Tina

When you denigrate someone, you can kill their spirit and when you do this, you hurt the Lord because He has warned us to love others as we would love ourselves and not to think of ourselves more highly than others. God sees all sin as equal, only humans classify sin, so unjustified ange, which leads to worse consequences than just that feeling of anger, is a sin in His eyes just as much as murder is. If we want to please our Loving God, we would watch what we say, because hurtful and angry words spoken to someone can't be retrieved. We would pray more for the Holy Spirit to help us practice the fruit of the spirit so that when we feel really angry enough to hurt someone, the Spirit will minister to us and we will speak words of kindness and love instead.

Most churches that I know of and mine, read an preach from both the Testaments. However, some say that tithing is an O.T. teaching and not a NT one. Christian legalism to me is when people in the church are more concerned about criticising what women, for instance, wear in church, e.g. jeans, than worrying about their own heart's condition with the Lord. When there are no moral standards and obedience in a church, they are making a mockery of God's requirements that we are supposed to be the salt of tyhe earth and showing the world that we are the light of it. Others won't be convinced as oujr testimony would be a very poor one.

Verses 13-16 relates to us doing the practical things e.g. letting our lights shine before men i.e. we witness, lead by example and we must not be surprised if we are persecuted because God's prohphets were persecuted for their faith and Jesus was no exception either. We should glory in our persecution, knowing that He is with us through it all. If we hide our light, the glory of God is not manifest in our lives. If we don't show His glory to others, they will be lost forever. God shines His glory in us so that we can be effective disciples; if we lose the light, we tarnish the image we are supposed to set as His true followers. Glory and suffering go hand in hand because the road to heaven is narrow and frought with difficulties such as persecutions. Therefore it is nothing new to us if we are Chrisitans. When we suffer for Him, we give Him the glory. Jesus' needed to suffer as we would not be given the promise of eternal life. Our suffering is necessary because we mature as His children and we perservere through to the end of the race as Paul did. If we shy away from persecution and suffering, we will not b e bold, salty Christians whose lights are always shining. In Rom 12:2 we are to have th mind of Christ and not be focussed on the world in order for us to become the people in Christ we are meant to be.

The danger of hiding our lights is that we are like lightohouses to the lost at sea. They depend on light to find their course to safety. If we don't show our lights, we are unable to be the guiding light for the lost in a world of sin. Also, if we don't show our lights, we are responsible for the lost who perish, because God commands us to let the world see our light and not to hide it away. We will have to give an account for this.

A Christian who has lost his saltiness may not be bold in ntheir Chrisrtian beliefs and principles. They may not work for Christ by witnessing and they lose their boldness. They simply become weak and ineffective. Some may not have good standards as they become tainted by the leaching out of the world's values in their lives. I think a believer can detect these symptoms as long as he listens to the voice of the Holy Spirit who convicts him of these failings. They also see how other Christians live who have the full flavour of salt in their lives and this can impact on them positively. Secular people notice that a de-salinated Christian is not always much different from them as they seem to doing the worldly things as they are. It is possible to have a fully salted Chrisitan life by confessing the sins that caused you to lose the flavour in the first place.

Christians are the salt of the earth in the preservation analogy in that they preserve the truth and teachings of the Word. When the Word is preserved it changes lives and when lives are changed, evil is held at bay. Just as preserved foodstuff can last for ages, the Word lasts forever. As the seasoning analogy, Christians show others to tase and see the goodness of the Lord and His savlation. The salt of the Christian witness brings life to a bland and dying life.

We should rejoice when we are persecuted because we have shown the world that "greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world." We are not alone in our persecution and we keep our eyes fixed on the goal, our blessings for the kingdom of heaven. We don't have a perverse pleasure in being persecuted because we are in the same league as the prophets and Jesus and our persecution is not for self but to be a witness for God. Theirs is the kingdom of heaven means that we have overcome and have the rulership of Jesus in our lives

People with a pure heart can see, know and discern God because the Holy Spirit within them has opened their eyes, minds and hearts to the purity of Jesus Christ. Chronic sinners can't see God because they repeatedly ignore the Holy Spirit. Eventually God lifts His Spirit from them and leaves them to their own devices. But this is not permanent because He comes back to them to try to open their hearts and minds. If they heed His prompting, they become pure in spirit. We obtain a pure heart by alloing the Holy Spirit to change our impurities to purity, our hardness to meekness, our sin to forgiveness.

