The section title for James 5:13-18 is called “The Power of Prayer.” My heart responds already. Do you believe in the power of prayer? Do you believe that spending time praying to God about what is going on in your life CAN make a difference? Listen to these words of wisdom from James.

Are any of you suffering hardships? You should pray. Are any of you happy? You should sing praises. Are any of you sick? You should call for the elders of the church to come and pray over you, anointing you with oil in the name of the Lord. Such a prayer offered in faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will make you well. And if you have committed any sins, you will be forgiven.

Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results. – James 5:13-16

Hardships, happiness and sickness. The one thing these three moments have in common for me is they are often the times when I can’t figure out what to do next. I’ve gotten myself in a situation and I can’t figure out how to get out. I’m so happy and excited that I cannot contain myself and I find myself not knowing what to do next. It reminds me of that moment after an athlete or team has won the championship and they ask them what they are going to do next – “I’m going to Disneyworld!” What James is trying to show us is that we need to shout an exuberant – “I’m going to the Lord!”

Again it is that message of drawing near to God and remaining in His presence regardless of the circumstances. Then, when something tragic happens in our life such as a cancer diagnosis or hearing a doctor say “There’s nothing more that can be done,” our first response is to disagree. There is something we can do. We can pray. We can be still and know that God is God and we are not. We can trust Him in ANY situation and wait patiently for His response to our prayers. We can count it a joy to face difficult times and submit to God’s will or plan for our lives. We can confess sin and rest peacefully in Christ. As Beth Moore says, in all of these things we can deliberately engage with God – living life with God, abiding in the True Vine, drawing near to what has our attention – God [Mercy Triumphs].

I witnessed two healings in 2010 – Mulu from Ethiopia prayed in her native tongue for my mother-in-law to be healed of her 4th stage breast cancer and Neneye from Cali, Columbia prayed for a young boy who was about to be diagnosed with autism. Both prayed with a confidence and passion I have never witnessed before. Both have committed their lives to spending HOURS every day in prayer, soaking in God’s presence and then remaining in His presence as they live out their lives. “The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective” (5:16b). I now know what that means and I long to serve God as faithfully as these women have. I don’t want to have to go to God when I’m in trouble or happy or sick – I want to already be there!!!

Let’s step back a little and look at the whole passage together, but this time in The Message.

Are you hungry? Pray. Do you feel great? Sing. Are you sick? Call the church leaders together to pray and anoint you with oil in the name of the Master. Believing-prayer will heal you, and Jesus will put you on your feet. And if you’ve sinned, you’ll be forgiven – healed inside and out.

My dear friends, if you know people who have wandered off from God’s truth, don’t write them off. Go after them. Get them back and you will have rescued precious lives from destruction and prevented an epidemic of wandering away from God. – James 5:13-20

We cannot give up praying. In every situation, I want to rest in God’s presence – looking to Him for what is next, and for the strength to face it and the peace to rest in it.

Lord, only you know what is ahead for me today. Father God, I long to already be in your presence and drawing from your strength so that you can equip me with everything I need. Remind me today of the power of your prayer. Teach me how to be still and know that you are God and I can trust you. Teach me patience to wait for your response and teach me joy in any situation. I submit to your perfect plan. Savior, forgive me for my sins and help me to rest peacefully in your presence. Amen.

It is good that we are starting out our day in God’s presence, inviting Him into our day, because He is the only one with THE PERFECT PLAN for us today – the plan that offers us prosperity, hope and a future. To follow through on James’ advice from last week, let’s start our day by submitting to God and whatever plan He has for us. Let’s draw near to God so that He and He only has our full attention. Then the response of our heart will be – not my will, God, but Yours!

Now listen you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live or do this or that.” As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil.

