James 4:13-16

James 4:13-16 lays out the mindset/heartset that we need to live every day with. In fact, verse 16 says that is a sin not to have this mindset/heartset as we walk through each of our days. So far James has talked about the significance of FAITH in our lives, & WHERE that FAITH is only found to be true & trusted-> in a reverent relationship with GOD and reverence for HIS Word that flood our lives with life directing wisdom & discernment, and FAITH! This FAITH would mean that we depend on The Lord Jesus for everything in our lives, & direction for every moment in our lives. This does not mean that we are stopped in our tracks every time we take another step! Taken in the context of what James says in chapters 1-5 this means that the most important thing in our lives is our personal relationship with The Lord Jesus and our spending time with Him in His Word and Prayer...to the point that HIS MIND & HIS HEART become the “mindbeat/heartbeat” of every thought we have, every plan we make, every action we take, every word we speak. Of course this is not where we are now, nor will probably ever be while we live in this life. BUT, it is where we should be setting our GOAL for life every day...and why we should earnestly desire to spend personal time with The Lord in prayer and study of HIS Word. For in reality only God knows what our tomorrows have in store for us...only HE can give us the wisdom and discernment needed for us to rightly navigate through whatever may come...all the surprises to us are not surprises to HIM. This is what James 4:13-17 is taking about->” Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.” It is ARROGANCE ruling our lives when we make plans without a shred of thought for what GOD has to say about our lives...our daily life! Our Father God loves us so very much, and as our Father, HE cries out to us to give us wisdom & discernment for our own good - (2Cor5:20,”He who did not spare His own Son but gave him up for us all, how will He not also with him graciously give us all things?”).The most valuable thing we can be given, besides the saving Mercy&Grace of Christ, is Wisdom&Discernment for our days! This being TRUE means that the RIGHT thing to start every day and seek in every day, is to seek to know God’s Heart&Mind about our daily lives...and not depend upon ourselves without seeking The Lord’s Guidance/Help! Dear Lord...these verses expose just how little I depend on You in my life. I praise You for patience and perseverance with me…and teaching me this lesson in James...and I pray for Your help to remember YOUR lessons, and to live YOUR lessons...may I seek to know Your Heart&Thoughts for my days...and trust in You only as I take steps and even as I rest in my days.

James 4

When we step outside God’s paradigm for living we step away from His Umbrella of Mercy & Grace. This is some of what James 4:4 is warning us about when it says, ”You adulterous people, do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” Just before this verse when he says in James 4:1-3, ”What causes quarrels & what causes fights among you? Is it not this,that your passions (worldly pleasures) are at war within you. You desire and do not have, so you murder (in our hearts even). You covet & cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel...you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions (worldly pleasures).” James is telling me that when I allow this war to go on in my life that this war within me causes “enmity” (the state or feeling of being actively opposed or hostile to someone or something ) ”with God”. And yet because of His great love for us, God “yearns jealously over the spirit that he (Jesus) has made to dwell in us.”! HE yearns for us to allow HIS Spirit to draw our mind/heart/life back to the protection of His Umbrella of Mercy &Grace...that is only found when we allow His Spirit to true up our lives to Eternal Truths and Purposes that HE has planned for our best (Romans8:28 “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose”). When we are “at enmity” with God, the problem is within us! When we realize this, & then resist what our “passions/pleasures” would draw us to and turn to God...,HE will lift us up out of the temporal with it’s “quarrels & fights” that are at enmity with God, and lead us to lives with Eternal Significance that are in right relationship WITH God->James4:7-10”Submit yourselves therefore to God.Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.....Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.” Dear Jesus ,much of the time I have a double-minded heart that has a war within me, battling between Your Ways and the ways of the world with it’s desires, pleasures and passions.I pray for Your Spirit to light a fire in me that has a red hot desire to turn from the worlds pleasures, desires, and passions...,and seek to know the Right & True Relationship with You that You are so jealous for in my life. 