Desiring righteousness with an intensity seems to be interpreted by the world as maniacal. They don't understand why it is necessary for anyone, even Christians, to be desiring righteousness to such a deep extent. They feel as long as they don't commit the worst sins, they are living a good life anyway. Jesus is referring to the righteousness that sets us apart from the ordinary Christian. He wants us to be more like Him, to be sanctified more and more in our walk with Him. The promise we are given is that we will be filled with His Holy Spirit and the thirst we have for righteousness will be quenched.

The world sees meekness as weakness. The world thinks that it means to be submissive and without character. The world uses people to get what it wants. Christians see meekness as being gentle, humble, loving, patient. They don't rely on themselves or trust in others to get where they are. They rely on God. This is important because God uses the meek to turn the world toward Him. He cannot use the proud and self serving person for this purpose.

In order to become saved, we need first to see that we need salvation. This means that we have to take a long, hard look at our lives and our heart attitude toward God and turn to Him. Being spiritually poor will lift us to spiritual riches once we become a child of God. To become a Christian, we need to mourn our sins. We need to truly grieve and weep and feel anguish. God sees the seeking heart, He sees the mourning of our sin and He replaces it with His joy. Christians grieve over the injustices and unrighteousness in the world. We grieve over the lost because we don't want them to go to a lost eternity

The first part of the beatitudes is what we are experiencing or going through in the name of Christ. The second part gives us the blessing and promise of the inheritance of His kingdom if we continue in a godly walk. I think the beatitudes are paradoxical because they give us that hope, e.g. where do we go from being poor, mourning, persecuted? We have the joy nand promise of growing in Christ and becoming rich in \his blessings if we perservere. We mature as Chrisitans. The relationship of the beatitudes and the fruit of the Spirit is a co-existant one. They each grow in us and cause us to bear fruit that will cause the world to stop and see our growth in Christ. Bearing fruit for Christ is the reason many turn to God because our lives speak for us.

I have loved this way of study because I would read one whole chapter almost every day for that week until the next study came along. That meant that I was able to go over things repeatedly and pray for God's help and guidance in various ways as new requests came up nearly every day. Also, scripture has stayed in my mind a lot more because of the way the course has been designed. I have also taken a look at my walk with God and prayed for forgiveness where I have not been doing the things as commanded in the book of James. I have a mindset to do the practical things as well as have the faith. Thank you so much for the way the course has been designed and for putting it acroos to us in the first place.

When we go out and find the person who has wandered from the Truth, we are sparing them from premature death. As Christians we are to look out not only for the poor and the needy but we are also accountable to God for looking after our brothers and sisters in Christ as we are all part of the family of God. When we bring back a wandering person, they may in turn go out and reach out to others who have wandered. The increase into the Kingdom of God is therefore intensified and increased.

Oil is the anointing of the Holy Spirit and is the medium used as a symbol of Him when healing is desired and prayed for. The prayer of faith is a witness to others as well as the sick person, not forgetting satan, that God is listening and will heal. Faith opens the recipients heart in belief so that the Holy Spirit can move freely in the persons's heart, mind and soul. Faith believes, it is positive, it trustsd and it witnesses to others that God will hear the prayer. Cofessing sins signifies to the world that we have turned our backs on the darkness and are walking into the Light. Confession of sins also speeds up the answer to prayer as ther is no sin between man and God.

The elders should pray for the sick by laying hands onthem and anointing them with oil in full, unshakeable faith. They need to be mature in their faith and walk with the Lord and have a compassion for the ill.

The sick should ask the elders to pray for them. This is important because it encourages them in their faith and the onus of belief is on the elders. Fait is tested and encouraged therefore, on the sick person as well as the elders of the church.

When we grumble and complain, it shows impatience, discontent and selfishness, because everything is about "us." When we grumble about people we are complaining about God. Being patient glorifies God, being impatient does not. It also shows that our faith is weak and satan can get through to our weak spot and bring us down eve3n further.

If we lack patience, it shows that our growth in the Holy Spirit is not yet fully mature, for nHe nworks patience in us. Lacking patience may mean that we waver in our faith, we don't stay alert and we don't look out for the signs of the end times, because we may become complacent. Patience is vital because it brings us our reward, the second coming of Jesus. Patience allows us to prepare ourselves for this event and not to be found wanting and idle when Jesus returns.

