Salt & Light Blog

James 5:13-18 My Confession, Testimony, and Encouragement

8/15/2016

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 2 Corinthians 12:9 On photo of Brilliant Double Rainbow used with permission of April Hollander

How long have I been seeking healing? How often have you prayed passionately for me? How many years have I unsuccessfully tried to pretend I was okay but could barely take the next step? How many places have been marked by emesis as I rush to find a place to hide around the corners, in the bushes, or along a side street because I had to vomit. I’ve been sick for way too long. For many of those years I remained faithful even content. I didn’t let it stop me. I served, I led, and I followed.
I know so many of you can relate. You’ve been suffering, ill, or going through what seems to be an unending trial.
James 5:13-18 reads,
Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.
I have a confession. Are you ready? It’s not pretty. It may shock some of you and you might never think of me the same way again. That’s okay. God already forgave me, and He never changed his mind about loving me.
Here it is:
As I said, I’ve been sick for a very long time. Every time over the past couple of years, I have gotten a glimmer of hope, and thought something was going to be the thing to fix me, it turned out not to be it. This past year I think it has gotten worse than I can ever remember it being. I have gotten so sick so often that I have been incapacitated and canceled more street ministry opportunities (Bringing Life to the Streets) than led them. I’ve spent most of the last two months in bed and 22 of those days in the hospital, desperately clinging to the hope I would finally be healed. I lost more than 20 pounds in the last three months, spending the last month trying to regain a couple of them. This month has been incredibly difficult. I even wrote out my funeral instructions, I fully expected to die. Then my beautiful loving friend, a little boy in the first grade prayed for me. He said, “Don’t let anything happen to her, make her better ”and I knew I couldn’t roll over and die. I had to keep going. But that isn’t what I did.
I gave up hope somewhere in July. I was devastated when I was not healed. But after a short pity party, I rose up again and kept the faith. But then in my last two days in the hospital some terrible things happened and I lost it! I lost my faith, my persistence, my contentment, my peace, everything. I was incredibly angry with God. I cried out to Him, “Why?! Why haven’t you healed me? You said you would, but you haven’t and I cannot take it anymore!”
I want you to understand, I have conversations with God, real Him talking and responding conversations. I hope you don’t think I’m nuts and I hope it’s because you experience dialogues like that with Him too. Anyway after one of my meltdowns when I was crying and whining, I looked out the window of my hospital room and there was this rainbow, not a big one, one of those widespread little ones you might miss if you aren’t looking. I am a huge fan of rainbows. You do not want to be on the road with me driving in the rain, because I am so busy looking for rainbows I may miss the stop sign. God was saying, “I promised to heal you and I will keep my word.”
Do you know how I answered my Father who loves me so personally? I said, “I don’t believe you anymore! It’s been too long. We are in the second decade of this now, I don’t believe you!” I looked out the window and the rainbow was gone. But, almost immediately I got a text from a very good friend, one of the many people who have reached out to comfort me, support me, be with me, and pray for me. This text was an amazing picture of a double rainbow sent to her by a friend April Holladnder. It was more than brilliant and more than beautiful, it was astonishing and gorgeous. I’d never seen anything so perfect before.
Isn’t God great? How would you react to have Him interact with you in such a personal, profound and exquisite way? I’ll tell you how I answered. I used an expletive and told Him, I was tired of waiting and no longer believed Him. My God reached out to me to hug me and hold me. But I so desperately needed Him, yet in my obstinate anger I shirked His embrace.
I got no better later that day or the next day. But people prayed for me. I kept talking to God. I kept telling Him how angry I was and I kept listening to Him. I sought counsel from a couple of people who do not attend my church but whom I trust very much and have no doubt about the veracity and ferocity of their faith. I listened to a ton of worship music. But I couldn’t pray other than my whiny Verruca Salt conversations with my Daddy in Heaven. But darn it! He wouldn’t whack me like I deserved and He kept loving me. Not only that but He had people text me and ask for prayer! I was too angry, I couldn’t pray! But here was my best friend for more than thirty years asking for prayer. I couldn’t say no, so I did. You see God also knows I love to serve Him! I love to pray for people. I love to encourage people. I love to love people. I hate to see people hurting. And people kept asking for prayer and I kept saying yes. I did it again and again. What? I was praying! And I was praying sincerely and in faith.
So I cried out to God again, and I asked Him to forgive me, no longer Verruca Salt but now humble and so sorry. I repented from my grumbling doubting rebellion and I am here today asking you to hear me and forgive me too. I am so sorry for the way I behaved. I was obnoxious and downright bratty. Please forgive me, pray for me, and let me pray for you as well.
I have given up on medicine. I wonder if that’s where God has been trying to take me. I am putting all my stuff in God’s hands and trusting Him to heal me, either now or in eternity, I’ll leave it to Him. Am I still sick? Yes. I am weak. But God’s grace will be enough. His strength, His glory will shine even more clearly as He uses me sick or He will be glorified when He heals me and uses me even more! (2 Corinthians 12:9-10).
So I want to encourage you to keep seeking God’s power. Invite His Spirit and power to overwhelm you, His presence to be thick and apparent. Let’ pray for miracles. Let’s tell mountains to move! Let’s invite God to love on us the way He wants to love on us! Let’s expect miracles, shifted obstacles, and the love of God so thick in here that not a single one of us is unchanged!

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James 5:13-20 The Prayer of a Righteous Man Avails Much

4/26/2016

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Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. James 5:16