Anyone then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins. – James 4:13-17 (NIV)

I am a planner. I like it when my life is rolling out just the way I expect it to. I feel most comfortable when I feel like I am in control of my circumstances. I desire for God to be in control of my life, but I want the result of that control to look just like I expected it to – MY PERFECT PLAN. Yet, in those moments when the future seems uncertain or scary, I am comforted by these Scriptures:

“I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” – Jeremiah 29:11

Your eyes saw me when I was formless; all my days were written in Your book before a single one of them began. – Psalm 139:16

We are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. – Ephesians 2:10

From one man He has made every nationality to live over the whole earth and has determined their appointed times and the boundaries of where they live. He did this so they might seek God, and perhaps they might reach out and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us. For in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, “For we are also His offspring.” – Acts 17:26-28

These verses strike me right where I’ve been for the last 4 years. I had my plans all laid out – plans to raise my girls in Normal, plans to work for Living Alternatives for many more years to come, plans to stay close to my family, plans to grow old with my Church friends. But God had different plans – He had “appointed times” and boundaries of where I would live. My faith was most definitely put to the test when God moved us to Texas. Would I submit to God’s plan?

I did and we settled into a new life in Texas. We fell in love with the new church, new community and many new friends God gave us. We fell in love with the culture of Dallas and, again, I started laying my plans out. Then God reminded me that He is the One who holds the plan. Again, my plans were shaken when God moved us out of our new comfort zone into the next phase of our life. A new decision lay before us, one in which we had to decide between our plans and God’s plans.

On the other side of that decision, I have to say there is no better place to be than in the center of God’s will – right where He wants me to be. But He continues to challenge me even today. Am I starting to lay down my own plans for today or will I trust Him and seek His will for how He wants to use me today or tomorrow or the next day. In submission, I need to draw near to Him, staying focused on Him, asking for wisdom, and seeking Him.

Listen here, you who say “Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit.” How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog – it’s here a little while, then it’s gone. What you ought to say is, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.” Otherwise, you are boasting about your own plans, and all such boasting is evil.

Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it. – James 4:13-17 (NLT)

I can’t ignore that last verse – If there is good that God has asked me to do and I choose not to do it, I am sinning. I can avoid God today so that I don’t have to take the chance that He will ask me to do something I don’t want to do OR I can submit and draw near to God. This is the great part – If I draw near to Him, He will draw near to me. Oh, how I love to be in God’s presence! It’s worth the risk. 

So the opposites continue. It’s either our way or God’s way; pride or humility. We are either God’s friend or God’s enemy – that is what we are when we choose to be a friend of… Yesterday we ended this sentence with “the world” – we are either God’s friend or a friend of the world. Let’s be honest with ourselves today and state what it usually comes down to for us – we are either God’s friend or our own friend. It’s either God’s way or our way. We either let God be our source of joy or look for ways to provide joy for ourselves. Right?

James has already challenged us in this chapter by pointing out that we struggle with not getting what we want, praying with wrong motives because we want it our way. This is an issue of pride – thinking we know what is best. Today James gives us the solution to this inner struggle – submission to God.

Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Come near to God and He will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord and He will lift you up. – James 4:7-10 (NIV)

The biggest thing that stands between you and submission is YOU. So what is God calling you to submit to Him today? Is it your health, your job, your marriage, a struggle, a temptation, a friendship, anger, a grudge…Please allow me to quote Beth Moore again:

“He gives greater grace (4:6)…simply receive…Let Jesus lighten your burden until you float to the top, youth renewed, heart restored. He is enough. Let me say it again: He is enough. When you need more, you will have more. When your woes are great, His grace is greater. When our sins our vast, His mercy is deep. We cannot exceed Him. We cannot outrun Him…So if God has greater grace and we have greater need, what is the hold up?…James 4:7 begins: ‘Submit to God’…Be deliberate in what you resist and what you draw near to…Make up your mind and your motive and set your whole heart where you want it…Put your sweet self under God. Entirely. No arms and legs kicking out to the sides. Knees to the floor. Eyes to the skies. Hands open wide. Death to your pride. Here we run aground on the reason the Devil flees. He doesn’t flee from us, Beloved. He runs from God who is standing right there over us every time we submit. Take off your shoes. That’s holy ground.” [Beth Moore, Mercy Triumphs, p.140-142]

Don’t speak evil against each other, dear brothers and sisters. If you criticize and judge each other, then you are criticizing and judging God’s law. But your job is to obey the law, not to judge whether it applies to you. God alone, who gave the law, is the Judge. He alone has the power to save or to destroy. So what right do you have to judge your neighbor? – James 4:11-12

When I go back and read the first 12 verses of chapter 4, I hear this strong message: Perhaps submission to God is about our focus and attention.

