Foundations: James - Day 14

Read: James 5: 13-20

James concludes the book with a passage on prayer.  No matter where you are at in your prayer life there are truths that you can apply through these verses.  James begins with two short commands, first to pray when experiencing suffering and second to sing praises when cheerful (v. 13).  When you encounter difficulties is your first response to pray?  The automatic response for most believers when tough times come is to complain, throw a pity party or question God. But James says “pray”!  God often sends allows problems in our lives so that we will learn to depend on Him in prayer.  Those who do pray when they encounter tough times often just ask the Lord to bail them out instead of engaging and growing in prayer through asking Him about His purposes for the trial.  We all have a lot to learn about going deeper in prayer. 

Verse 14-15 talks about praying for sick people.  When discussing this topic we must be careful to look at the entire Bible and not just take one or two verses out of context.  We know that Jesus heals as He healed many people while He was on the earth.  The early church also experienced many healings.  But God does not always choose to heal.  Suffering is sometimes God’s will for believers and often in our best interest (Heb. 12:5-11; James 1:2-4; 1 Pet. 1:6-7).  In fact suffering can be for our eternal good.  We must not assume that all suffering is evil (not from God) and we should never condemn believers who suffer.   So, how can you pray for someone how is struggling with health and not receiving healing?  Pray for the ability to endure with joy, for a godly attitude through the pain, for godly character to grow, for spiritual fruit, etc. 

Verse 16b says, “the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective”.  The qualification for an effective prayer life is righteousness.  This does not mean that we have to be perfect in all things or else no one could qualify.  Elijah was not a perfect man.  Rather, to be righteous means to walk uprightly before God, confessing all known sin and striving to obey God.  Elijah is given as an illustration of a righteous man whose prayers accomplished much (v. 17-18).  James says that Elijah was just a plain, ordinary, man just like us.  He struggled with fear, depression and did not have privileged status before God.  Elijah lived in the time of the ungodly King Ahab.  He took on the Baal worshipers in a direct challenge and his prayers affected the entire nation.  Just like Elijah we live in ungodly times and we face circumstances that our far beyond our ability.  We are inadequate.  That’s why we are to pray!  Prayer acknowledges our need of God. 

The book of James concludes with verses 19-20 telling us that believers are responsible to help restore straying believers to the truth.  Believers can stray from the truth both doctrinally and morally although the two are often intertwined.  Every Christian has a part to play in encouraging believers to make godly choices.  We must not ignore sin!  Notice how this passage is also about restoration.  These verses don’t tell us to attack a person who has stumbled but rather to gently and lovingly help the person see the error of their way and bring him/her to repentance. 

Prayer and Journaling

1.   Thank God for hearing every one of our prayers.  He is a God who listens and He loves when we bring our requests to Him.  Ask the Lord to remind you of a time when He answered your prayer, thank Him for this. 

2.   Ask the Holy Spirit to bring to mind a prayer request that weighs heavy on you.  Ask Him to give you three key strategies that you can focus on in prayer and pray through for this request.  Pray through what you receive.  Commit to praying about these things over the next week. 

3.   Ask the Holy Spirit to give you a word/picture/impression of a promise(s) related to your request.  Thank Him for what He has brought to mind. 

Foundations: James - Day 13

Read: James 5:7-12

Today’s passage talks about how to respond rightly when you are wronged.  It’s not a matter of “if” you will be wronged, but rather “when” you will be wronged since we live in a fallen and sinful world.  As Christians we must learn to handle mistreatment rightly because God does not promise to protect us from being wronged.  According to James, the key in overcoming mistreatment is patience.  The Lord is returning as Judge and He will make all things right!  This should encourage us to keep walking in righteousness in tough times.  It should also be a warning because He will not just judge those who have wronged us He will also judge us.  The passage illustrated patience’s with the example of the farmer (v. 7), the prophets (v. 10) and Job’s perseverance (v. 11).  When the righteous suffer for no fault of their own, they must wait on the Lord to judge the wicked and reward them for their endurance. 

