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If we don't have faith that God is in control we rely on ourselves to solve problems. If the problem is unsolvable, where's the hope? If we have faith, knowing God is in control, we have hope and can therefore rejoice in Him knowing that He will solve it in His time and in His way and His ways are much higher than ours which results in a far greater outcome than we can ever attempt. I know this to be true because His Word says so. To believe otherwise is to call God a liar. If I'm walking the walk, I can expect, with confidence, God to hear my prayers and perform His Word in my life.

Trials produce our true character. It's easy to be nice when things are going our way but when things don't we reveal our true character. If we remain faithful through the trials we become more effective (credible) because we all know how difficult it would be to do so. In doing so, people are amazed and wonder how we do it - how is it possible to be calm in the midst of a storm? Unfortunately, I'm not always calm because I take my eyes off of God and start sinking like Peter. Right now I'm faced with a difficult behavior someone is inflicting on me and up to now I've been responding as a non-believer. However, I just realized it's a test in which I can allow the Holy Spirit to lead me through and become an effective witness to others as well as build strong character within myself. Seeing through these new glasses, I happily move forward.

So that they remain pure and blameless until they die or when Christ returns (whichever comes first). The result of having Spiritual discernment is knowing what God wants us to do, say, think and what not to. Selfishness puts us first and takes God from the Master position in our lives. If we focus on self then we do what we want not what He wants. God wants only the BEST for us, yet we settle for good. Sometimes we grow impatient and do things our way and find out later God had something far better planned for us. Until we learn to let Him steer our lives, we'll always be settling for good.

Paul is expecting God to complete His good work because Christ will never leave us or forsake us. God will always be faithful to us, but He won't be mocked. If we decide to test Him or take His grace for granted by living for another master and become hardened and unrepentant, don't be surprised who you'll spend eternity with (to paraphrase:..."didn't we cast out demons and heal the sick in your name?..Away from me, I never knew you"). God takes no pleasure in a servant who draws back. As long as we sincerely seek God and are repentant and eager to do His will, our heart is right. If we continue to disobey God we can lose our opportunity to repent and like Esau, weep for our Father's blessing but not get it.

We receive spiritual blessings from the pastor who ministers to us with the Word of God. We are also blessed in that we not only hear the Word which increases our faith but we get to practice the Word by tithing and assisting our pastor, congretation and everyone in a financial and spiritual capacity with prayers and acts of mercy. Other types of support: praying for everyone around you, helping others by donating your time, your ear, your services (a drive to the store, etc.) are far more valuable than offering financial aid. In our "it's all about me" society, it's easier to give someone $100. than to spend a day with them, listening and praying with them.

Slave: That you do your master's work only and not your own. Saint: "being dedicated/consecrated to the service of God." If you are God's slave, He is your master, thus your work is for Him not you. This makes you dedicated to the service of God.

I always glean a better understanding of scripture through all of your studies. James is great because he's direct - just the way I like it. Keep up the great work as you bless many through your study. I don't see any way to improve what is already a great format.

We might be more proactive in praying and preaching to non-believers, thinking a beiliever knows what to do if they stray. We think they can find their way back and will eventually. I believe satan attacks the believer more than a non-believer so it is of utmost importance that we free the backslider from satans' tight grip through confronting the wanderer with their sin and praying for them so they become repentant. I dangerously backslid and God saved me through supernatural means. He basically hit me on the head with a 2 x 4 and said 'Hey stupid, where do you think you're going! I'm happy to report that I'm no longer stupid.

It is symbolic of the anointing of the Holy Spirit and provides a stimulus for faith. The pray-er's faith is key here, their faith brings God's healing and forgiveness of sins to the sick person. To confess sin is to humble oneself and repent. By verbally confessing it to another we demonstrate our willingness to obey God and be humbled. We also are letting it go. What a load off of one's chest to confess. It must then be followed by prayer to heal. (A symbol of bandaging the wound so healing can occur).

Elders must anoint with oil and pray in faith for healing over the sick person. They must be spiritually mature (having walked with God for a long time) and full of faith.

As Jesus couldn't perform miracles because of their lack of faith, so too, the sick person won't get healed if just the elders have faith, they too must have faith or be open to it.

Grumbling says we don't trust God's overall plan. Faith is definitely lacking here. Who's plan can we trust, ours? man's? I think not. Our impatience shows that we have a better plan. Impatience is selfishness. However, patience shows that we trust the Lord; that we have faith in all He does.

We become lax when we don't expect Christ's return. The message isn't preached as it should be. If we knew He was returning tomorrow we'd get the message out to those we know and don't know to save as many as possible. We also don't know when our time is up. We could die tomorrow and for that reason also, we must strive to preach, by word and action, to everyone, everday. Patience for His return is vital because if we grow impatient and give up, many souls are affected and it is selfish on our part. Christ died for everyone (selfish-less or selflessness) and as Christ's representatives, we must patiently endure trials day-by-day, live selflessly day-by-day, preach and act His Word, day-by-day and hope day-by-day.

If we depend on our comfort and luxury more than we depend on the Lord it becomes idolatry. Idolatry is a sin. This is a very interesting question. I never thought of bargains as being the result of oppressed labor. I usually snarl at the Corporations for their greed in hiring low wage employees. It was the corporations' sin, not mine. I felt that bargain shopping was a good thing, now it doesn't appear to be so. If I pay full price, I would have to accumulate the money first, which requires patience. Usually, if we see it we want it now. To have to save up first delays the purchase and we may even forget the desire we had to purchase it. If we still desire it, patience is being exercised by the time it takes to accumulate the money and we would also appreciate the purchased item even more.