Take your eyes off other people. Don’t quarrel with each other. Don’t covet what others have, wanting it for yourself. Don’t be a friend of the world around you. Don’t look at other people and sit in judgment of their actions, slandering and speaking against each other.

Take your eyes off yourself. Don’t pray with wrong motives, seeking your own pleasure. When you focus on yourself, pride becomes an issue. Whether you are dealing with self-righteousness or low self-esteem, both are caused by thinking too much of yourself instead of focusing on God. God wants us to take our attention off ourselves, letting go of our pride and self-righteousness and trading it in for humility.

Take your eyes off the rules, coming up with an organized list of things to do in order to earn your way to Heaven. Don’t study the Scripture in order to argue with it or prove it wrong or make it fit what you want it to say. Don’t use the Bible as a weapon against fellow believers. Use God’s word as a way to better know Him, understand Him and draw near to Him. Then any conversations you have with other believers will echo the heart of God, not human judgment.

In one of the first sermons I ever heard Scott preach he said that we tend to move in the direction of our attention. Think about it. If we are driving but focus our attention on something off to the side of the road, our car will begin to drift in that direction. If we are running on a treadmill but looking behind us at someone on the elliptical machine, we will most likely misstep and find ourselves flat on the floor…not that I’ve ever done that or anything

God says – Submit to me, come near to me, wash your hands, purify your hearts, be single-minded and focused on me. The farther we are from God, the easier it is to see everything that is going on around us. If we step as close to God as we possibly can, so close that He is dwelling inside of us and He has our full attention, we will free ourselves from the distractions of the world and the opinions of what our brothers and sisters in Christ are doing around us. We will lose ourselves in service to something bigger – God.

I like how The Message rephrases James 4:11-12:
Don’t bad mouth each other, friends. It’s God’s Word, his Message, his Royal Rule, that takes a beating in that kind of talk. You’re supposed to be honoring the Message, not writing graffiti all over it. God is in charge of deciding human destiny. Who do you think you are to meddle in the destiny of others?

You adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God. What do you think the Scriptures mean when they say that the spirit God has placed within us is filled with envy? But he gives us even more grace to stand against such evil desires. As the Scriptures say, “God opposes the proud but favors the humble.” – James 4:4-6

Again James is not introducing a new topic here but continuing with a message he has been trying to get through in the previous chapters. He has consistently compared opposites, showing us that we cannot be two things at once. Remember these verses?

– Believe / Doubt – In 1:6-8, James calls the man who tries to believe and doubt at the same time double-minded and unstable.

– World tells us…but God – He told us to get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent. The world tells us we have a right to get angry or that it is not our fault because we were born with the tendency toward anger, but God has planted a different word in us and that word can save us if we accept it (1:20-21).

– Pure / Polluted – Religion that God sees as pure and faultless – to keep oneself from being polluted by the world (1:27).

– Rich / Jesus – Don’t show special attention to those who are rich when they are the same people who are exploiting you, dragging you into court and slandering the noble name of him to whom you belong. He started out this section by reminding them to whom they belong, that they are believers in the glorious Lord Jesus Christ (2:1-7).

– Knowing / Doing – You can’t just read the word and not do it (1:22-25); you can’t obey some of the law but not all of it (2:8-12); you can’t see someone in need and do nothing (2:16).

– Praise / Curse – Just like a spring cannot produce two different kinds of water and a tree cannot bear two kinds of fruit, you can’t use your tongue to praise God and then turn around and use it to speak poorly of those He has created in His likeness (3:9-12).

– Earthly wisdom / Heavenly wisdom – You cannot have both earthly “wisdom” and heavenly wisdom (3:13-18).

