James 1 (Part 1)

My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various

trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces

patience.

James 1:2-3

When trails come our first instinct (our fleshly instinct) isn't

patience, it isn't "quiet steady perseverance". When trials

come our first instinct is to get annoyed to get angry

and complain that there is an inconvenience in our life.

This reaction is an action that generally speaking happens

because we realize we are not "in control". This truth of not

being in control is not something our sinful fleshly old man likes,

it is however, like I said, absolutely true that we are not in control.

It is important that we realize this fact, it is God Almighty who is in control

and trials will come but we must remain patient in our faith,

we must give our worries and trouble to God.. move forward

in our trusting that all things work out for His glory and absolute goodness.

It is not about "being in control" you must lose all

thought of being "in control" for if you don't surrender all

you are to God, if you try to "Control" where and what you will do

and how you will deal with trials that come;

patience will be nothing but a mountain you can't get around.

Patience and the ability to face trials comes only through Faith

in God and giving up the "control" that your flesh wants.

But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect

and complete, lacking nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom,

let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without

reproach, and it will be given to him.

James 1:4-5

Ask God to do a work in you, to grant you the wisdom

to KNOW that trials and tribulations only make us stronger

in our faith. Ask Him to give you the wisdom to KNOW

that reliance on self is not noble, it is stubborn ignorance to

rely on your self to pull through, trying by your own might to

pull through trials doesn't produce a strong person of faith,

it produces a man who thinks he is strong and doesn't need

God. You radically every moment need God..the very breath

of life is a gift from God, trials and tribulations should remind

you of this and in doing such result in patience in faith.

But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts

is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.

For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything

from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all

his ways.

James 1:6-8

Faith and doubting don't go together at all. If you ask the Lord

for wisdom and patience to get through a trial, but deep down

you are thinking "pshh..I doubt even He can help me"

don't expect the wisdom or patience to come. It's complete

asinine to say "I have faith in Christ" and then doubt His

guidance.

Remember Peter walking on water to go to Christ?

Peter had FAITH that if it was truly Christ out there standing

in the water that Christ;

1. wouldn't put Peter in a dangerous situation

2. could cause Peter to walk on water to Him.

Peter put his trust and faith in Christ and went out onto the water

and walked! but as soon as he saw the wind kick up... what entered

his mind? DOUBT…which thus caused him to sink and Jesus to

say:

"You of little faith, why did you doubt?"

Matthew 14:22-31

and in Matthew 21:21 what does Jesus tell His disciples not to do?

DOUBT…

So Jesus answered and said to them, "Assuredly, I say to you,

if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what

was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, 'be

removed and be cast into the sea,' it will be done.

Matthew 21:21

Let the lowly brother glory in his exaltation, but the rich in

his humiliation, because as a flower of the field he will pass away.

For no sooner has the sun risen with a burning heat than it withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beautiful appearance perishes. So the rich man also will fade away in his pursuits.

James 1:9-11

Let the lowly, the humble, the meek.. glory in being lifted up

by God

Though the LORD is on high, yet He regards the lowly; But

the proud he knows from afar.

Psalms 138:6

and brothers let the rich, not just meaning "the wealthy" but those

who are strong…those who are wise, those who are proud, let them

glory in humiliation. Let them glory in being MADE humble because if they don't…if they trust in their riches and their own

power it is meaningless because it will only fade away, life after

all is short for all of us and we all will soon fade and pass away.

This goes hand and hand with Jesus Christ's parable of

not choosing the best seat at the wedding feast, and saying

at the end of the parable;

"For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who

humbles himself will be exalted."

Luke 14:11

Blessed is the man who endures temptation;

for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life

which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.

James 1:12

As I talked about last blog, who are those who love Him?

"Those who keep His commandments"(John 14:15) those who flee from immorality.

Those who surrender the flesh.. take their cross and follow Christ,

they don't follow the world and it's selfishness but Christ and His selflessness.

Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am tempted by God";

for God cannot be tempted by evil,

nor does He Himself tempt anyone.

But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived,

it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.