The theme of patiently enduring trials is woven throughout the entire bible.  When we read the prophets we find that following the Lord and serving Him does not protect us from all trials.  In fact, many of the prophets were persecuted because of their message.  Then there was Job, an upright and blameless man who feared God and turned away from evil (Job 1:1), yet he suffered tremendously.  God blesses those who endure, not those who quit.  This does not mean that we will always feel good about what we are going through – trials are hard.  The point is to submit to God in the midst of the trial.  We can only do this if we truly believe that God is in control of our hardships and that He has a purpose that He is accomplishing.  No matter how difficult our trials we must not doubt God’s goodness or love. 

The final verse in this passage (v. 12) may seem a bit out of place as it has to do with taking oaths.  The real issue is speaking the truth at all times as this verse is not a ban on taking oaths, such as in the courtroom.  In the last two chapters James has been discussing worldliness, wealth and pride which result in relational conflicts.  Here James is calling believers to truthful communication.  Truth is essential for trust.  Therefore let your “yes be yes and your no be no” (v. 12). 

Prayer and Journaling

1.   God is love and a God of justice.  Thank Him that He will right all things in His time.  Praise Him that we can depend on His justice and do not need to take things into our own hands.  Thank Him that by living in relationship with Him we can listen to His voice and know when to take a stand and when t to be silent. 

2.  Ask Jesus to remind you of an injustice you have experienced in your life.  Write down what you receive.  Ask Him to give you clarity concerning this injustice in the area of what He wants to accomplish in you through this injustice.  Thank Him for what He shows you. 

3.   If you are waiting for Jesus to do something in your life, ask Him if He may actually want you to do your part in taking steps and doing what is right even when you don’t feel like it.  What would these steps look like for you?

Foundations: James - Day 12

Read: James 5: 1-6

Today’s passage is written specifically to those who are living comfortably.  Those who struggle making ends meet can also learn some important lessons here.  Our culture values wealth but forgets that it can create problems.  Too many people falsely think that an increase in finances will solve their problems.  James warns us that wealth can actually bring more problems.  In this passage James is speaking out against those who exploit the poor and is warning them of coming judgment.  Wealth can be a dangerous trap that leads to eternal destruction.  We know that money itself is not evil; in fact, it can be extremely useful for growing God’s kingdom.  Whether money corrupts or brings heavenly rewards has to do with the heart of the one managing it, no matter whether he/she is rich or poor.  Nothing tests the character of people like how they use their finances.      

There are a few things that we need to consider from this passage. First, we are accountable for how we earn our wealth.  Are we good workers or do we spend hours fooling around on the job?  Are we being truthful on our timesheets?  Do we cheat or tell little white lies to make the sale? 

Second, what is our primary motivation in life – pursuing wealth or relationship with God?  Take a look at how you allocate your time.  Are you a workaholic to the neglect of your spiritual and family responsibilities?  What priorities are you modeling to your family?  What are you teaching your kids through your lifestyle? 

Third, we must be careful to manage our wealth according to biblical principles.  Overspending, being a tightwad, failing to budget, stealing or cheating others, paying unfair wages and ignoring those who are in need are all signs that there is something wrong with our attitudes towards money. 

Finally, we are to be careful in the area of self-indulgence (v. 5).  Self-indulgence is when we throw off restraint and discipline and yield to the desires of selfish appetites and cravings.  But it can also just be when we allow ourselves to have or do things we enjoy very much but which are not essential.  For example, food, sex, vacations, toys/hobbies, even friendships can all be self-indulgent.  We must be careful not to judge others but rather examine ourselves prayerfully and often so that we don’t fall into this trap. 

We must be careful to use our wealth not to indulge ourselves but rather to build into God’s kingdom.  It is the responsibility of each believer to be faithful to God through financial stewardship.  Those who trust in the Lord and who are living for eternity will be good stewards of the money and possessions that God entrusts to them.  God owns it all and we will give an account to Him of how we have used our resources.  Wealth can be gone in the blink of an eye therefore use your wealth to bring people to Christ.  If you want God to entrust you with spiritual riches in eternity then prove yourself to be faithful in managing your finances here on earth. 