Even the first three verses of chapter 4, which we discussed yesterday, flow into today’s passage. We cannot look around at the world and desire what it has to offer, then turn and ask God to bless us with these worldly pleasures. Let’s read this passage in The Message:

You’re cheating on God. If all you want is your own way, flirting with the world every chance you get, you end up enemies of God and his way. And do you suppose God doesn’t care? The proverb has it that “he’s a fiercely jealous lover.” And what he gives in love is far better than anything else you’ll find. It’s common knowledge that “God goes against the willful proud; God gives grace to the willing humble.” – James 4:4-6 (The Message)

So the opposites continue. It’s either our way or God’s way; pride or humility. We are either God’s friend or God’s enemy – that is what we are when we choose to be a friend of the world. What is it going to be? I think all of us desire that close relationship with God but James is warning us that the world and its influence is daily pulling us away from God. In order to stay connected to God we must daily spend time in His presence, seeking HIS way in our lives and intentionally avoiding the many ways the world attempts to pollute us.

Lord, I love you so much and my desire is to draw closer and closer to you. That you call me friend and that you pour your grace on me, these truths overwhelm me. What you give in love is far better than anything else I will ever find. Lord, show me the ways in which my attention is being drawn to earthly things instead of to you. Help me not to walk out of your presence today but dwell in you all day. Amen.

What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you? You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it. And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong – you want only what will give you pleasure. – James 4:1-3

No matter what we have, there is something else we desire. I wonder if God rolls His eyes when we ask for two things that we cannot have simultaneously. Have you ever been on a road trip with kids? Our girls have asked the famous question over and over again on our many trips, “How much longer?” They long to be at our destination but they are tired of riding in the car, so they ask to make a stop. We stop, stretch our legs, maybe do a little shopping or get something to eat. Then we get back in the car and the famous question is repeated, “Now how much longer?” Well, the same amount of time as when we stopped the car! They long to be where we are headed but they also long to get out of the car, even though it keeps them from their greatest longing – to get where we are going. How often do we do the same thing in our prayer life – praying for one thing and then praying for something else that would keep us from receiving the first thing we prayed for.

I think the greatest problem that James is addressing in this passage is the heart. This is the start of a new chapter but it is really the continuation of what he has been teaching in the first three chapters. The words that we speak, the anger we display, the favoritism we show, the conflicts we have with other people, it all comes down to the condition of our heart. James uses the word “covet” and just a few verses before he is discussing the harmful habits of bitter jealousy and selfish ambition (3:14-16). It is these issues of the heart that cause our focus to be on “self” instead of others – to desire for our self what we see in others instead of getting lost in the needs of those around us. When we desire some-thing someone else has or to have power or glory for our self, it affects our relationship with others and our relationship with God. The truth is God knows our heart and our motives – good & bad.

Let’s hear from Beth Moore because she says it so much better than I can: “Nothing has the capacity to keep us out of trouble like the certainty of God’s gaze piercing through our pretense to the heart of our desires. Only He can sort out the blur of our motives. Let’s have the guts to ask Him what’s in our hearts and, when He reveals it, die to the self-gratification and live for the greater glory” [Beth Moore, Mercy Triumphs, p.133].

The book of James is hard on us. I find myself saying “ouch” over and over again as I study this letter. Are you feeling it too? Are you ready to quit? Wait, the book of James has a solution that will help us overcome all of this. First ask for wisdom before we ask for anything else that our heart desires because there is a humility that comes from wisdom (3:13). And if we lack wisdom, we can ask God who gives generously to all without finding fault – but when you ask, believe that He will give you wisdom (1:5-8). God gives us wisdom when we ask and this heavenly wisdom is “first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere” (3:17).

In other words, when we ask for wisdom, God will give it to us and that wisdom will create in us a humility that begins to change us. We will begin to look at others and see God’s likeness (3:9). We stop showing favoritism and begin to truly love our neighbor as ourselves (2:8). With this wisdom, our heart begins to change and that affects our tongue, because what comes out of our mouth is a product of what is in our hearts. So let’s not delay. It’s time to ask for wisdom. Write down reminders where you will see them over and over again, reminders to pray for God to give you wisdom.

…Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it… – James 4:2b

If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. – James 1:5-6a

If you are wise and understand God’s ways, prove it by living an honorable life, doing good works with the humility that comes from wisdom. But if you are bitterly jealous and there is selfish ambition in your heart, don’t cover up the truth with boasting and lying. For jealousy and selfishness are NOT GOD’S KIND OF WISDOM. Such things are earthly, unspiritual, and demonic. For wherever there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder and evil of every kind.