James 5:13-20
Prayer is powerful. It is a first defense, our go to move, not a last resort. Prayer does more than petition God for wants. Prayer is how believers are able to exercise faith and patience. It is how we maintain hope through suffering. It is one of the most important practices we can do for one another. Verses 13-14 read,
Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. 14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.
Whether we are suffering, cheerful, or sick the answer is prayer. Speaking to and listening to God, exulting in our relationship with Him gives us the ability to endure through suffering. He hears us. He listens. And He carries us through. He gives us joy which in turn gives us strength. (Nehemiah 8:10). And when He gives us joy, we pray again singing praise to Him. The idea of singing praise reflects that while we can pray alone we would also pray with others, sharing our gladness with others as we lift up God as the source of our gladness, joy, and strength, as the One who is bringing us through the suffering and trials and the One who sees us and saves us. We are not alone. We have God With Us and we have each other. Romans 12:9-16 describes the church this way,
Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.10 Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. 11 Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. 12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. 13 Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.
14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight.
While often our prayer is between The Lord and ourselves it is not always the case. We weep with one another, rejoice with one another and love one another affectionately, demonstratively. Here, James tells us if we are sick, to call for the elders and let them pray over us and anoint us with oil. I know for me that there are times when I am too ill, too mired in suffering to feel able to pray well alone. Sharing my suffering, joy, or illness with the church gives them a chance to join with me and pray over me. The Holy Spirit loves to do His work through others. It is one way, He marks us as different from the world. We are not the most powerful and successful when we are living life independently but when we live life interdependently together dependent on The Lord. By our love for one another, people will know we are Jesus’ followers. (John 13:35).
Prayer does great things. When you are too weak to pray for yourself, when you allow your brothers and sisters to step in and pray with you and over you things happen. Verse 15 reads,
And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.
That is a big deal! Believer, your demonstration of faith will save the sick, raise him up and bring him forgiveness. Your prayer makes miracles happen. Your prayer brings people closer to God. We shouldn’t each be closeted up suffering alone, hiding our weakness from one another. We should be living interpedently, weaved together into a tapestry of demonstrated love. We can’t do that if we wear masks of perfection to hide our sins, façades of happiness to conceal our pain, or disguises of strength to cover our weakness. Verses 16-18 read,
Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. 17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. 18 Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.
There was nothing magical about Elijah, he had faith in God to be God. He was a prophet and He had The Holy Spirit on him. You and I, Faithful, we have Him in us, united with our own spirit. If Elijah could pray for miracles and know God could and would, what more can we do? The prayer of a righteous person, (a person who has been forgiven of his sins) has great power as it is working. Prayer works. So many times we think prayer is inactive, it is just us hoping against hope, but prayer works, produces, and does. It acts. Prayer accomplishes things. When we pray, we practice the power of God, love in action. Jesus told us to pray. In Matthew 7:7-8 He said,
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.”
Prayer is a way of releasing God’s will onto the earth. God’s will for His followers is our sanctification. (1 Thessalonians 4:3). We are meant to confess our sins to one another and pray for one another. We are mean to love one another expressively and effusively. We are meant to pray together. In Matthew 18:80-20 Jesus said,
“Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. 19 Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”
Our prayers can bind and loosen; that is not some feeble thing. Our prayers for one another can bring people back into a walk with God and can bring people to Him. Our prayers bring people to salvation. Verses 19-20 say,
My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, 20 let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.
Believer, that is not nothing! Your prayer is powerful in its working. Don’t say, “All I can do is pray” as if there is defeat in that. Say, “Let’s pray” then watch what God will do. He answers prayer. His Word, His will manifested goes out from His mouth and accomplishes His purpose. Isaiah 55:10-13 read,
“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven
    and do not return there but water the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
    giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
11 so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
    it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
    and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
12 “For you shall go out in joy
    and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and the hills before you
    shall break forth into singing,
    and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
13 Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress;
    instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle;
and it shall make a name for the Lord,
    an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.”
His Word is the Sword of the Spirit and you and I are meant to wield it (Ephesians 6:17). Prayer is a powerful practice not a desperate last-ditch effort.

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James 5:7-12 Have Patience Don’t Be in Such a Hurry

4/25/2016

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At the set time that I appoint I will judge with equity. Psalm 75:2

James 5:7-12
Patience is so difficult. There are things we have no choice but to wait for and there are things we should wait for but choose not to. Either way, waiting is difficult. Waiting patiently is a virtue that extols the Lord. We have two factors that allow us to be patient. The Holy Spirit in us and hope. The hope that keeps believers able to be patient is knowing that this earth and its suffering is temporary. One day, Jesus will return and gather the harvest. Believers know that for us the harvest means eternity united perfectly with Christ, our Maker and Husband. We wait for that awesome day with The Holy Spirit making us over and conforming us to the image of Christ who is the epitome of patience. Verses 7-8 read,
Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. 8 You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.
Establishing our hearts means we allow The Holy Spirit to conform us. Through every trial and circumstance we get to practice, exercise, and strengthen the character of Christ in us through the demonstration of The Holy Spirit in us. We call that the Fruit of the Spirit and patience is one of the proofs that He is living in us (Galatians 5:22-23). Just as that fruit does not pop out fully developed in us instantaneously, neither does farmer’s fruit grow and flower overnight. A farmer can pick fruit too soon. If he does the fruit will not develop its full flavor. When he does harvest his fruit, he needs to have waited long enough for the fruit to go to seed, to have developed seeds that will be able to produce the next crop. Reaping before it is time will give the farmer gratification now but the fruit won’t be as good or healthy as it could be and he won’t have a crop for next year.
Patience is also called endurance, perseverance, forbearance, and longsuffering. It looks like serenity, stamina, and resilience. Waiting is just not a good time sometimes. If you are hungry now, yet you have to wait for the late rains to come before you pick the fruit, you need forbearance. If you are hungry now, yet supper won’t be cooked for 1 more hour, that hour may be a long one. Impatience leads a person to eat now and not be able to fully enjoy supper when it is ready. Eating the fruit, before it is ripe, and at the point where it will offer its most perfect benefits deprives us of the complete enjoyment and reward we could have had. Impatience leads to impetuosity, rashness, and anxiety. The word longsuffering indicates that it is no fun to endure suffering. If I am hungry, I am irritable. Choosing to gratify my flesh instead of demonstrate The Holy Spirit can make me complain, whine, and grumble. It can cause me to become envious and bitter. That is bad news for me and for the people around me. I will not look or act like Jesus when I’m indulging my own desires and glorifying myself. Verses 9-11 read,
Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door. 10 As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 11 Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.
Impatience leads to satisfying our flesh and that produces what Paul called the works of the flesh. Galatians 5:16-21 describe it this way.
But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
People gratifying the desires of the flesh will be judging, and it will not be righteous judgement. People gratifying the desires of the flesh will be jealous envious, and angry causing rivalries, dissension, and division. But we are supposed to be the image of Christ, The Judge who stands at the door. Was anyone as patient as Jesus? Is anyone as patient as He is? He stands at the door and knocks, waiting patiently for us to answer and enjoy the riches and blessings he wants to lavish on us. In Revelation 3:18-21 Jesus said,
“I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. 19 Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. 20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. 21 The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.”
Wouldn’t you rather have the fullness of what God is offering than the paleness of what you can achieve without Him? He is patient with you. He is patient with the world. He doesn’t smite people into following Him. He doesn’t force us. He knocks and waits. He is patient. 2 Peter 3:7-10 describes God’s patience this way.
But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.
8 But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.
Time is different for God. He has waited an eternity already for His harvest to be ready. At the perfect time, not a moment too soon He will reap His harvest. Revelation 14:14-20 describes it and I have to say, I am extraordinarily thankful that He is waiting. There are people I want to be with me in New Jerusalem and they haven’t chosen Life in Jesus yet.
Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and seated on the cloud one like a son of man, with a golden crown on his head, and a sharp sickle in his hand. 15 And another angel came out of the temple, calling with a loud voice to him who sat on the cloud, “Put in your sickle, and reap, for the hour to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is fully ripe.”16 So he who sat on the cloud swung his sickle across the earth, and the earth was reaped.
17 Then another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle. 18 And another angel came out from the altar, the angel who has authority over the fire, and he called with a loud voice to the one who had the sharp sickle, “Put in your sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, for its grapes are ripe.” 19 So the angel swung his sickle across the earth and gathered the grape harvest of the earth and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. 20 And the winepress was trodden outside the city, and blood flowed from the winepress, as high as a horse's bridle, for 1,600 stadia.
If Jesus is patient with us, we have no right to be impatient with anyone, including ourselves. Consider the example of patience James described for us in verse 11.
Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.
How do we know Job was patient? Why do we consider the other examples of patience as patient? Because they endured suffering. Job refused to curse God in his anguish. He never acted out in the desperation he may have felt. Desperation can make us act rashly. It can make people try and manipulate The Lord into giving them what they “need” or want now. People will say, “If you heal me, I promise I’ll never complain again!” They will make deals with people who seem to be offering what they need and distraughtly and injudiciously swear to do hold up bargains that they never should. They ‘make deals with the devil’ to get what they want now instead of waiting for God to give them what is better and perfect. Verse 12 warns us against making those desperate vows. We are expected to keep our promises, because God keeps His.
But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation.
When that person swore she would never complain again if only she would be healed. Satan is only too happy to oblige her (although it will be partial and imperfect), because he knows that she will break her vow and complain. He’ll make sure of it because he will give her every reason to complain. Her witness will be destroyed, she will be ineffectual all because she had to be impatient about waiting for God to heal her in His perfect timing.
Believer, Patience is not called longsuffering because it is short and sweet. It is difficult to practice and difficult to master. But you have The Holy Spirit in you. You have faith, hope in the unseen and eternal (Hebrews 11:1). Be patient. Wait for God’s time and don’t rush Him. What He has at that perfect time is so much better than what you can get right now.