James 3:13-18

Our true character is surgically exposed by the deepest roots of what motivates us,and James 3:13-18 is one of the spiritual scalpels The Lord gives me...so I can know where I personally need to seek His Help correcting! James 3:13a gives me a question that The Lord wants me to ask myself!->”Who is wise & understanding among you?” When the Bible asks a question, those who claim to love God as our Father should “listen up”, or we are showing disrespect for our Father! In James 3:13b, it’s as if God knows how we are going to answer HIS question by our rattling off the good things we do. Most certainly what we do is important, but the following verses go deeper...to expose what kind of “root” is in our heart...when 3:14-15 says ”But if you have bitter jealousy & selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast & be false to the truth. This is not wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.” These verses use specific language for my good! There is no room for me to wiggle around the truth of what is in my heart! God does this so we can not be fooled by our own devices of outward “appearances/efforts”, & avoid going deeper in knowing the true innermost nature of our character. For those who claim Christ as our Savior & Lord...HIS Spirit that HE planted in our lives should be constantly reshaping us from the inside out...making us more and more a reflection of HIS CHARACTER! Which is what James3:17-18 says to us->”But the wisdom from above is 1st pure ,then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy & good fruits, impartial & sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.” This means that as we seek to truly know God’s wisdom, the “earthly, unspiritual, demonic” wisdom will be exposed in our life....and only God’s Awesome Wisdom that is “pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason ,full of mercy & good fruits ,impartial & sincere”, will begin IT’S work in me...changing my character to be more & more like that of Christ! I found a chart that someone put together 12 things to help address the deadly contrast of earthly wisdom verses God’s Wisdom in his life...I need them for mine-> This contrasts selfish heart/wisdom versus being motivated by God’s Heart/Wisdom

1. YOUR PERSONAL SENSE OF WORTH GOES UP AND DOWN WITH THE OPPORTUNITIES AHEAD OF YOU.

When you’re motivated by God, your value is solidly found in Christ every day.

2.FAILURE IS TERRIFYING.

When you’re motivated by God, failure becomes an opportunity for grace and growth.

3. YOU THINK YOU’RE THE DEAL.

When you’re motivated by God, you know that He’s the deal.

4. YOU USE PEOPLE TO GET YOU WHERE YOU WANT TO GO.

When you’re motivated by God, you value people as you go.

5. YOU TAKE THE CREDIT.

When you’re motivated by God, you realize how much God and the people around you deserve the credit.

6. YOU STRIVE FOR BREADTH OF EXPOSURE.

When you’re motivated by God, you focus on depth in your walk and let God determine the breadth of exposure he gives you.

7. YOU ARE ALWAYS THINKING ABOUT THE NEXT THING.

When you’re motivated by God, you’re always thinking about what God wants to accomplish in your life today.

8. YOU’RE ALWAYS COMPARING YOURSELF TO OTHERS.

When you’re motivated by God, you begin to celebrate what God is doing through others.

9. IT’S HARD TO SAY NO TO ANY OPPORTUNITY.

When you’re motivated by God, it’s easier to say yes to balance and priorities.

10. YOU FEEL ENTITLED TO ANY SUCCESS THAT COMES YOUR WAY.

When you’re motivated by God, you feel grateful and that what has happened is beyond deserving.

11. THE NEED TO WIN IS GREATER THAN THE NEED TO LOVE.

When you’re motivated by God, the need to love is greater than the need to win.

12. YOU ARE ALWAYS INSECURE.

When you’re motivated by God, your security comes from His steadfast love.

Dear Lord...make me honest about my innermost motivations...and help me to turn 180degrees to have my motivations become those that come from Your Own Heart...so as David was a man after Your Own Heart...so I may become a man after Your Heart...

James 2

James2- my faith is accurately defined by how I live,how I respond to those around me,what I do with my time,what impacts my heart,what motivates me,how my priorities are sit.