But the WISDOM FROM ABOVE is first of all pure. It is also peace loving, gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others. It is full of mercy and good deeds. It shows no favoritism and is always sincere. And those who are peacemakers will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of righteousness. – James 3:13-18

I think Hollywood has greatly influenced our lives in many ways, but the one that comes to my mind this morning is our tendency to find dysfunction and idiocy humorous. Sitcoms have lasted season after season by causing us to laugh at bad decisions, goofy lines, and unhealthy relationships. What I am trying to say is that the influence of Hollywood has caused us to laugh at our own dysfunctions, somehow making them cute or “denying the truth” that our habits are sinful. We create whole conversations where we brag, “You think that’s bad, listen to what I do.” We use humor to cover up our feelings of conviction or guilt. Am I right? – Please see that I am including myself in the “we”.

James stays consistent with the theme of his letter by stating again that our faith must be evident in the way we live out our lives. If we truly have faith, we cannot hang on to our old patterns of jealousy or selfishness. We have to stop finding them funny. True faith produces Godly wisdom, which is first of all pure. Pure by definition is “containing nothing that does not properly belong” which adds a lot more to our list than just jealousy and selfishness. True faith is peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit (a tree is known by its fruit), impartial and sincere. True faith produces righteousness. We are saved by grace but the faith that God gives us is intended to make a difference in the way we live out our relationship with God.

A couple of weeks ago, our family was listening to Tim Green, the chaplain of Trevecca Nazarene University, speak on Romans 12. He spoke of what it means to truly offer our lives as a living sacrifice to God – an ultimate surrender in which we are consumed by God as He fills us with who HE is so that He can use us and the gifts He has given us to advance His Kingdom. Consider these verses:

Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other. Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically. Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying. When God’s people are in need, be ready to help them. Always be eager to practice hospitality.

Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say, “I will take revenge; I will pay them back,” says the Lord. Instead, “If your enemies are hungry, feed them. If they are thirsty, give them something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals of shame on their heads.” Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good. – Romans 12:9-21

God calls us to be intentional with our lives – living out our faith with brotherly love. But again God isn’t calling us to try to do all of these great things out of our own capacity or in our own strength. He is willing to be the source of our power and strength. Scott uses the illustration of how the old coal trains received their power and speed from the fire inside of them that was constantly being fueled by the “stoker”, who would shovel coal into the belly of the train to keep the fire strong. “We are dependent on God’s presence in our lives in order to have God’s character.”

I don’t have to do any of the things above. I only need to truly enter God’s presence and offer myself as a living sacrifice. This love described in Romans 12 will be an outflow of God’s presence in my life, not a result of my effort to be a good person. So, when God calls me to be intentional, the first place to start is to INTENTIONALLY enter God’s presence EVERY day, allowing Him to fuel the fire inside of me. It’s not my morning coffee which fuels the start of my day, it is my time in God’s presence.

As Oswald Chambers would say – “let us not effort to counterfeit the work of the Holy Spirit but let’s determine to keep the Lord before us continually.” http://utmost.org/dependent-on-god%E2%80%99s-presence/

I write these Morning Coffee devotionals because God told me to write them. My focus over these 52 months has been to simply share what God is teaching me – to share out of the overflow of my daily time in His presence. I see myself as more of a student of the Word than a teacher. I don’t have the answers and I am not a theologian. I desire to learn and I love spending time in God’s Word. I pray God has used “my morning coffee” in your life; that there have been moments when God was teaching both of us and speaking to both of us through His Spirit as we studied God’s word together.

Dear brothers and sisters, not many of you should become teachers in the church, for we who teach will be judged more strictly. Indeed, we all make many mistakes. For if we could control our tongues, we would be perfect and could also control ourselves in every other way. – James 3:1-2

Controlling our tongue – Oh, how I wish I had perfected this! It’s not easy, which is the point James is making here. He uses three comparisons to help us understand the difficulty of controlling the tongue.