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James 5:1-6 You Can Keep Your Eye on God or Your Wallet, Not Both

4/24/2016

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For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. 1 Timothy 10

James 5:1-6
The worldview says it is important to have money. Certainly living in the world without money is almost impossible especially in countries like The US. Money is a “necessary evil.” But from the world’s standpoint money is a measure of success, if not the measure of success. The world gauges their peace by how much money is in the bank and the IRA. It is not so in God’s Kingdom. Money is not what determines success or peace. Storing up money is not godly and moving heaven and earth to make more is not right from God’s perspective. Being rich is not a sin. The sin lies in the place money has in one’s heart and endeavors. Verses 1-3 read,
Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. 2 Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. 3 Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days.

These are the rich who have put money first, who have done whatever they can to make themselves rich. They have laid up money and left God out of the equation. They will enjoy their time on earth, but our time doesn’t end when our hearts stop beating and our lungs stop breathing. We live eternally. After this life we will either enjoy that eternity with Jesus in New Jerusalem or we will suffer the torment of Hell. The person who has put money first cannot serve God. The person who serves God understands this world and present life are temporary and live it in preparation for the real thing, eternity. She wants God’s will on earth as it is in Heaven. She wants people to know Jesus. She doesn’t lay up treasures here, she lays them up in Heaven. In Matthew 6:19-24 Jesus said,

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, 23 but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!
24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”

If your eye, (your focus and perspective) is on money, earthly treasures and pleasures then it cannot be on God, His will and purpose. The wrong focus will blind you to the truth and you will not glorify God, it glorifies the self. Satan will be happy to make us richer and he will laugh as we walk blindly to Hell because our eye is on our bank account instead of The Lord. This life is temporary, it lasts 80 years. Do you imagine that 100 years from now or 100,000 years from now it will matter if you lived in a mansion and had servants? It won’t. It will matter how you treated the servants. It will matter how you loved or sinned against the people around you. It will matter how you lifted up or oppressed the people you came into contact with. It will matter if Jesus Christ is your Lord or money is your lord. Verses 4-6 read,
Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. 5 You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. 6 You have condemned and murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you.

The rich who got that way through sin and oppression, who put money and their own comfort above God and love, they are enjoying all the luxury and comfort they will ever enjoy unless they open their eyes and weep over their sin and repent. Proverbs 16:5-9 reads,
Everyone who is arrogant in heart is an abomination to the Lord;
    be assured, he will not go unpunished.
6 By steadfast love and faithfulness iniquity is atoned for,
    and by the fear of the Lord one turns away from evil.
7 When a man's ways please the Lord,
    he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.
8 Better is a little with righteousness
    than great revenues with injustice.
9 The heart of man plans his way,
    but the Lord establishes his steps.

Many of the Proverbs were written by Solomon, one of the wealthiest men to have ever lived. People heard about his wealth and his wisdom and came from very far away to see it. Even the very wealthy Queen of Sheba was floored by his wisdom and prosperity (1 Kings 10:1-13). Being rich is not the sin; the sin is in what the money means to a person and how she obtained that wealth. True wealth is in the joy of a relationship with God. Real peace comes from righteousness. Proverbs 15:15-17 reads,
All the days of the afflicted are evil,
    but the cheerful of heart has a continual feast.
16 Better is a little with the fear of the Lord
    than great treasure and trouble with it.
17 Better is a dinner of herbs where love is
    than a fattened ox and hatred with it.
Money cannot save us, regardless of how much we have. Are you living for The Day of The Lord or are you living for tomorrow? Proverbs 11:4 says,
Riches do not profit in the day of wrath,
    but righteousness delivers from death.
The Proverbs have a great deal to say about money and how we should use it. Proverbs 3:9-10 tells us,
Honor the Lord with your wealth
    and with the firstfruits of all your produce;
10 then your barns will be filled with plenty,
    and your vats will be bursting with wine.
There is a great deal more to be gleaned about money from the Bible. And I know I need to learn how the Lord wants me to think about it and use. For now I want us to consider where money is in our hearts. Is money on the throne? Do you seek money or do you seek the Kingdom of God? Chasing wealth leads to sin. 1 Timothy 6:3-10 reads,
If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, 4 he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, 5 and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain. 6 But godliness with contentment is great gain, 7 for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. 8 But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. 9 But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.
Are you asking what you are supposed to do about feeding and clothing your family if you don’t focus on money? Are you saying, “Donna, this world is expensive and I’ve got to eat! How do you expect me live if I don’t save up as much money as possible? How will I live when I’m 75 and can’t work?” Well, I say “Pursue God, have faith that He is God and nothing is impossible for Him.” In Matthew 6:25-34 Jesus answered those questions.
“If you decide for God, living a life of God-worship, it follows that you don’t fuss about what’s on the table at mealtimes or whether the clothes in your closet are in fashion. There is far more to your life than the food you put in your stomach, more to your outer appearance than the clothes you hang on your body. Look at the birds, free and unfettered, not tied down to a job description, careless in the care of God. And you count far more to him than birds.
27-29 “Has anyone by fussing in front of the mirror ever gotten taller by so much as an inch? All this time and money wasted on fashion—do you think it makes that much difference? Instead of looking at the fashions, walk out into the fields and look at the wildflowers. They never primp or shop, but have you ever seen color and design quite like it? The ten best-dressed men and women in the country look shabby alongside them.
30-33 “If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers—most of which are never even seen—don’t you think he’ll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I’m trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving. People who don’t know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.
34 “Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.” (The Message).