Prayer and Journaling

1.   Ask the Lord to show you 5-10 of the ways that He has blessed you materially.  Thank Him for His goodness and generosity.

2.   Self-indulgence is when we throw off restraint and discipline and yield to the desires of selfish appetites and cravings.  But it can also just be when we allow ourselves to have or do things we enjoy very much but which are not essential.  Ask the Lord to show you an area in your life where you struggle with self-indulgence.  What does Jesus want to say to you about your heart concerning this area of self-indulgence?  Confess sin as necessary. 

3.   Pray that we would grow in using our resources wisely, not to indulge ourselves, but to build into God’s kingdom.  Pray that believers would grow in being faithful to God through financial stewardship. 

Foundations: James - Day 11

Read: James 4:13-17

This passage discusses how life is short and uncertain.  As with the previous section of the chapter, this passage speaks of the importance of humility.  Verse 16 confirms this when James writes, “you boast in your arrogance”.  Basically, he is saying that it is arrogant to say that you know Christ yet not bother consulting Him with your everyday decisions.  It is proud to make our own plans without consulting the Lord. These verses tell us that life is uncertain, “you do not know what tomorrow will bring” (v. 14). 

There are no guarantees in life.   We can try to make our own plans and control our own future but ultimately God is in control of our future and our successes and failures are dependent on Him. 

It is not wrong to plan for the future.  It is wise to have a will, to have retirement savings, investments, and future plans. Yet, we err when we arrogantly put our trust in our business ventures, savings accounts and stored wealth instead of putting our trust in God, who controls the future.  When we plan for the future we must remember that if the stock market fails and we lose everything our hope is not lost.  This really comes down to a heart issue.  So, buy the life insurance policy, invest, save but remember that there is no such thing as financial security.  It is impossible to plan ahead for all the things that could go wrong.  The economy could crash, the housing market could collapse, terrorists could overrun our country, investments can fail – trusting in God is the only source of security for the future.  Jesus wants to be functional Lord of our entire lives including our businesses and our personal finances. 

Doing things on your own, without consulting the Lord, is pride.  Many Christians profess to know God but practically they are atheists who don’t bring God into their everyday lives.  These believers falsely think that they have been successful because of their own hard work and smart business sense but they forget that everything they have comes from God by His grace (1 Cor. 4:7). That even includes the ability to make money.  The right thing to do is to take the Lord into consideration in all our endeavors, including finances.  Failing to do this is sin. 

 

Prayer and Journaling

1.   Thank the Lord for being Sovereign over the future.  Ask Him to show you an area of your life where He has been Sovereign – thank Him for this.  Thank Him for being Head of the Church. 

2.   Ask the Lord to show you an area of your life where you need to inquire of Him.  This could be for a decision, for your finances/personal budget, a work/family issue, etc.  Ask Him to show you if there is anything blocking you from receiving the truth from Him today. Deal with what He shows you (confession, etc.).  Then listen in prayer about what He wants to say to you about this area.  Commit to following through on any action steps that He gives you. 

3.   Pray for believers to move into deeper relationship with Jesus as functional Lord of their lives and for churches to invite Him to be functional head of their church.    

Foundations: James - Day 10

Read:  James 4:11-12

In the last devotional we looked at two ways to avoid interpersonal conflict.  Today we are going to look at a final way.  To resolve conflicts we must stop judging others (v. 11-12).  The root of judgmental words is pride – thinking that we are better than others.  There has been a lot of confusion in the church about judging others, mainly from the misinterpretation of the verse, “Judge not lest you be judged” (Matt. 7:1), so we will start by clarifying a few things.

