Susan Renier

Peacemakers sow peace by showing love, being considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit - by keeping a watch on the mouth! This attitude produces a ripening crop of righteousness because it is the attitude of God/Jesus. This crop of righteousness grows in the sower of God's love.

Humility speaks nothing for itself. Envy and ambition seek only to gain something for themselves - they believe they are better than and more deserving than any other. Denial of bitter envy and selfish ambition can promote humility which in turn will promote healing. Boasting about them will have the exact opposite effect and prevent healing.

Our tongues speak out loud what is already in our hearts. Before our tongues can be tamed there must be a change in our hearts. We cannot speak love when hate is in our hearts, we cannot speak mercy when only judgment lurks inside.

If you are a teacher, god will judge you more strictly. This is because if you are teaching others about life and how to live it then you have no excuse for not knowing how you yourself should live. Standards that I set should be based on God's word. I should only judge my pastor by that same standard - the Word. However, the Word of God also encourages us to pray for our leaders/pastors.

James is saying that our good works will not save us, but faith without good works is dead. Paul was saying that following church laws will not save us - only faith will do that. However, he also states that we are "in Christ" to do good works.

A demon believes in God but is not submitted to living according to god's will. A non-practicing Christian's belief is similarly - they know all the right answers but don't live their lives in accordance with them.

I believe our responsibility is first to the community of believers who are needy. But we also need to reach out to our community to help those less fortunate than we are.

No one can see faith unless it's played out in everyday living. Faith alone may bring comfort to a person, but unless it is shared, it cannot grow in the way the Lord intended. We are not to hide our light "under a bushel - oh no!"

The "perfect law" as the Pharisees understood it, was the law of Moses and all the man made laws piled on to the people. However, James says that the perfect law is actually the "royal law" of God as Jesus stated for us - to love our neighbors as ourselves. This brings liberty by allowing us to think only of doing good to others without worrying about keeping a multitude of petty laws made up by man. I know that when I love people, reach out to the unlovely, help the orphans the poor & widows that I am fulfilling the law of God. . . and I can even do these things on the Sabbath without fear of being condemned. Now, that's freedom.

We are easily fooled because 'there is none righteous' and we have a tendency toward pride. There is a big difference between head knowledge and heart knowledge. Studying the Word can become like a mere practice in discipline rather than it being the disciplining of our practices. And as Dr. Wilson stated, "Unless you practice God's commands, you kid yourself."

Scripture states that the Word will not come back void. This is actually how I was saved! In the midst of a divorce, a friend invited me to church and I started attending an evening class in order to become a member. During the class no one asked me if I wanted to be 'born again' or accept Jesus as my Savior. Nonetheless, the class consisted of tons of Scriptures and it was by the Word alone that I came to a personal relationship with Jesus the Nazarene - Praise His Name! Anyway, The word of truth builds our faith when we read or hear it. It is by faith that we are saved - born again. The Word is the Life Blood of spiritual life.

a. the promise is that if we ask for wisdom it will be given to us generously b. the condition attached to that is that we must not doubt that we will receive c. trials help us receive wisdom because when we are pressed hard, we will seek God and His wisdom. It's like olives being pressed - the oil comes out - when we're pressed what's in us will come out. Either we will call on God or we will not.

as you stated, trials have a way of forcing us to come to grips with our faith vs. our sin. I know I'm not righteous, but the blood of Jesus has given me His righteousness. . . for which He bore my sins - such a deal! Nonetheless, I still struggle with myself and with the forces of evil that try to entrap me. At those times of trial, I know that calling on the name of Jesus will give me the strength I need to resist. Depending on the Lord not only helps to cure 'double-mindedness' it also grows my faith as He is faithful to answer my call.

I think people blame God for evil because deep down they know that God is in charge of everything in the world. Therefore, they figure that God must be 'making' evil happen. Also, I think people have that tendency to need to blame someone for evil happening and if there is no person for them to blame, they resort to blaming God. God does NOT tempt us with evil - He allows the temptations. The Lord has given mankind a free will. We can choose to accept His offer of friendship and grow to know Him better, or we can reject His offer and simply blame Him for everything. I think He allows evil to exist in order to give us a choice of who to serve - as Joshua 24 states in verse 15 "And if it seems evil to you to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.

Without trials in my life, I would never have met Jesus or made Him Lord of my life. Therefore, I'd say those trials were quite valuable to me! Since my salvation (in 1976), there have been other trials which tested my faith, but our God is faithful and He held me in the palm of His hand during those times as well. Trials have only strengthened my love of God as well as my faith in His ultimate goodness. I've come to the point of realizing the sovereignty of our mighty and awesome Creator. Praise His name.

Hi, my name is Susan and I'm in the US in Ohio. My husband and I lead a small group Bible study and are currently using the Lamb of God leading up to Easter. I wanted to study James perhaps to prepare for our next session with our group. We are grandparents of 6 grandsons ages 4 to 20 and love them all. I'm looking forward to studying James as he's always been a fascination to me.