Just keep your eyes on God and what He desires and He will take care of all the other stuff that could take your focus. When you do what is right with your money, when you are generous and lift up the poor instead of oppress them, God will ensure you have plenty of money to live on and to continue being generous. If you trust God enough to give generously, even more than you think you can afford, He will prove your faith and ensure you will always have enough to keep giving. 2 Corinthians 9:6-8 says it this way,
The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 7 Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.
In fact your generosity spreads the Gospel because God’s love and your faith in Him are evident in the act of giving (2 Corinthians 9:10-15). Do you really trust God to be God or do you lean on your bank account in case He doesn’t come through? Stop trusting money and start trusting God. Stop serving your bank account, your earthly future, or your present comfort and be courageous enough to serve God.

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James 4 Change your Perspective, Change the World

4/23/2016

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But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Matthew 6:33

James 4
How do you view your life? We can view our lives from the world’s perspective or from God’s perspective. Of course being human it is natural for us to view life from the world’s point of view; we are men and women, born to men and women, and taught by men and women. But when we were saved, God indwelled us as The Holy Spirit; He imbued us with His nature. He opened our eyes and allowed us to see things from a new viewpoint, His. It is still a choice though, how we choose to look at life. Do we choose God’s eyes or ours? Verses 1-3 read,
What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? 2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.
Our passions, the desires of our flesh fight to gain control and keep us looking at life, success and happiness through the world’s lens. You’ve been there, you check Facebook to see your friends have gone on vacation again, or out to dinner, or to the beach. The pictures are beautiful and they look like they’re having so much fun. And a part of you yearns to be on vacation or at the beach with friends. Maybe your friend just got a new car, announced she was pregnant, or got a promotion at work. All these things are good, and you are genuinely happy for her, but part of you wants it for yourself too. I long to travel. And when my friends go to the various and many destinations they are blessed to enjoy, I feel a twinge of envy. I can choose to feed that twinge, think on it, and such, I can choose to pursue ways I can travel, or I can rejoice with my friends and keep walking in the Spirit and enjoying the amazing life God has given me.
Instead of seeking the Kingdom of God, your place in it, and God’s glory, it is easy to begin seeking worldly success, possessions, and experiences. What are you praying for? Are you praying that God will grant you that job, vacation, car, or child? Are you praying that God’s will would be done on earth as it is in Heaven, that His fame would increase, and people would come to know Him? Are you praying that you would have a powerful place in His Kingdom (but really meaning the world) or are you praying that He would use you as He wishes and that the gifts He has given you would build and edify the Kingdom? Are you praying for your glory or God’s? Verses 4-10 read,
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.5 Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? 6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
The Kingdom of God is not like the princedom of the world. God’s view is very different from the world’s view. Success in the world is one where the individual shows her great strength, ability, and drive. She decides what she wants in life and stops at almost nothing to achieve it. She bows to no one, people bow to her. In the world, pride is a good thing. But pride is sneaky. Pride leads to so much sin. Love of the world, money, and standing in the world all stem from pride and lead to the various sins which keep people enslaved to Satan, the prince of the world. Success in the Kingdom of God requires humility, it requires we have enough faith to give our passions and desires up to God, to bow before Him and ask for His will, not ours. It requires realizing that we have sinned and are sinners who could not and cannot save ourselves.. To want those things the world calls success is to sully our hearts with idolatry. Success in the kingdom of God shows God’s power, prowess, and persistence Draw close to God, desire Him, seek Him and He will bring us to Him, He will give us the desires of our hearts, and all life’s pieces will fall into place (Matthew 6:33). Psalm 37:1-7 reminds us to be friends with God, not with the world, to want what God wants and not worry about wanting what the world offers.
Fret not yourself because of evildoers;
    be not envious of wrongdoers!
2 For they will soon fade like the grass
    and wither like the green herb.
3 Trust in the Lord, and do good;
    dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.
4 Delight yourself in the Lord,
    and he will give you the desires of your heart.
5 Commit your way to the Lord;
    trust in him, and he will act.
6 He will bring forth your righteousness as the light,
    and your justice as the noonday.
7 Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him;
    fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way,
    over the man who carries out evil devices!
Some people will be better off than us. Some people will have things we want. Some people will be worse off than we are. The envy we let grow within us takes our eyes off God and His mission and puts it on the world and Satan’s mission. I have dealt with ridding myself of the envy and resentment I’ve felt toward people who have things I want. And I’ve let it become bitterness which ate away at me and nearly destroyed my testimony and made me ineffectual in God’s kingdom. I envied the success other people had at getting support for their endeavors and ministries, while I could not get even my closest friends to read a book or a blog I had written. I have envied even silly things such as how many “likes” their Facebook post got, when my similar post was ignored. I began to feel very hurt. I took it personally. I “vented” to my sister. I judged the people who I felt disregarded me and realized how hateful I sounded. I had to cry for my sin. I confessed it and repented it. It is still something I have to choose daily, to be happy for their success and to look at my life through God’s eyes and not mine or my neighbor’s. I have to say when I stopped comparing our success, God showed me who I am in His Kingdom from His eyes. I have nothing to be envious of anyone else. God loves me so profusely! He has made me a warrior princess in His Kingdom. The enemy is afraid of me. And the work I do for Him has an impact whether or not I get to see it. Verses 11-12 read,
Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. 12 There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?
It was not up to me to judge people for their perceived disregard of me or even what I saw as their hypocrisy to the Kingdom, neglect of God, or anything else. God knows their hearts as well as He knows mine. Their relationship with Him is between them and Him. I can only live for Him, seek Him, and let the glory of God shine in my life so that people will know the truth, the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is Jesus who saves not me. It is Jesus who judges, not me.
I can compare my life to everyone else’s. I can freak out and think I need worldly wealth and success to keep living. But all that takes away from the Kingdom of Heaven. When I do that, Satan laughs. I will choose instead to leave all that to God. If He chooses to give me family, wealth, success, or whatever, great. If He chooses to give me a path different from others, great. It’s not my job to worry about the worldly stuff, it is my job to purse God’s Kingdom, love my neighbor, and make disciples (Matthew 6:33, Mark 12:31, Matthew 28:19).
In Matthew 6:19-21 [i] and 24-25, and 31-34 Jesus said,
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”
Making plans for the future, laying up treasures for your earthly life instead of your eternal one, and serving money instead of God is exactly what Satan wants from you. You will be so focused on the world, you will forget the Kingdom of God. Your heart will be on the things of the world instead of in the Kingdom of God. Verses 13-17 say it this way,
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”— 14 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. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. 17 So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.
The worldly perspective can look good and right. When we choose to forgo worldly wisdom for Godly wisdom, people will think we’re fools and judge us as wrong. I know it because I experience it. God has called me to walk a path very different from many others. It looks wrong. If I were on Judge Judy, she would be disgusted with me and could not understand living by faith instead of a paycheck. God called me away from a nice paycheck, away from living in my own place and away from the dreams I had for a family. He has given me a ministry different than yours, but not less and not more. My life through the worldview is pitiful. My life from God’s view is wonderful and powerful. There is a commercial that says, “Change your apartment, change the world.” I say, “Change your perspective, change your life, and change the world.”

