There is much to be learned from the books of the Bible as we study them by topic and by subject rather than just reading them as statements in a letter. A letter is a cohesive whole and it is fully possible that what I say in chapter one may later be commented on in chapter 5 with more detail. As I recently read the book of James, I saw these themes emerge. I now present the themes of the book of James for your edification in love.
Faith
Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
James 1:3
Our faith is to be tested by the circumstances we face in life. Sometimes it is God that arranges life so that He can test our hearts and our faith. Sometimes it is the Devil who is allowed to tempt and to test us. This is what we see in the garden of Eden. God made a tree as a test. He said, “Don’t eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, lest you die”. Love has to test the objects of its love, in order to know if they love Him back. God also allowed Satan to test Adam and Eve, with the same test that God Himself had tested them with. Only this time, Satan introduced a lie, saying “you shall not surely die”. Of course, Satan is the father of lies and will always try to twist what God has said in His Word.
Whether the test comes from God or from Satan, you can be sure that God is allowing it all, to bring forth the glory of Jesus Christ in our lives. Jesus Christ was tested and tempted in all manner as we were, yet without sin. God has great expectations for the tests and trials that we face. God believes in us, that we can pass every test, the way that Jesus did, by strict reliance on the Word of God. Jesus said, “It is written”. He relied on the written Word of God and it gave Him the victory over the tests He faced.
Testing and tempting is nothing more than pressure applied to our lives and our circumstances. Pressure is good for gemstones like diamonds. It helps them develop and form completely into solid, beautiful stones that everyone can appreciate and enjoy and be edified by. Testing is also like heat being applied to gold. When gold is heated to a high temperature, the impurities of it start rising to the top, where they can be removed. Let us say with Job, “when I am tried, I shall come forth as gold”! No trial seems pleasant at the moment but AFTERWARDS they yield fruit in our lives. Fruit for the healing of the nations. Fruit that can bless and build up the fellow members in the body of Christ. So don’t be afraid of the testing, but rather, embrace it and know that you can either pass the test or fail. If you pass, it will develop your character. If you fail you can then repent to God of that failure and learn to overcome when faced with the same trial. Trials will most likely be repeated until we pass the test. Then new trials will emerge. This is the pattern of our lives from the cradle to the grave. Learn to love the tests. It is revealing who truly belongs to God and who doesn’t. It’s a shaking that must take place, so that those who are founded on the rock of the Word of God will be on display for all to see.
But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.
James 1:6
If we expect to pass the tests of life, we must set our faces like flint, as did Isaiah the prophet. When we find a promise in the Word of God, we must consider it and believe on it and embrace it and hold fast to it. God designed His Word to be embraced and believed on by all people. It is a sad commentary that so few will take God at His Word. Even out of all the people that read the Word of God, very few will apply that Word without reservation to their lives. It is much easier to doubt what God has said than to believe Him. But why? Is God not faithful? Is He not trustworthy? Hasn’t He performed His Word in the past? Doesn’t He change not? Doesn’t He have a perfect heart of love as revealed by His name Abba, Father? Oh, we have been lied to by the world. We have been told that we need to trust in ourselves, in money, in lies, in doctors, in men and in anything BUT the pure, unadulterated Word of God that is forever settled in heaven.
God says, “My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips”. Jesus Christ is that covenant, issued in love, issued in blood. Without faithfulness to His Word, the whole Godhead collapses. God’s Word is His bond. He lets His yes be yes and His no be no. God’s Word was such a strong foundation that it allowed the heavens and the earth to be formed in the beginning. It was strong enough to create the angels and all of mankind. It was worthy enough to create the animals and birds that we see in the earth up to today. Oh, the Word of God is worthy of our trust! Those that have trusted the Word of God with their WHOLE HEARTS have not been ashamed, have not been confounded, have not made haste. There are testimonies, oh yes, there are testimonies to God’s faithfulness to His Word.
Jesus said to Peter “Oh ye of little faith, why did you doubt?”. We have to be willing to trust the Word of God over everything else, including that which we see and feel and understand with our natural understanding. The Word of God is deep. Deeper than what we feel and deeper than what we understand. We must allow the Spirit of God to convince us of the truth of God’s Word. The church and the Holy Spirit are the two witnesses of God in the earth. What the church and the Holy Spirit have in common is that they rely on the Word of God, they rely on Jesus Christ Himself. He is the ROCK. He is the sure foundation. All other words and ideas are sinking sand. Only the eternal Word of God is a sure foundation. Has not Christ proven that one can live a life trusting in only what GOD HAS SAID? Yes, Christ has proven that. He trusted in the Father up to and including the cross. He said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit”. That’s our Jesus. Faithful to the Word of God and the Father that spoke it, even unto death. Oh, it takes humility in order to walk this faith walk! We must trust in the Word of God above what we think. This is the only way to life.