If I truly have a faith in Christ and all that He says,then my heart will be changed by this honest and true faith in Christ->WHO HE IS;WHAT HE IS;WHAT HE HAS DONE;&ALL OF HIS PROMISES.....and it is HIS SPIRIT living in my life that will make these real heart/mind/life changes.This heart/mind/life metamorphosis will include the things I choose to do and choose not to do,because of how the motives of my heart are changed and how the priorities in my life are changed...,because of my faith in all that Christ is,and all that He teaches.This is some of what James 2 talks about,with a bottom line lesson for me being the two examples of faith that James uses,Abraham and Rahab! They both had a life changing faith that God is truly and fully what HE says about Himself and has proven Himself to be->an absolutely Sovereign Omniscient Omnipresent Omnipotent God that offers HIS AMAZING MERCY &GRACE to those that will trust Him with everything.It is wild that both of these are in the human genetic line of Christ!Both had lives that demonstrated a true and full faith that changed the way they responded to life!This is the kind of faith James says will ultimately identify us as true believers & followers of Christ->faith so strong that IT is the true motivation of my heart/mind/life(James2:26,”For as the body apart from the spirit is dead,so also faith apart from works is dead.”).Lord Jesus,this chapter in James reveals how little I allow my faith in You to make changes in how I think and how I respond to people and circumstances in my every day life.I know You forgive me,but I need much more than that...I need Your Spirit to help me truly have my faith in You change me from the inside out...so that the faith I have in You becomes the true foundation of all I am and all I do and all I say.

James 1:2-4 - Consider it pure joy...

One of the most significant desires of the human soul is to know TRUTHS about life & our existence.God not only knows these are our deepest needs, these are also the needs in our lives that HE most desires to fill!This is what James1:2-4 addresses by saying,”consider it pure joy when you face trials of many kinds,because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature & complete,not lacking anything.”.A fundamental element of all of our lives is faith!Whether or not we are aware of it,every moment of our lives;.every decision we make,is based on a faith in something or someone!When whatever we have faith in is not based on SOLID TRUTH we can become insecure;anxious;fearful;timorous;ambivalent;distrustful;suspicious;uncertain,or a combination of these things that leads to a total lack of the peace and joy that God desires for us to have in this life.This is why God addresses our faith in these verses of James!God’s great love for us motivates Him to Sovereignly use every experience in our lives,good & bad,to draw us to have REAL discernment&wisdom about TRUTH,so our deepest desires can be “answered&satisfied” TRUTHFULLY,with TRUTH...so our faith may be purified by testing (taking measures to check the quality, performance, or reliability of (something), especially before putting it into widespread use or practice)!As the process of our faith being “tested” continues through life’s challenges,our faith CAN become increasingly mature/strong as we grow stronger in TRUTH,and purify our lives from UNtruth...,IF we earnestly persevere to know REAL TRUTH,& seek REAL FAITH in REAL TRUTH!IF we do persevere,we will reap the blessings of knowing genuine PEACE&genuine JOY that God greatly desires for us to have and ONLY HE has the power and authority to give!The pathway to this genuine peace & genuine joy that God wants us to have is TRUTH about everything! ONLY GOD knows everything!And the DOOR to these TRUTHS is Jesus Christ(John14:6-7,”Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.If you really know me, you will know my Father as well.”).Since the fabric of our faith in the world we live has been weaved with a lot of UNtruth, as we persevere in seeking&following Jesus Christ on the path of our lives,our faith will be stripped of UNtruths, & renewed and transformed into a mature FAITH founded on SOLID TRUTHS...a FAITH that is STABLE and able to sustain us through all of life’s storms with a Peace & Joy that surpasses all temporal understanding!David absolutely came to know these TRUTHS in his life when he writes in Pslam51:6-12,”Surely you desire truth in the inner parts;you teach me wisdom in the inmost place.Cleanse me with hyssop,& I will be clean;wash me and I will be whiter than snow.Let me hear joy & gladness;let the bones you have crushed rejoice....Create n me a pure heart,O God,& Renew a steadfast spirit w/in me...Restore to me the joy of your salvation & grant me a willing spirit,to sustain me.”!Dear Lord,I know that there are many UNtruths that I have allowed to take me on tangents away from the very Joys that You desire me to have.I pray David’s prayer...that You “create in me a pure heart,O God,& Renew a steadfast spirit w/in me...Restore to me the joy of your salvation & grant me a willing spirit,to sustain me.”!