James 1:13-15

We are not tempted by God, we are tempted by our very own nature (by our flesh) which our very nature is to SIN. We are tempted, which in itself is not the sin, sin comes in when we let

it fester, when we start looking to our flesh and we desire

our natural ways. When we let sin have it's way it is because

deep down we are saying God isn't good enough, we want God

and we still at the same time want to live to our flesh, which

is not POSSIBLE! If you want God then you get all of Him!

and He changes your desires, He changes you! no longer should

self even be important, in fact Christ demands that you surrender

SELF! Do not be deceived there is no half truth, there is no half faith there is no half way in half way out..One foot in the world

and one foot in the grave…NO! throw your whole self in that grave

and die to self! Christ is what now lives through you.(Galatians 2:20)

Disciple of Christ

If the things I do, I do for myself... then I am not in the

right frame of mind.

I struggle in so many areas of my walk,

and one of those areas is my motivation.

What I mean by that is...

Am I for example praying/reading Gods word

or seeking to spread His word

out of a true love for him or am I doing it

for some pharisaical reasons, thinking with

my self righteousness and "works" I can

save myself.

The word of God is crystal clear in the fact

that it is not about what "I Do" in the sense of

the "Things that I do", If "I Do" anything it should

be to choose to surrender myself.

The fact is any good that is inside me is Jesus Christ,

without Him I am NOTHING. We can't save ourselves and

no matter how many "Good deeds" we do, none of it matters

if we are not surrendering ourselves to Christ.

"Blessed are the poor in spirit."

Matthew 5:3

Beware of placing Our Lord as a Teacher first.

If Jesus Christ is a Teacher only,

then all He can do is to tantalize me by erecting a standard

I can not attain. What is the use of presenting me with an ideal

I cannot possibly come near? I am happier without knowing it.

What is the good of telling me to be what I never can be -

to be pure in heart, to do more than my duty, to be perfectly devoted

to God? I must know Jesus Christ as Saviour

before His teaching has any meaning for me other than that of an ideal which leads to despair.

But when I am born again of the Spirit of God, I know that Jesus Christ did not come to teach only: He came to make me what He teaches I should be. The Redemption means that Jesus Christ can put into any man the disposition that ruled His own life, and all the standards God gives are based on that disposition.

The teaching of the Sermon on the Mount produces despair in the natural man - the very thing Jesus means it to do. As long as we have a self-righteous, conceited notion that we can carry out Our Lord's teaching, God will allow us to go on until we break our ignorance over some obstacle, then we are willing to come to Him as paupers and receive from Him. "Blessed are the paupers in spirit," that is the first principle in the Kingdom of God. The bedrock in Jesus Christ's kingdom is poverty, not possession; not decisions for Jesus Christ, but a sense of absolute futility - I cannot begin to do it. Then Jesus says - Blessed are you. That is the entrance, and it does take us a long while to believe we are poor! The knowledge of our own poverty brings us to the moral frontier where Jesus Christ works.

"My Utmost For His Highest"

July 21st

What does Galatians 2:20 say?

"I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

"I do not set aside the grace of God;

for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain."

Galatians 2:20-21

Christ died because we couldn't live up to the law, Our calling

as disciples is not to live up to something we can't live up to,

because through Jesus Christ we can live up to it!

We need to stop living to our own "Ideals" stop riding

on our high horses and just die. It's not about what I DO...

IT'S ABOUT WHAT CHRIST DOES THROUGH ME!

If you keep living for yourself, keep trying to earn what

you never will be able to earn then you are hopeless.

GIVE everything you are to Jesus Christ, surrender yourself

to Him...and let Him guide your path.

"Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of

the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the

kingdom of heaven."

Matthew 5:20

The characteristic of a disciple is not that he does good things, but that he is good in motive because he has been made good by the super-natural grace of God. The only thing that exceeds right-doing is right-being. Jesus Christ came to put into any man who would let Him a new heredity which would exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. Jesus says - If you are My disciple you must be right not only in your living, but in your motives, in your dreams, in the recesses of your mind. You must be so pure in your motives that God Almighty can see nothing to censure. Who can stand in the Eternal Light of God and have nothing for God to censure? Only the Son of God, and Jesus Christ claims that by His Redemption He can put into any man His own disposition, and make him as unsullied and as simple as a child. The purity which God demands is impossible unless I can be remade within, and that is what Jesus has undertaken to do by His Redemption.