[i] Link to Matthew 6:19-34

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James 3 Control the Tongue and Control Yourself

4/22/2016

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Whoever restrains his words has knowledge, and he who has a cool spirit is a man of understanding. Proverbs 17:27

James 3
How do you tell a mature Christian from a new believer? How do you tell a mature Christian from the world? It is by the fruit that the Holy Spirit produces in her and the way she expresses Him. It is the self-control she exhibits in choosing to communicate the Holy Spirit and not her flesh, the desires of her old self. One of the clearest exhibitions of maturity, of love through self-control is the ability to command and restrain the tongue. How often have you hurt someone by saying some flippant thing? How often have you been hurt by some careless word? Verses 1-3 read,
Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. 2 For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body. 3 If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well
No person is perfect, yet as we follow Christ, walking in the Spirit through our lives we are being made perfect (Hebrews 10:14). The closer we come to the perfect image of Christ, the more we look like Him and therefore the more control we wield over the tongue. James talks about putting a bit into a horse’s mouth and by that small piece the entire beast is guided. Words work like that. If we control our words, we can control ourselves. The easiest sin to commit and somehow the hardest to omit is to speak what we should not, to curse (be it ourselves or someone else), to glibly hurt someone, or to obfuscate. And more often than not our glib words motivate follow up in choices and actions. To control the tongue is to control ourselves. Verses 4-6 expand the metaphor.
Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. 5 So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things.
How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! 6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell.
Do you know it is possible to tame your tongue? It really is. It is not easy, especially at first but with practice, love, faith, and trust in God it can be done. But it cannot be done by us alone. It is only possible with the Lord God in us. Verses 7-12 say it this way,
For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, 8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 9 With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. 10 From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. 11 Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? 12 Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.
A person without the Holy Spirit living in her would have no desire to tame her tongue. Being outspoken is seen as a strength in the world, but it is a weakness in the Kingdom of Heaven. There are people in the political realm who are gaining power and momentum due to the inane and shocking things they say. The current presidential candidates vying for their parties’ nominations are the ones who were willing to sling mud, say awful things, and use their tongues as weapons. My favorite candidate was one of the first to drop out of the race. He did not get the votes he needed because he refused to participate in the backbiting, insults, and war of words.
The Holy Spirit in us means we have His heart as the spring to draw from. We pull from God’s nature which is love and not our own which is pride. We choose to use our words to build one another up, teach the Gospel, lead people to Christ, and otherwise love our neighbors. Jesus told us we would know a tree by its fruit (Matthew 7:20). He also said that we would be known as His disciples (followers and students) by our love for one another (John 13:35). Is it love to belittle someone or curse them? No! It is love to edify, encourage, exhort, and elucidate. When the Holy Spirit gives me a word for someone, it is always something loving, always something which lifts the person up closer to Him. When He speaks to me personally or through someone else it is the same, He lifts, lights, and lightens. I will even dare to say that if the message does not elevate, enlighten, or ease then it is not from God. We recognize His voice and there is no condemnation in Christ (John 10:27, Romans 8:1). Like Jesus, we are to use our words for God’s purposes not our own prideful will.
If the Holy Spirit is living in us, then we will look more and more like Him. Our desire becomes to be the new creation who is the image of Christ. If we lack in some area (and we do while we are still walking he earth) then we ask Him and He will be happy to bring us closer to Him and give us what we lack. James 1:5 says,
“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.”
If you can’t control your tongue, it is best to be quiet until you can. God’s wisdom expressed by His believers glorifies Him and brings people to Him. Controlling what comes out of your mouth is a sign of maturity and wisdom. Proverbs 17:27-28 read,
Whoever restrains his words has knowledge,
and he who has a cool spirit is a man of understanding.
28 Even a fool who keeps silent is considered wise;
when he closes his lips, he is deemed intelligent.
We do not prove who we are in Christ and who Christ is by superfluous speech and brandishing words. We prove who Jesus Christ is by our self-control, love, and wielding the Sword of the Spirit. Verses 13-18 reads,
Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. 14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. 15 This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. 16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. 17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. 18 And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.
James doesn’t pull any punches here. If you are not controlling your words, the words that are coming from you are demonic! They are not from the Holy Spirit but from Satan and are being used for his purpose to steal, kill, and destroy not for Christ’s purpose to give life (John 10:10). What fruit are your words producing? Are they causing disorder and disunity or are they causing righteousness and peace? Are your words hurtful or merciful?
Believer, God’s wisdom shows through your ability to control your tongue. Compare your words with verses 17-18 are they pure, peaceable, gentle, open to reason, merciful, and produce righteousness and peace? Are they from the Spirit who produces love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control in you? (Galatians 5:22-23). Are your words loving, patient and kind; not envious, boastful, arrogant or rude; irritable or resentful? (1 Corinthians 13:4-5). If not, be quiet and learn to tame your tongue.