  

First, it is not judging someone to be discerning with regard to his/her character.   Second, it is not judging someone to challenge someone about sin in his/her life.  The aim of confronting sin should always be restorative, protecting the church from sin and honoring God. Yet these things can be done with a wrong motive, which would then be judgmental.  Motive is everything! 

Judging others is when we criticize someone out of jealousy, bitterness, selfish ambition, etc. We must look at our motives for saying what we say to people and about people.  Are you sharing it to make yourself look good or to put the person in a bad light?  Do you think you are better than they are?  Are you subconsciously elevating yourself with your attitudes or are you truly seeking what’s best for the other person? 

Second, it is wrong to judge others according to your own personal convictions.  This is what the Pharisee’s did.  We often judge people according to our own personal preference and not according to God’s Word.  This can be true in the area of dress, entertainment, how money is spent, hobbies, food/drink, diet/exercise, parenting, etc. 

Third, we judge people wrongly when we act self-righteously without dealing with our own sin.  It is easy to think that we know everything about how someone else should be living their lives.  This reeks of pride.  Some even go as far as thinking that they know someone’s eternal destiny.  It is true that we can “know them by their fruits” (Matt. 7:16) but only God knows the heart.  There is only one Lawgiver and Judges (v. 12) and only He can tell someone they are going to hell! 

Prayer and Journaling

1.   Thank the Lord for being a righteous Judge.  All His judgments are true! 

2.   Ask the Lord to speak to you about a time when you judged someone wrongly.  Confess this as sin, then ask the Lord to show you the truth about this situation.  Thank Him for what He shows you. 

3.   Pray that you would grow in selflessness and humility so that you would make good judgments.  Pray that you would learn to discern wisely and know when to confront in love. 

Foundations: James - Day 9

Read:  James 4:1-10

Unfortunately, many Christian homes are full of conflict rather than peace.  This could be because many believers focus on the minor issues, overlooking the major ones such as love, kindness, and forgiveness.  Today’s passage applies to relational conflicts, whether in the church, at home, at work or at school.  The overall idea can be summed up as this – we are selfish people who need to submit to God through repentance, humbling ourselves before Him.  James gives us three clear steps when it comes to conflicts.  We will look at two today and one in the next devotional. 

First, when in conflict, look at your own selfish motives (v. 1-3).  James is saying that we shouldn’t point fingers at others with blame but rather that we should look within, at our own personal selfishness.  A big first step in resolving personal conflicts begins with taking a long hard look at ourselves.  This includes asking Jesus to show us where we need to take responsibility for wrong attitudes and actions, however small they may be.  We all have the tendency to seek our own good rather than doing what’s best for others.  The same is true in prayer - James mentions how people tend to pray selfishly, revealing motive issues. In relationships, selfishness will always lead to conflict.  The decision to put to death selfishness is not optional for believers. 

Second, to resolve conflicts we must submit to God, resist the devil, and repent (v. 7-10).  This will require forgiving others and asking for forgiveness when we have done wrong.  James writes, “draw near to God and He will draw near to you”.  We cannot be close to God and hold all sorts of bitterness, forgiveness or anger towards someone else.  If we think that we are near to God yet we harbour bitterness, jealousy, unforgiveness, anger, etc. towards someone then we have deceived ourselves.  Repentance is part of the process of drawing near to God.  This takes much humility.  Pride is at the heart of all disobedience and much of our relational conflicts.  God opposes the proud but give grace to the humble (v. 6).  When James writes, “Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.  Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom,” he is talking about thorough, heartfelt repentance for selfishness, pride and all other sin! 

Prayer and Journaling

1.   Ask the Lord to bring to mind a relationship issue that you are dealing with.  Then, ask the Lord to show you ways where you have been acting selfishly in that relationship.  Confess and commit to doing what is best for others. 

2.   Think about the relational problem you prayed about in question 1.  Ask the Lord to show you if you have any wrong attitudes (unforgiveness, bitterness, anger, etc.) that you need to repent of today. Confess if necessary. 