We have the mind of Christ, if we so choose. The mind of Christ is a continual decision to ALWAYS DO THE WILL OF THE FATHER. Always. We must continually continue in the Word of God. Just because we’ve been faithful in the past is no guarantee that we will be faithful in the future. We must cultivate the mind of Christ as our mind. The mind of Christ is unshakable. It is not moved by what the world says, by what the enemy says. It only moves to more perfectly and more intensely embrace WHAT GOD SAYS. It continually meditates in what God says. The mind of Christ DOES NOT GIVE UP WHEN OPPOSITION ARISES! Opposition is normal! The world does not live by the Word of God. Satan does not live by the Word of God! The world and Satan hate God and His Word and also all those that live by the Word of God. Know ye not that the Word says that all that live godly in Christ Jesus SHALL suffer persecution? There is a violent shaking going on in the world today! Do you not feel it? Do you not sense it by the Spirit of God? Love God and keep His commandments. Keep His Word in your heart. Trust Him with EVERYTHING, even unto DEATH. That is the life and mind of Christ. We can do it, if we so choose. Commit your ways unto the Lord and your thoughts will be established.
Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.
James 1:12
When we boldly choose to have faith in God, it is not a one time decision. It is a decision to run the race of faith with ENDURANCE. Wars and rumors of wars will come, but will we be found faithful to the Word of God? If you fail God by believing a lie over His Word, don’t give up! Get back up again! Repent and continue running the race, looking unto Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith! That’s right, we are called to walk in the faith of Jesus Christ. Not our own faith. Christ has laid the foundation that trust in God unto death is possible and overcoming and triumphant! Very few that start the race will faithfully finish it. When tribulation arises BECAUSE OF THE WORD, many faint. Many are choked by the cares of the world. I tell you this, though a thousand may fall at your side and ten thousand at your right hand, it shall be well for him or her that ENDURES WITH GOD TO THE END.
We can help our brothers and sisters to endure, but we can’t run the race for them. Each man or woman will stand or fall based on his or her OWN FAITH. The best thing we can do to encourage our brothers and sisters is to run the race of faith faithfully ourselves and testify to what we are doing by actions and words. Show forth the fruit of God in your lives. Surely there is true fruit to share, to encourage the body of Christ and to encourage those in the world to come out of her and BE SEPARATE. Be separate by the mind of Christ and the faith of Christ. Trust in God with your WHOLE HEART and lean not on your own understanding. Our lives are living letters, known and read of all men. If we fail, it is known. If we are victorious, it is known. God knows. The holy angels know. The world knows. Satan and his demons know. We are a theater show for the world to see. Let’s give them something worth seeing, yes, let’s show them the faithfulness of Jesus Christ, enduring to the END and receiving that crown of life. The promise of eternal life is to the overcomers, not those who give up.
In the last day, will we be able to say to Christ: “Jesus, I walked in YOUR FAITH with all my heart and I did it unto the death. I did not faint or give up when I was tested, but I endured by not loving my life unto death. I proved that your Word is true by walking in faith, all the days of my life”?
Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.
James 1:12
Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?
James 2:5
The Word of God is clear. It is those that are RICH IN FAITH. These are the people that love God. Faith in what God has said proves that we love God. Jesus said, “if you love me, keep my commandments”. His commandment is that we would walk by faith and not by sight. His commandment is that we would walk in love for God and others.
The Word of God declares that without faith it is impossible to please God. We must believe that He is and that He is the rewarder of them that DILIGENTLY SEEK HIM. Faith is known by diligently seeking God. We must have a solid foundation in Christ and then continue to stabilize our lives in Christ by GOING YET DEEPER IN HIM. Increasing in the knowledge of Christ. It is not once saved, always saved. It is not once faith always faith. It is “endure to the end and you shall be saved”.
When Paul’s faith was tested, he had this testimony: “I believe God that it shall be even as it was spoken to me”. Paul was rich in faith. Paul loved God. Without faith, it is impossible to prove that we love God. No faith, no love. Much faith, much love. When we believe what someone is saying, it shows that we respect them. All we can do is give God OUR WHOLE HEARTS. Believing His Word, living His Word, dying for the sake of HIS WORD. Our first parents failed God and died spiritually, all because they took the word of the fallen angel Lucifer above that which God has said. They gave in to temptation rather than have faith in God. We don’t have to continue in that error! The Bible says all have sinned, not that all will continue to sin! Choose you this day who you will serve! Our choices determine our destiny, so choose wisely! Choose life that you may live!
In the last day, will we be able to say to Christ: “I believed the Father’s Word, even unto death!”? We are so privileged to be alive on this earth. Now is the appointed time, Now is the day of salvation. That salvation comes by His Word. When God wanted to save the world from trusting in themselves, He sent His Word, His Son Jesus Christ, who showed us how to love the Father by believing the Father. By putting faith in God and what He says. This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. Faith is His commandment to us this day and every day. When trials come, believe God’s Word. When obstacles come, believe God’s Word. When lies come, believe God’s Word. When sickness and disease come, believe God’s Word. This is our opportunity to shine! This is our opportunity to prove that we love God. We can’t love God without loving His Word. His Word and Himself are inseparable. Love God by loving His Son. Love the Son by following His example of self sacrificial love, even unto death. Especially unto death. Deny yourself, pick up your cross daily and follow Christ. This is how we love the Father, when we love Him by loving His Son and following His Son. This is the testimony of God about His Son Christ: “HEAR HIM!”.
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