Month: August 2016

James 2:14,17   What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? …Faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. I grew up knowing that I am saved, not by what I do, but rather by my faith (Galatians 2:16).…
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James 2:1,13 My brothers, show no partiality… For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. In this passage James makes the powerful case that favoritism towards the rich, beautiful and successful at the expense the unfortunate (in our eyes) is equivalent to judging and in judging, we…
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James 1:27   Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world. I said previously that James was my favorite book. I am thinking of rescinding that statement. James is a mirror painfully reflecting the truth that…
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James 1:26  If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless. I’ve had a few people ask if a certain day’s blog is specifically about them. It never is. I am self-absorbed enough to always write about me. I would however, like to…
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James 1:22 Be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. I have heard a few thousand sermons in my life. I have forgotten most of them, not because they were unworthy of memory but because I have just been a hearer (and forgetter). James said however, that I am not to be…
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James 1:21 Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. When I was a kid, I drank strawberry shampoo because it smelled so good. In my memory, I got a couple gulps down before I appreciated the horrible taste. I was…
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James 1:19,20 Let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. I generally don’t think of anger as one of my primary defects, which may be why I act so badly when it does surface. When I do get…
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James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. As this blog is primarily about my daily walk with God, I am rarely going to write about politics. However, I have recently spent some time thinking…
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  James 1:14,15  Each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. I have developed a bit of an obsession with understanding my flesh nature and its desires. I certainly…
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James 1:13,14   Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. I have, in a display of my finest thinking, blamed God…
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