We can make a large horse go wherever we want by means of a small bit in its mouth. – James 3:3

Last weekend, we were visiting with friends in Tennessee. We got up on Monday morning and went to get the horses from the far field so the girls could ride them. The horses were getting pretty feisty with each other and didn’t seem too fond of the idea of having the saddles and gear placed on them. When Todd went to put their bridals on and place the bits in their mouths, the horses clamped down and refused to open their mouths. Todd showed me how God created horses with a place in their mouth that doesn’t have teeth – a place where he can place his thumb and force the horse to open his mouth so the bit can be put into place. Once the bits were in place, the horses calmed and cooperated with their riders. The girls were able to keep the horse’s head high and control whether the horse turned or went straight, simply because of the bit and harness.

And a small rudder makes a huge ship turn wherever the pilot chooses to go, even though the winds are strong. In the same way, the tongue is a small thing that makes grand speeches. – James 3:4-5a

The tongue may be small but it is mighty. It can set the course of our life, determining the direction of relationships. It can do both good and harm. What we say may seem insignificant but it has the power to speak kind words of encouragement or harsh words of condemnation.

But a tiny spark can set a great forest on fire. And the tongue is a flame of fire. It is a whole world of wickedness, corrupting your entire body. It can set your whole life on fire, for it is set on fire by hell itself.

People can tame all kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and fish, but no one can tame the tongue. It is restless and evil, full of deadly poison. Sometimes it praises our Lord and Father, and sometimes it curses those who have been made in the image of God. And so blessing and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth. Surely, my brothers and sisters, this is not right! Does a spring of water bubble out with both fresh water and bitter water? Does a fig tree produce olives, or a grapevine produce figs? No, and you can’t draw fresh water from a salty spring. – James 3: 5b-12

First, James compares the tongue to the bit in the mouth of a horse that controls the direction of the large animal. He also compared it to the small rudder that steers the large ship. Then he finishes the thought by describing how the tongue is like a spark that can destroy the whole forest. The tongue is small but powerful, and cannot be tamed, it says so in verse 8. We can tame animals but we cannot tame the destructive potential of the tongue. So what do we do with that? If the tongue can steer the course of our life and destroy everything in its path yet cannot be controlled, where is hope?

Did anyone else feel convicted in verses 9 & 10? I don’t want to be the person who is praising God one minute and the next minute speaking unkindly about someone God loves enough to die for. I don’t want my tongue doing the work of Satan, finding its source in Hell. I want something different. But these verses are saying that I cannot just determine to do better and change old habits if I cannot tame my tongue. Again, where is the hope?

Beth Moore [Mercy Triumphs] points us to Acts 2:1-4 for the answer:
When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

And therein we find the hope. I don’t have to try harder. What I need to do is take that step of letting God truly be LORD of my life – He’s in charge, I am a part of His story. At the point when I truly surrender to Him, He fills me with His Spirit and I begin to speak in foreign ways – ways that are different from my old speech patterns, ways that cannot be taught but could only be the result of the work the Holy Spirit is doing in my life. Now there’s hope!

Lord, I give you control of my heart and my speech today. Please give me a fresh filling of your Spirit and may your praise always be on my lips! Give me the right words to say and a heart that desires to only bless and do your work with my words. I love you, Lord. Amen.

I love the passages God brought me to this morning as I rested in His presence! In his letter, James uses the faith of three individuals to show us how faith, actions and relationship work together. First, he brings our focus on Abraham.

How foolish! Can’t you see that faith without good deeds is useless? Don’t you remember that our ancestor Abraham was shown to be right with God by his actions when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see, his faith and his actions worked together. His actions made his faith complete. And so it happened just as the Scriptures say: “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.” He was even call the friend of God. So you see, we are shown to be right with God by what we do, not by faith alone. – James 2:20-24

Romans 4:18-21 further defines Abraham’s faith: Even when there was no reason for hope, Abraham kept hoping – believing that he would become the father of many nations. For God had said to him, “That’s how many descendants you will have!” And Abraham’s faith did not weaken, even though, at about 100 years of age, he figured his body was as good as dead – and so was Sarah’s womb. Abraham never wavered in believing God’s promise. In fact, his faith grew stronger, and in this he brought glory to God. He was fully convinced that God is able to do whatever he promises.