When we demand comfort and luxury we put ourselves and our needs first then push God to one side. God's will is that we don't oppress the poor and if we take heed for our own lifes only and igorte the needs of the poor, we are committing sins of ommission. Our demand for low priced goods and services means that for those who can afford it, their demands for these luxuries will become more prevalent and therefore the need for low paid workers in miserable conditions will be increased. The poor will be downtrodded repeatedly. it is God's command that we pay our workwers well for a days work, not underpay them or withold money from them. Workers will become oppressed because the wealthy and greedy have a loud voice. Money talks. The poor have a voice but no-one listens to them. They will always live below the poverty line. This is in conflict with God's Word where we are to look after the poor and oppressed. This all relates to the need for our patience because if we put others first, then ourselves, we will be more open to their cause. If we put God above all, we will hear His voice through His Word and do everything in our power to have faith and works, in other words, pray for them but also do the practical things to ease their misery and poverty. Humbling ourselves before God, teaches us patience.

When we demand comfort and luxury we put ourselves and our needs first then push God to one side. God's will is that we don't oppress the poor and if we take heed for our own lifes only and igorte the needs of the poor, we are committing sins of ommission. Our demand for low priced goods and services means that for those who can afford it, their demands for these luxuries will become more prevalent and therefore the need for low paid workers in miserable conditions will be increased. The poor will be downtrodded repeatedly. it is God's command that we pay our workwers well for a days work, not underpay them or withold money from them. Workers will become oppressed because the wealthy and greedy have a loud voice. Money talks. The poor have a voice but no-one listens to them. They will always live below the poverty line. This is in conflict with God's Word where we are to look after the poor and oppressed. This all relates to the need for our patience because if we put others first, then ourselves, we will be more open to their cause. If we put God above all, we will hear His voice through His Word and do everything in our power to have faith and works, in other words, pray for them but also do the practical things to ease their misery and poverty. Humbling ourselves before Goid, teaches us patience.

The dangers we are warned about are: a)being presumptious ( Doing everything for ourselves and not according to the will of the Lord © boasting and bragging (d) Self-indulgence (e) Greed (f) Impatience dur to lack of humility We can be humble in our planning by knowing God's will for us and our lives. We know this by knowing His Holy Spirit and getting to know God more intimately by spending more time in His presence and by being obedient to His calling. We also need to have a goal and be committed to this. We are not to be vague about something for the future. Always bear in mind that God hold our future in His hands, therefore by being patient, we are practising humility.

We become a judge of the law when we badmouth our neighbours because in doing so, we assume supremacy over them We then forget that there is only one judge, God. Therefore we are not submitting ourselves to our neighbours. We have become proud. It's tempting to badmouth others because we often pick up on things we dislike in them, not realising at first, or if ever, that their faults are the same that we find in ourselves.

These actions are vital because when we submit ourselves to God, we experience a closer relationship with Him. In this relationship we have His power to overcome the enemy. We also become more aware of the consequences of sin and we are more ready to think twice before carrying out the sin. They go against our nature because: ** We need to obey God voluntary. This is not always easy as we are rebellious and proud a lot of the time ** we are put in a postion where we are forced to choose between God and sin. Being double minded doesn't make it any easier for us. **If we don't feel God's presence, we may give up, rebel, lose hope. We are so driven by our ewmotions that we find it hard sometimes to accept that God is still with us even when we don't feel Him as much as we have at times before. Our faith is tested and often found wanting. ** Instead of finding reasons for why we sinned, we find that we need to have a genuine grief for having failed God. We can't just repent and carry on as though nothing had happened. Genuine grief signifies our responsibility for our sin. ** It is not always easy to humble ourselves and to adapt our will to God or to people. We have a power struggle with pride and humility. I find one of the most difficult commands is being humble. I may find it easy sometimes to humble myself before God but can be rebellious by nature and humbling myself before my fellow man is a struggle for me a lot of the time. I know that God hates pride, so I have been praying to be more humble.

Church members are referred to as adulteresses by James because the church is the bride of Christ and Christ is the Goom. Spiritual adultery is when we sever ourselves from our walk with Christ, then choose to wlak with the devil. "We cannot serve two masters." The aggrieved husband is Christ. Having friendship with the world is wrong because we will be enmeshed in the vices of every day living. God wants us to be lights in a dark world where people see us as His childresn. If we live in the world, our lights will fade and we would have many missed opportunities to be a witness for Him