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James 2 Faith is Tangibly Demonstrating The Holy Spirit

4/21/2016

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If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. James 2:8 On photo of Missy Talbert’s Chalk Heart photographed by Lani Campbell

James 2
Whether you think you have prejudices or not, I can assure you that you do. They can be overcome, but they do exist. Do you think you do not judge others? Consider your opinions regarding certain hot topics such as transgenderism, you have one and you think yours is the right one. That means you think someone else’s is the wrong one. We all judge. It is a natural part of us but it is a part of us that we can control.
One place judgement shows its head is our treatment of the rich and poor. For whatever reason, we consider one or the other circumstance to mean that a person is better or worse, more deserving or less deserving, or more or less worthy of honor. James used the example of this bias to explain the principle of God’s impartiality and love through beneficence to the church. Verses 1-4 read,
My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. 2 For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, 3 and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” 4 have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?
The Kingdom of God is not like the world. In God’s Kingdom the bank account has nothing to do with honor due a person and the outer appearance have nothing to do with the heart or spirit. James pointed this out to the church by showing them that they did practice bias by giving the well-dressed man a seat of honor and pointing the scruffily dressed man to the floor. What I see though is how different the Kingdom of God is. Sitting at the teacher’s feet in God’s Kingdom is the better choice. When Martha and Lazarus’ sister Mary chose to sit at Jesus’ feet, Jesus commended her and we still remember the honor of that today (Luke 10:38-42).
God shows no partiality (Romans 2:11). He gives us all favor when we come into the church by faith. Some people are rich, some are poor, some are healthy, some are not, some are charming, some are shy, but God gives every one of us gifts and such to allow us to become complete in His image, lacking in nothing. Verses 5-7 remind the church of this.
Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? 6 But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court? 7 Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called?
It takes more faith in God’s provision to be poor. God chose to honor the poor in that way and says we ought to honor people’s gifts and faith by seeing that. It is the world that shows honor to people based on things like money (or lack of money). It is the powerful of the world who demand honor through wielding their power. The powerful of the Kingdom of God on the other hand wield the Word of God and His power to love all people in concrete ways that are evident. Verses 8-13 read,
If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. 9 But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. 10 For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it. 11 For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. 12 So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. 13 For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
Keeping that royal law is vital, but keeping it because it is a law and not because it is the result of God’s salvation and transformation of us is missing the mark. If you do charitable works because you are fulfilling the law to love your neighbor, then you better hope and pray that you do not break any law, whatsoever. Did you lust, even for a moment? Then according to Jesus you committed adultery (Matthew 5:27-28) and you’ve broken the whole law. The Mosaic Law is an all or nothing kind of thing. If you are doing good works for people because that is what the law requires then your bias means you have broken that law and that means you’ve broken the whole law.
Faith is all or nothing as well. You choose faith, the law of liberty or you choose commandments and the Law of Moses. You cannot choose both. If you choose to obey commandments as the way to earn salvation, what you do will come back on your head. You will judge people (because we all judge) and God will judge you. In Matthew 7:1-2 Jesus said,
“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.”
But if you choose to live out your faith, the good works you do will come from that faith not from an obligation and God will judge you from the mercy seat of Christ (Romans 14:10). In John 5:24 Jesus said,
“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.”
We love, we do good works, not because we are trying to earn salvation but because it is the supernatural outpouring of the Spirit, the response of faith to salvation. We pay for someone’s lunch, not because our religion commands good works but because the God loves that person and He wants them to know it. We visit prisoners, not because it is a command but because our Father adores the prisoners and wants to set them free and give them His life.
You do not have to do those good works to earn salvation. But if you have God’s mighty loving Spirit abiding in you, you cannot not do those good things. If you have God’s nature, you will do what He would do and that would be to give generously, love deeply and tangibly, provide and be kind; in other words you will be doers of the word and not hearers (or speakers) only. Verses 14-17 read,
What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? 17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
The Spirit of Holy Loving God shows up in His people and it shows up because we live out the faith we have. If you say you believe God will provide but you hold onto your last dollar when you see a person who needs it, is that faith? If you say you have faith that God loves the rich evil man, but you cannot show him kindness, is that faith? Faith shows up in real ways. I can say I trust the parachute to open, but if I refuse to jump out of the plane, then it is only lip service. Verses 18-26 read,
But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. 19 You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! 20 Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; 23 and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God. 24 You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. 25 And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? 26 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.
It was an act of faith, when you said, “I believe you God, Jesus is my savior” and you made chose to submit yourself to Him that demonstrated the belief in your heart. Faith without the act is not faith. Faith does not judge who deserves our charity and who does not. God wants every person to come to Him, He wants every person to have eternal life (2 Peter 3:9). Faith allows us to love everyone impartially as God does. Faith means we live out of love, the law of liberty and not out of obligation to Pharisaical or Mosaic Law.

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James 1:19-27 What is a Doer of the Word

4/20/2016

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In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. John 1:1-3 On Photo of Amber Sky by Lani Campbell

James 1:19-27
What does it mean to be a doer of the word? And if we are supposed to be doers of the word, what about being saved by grace? Let’s remember a little of what we learned yesterday. Yesterday we understood that God’s word is His will spoken and therefore manifested; it is His desire expressed and come to be. His will for us is sanctification (conforming to the image of Jesus Christ), He wants us to be in an intimate relationship with Him, and He wants good things for us (1 Thessalonians 4:3, Hosea 6:6, Jeremiah 29:11). Jesus saves us and changes us dramatically but He does that only with our acquiescence to His will. It is an active and deliberate choice on our part to submit to His word.
Verses 19- 21 read,
Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; 20 for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. 21 Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
Surrender to God’s will for us begins with the choice to feed the Spirit and not the flesh. We choose to show God’s lordship by listening to and deferring to the teachers He has given us, including Him. We consider before we speak or react, and without pride. Anger although not a sin, if allowed to stew will result in sin. We can choose our thoughts. We do have control of our minds. Philippians 4:8-9 reads,
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. 9 What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.
If something is angering us, is it because it is affronting our pride, because we are envious, or because we prefer the lie to the truth? It is a choice to submit to The Holy Spirit and let Him implant His word in us, teach us, and grow His word to fruition. It is a choice to think about what would lead us to anger or what would lead us to obedience to God (2 Corinthians 10:5). Verse 22 reads,
But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
The term for word here is logos. It is a spoken intention and calculation including the reasoning, the knowledge behind what is said; it is communication. It is also the divine expression of Christ. Jesus Christ is referred to as the Word of God, because He is God’s will made flesh. John 1:1-5 describes Jesus as the Word.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
So we are not merely to hear the truth, the message from God, the Gospel. We are to do the word, to take it to heart and obey it. If we merely hear it and don’t make God’s will part of our identity by submission to it then we can’t really say Jesus is our Lord, we’re affecting Christianity not living it. Pretending to be a Christian, will never make us like Jesus. That transformation takes The Holy Spirit in us. Verses 23-25 read,
For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. 25 But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.
In other words, if instead of doing the word by allowing the Holy Spirit to work in us and surrendering our will to God’s (choosing His will over ours) we pretend to be changed and changing, we will not transform. Pretenders don’t understand the law of liberty, enacting Jesus’ love. They can only try and follow rules that make them appear Christian. It would be like looking at ourselves in the mirror but not ever understanding who we really are. The hearer or pretender attempts to look Christian by following the law. The doer lives out the Word in his heart. He lives the truth, the love, and the liberty of the Gospel. He loves others. Pretending to be Spirit-filled cannot and will not result in sanctification. It results in the person’s own glory and no one, including the pretender is saved by the pretense.
James is saying that if one is actually saved, he did more than hear that Jesus is Christ, he believed it, took it to heart, and made Jesus his Lord. He lives out the word to love one another, not out of obligation but out of the abundance of his new and changed heart. Romans 10:8-10 says,
But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); 9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
We can fool ourselves into believing we are Christians; but we can’t fool God and we can’t fool others for long. If the Word is in our hearts, we will express Him, proclaim Him Lord, and live out His love. Verses 26-27 read,
If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless. 27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.
Believer, are you quick to hear but slow to speak? Do you bridle your words and let God’s word be planted into your heart to grow? Or have you fooled yourself into believing that you are saved because you pretend? Are you waiting for the miracle of transformation but it has not happened yet? God will not force His will on you, you have to give up your desires and live out His. The transformation shows. The fruition of God’s word shows because you will love people the way Jesus loves. Jesus’ beneficence will be enacted by you as you hear and do the word of God.