God controls our future not us, so to say anything as if we know God's plans is presumptuous. We can be humble by putting the Lord first in all that we think, say and do. In this way we submit to His will. If we say, I will if the Lord's willing. We put Him first. I don't know if this sounds wishy washy but I don't know of any other way to say it.

If we have something to say about someone, we should tell it only to that person. If they don't repent, we must bring 1 to 2 witnesses etc.. It's easy to talk behind someone's back than to confront the person. Usually selfish motives are at the root of back talking - if we confronted the person we fear they might put us in our rightful place. However, any legitimate complaints (without selfish motives) should be told, in love, to the person. It's tempting because we want someone else to agree with us and feed our ego. Currently, I'm in a situation where I need to tell someone that they're offending me. It's been going on for a couple of years. I've prayed, I've asked the Holy Spirit to correct it by pressing the heart of that person, and I've relented in saying anything because I can't find a loving way to tell them except for just saying it straight, but I fear the person will become very angry. I've recently resolved to tell them straight and let the chips fall where they may. I will pray the Holy Spirit guides my tongue and guards their heart. I plan on telling them this evening. Pray for me.

These actions are vital because we have freedom of will and we must willingly obey the Lord. If we don't have humility then we have pride. God cannot work with pride because it shuts Him out. If we submit and obey in humility, it automatically means we are humble, submitting to God, resisting the devil and coming nearer to God. To remain humble we must constantly turn from/avoid sin thus purifying our hearts. Man is corrupt from the beginning there is not one righteous so it's a continual cleansing and turning to God. Once we take our eyes off of Him, we sink into the world. It's an continous effort and a willing effort on our part. Our nature is to fulfill OUR needs. In order to fulfill Christ's commands, we must concern ourselves with fulfiling OTHERs needs. To submit continually to His will is difficult because I'm very impatient. If I go my way it enivitably leads to unnecessary suffering. It is a continual self-discipline. How I wish I would be more like Brother Lawrence who put Christ continuously before him. I'll get there!

The church is the bride of Christ, thus it is feminine. Adultery is anything that takes priority over Christ in our hearts. Christ, the Spirit, and God are aggreived. The world hates the Lord and if we side in any way by action or inaction to the world's ways, we are in effect agreeing with the world, thus disagreeing with God. (We cannot have two masters, we will either love the one and despise the other).

Absolutely not, as long as it's in line with His will. If our pleasure is preaching the gospel or using our gifts to glorify His name - pleasure it is!!! However, if our pleasure is non-edifying to others or ourselves and doesn't glorify God, it's wrong because it is a hindrance to those who might otherwise have come to the Lord, or it may offend a new believer (better a millstone be hung around one's neck than to offend these little ones..) and cause them to sin.

With LOVE. Love is the ultimate selflessness. It brings out the best in people. In everyone it grows.

Bitter envy is to deeply desire what someone else has and despise the person who has it. Selfish ambition is wanting something regardless of how it affects others. Humililty is selflessness, holding others' needs to be more important than your own. Bitter envy and selfish ambition equates to putting your needs above the needs others without regard. If we can't recognize the poison we won't know how to cure it. Healing comes when a cure is applied. If we don't know we're sick why would we seek a cure. When we speak we reinforce our thoughts/actions and also affect those around us. If we speak enthusiastically about our sins we not only continue to corrupt ourselves but others as well. We will only get worse. Our hearts harden and healing is far from us.

To paraphrase Matt. 12:34 "How can an evil person say anything good? Out of the heart the mouth speaks" and 15:18 "Out of the heart come evil thoughts which defile man". We, being evil, (because there is none who is good, not one) are not capable of continually thinking good thoughts and thus speaking good words. In order to tame it we must become believers and allow the Holy Spirit to convict us of sin so we become repentant and can then exercise self control (attempt) to tame the little muscle.

It's a heavy responsiblity because it entails practicing what we preach which is very hard for man to do. Teachers are held to a higher standard because of their high position. They have more knowledge to impart and must back up their words with actions. Belief is synonomous with obedience (action). We speak what we believe and our actions are a reflection of our beliefs. Who will listen to someone who preaches to love our neighbor and we find out he beats his wife and kids. I do and I should set higher standards for my pastor because he was called by God to lead the flock. He is accountable to God for what he was called to do. Everyone is accountable to God for what God has called us to do. However, a leadership position does hold more responsiblility and thus more accountability. My pastor also has more spiritual knowledge and experience than I. I also realize pastors are also human and subject to weakness and failure. I mainly pay attention that his preaching is scriptually based and that his and his family's actions are in line with TRYING to obey scripture.

They're emphasizing different parts of the same sentence. James states that our beliefs are backed by our actions as faith without WORKS is dead and Paul emphasizes that our WORKs do not save us but HIS grace does. Paul isn't saying NOT to act, but reminding us that it is not the ACTIONS that provide salvation. I know of some people who are morally upstanding that perform plenty of good deeds, however, without believing in Christ, they will not obtain salvation.

Both Christians and demons know the truth, one desires to do good (following Christ's example) and the other desires to do evil putting his will above God's. We will all be judged according to our actions and words as these reflect what's really in our hearts. A non-practicing Christian is in danger of losing their salvation. As Jesus' parable explains, ...take away the one coin and give it to the man with ten coins..he that hath much will be given much, he that don't..what he does have will be taken away... (pardon the poor articulation).