to God. The joy does not come because we are obeying arbitrary commands. The joy comes because those commands instruct us how to get the most of this life by being who and what God designed us to be.

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James 5

    James warns us against allowing ourselves to believe that our wealth will save us, or even provide us shelter on the day of judgment. If we have failed to use our wealth to serve others, or even worse, if we have acquired wealth at the expense of others, that very wealth will testify against us on the day of judgment. It would be better to impoverish ourselves in service to God and others.
    Let us patiently wait for God to act. Let us avoid grumbling about those who take a different approach to serving God than we do, or who seem to be blessed while doing things we are called not to do. Instead, let us patiently serve God in the way in which He has called us, even when we suffer as a result while others seem to glide through life. Most importantly let us live our lives with such honesty that we will never feel the need to emphasize the truth of what we say with an oath.
    When things are going badly, pray! When things are going well, sing praises! These are two different forms of the same thing. We must never forget the power of prayer, especially the prayer of a righteous person. I am reminded once more that I do not pray as much, nor as deeply, as I ought. If you doubt the power of prayer, consider Elijah. He prayed that it would not rain and it did not rain until he prayed again asking for it to rain. If you want to change the world, pray. I am not saying that all you need to do to change the world is pray, but I am saying that it will take prayer to do so.

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Ezekiel 42-43

    This is a bit of a stretch, but it is where the Holy Spirit (or perhaps just my mind) went today. Ezekiel discusses the return of God’s glory to the Temple. In it he discusses how the people of Israel had defiled the Temple before the Exile by worshiping idols and venerating their kings with only a thin wall between their idolatry and the presence of God. In the New Testament it refers to our bodies and our minds as the new Temple. How often do we do something similar to what the pre-Exile Israelites did? Worshiping God with one part of our mind while reserving a place in our minds for things He detests (pornography, greed, selfishness, envy). If we put such things aside He will live within us forever.