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James 1:1-18 Choose Joy through Trials Because God’s Will for You is Good.

4/19/2016

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And I will put this third into the fire, and refine them as one refines silver, and test them as gold is tested. They will call upon my name, and I will answer them. I will say, ‘They are my people’; and they will say, ‘The Lord is my God.’ Zechariah 13:9

James 1:1-18
God doesn't send suffering to you, but He does allow you to suffer, to go through trials, and experience tribulations. There is not a person among us who has not suffered. There is probably not a person, who is not right now going through some difficult situation, has not just emerged from one, or is not about to enter one. Believer, you are not alone. Even when your suffering seems worse than anything around you, even when you think no one can or will understand, even when you give in to the lie to isolate yourself in it, you are not alone. The church, your brothers and sisters imbued with the Spirit of Jesus Christ are there, waiting to walk beside you and bear the burden with you and needing you to bear the burden with them. God is with you too. He has chosen to indwell you, to abide in you and He wants you to abide (stay and live) in Him.
One of the reasons that the Gospel of Christ spread so far, even in ancient times was because Christians were persecuted very badly. In order to save their lives, livelihoods, and lifestyles of faith, they had to leave Jerusalem and other cities. They had to leave behind family, friends, and the only faith they had ever known. This terrible maltreatment, discrimination, and oppression led to the scattering of the church, especially the Jewish Christians who could be arrested and killed for not keeping the Pharisaical law. Verses 1-4 begin James letter to the dispersed church.
James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,
To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion:
Greetings.
2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
In other words, go ahead and choose to be happy over the various trials you go through. Those trials, whatever they are cause you to exercise your faith. Faith allows you to persevere with resoluteness, to be even instead of not agitated, troubled, or despondent. As you walk faithfully, the Holy Spirit is conforming you to Jesus’ perfect image. That is His will for us (1 Thessalonians 4:3). What a good thing! Faith in God carries you through and grows with each step you take. What is faith? The author of Hebrews defines it this way in Hebrews 11:1-3,
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 2 For by it the people of old received their commendation. 3 By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.
God spoke and created the Universe. What He speaks, is. His word is His will (desire) manifested (come to be). So we can have faith that God’s will for us will happen. God wants good things for us! He wants our sanctification. He wants us to glorify Him. He wants us to know Him, to be in a close relationship with Him. Hosea 6:6 is one of my favorite verses.
For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice,
    the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

Zechariah 13:9 reads,
And I will put this third into the fire,
    and refine them as one refines silver,
    and test them as gold is tested.
They will call upon my name,
    and I will answer them.
I will say, ‘They are my people’;
    and they will say, ‘The Lord is my God.’
Believer, He wants these things for us, but He will never force us. He will never sanctify us against our will. If we are not willing to look at our trials with His wisdom and grow our faithfulness, steadfastness, and character, then He will not make us. Verses 5-11 read,
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. 6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
9 Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, 10 and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away. 11 For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits.
If we are not willing to look at the situation from a godly perspective or even ask God to show s His perspective, we will not and cannot develop the perseverance that comes from faith, because we won’t have be choosing to look through faith from God’s wise point of view. When we suffer, when we are brought low, God is really bringing us up to His image. But if we refuse and instead want to mourn the worldly things we’ve lost or pursue those worldly things instead of the kingdom of Heaven, God will let us, but we’ll fade away with no impact on the kingdom, no change in us, and no treasures in Heaven. That is why it is harder for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God than for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle; because the rich man doesn’t want to give up his comfort for suffering (Mark 10:23-25). Faith assures us that whatever we give up for the Lord will be replaced a hundred times over. In Mark 10:29-31 Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life.  But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”
Faith reminds us that we have eternal life. It is that hope, that knowledge of what God has done, is doing, and will do that allows us to be happy, to choose joy through the hard times and remain joyful and faithful through the easier times. Verse 12 reads,
Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.
So many of our trials, so much of our suffering is the result of our own bad choices. Choosing to be joyful through our suffering does not mean believing that God sent you temptation in order to cause you to sin so that you can suffer. When people sin against you, He lets it happen for your discipline, but He doesn’t tempt people to sin, regardless who they are. Verses 13-15 read,
Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. 14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.
I have heard people say and even believed in the past that God sends tests, that He wants me to suffer, be ill, poor, or whatever. Oh believer, God does not rain evil down on you. He will use it for your good and sanctification (Romans 8:28-30), but He doesn’t send evil, there is no evil in Him. He sends good because He is good. Verses 16-18 read,
Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. 18 Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
God is steadfast. God never changes. He is good and He is bringing us into His image, making us the best of His creation.
Believer, I know you suffer. God knows you suffer. But you can choose to be joyful through it because you know that it is making you like Him, complete, perfect, and the best He has (and what He has is wonderful and endlessly good). I know you suffer but take joy and if you can’t ask God to show you the situation through His eyes. God wants good for you.

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Galatians 2 The Gospel of Christ or Satan, Grace or Law?

4/14/2016

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He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it. Titus 1:9