3.   Pray that you will grow in humility and selflessness in your personal relationships.  Ask the Lord to give you an encouraging word about how this will build positive relationships.  Pray for your life to exhibit love for others. 

Foundations: James - Day 8

Read:  James 3:13-18

Today’s passage is about God’s wisdom leading to harmony in personal relationships (v. 13, 17).  He contrasts this with worldly wisdom that leads to conflict.  It’s easy to claim to have wisdom, but James says, “Show me your wisdom by your life” (v. 13).  True wisdom is the ability to live in a manner pleasing to God, in constant submission to His Spirit, applying His truth to all areas of life.  The source of this wisdom comes from God and is “pure, peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial, and sincere” (v. 17).  Let’s look a little closer at each of these traits of godly wisdom.

1. Pure – usually this implies moral living but in this context it speaks more of motives and being free from jealousy and selfish ambition.  Our lives are to glorify God and not self! When we have disputes are we inclined to want to be right, even if it means hurting the person we are arguing with?  Motives must be pure or we’re not acting with godly wisdom.
2. Peace-loving – seeking peace in relationships is a common theme in scripture.  We are not to stir up controversy over petty issues.  We should never compromise doctrinal purity but neither should we fight over minor matters. 
3. Considerate/Gentle - this means that we forgive when we could condemn and that we make allowances for people’s mistakes. 
4. Submissive/Open to Reason – being willing to defer to others as long as core doctrine or moral principles are not at stake.  Wisdom will yield on minor matters, will listen to other’s views and change if proved wrong.
5. Full of Mercy and Good Fruits – it is easy to show compassion for someone who is suffering unjustly but it can be much harder to show compassion for someone who is suffering because of their own sin and rebellion.  Godly wisdom does both!
6. Impartial – not taking sides based on what someone can do for you. Wisdom holds firmly to the truth in love with no regard to personal benefit.
7. Sincere – wisdom does not mask or cover up, it does not pretend but rather is stable, trustworthy and transparent.

If believers would seek to live by these seven qualities, personal conflicts would be greatly minimized and relationships would grow!  Yet many of us don’t use godly wisdom, substituting instead worldly wisdom.  As a result we have conflict in our relationships. James lists five things about worldly wisdom (v. 14-16):

1. It is rooted in bitter jealousy/envy and selfish ambition – the key here is to look at the motives of the heart.  How do you handle when someone challenges your ideas or ways of doing things? Can you be happy when good things happen to other people?  Do you regularly make decisions based on what’s best for others or just do what’s best for yourself? 
2. It is arrogant/boastful - we must be aware of how easily pride creeps into our lives. Pride is a hard sin to expose because we often can’t see our own pride.  We need Jesus to show us areas of pride and confess them, breaking generational strongholds. 
3. It is false to the truth/denies the truth – this has to do with practicing what you preach.  You can know everything that a Christian should do but if you aren’t actually working hard to put it into practice then you are living a lie and denying Christ with your actions.   
4. It is earthly, unspiritual, and demonic – the source of worldly wisdom can be linked to Satan.
5. It results in disorder and every evil thing – the word disorder can be translated confusion, which means instability.  

James sums everything up in verse 18, “peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness.”  Peace must be cultivated deliberately and intentionally, it rarely happens accidentally.  .  Many people want good fruit in their lives but they forget that a good harvest is not accidental.  If you see a person or a home or a church or a business where there is unity, peace, love, respect, kindness, etc. then you can bet that it is because the people there have been working hard at applying godly principles (whether they realize it or not).    

Prayer and Journaling

1.   Is there peace in your home?  Are you at peace in your relationships?  Ask Jesus to speak to you about how you can apply godly wisdom to a specific circumstance in your life using the seven aspects of godly wisdom listed in verse 17.    

2.   Which of the five traits of worldly wisdom are you prone to?  Ask the Lord to speak to you about how you can exchange this worldly wisdom for His godly wisdom in your relationships. 

3.   Thank God for providing us with practical tools that we can use in growing harmonious relationships!