Time passed between the moment God promised Abraham that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky & the sand on the seashore and the moment Sarah became pregnant. Time passed between the moment Abraham was told of God to sacrifice Isaac and the moment God provided the lamb. Time passed and yet Abraham’s faith did not waver, it did not weaken. He stayed strong in his faith and continued to give glory to God, fully convinced or persuaded that God had power to do what He had promised.

Can you relate to Abraham? Perhaps time is passing for you between the promise God has given you and its fulfillment. Do not waver in unbelief. Hold tight to God’s promises, giving glory to God and be FULLY PERSUADED that God does have the power to do what He has promised!

Let’s skip ahead to the last chapter of James’ letter, when he talks about another individual whose faith relied on waiting on God’s timing. Let’s consider Job and the endurance that gave evidence of his faith.

For examples of patience in suffering, dear brothers and sisters, look at the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. We give great honor to those who endure under suffering. For instance, you know about Job, a man of great endurance. You can see how the Lord was kind to him at the end, for the Lord is full of tenderness and mercy. – James 5:10-11

When we are in the midst of suffering, James encourages us to not get impatient and begin to grumble but instead to be patient and stand firm. We can’t rush God. We often have the tendency to go ahead of God and try to push His hand but God calls for us to patiently wait on Him. In the midst of this waiting, we are strengthened in our faith.

We don’t always know why God is allowing something in our life but we know we can trust Him. I love this quote from Melissa Moore Fitzpatrick, Beth Moore’s daughter: “Like Job, we endure cycles of suffering and restoration, sometimes without the slightest clue as to God’s specific purpose. Being a child of God means accepting God is fully free to do as He sees fit and abiding in His core attributes. Our heritage as God’s people is to stand firmly on the platform of God’s person, knowing He moves exclusively in ways consistent with His covenant commitment, even if we cannot grasp them with finite minds” [Mercy Triumphs].

In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead. – James 2:25-26

Rahab also had to go through a time of trusting and waiting. She helped the spies escape and then she waited – waited for the day of her own rescue. While the world around her continued to judge her by her past actions of sin and prostitution, God saw Rahab’s faith as evidenced in her heroic actions. Rahab was not considered righteous in spite of the sinful decisions she had made, she was counted as righteous because of her faith in the God of Israel and her willingness to put her own life at risk in order to be used by God for the preservation of His people.

Can you relate to Rahab? Do you desire to be defined by your faith but others continue to define you by your mistakes? If so, please see yourself through the eyes of a God who loves you, who calls you to faith and who has changed you. As Beth Moore states, “He who was, who is, and who is to come sees each one of us. He sees who we were, who we are, and who we will become” [Mercy Triumphs].

Dear God, help us to trust You as Abraham did – to trust You to do what only You can do. Help us to live not on the basis of what we see we cannot do but on what we know You can do. Like Job and Rahab, let our actions be the seamless unity of believing and doing. Today, may You find that our faith is not barren but that our faith is fruitful! Amen.

Yes indeed, it is good when you obey the royal law as found in the Scriptures: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you favor some people over others, you are committing a sin. You are guilty of breaking the law.

So whatever you say or whatever you do, remember that you will be judged by the law that sets you free. There will be no mercy for those who have not shown mercy to others. But if you have been merciful, God will be merciful when he judges you. – James 2:8-13

I’m not sure I have ever considered the concept of MERCY when discussing favoritism or the habit of judging other people. I think of mercy when I think of seeing someone in need and having pity on them, coming to their assistance. I think of mercy when I think of the need to forgive someone, regardless of whether or not they are asking for my forgiveness. But James is clearly using the concept of mercy while discussing the tendency to treat other people according to the standards WE set instead of loving them unconditionally.

According to Unger’s Bible Dictionary, mercy is defined as: “a form of love determined by the state or condition of its objects. Their state is one of suffering and need, while they may be unworthy or ill-deserving. Mercy is at once the DISPOSITION OF LOVE RESPECTING SUCH, and the kindly ministry of love for their relief.”

LOVE
Mercy is respecting where each person is coming from rather than judging or looking down on them. To truly love your neighbor as yourself we must stop thinking so highly of ourselves, accept each other through the eyes of our Creator, and have mercy.
KINDNESS
To truly love is to respond to someone else’s need – to go beyond accepting and put our faith into action.

What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone? Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing, and you say, “Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well” – but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do?