No man can make himself pure by obeying laws. Jesus Christ does not give us rules and regulations; His teachings are truths that can only be interpreted by the disposition He puts in. The great marvel of Jesus Christ's salvation is that He alters heredity. He does not alter human nature; He alters its mainspring.

My Utmost For His Highest

July 24th

"The steps of a good man

are order by the Lord,

and He delights in his way.

though he fall, he will not be utterly cast down

For the Lord upholds him with His hand."

Psalms 37:23-24

Paul Washer has a great sermon on "Dying to self"

and explains it far better then I can do.

Take up your Cross! It's time for battle!

And he who does not take his cross

and follow after Me is not worthy of Me

Matthew 10:38

We've established the fact that Christ died

for our sins, so now what? Do we ignore

that fact? Do we continue on with

our lives as if no price was paid?

That verse is telling us to take up

our cross and follow christ,

burdens and all, turn and follow HIM.

To not be afraid of persecution,

in fact the disciples rejoiced in

being persecuted. They never even

considered themselves worthy enough to suffer

for Christ. Here is a question for you

Would you die for Christ?

would you die for what you believe in?

Is your faith so small that if someone threatened

you with death unless you denied Christ that

you would deny Him? before you say..

"I would never deny Christ!"

Remember that Peter denied Him not once,

but three times. Peter saw Christ, he heard Christ,

touched Christ, lived with Christ and he still denied

him. Of course Peter got the chance to redeem

himself as he spoke with the resurrected Christ,

and said he loved him three times, Peter also

died as a martyr, and he was crucified upside down.

So obviously in the end Peter died for Christ

What I'm getting at is this, Our faith...our love for

Christ should never be compromised. We should

never be afraid to stand for Him, speak for him...

LIVE for him! for we don't live for ourselves,

we live for CHRIST!

I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live,

but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh

I live by faith in the Son of God,

who loved me and gave Himself for me.

Galatians 2:20

and I know at times it can be hard,

and I'm not even including the times

we are around other people. Some

of the hardest times is just when we

are alone with ourselves struggling

in our own sins, with our fleshly desires

and our corrupted ways. We try so hard to

stand for God, to live and be like Christ

only to fail, like Paul said

"For what I am doing, I do not understand.

For what I will to do, that I do not practice;

but what I hate, that I do."

Romans 7:15

In a place of desperation and self-hate

of our selves (which is nothing but sin)

is exactly where satan wants you. He wants

you to fall down, and he wants you to keep YOURSELF

there! He wants you to deny the power of Christ's

sacrifice!

Don't get it twisted, I'm not

saying we shouldn't care if and when we sin,

what I'm saying is Christ died for your SINS!

Don't wallow in pity and in your shame

and cry woe is me! stand up out of your failures!

MAKE WAR against your sins! continue fighting

and striving to be better, to live for Christ!

We were freed from the chains of sin,

are we perfect? No...

We are always battling with our selves

because our nature is to.. SIN

GIVING UP IS FAILURE,

letting your sins control you is failure,

NOT SEEKING GOD and REPENTING

IS FAILURE.

For if you say

"God can't forgive what I've done,"

and you turn away from God,

because you don't think he can forgive

Then you are LOST, and you are denying

the power of GOD and you are denying

the forgiveness and the price that was PAID

on that CROSS!

"Growth in grace is measured not by the fact

that you have not gone back, but that you

have an insight into where you are spiritually;

you have heard God say "come up higher"

not to you personally,

but to the insight of your character."

My Utmost for His highest(Oswald Chambers)

March 27th

Sin can be damaging, I'm not denying that,

and I'm not denying the fact that sin is wrong.

If we don't give it to Christ, and ask forgiveness

if we don't attempt to turn from them, if we don't

put up a fight, then we become harden to sin

and we won't recognize what we are doing is

wrong anymore, until it is to late.

athletes exercise their bodies to gain strength

and endurance for game time, so they are ready

for anything that may happen.

If we don't exercise our "soul's", if we don't

seek God more, yearn to read and understand his word

then we will never be ready to make war, and our sins

will become failures that will consume us from the inside.