Galatians 2
The Gospel of Jesus Christ must be defended. The truth must remain pure, undefiled. Too many of us put up with letting little half-truths into the church for the sake of looking kind. Too often we allow people to speak perversions of the Gospel, which sound right but are not, thinking that everyone has the same foundation, maturity, or knowledge we have and can stand firm against these lies. But not everyone can, because not everyone recognizes the lies. People assume that if we, who are more mature are listening, then it must be sound and their beliefs are confused, their conviction becomes sullied because suddenly it is not the Gospel they are hearing, learning, and living, but a gospel which is filled with deceit and bad news. The gospel of works, laws, religion, and ritual is not the Gospel of Jesus Christ it is the gospel of the one speaking it, the gospel of Satan: I-theism. We cannot let just anyone teach and we cannot tolerate any lies being taught, even accidentally.
Paul was telling the church at Galatia why they should trust that he spoke the Truth to them and why he had the right to preach it to them. He was warning them to keep false gospels out of the church. In chapter 1 he had told them about the education he had received via The Holy Spirit at the feet of Jesus and then how he had learned under Peter and James. In this chapter he continued to explain that he had spent the next fourteen years maturing, developing, and learning before finally being called by God to his ministry. Verses 1-2 read,
Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me. 2 I went up because of a revelation and set before them (though privately before those who seemed influential) the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles, in order to make sure I was not running or had not run in vain.
Paul didn’t disclose who those influential people were, but simply that they were respected in the church. He went to the apostles and to these influential men and confirmed with them the revelation he had received for his ministry. Paul was an apostle had been a Christ follower for seventeen years but he didn’t presume to keep his revelation secret, he discussed it and was happy to receive the feedback of the others. Even the most mature, the highest up in the church can make a mistake, can hope they are hearing the Holy Spirit but are really hearing themselves. Sharing your revelations with others says you trust that since you all have the same Spirit, He will confirm or refute what He has spoken for all of you together. It gives the body a chance to be united and to share in the work of Christ.
Paul’s ministry was not a run-of-the-mill ministry, it was revolutionary. His ministry was for the Gentiles. For the most part, Christianity in the early church was for the Jews. It was not withheld from Gentiles but it was seen by many as a sect of Judaism. Some people did not think Christianity was ever supposed to be for the Gentile; they fought against it. Paul was ready to fight for it. Verses 3-5 read,
But even Titus, who was with me, was not forced to be circumcised, though he was a Greek. 4 Yet because of false brothers secretly brought in—who slipped in to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might bring us into slavery— 5 to them we did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you.
The enemy Satan is so staunchly opposed to The Gospel of Christ that he had sent spies in, people who pretended to be Christians but were only there trying to bring the sect down. They wanted people back following the Pharisaical traditions of Judaism rather than following Christ and living in His freedom and grace. They had even managed to be among the influential of the church. Acting as if you’re good can get you pretty far in some churches but in the true church the hierarchy is not the same as the world or the false churches. In the true church, if people are paying attention and zealous for the Gospel, the frauds will be revealed. People will be known by who they become as they mature. Jesus described it by comparing wheat and tares (weeds) in Matthew 13:24-30.
He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, 25 but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. 26 So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. 27 And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?’ 28 He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ 29 But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.’”
Don’t be deceived, those well-meaning, mistaken people who teach and preach effort instead of faith, ritual instead of relationship, and law instead of love were placed in the church by the enemy. He means to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10). There is nothing kind about letting them spread their seeds of deception. But they will be shown for the charlatans they are, they cannot bear the fruit of the Spirit, because He is not in them. But allowing them to spread Satan’s propaganda means they will lead many people to Hell to be burned along with them in the Harvest.
Remember we are not here to please people. We are not here to kowtow to people. We are here to glorify God, please Him and love Him by loving one another. Paul wasn’t inclined to salaaming to anyone, but he did respect the body of Christ and did love them deeply. Paul trusted God enough to know that the Spirit within each of us recognizes Himself in others. Verses 6-10 read,
And from those who seemed to be influential (what they were makes no difference to me; God shows no partiality)—those, I say, who seemed influential added nothing to me. 7 On the contrary, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised 8 (for he who worked through Peter for his apostolic ministry to the circumcised worked also through me for mine to the Gentiles),9 and when James and Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given to me, they gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. 10 Only, they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.
That is exactly what happened, James, Peter, and John recognized the Holy Spirit in Paul, they confirmed his ministry to the Gentiles and sent him to his important work. They knew that though different from their own, it went hand in hand with it. Each of us called to a unique ministry, yet the same mission. We are called to make disciples for Christ, but each to varying populations, places, and by differing processes.
There are times though that even those we know to be Spirit-filled, mature, and true must be corrected. We are all flawed and sometimes our flesh or fear overcomes us, sometimes we make mistakes, and sometimes we sin. I’ve been on both ends of the love of Christ shared for one another. I’ve had to pull my pastor aside and say, ‘you said such and such during your sermon, but the Bible says this.’ I’ve had my Brothers and Sisters come to me and say, ‘the revelation you think is from God is not, it does not mesh with what He told us.’ Though difficult, it is love that we exercise when we say these things, it is defense of the Gospel, love for those who will be swayed, and love for the person who sinned. Verses 11-14 describe that happening between Paul and Peter.
But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. 12 For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. 13 And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. 14 But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?”
Paul had deep respect for Peter; he had mentored him and he was an apostle and a pillar of the church. But in love he could not let him practice hypocrisy out of fear for pleasing people over God. Peter preached grace just like Paul, because Peter preached the Gospel but he let his fear cause him to practice the legalism the Judaizers practiced. He led several people astray including Barnabas. Paul had to confront him, not to hurt him but to put him and those who followed him back on the right path.
Fear does that, it makes us want to look good in front of people. Honestly consider if you do this. Have you been out with church friends and didn’t order the drink you wanted because it would look bad. Did you pretend in front of them that wine never passed your pious lips? Maybe you gave a ride to a church friend and quickly changed the music from your favorite to the latest acceptable “Christian” music. Those little ears in the back seat are noticing your hypocrisy and learning that pretending to be one way in front of some people is more important than living authentically for Christ. What gospel is your life teaching, the I-theistic gospel of works or the Gospel of Jesus Christ?
It is not abstinence from sinning which saves us. It is not following the traditions of the church or Christian culture that redeems. It is faith in Jesus Christ, it is His blood, His work, and His love that saves. Verses 15-21 read,
We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; 16 yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.
17 But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! 18 For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. 19 For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21 I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.
Jesus saves us, His Holy Spirit transforms us. We don’t have to pretend, we don’t have to live and teach lies. The gospel of works is the gospel Satan would have you believe and live. We died to the law! Why do we keep trying to go back to that dead thing again? We are not slaves to sin who must please Satan by working for salvation that cannot be earned. We are free in God’s grace to live the Gospel of Jesus Christ. If we work to earn salvation then Jesus work on the cross means nothing.
Are you living the Gospel or are you living a lie? Are the people who say they are members of the body with you living the Gospel or are they living a lie? People will follow you, people will follow them. Where are you leading them?

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James 5:13-18 My Confession, Testimony, and Encouragement

James 5:13-20 The Prayer of a Righteous Man Avails Much

James 5:7-12 Have Patience Don’t Be in Such a Hurry

James 5:1-6 You Can Keep Your Eye on God or Your Wallet, Not Both

James 4 Change your Perspective, Change the World

James 3 Control the Tongue and Control Yourself

James 2 Faith is Tangibly Demonstrating The Holy Spirit

James 1:19-27 What is a Doer of the Word

James 1:1-18 Choose Joy through Trials Because God’s Will for You is Good.

Galatians 2 The Gospel of Christ or Satan, Grace or Law?

Donna Campbell

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