You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror. How foolish! Can’t you see that faith without good deeds is useless. – James 2:14-20

I think the key to remember in studying these verses is that we are not saved by works, we are saved for works. Works should be an outflow of our faith.

Ephesians 2:10 – For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Again, works should be an outflow of our faith or evidence of our faith. We can fall into a salvation by works mentality if we are not careful. We begin to say, “I need to try harder. I need to do better. I need to produce more fruit.” The danger in this is then we can say, “Look at these good works I accomplished for God. Look at the fruit of my labor.” But let’s not forget the first 7 verses of John chapter 15 – God is the vine and we are the branches. It is remaining in Him that changes who we are and that change is evidenced in the life we live. Fruit is then a result of our relationship with God, daily remaining in His presence and allowing Him to work through us.

Romans 12:1 – Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship.

When we become a living sacrifice, we are offering ourselves to God –
utterly at His disposal,
willing to be consumed by Him,
desiring to be transformed by Him,
set apart to be used by Him.

Before I start enjoying some morning coffee with God, I need to remember to get out the “mirror” we talked about yesterday because it is time to be honest and open with God – allowing His Spirit to speak to me as I read His word, willing to hear anything He might have to say.

If you claim to be religious but don’t control your tongue, you are fooling yourself, and your religion is worthless. Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you. – James 1:26-27

That’s good news for those of us who have given our lives for the pregnancy center ministry. That is what we do! We take care of orphans and widows:

– The babies whose mothers are forced to make a choice between staying in a relationship and the life of their unborn child
– The women who are sexually active because they are searching for the love of a man, missing the love of their own father who has abandoned them physically or maybe just emotionally
– The men who don’t know how to be fathers because their father was never there for them
– The women who are raising children on their own because the father is no longer around
– The women who chose abortion to keep the man but the man left them anyhow, either out of his own selfishness or due to the guilt of the abortion destroying their relationship

Maybe you are thinking of the ways in which you reach out to orphans and widows in your community. That is good news for us then, right? But wait a second. Before we take too much pride in what God has called us to do and given us opportunity to do, there is more to this Scripture. James says that our religion is worthless if we cannot keep a tight rein on our tongue. Ouch! We don’t serve a God who is looking for more good works than sinful deeds. Our religion is not one where we just need to make sure the good outweighs the bad. We serve a God who is calling us to holiness – to a Spirit-filled life that guides both our actions and our words.

Lord, please fill me with your Spirit today. Give me the strength to listen to your Spirit’s leading and hold back any words that our not pleasing to you. May my mouth be an instrument for you today and not a tool for the devil. Lord, bring the words of James to my mind today when I am faced with an opportunity to let the Spirit guide me.

My dear brothers and sisters, how can you claim to have faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ if you favor some people over others?

Listen to me, dear brothers and sisters. Hasn’t God chosen the poor in this world to be rich in faith? Aren’t they the ones who will inherit the Kingdom he promised to those who love him? But you dishonor the poor! Isn’t it the rich who oppress you and drag you into court? Aren’t they the ones who slander Jesus Christ, whose noble name you bear? – James 2:1-7

It’s amazing how the people of the first century have the same natural tendencies as the people of the 21st century. I guess that should not surprise me since we were all born with the same sinful nature. Humans have a tendency to treat people differently – preference, prejudice, favor, stereotyping, assumptions, racism. If someone possesses something we esteem, we are naturally drawn to them. That could be physical beauty, clothing, designer shoes or purses, athleticism, jewelry, talent, celebrity status, intelligence, money, or a dynamic personality. It’s all favoritism and it’s all sin, and my guess is we are all guilty.

Let’s look at verse 5 again: Listen my dear brothers: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? Over and over again, Scriptures shows that those who are poor by the world’s standards are more easily drawn toward God.

I love how Beth Moore reacts to this verse: While Christianity’s canvas is speckled with exceptions, the tendency is that believers with less trust God with more. Believers with more trust God with less. In some ways, it’s simple math. Have much / need little. Have little / need much. Blessed are those who need God. Blessed are those who need Him enough to know Him enough to love Him enough to know He’s enough [Beth Moore, Mercy Triumphs, p.90].