Kim E.

The apostle James was probably a good friend of John. He wrote to churches in Asia Minor,

James is not thinking of the moment of salvation, the beginning of faith in Christ, or new birth, but when man stands before the Judgment Seat of Christ. It is some time after the person has believed and has had time to produce fruit that James has in mind. What should be taking place in the believer

Partiality is judgement and judgement is merciless in this manner. When we regard the wealthy we ignore the needs of others. This is careless disregard for God

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Those who show partiality make judgments about others based upon mere appearances. When we do this we are making decisions based upon our own selfish needs. We shouldn

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The perfect law that James mentions

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Why is it that so many seem to think that spirituality is measured by the quantity of our speech, while the Scriptures frequently instruct us to be quiet. We fall into a trap. It seems that we listen to Bible teaching and then try to find ways to wrongly apply what we hear. How often we wish to use our Bible knowledge in other ways then it was intended to be used. We prefer to teach our neighbors, even when they don

The instrument that makes us grow is the word: God gives birth to a new creation in the believer. The work of regeneration is God's work. The "word of truth" is the instrument because God honors and uses the word of truth, both written and spoken. The Bible is God's written revelation of Himself to sinful men and His message is clear (Acts 4:12; Rom. 3:23; 6:23). It is by the truth of God that we are set free from sin and error. Jesus makes this clear in John 8:31. The "word of truth" is the gospel of salvation in Jesus Christ (Eph. 1:13; Col. 15) and the word of life (1 John 1:1). God's word is the truth (John 17:17), and the words of Jesus are spirit and life to the spiritually dead (John 6:63). The word of truth quickens unto life (2 Cor. 6:7). "James emphasizes the importance of the human element in the new birth, while rightly making God supreme in the act of regeneration. We must reach men with the word of God" (Robertson). He reminds us that it is the Word of God that makes our faith grow -- expressed in our actions. "Faith comes by hearing," says the Apostle Paul, "and hearing by the word of God," (Romans 10:17 KJV). And I have never seen anybody grow strong in faith who neglected the reading of the Bible. How can we expect to know the great thoughts of God, the deep things of God, the underlying secrets of life, unless we spend time with the book that reveals them? There is no other source. No university in the land moves at all into this realm of unveiling the secrets of life. So, let your faith grow by rejoicing in trial and by understanding and doing the word.

James encourages us to pray for wisdom by assuring us not only that God will answer our prayer for wisdom, but that He will do so without shaming or humiliating us. This is because He is glorified when we confess our dependency and His sufficiency. God delights in the fact that we express our dependence on Him. James sets down only one condition and that is that we pray in faith, without wavering. It is never wrong to pray for wisdom, and there is never a time when God will not grant us that wisdom

The entire Christian life is a process of recognizing our deficiencies, and as we see these deficiencies, we relize that we must cry out to God to supply what we lack. In James we are taught to draw near to God in our adversity. When we

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My mother used to say to me,

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Abraham messed up. It may seem strange to you, but I

In reality, the servant sought to test the woman rather than God. God directs men to get under way through the Scriptures. Nowhere is Abraham given a direct imperative to seek a wife for his son, but he does act on the basis of a clear inference from revelation. Abraham was to become a mighty nation through his son Isaac. Obviously Isaac must have children, and this necessitated a wife. Since his offspring would need to be faithful to God and to keep His covenant, the wife would need to be a godly woman. This implied that she could not be a Canaanite. Also, since God had promised

Abraham

Sarah is not mentioned when moving day came, but her faith was there, nonetheless. She trusted God to work through her husband. She wasn

God used this incident on Mount Moriah to instruct the nation Israel. This event in the life of Abraham gave a much deeper understanding of the significance of sacrifice. They should perceive that sacrifice was substitutionary. But they should also perceive that ultimately a Son, an only Son, must come to pay the price for sin, which no animal can possibly do. It is significant to me that God did not require Abraham to do anything that He Himself would not do. Abraham

I have learned in the last few years how much God loves me. God is faithful to me. He heard my spirit cry out to Him in one of those most tragic moments of life and He faithfully provided all I needed to come out of that experience intact and ready to serve Him. God has been faithful to provide salvation for me, to transform me, to answer my prayer. I have learned to trust God through no effort of mine, but because He is faithful to me. Through the study of the Word of God, I have His examples of faithfulness. God

The work of God begins with a promise which must be accepted by faith. Ultimately this faith, if it is genuine, will be demonstrated by good works. The promises of God are sure to every believer because God is sovereign at every step

Satan would have us thinking humanly. He would wish us to have a worldly mind set on a human solution for our problems. Satan would like to break down our faith and destroy our peace. Our whole being has been affected by the fall: emotions, intellect and will. Satan will stop at nothing to destroy the transformation and the use of our new minds. God, of course, would have us set our minds on things of the Spirit, to use our godly minds in faith to act upon facts and reason. God would have us think, think, think, but in a vastly different way than that of the world. When we put God first and trust and obey, we consider God

The greatest portion of our fears are totally unfounded. God cares for His own. Faith can rest upon the covenant promises of God; fear has no basis at all. God

God gave them the promised son, He preserved the life of Hagar and Ishmael, and He brought about an alliance with a pagan king which gave Abraham a favored position. God blessed Abraham more than he realized by sending Ishmael away. I think Abraham and Isaac would have been hindered in their relationship with Ishmael around and Ishmael would have been hurt as the truth of the matter played out, day after day, in front of him. Abraham seemed to lack enthusiam for Isaac. I think that with Ishmael sent away, Isaac had the time he needed with his father to build the kind of relationship God intended for them to have. He also would not have this free spirit mocking, hurting or projecting Hagar