19 My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, 20 for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires. 21 Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.
22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25 But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it-he will be blessed in what he does.
26 If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless. 27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. NIV
Interesting James wrote this to those who have the Word of God. (verse 21)
When our daughter was young as well as our grand-child, the two had something very common to most "kids". They both liked mud puddles to jump in. They both loved that one "special" one and where to find it as soon as the rain slowed enough to get outside. For our grandchild, it was only a few forty steps probably from their front door. Although a paved road, there was a radical dip in the road, and it held water every time it rained. We could get our rain jackets on, and the dog's leash for a walk in the rain. What a delight, and what laughter a child could exude in those first moments out the front door. Oh yes, the child was gracious to allow the dog that walk out to their perfect "potty" place, and we could certainly walk the block around, but that puddle was going to be dealt a blow, a stomp, and maybe both feet before heading back to that front door of the house. It hopefully would prove that a lot of stomping could rid that puddle of its rain, leaving the grit and debris behind.
In writing this today, I think of what we could get into that would pollute us.
Romans 12:2
2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is-his good, pleasing and perfect will. NIV
Yes, it is God's will that we seek. Not our own way, but His which is one of wisdom. 1 Corinthians 1:30
Weymouth New Testament: But you---and it is all God's doing---are in Christ Jesus: He has become for us a wisdom which is from God, consisting of righteousness and sanctification and deliverance.
Again we have James below: as we saw from the James 1 and this in James 4, we can see what sin can do and where it comes from. In this day of super-grace, my thoughts are what do those super-grace teachers do with the book of James. He surely spent much time writing on sin and that which pollutes man!
In verse 9 we are told to mourn and grieve because of sin. But when we humble ourselves before God, repent of pointing that finger to "Joe" on the I-5 corridor, we can move closer to God. I do not know about you, but I desire to be close to God and hear Him when He speaks to me!
James starts out in James 4 talking to those "adulterous" people. Yikes, adulterous people!
Yes, it is God's will that we seek. Not our own way, but His which is one of wisdom. 1 Corinthians 1:30
Weymouth New Testament: But you---and it is all God's doing---are in Christ Jesus: He has become for us a wisdom which is from God, consisting of righteousness and sanctification and deliverance.
Again we have James below: as we saw from the James 1 and this in James 4, we can see what sin can do and where it comes from. In this day of super-grace, my thoughts are what do those super-grace teachers do with the book of James. He surely spent much time writing on sin and that which pollutes man!
In verse 9 we are told to mourn and grieve because of sin. But when we humble ourselves before God, repent of pointing that finger to "Joe" on the I-5 corridor, we can move closer to God. I do not know about you, but I desire to be close to God and hear Him when He speaks to me!
James starts out in James 4 talking to those "adulterous" people. Yikes, adulterous people!
James 4:4-10
4 You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. 5 Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely? 6 But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:
"God opposes the proud
but gives grace to the humble."
7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. NIV
Any idea what the proud look like? It says that God opposes the proud, but will give grace to the humble. Well anything that comes from self-righteousness is being proud of our own accomplishments. It is a self-worship! It speaks " I did this with no help from anyone!" " I got this big house and fancy car without help." " I play this guitar with no help from anyone!" "I made my millions by "my own hand."
Yes, that pride thing is a really bad thing..............and then to have evil behavior and a perverse speech with it, too!
Proverbs 8:13 tells us.....13 To fear the LORD is to hate evil;
Any idea what the proud look like? It says that God opposes the proud, but will give grace to the humble. Well anything that comes from self-righteousness is being proud of our own accomplishments. It is a self-worship! It speaks " I did this with no help from anyone!" " I got this big house and fancy car without help." " I play this guitar with no help from anyone!" "I made my millions by "my own hand."
Yes, that pride thing is a really bad thing..............and then to have evil behavior and a perverse speech with it, too!
Proverbs 8:13 tells us.....13 To fear the LORD is to hate evil;
I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech. NIV
The Living Bible states this: Proverbs 8:13
The Living Bible states this: Proverbs 8:13
13 If anyone respects and fears God, he will hate evil. For wisdom hates pride, arrogance, corruption, and deceit of every kind. TLB
WISDOM hates pride, arrogance, corruption and deceit of every kind! So wisdom will not dwell with those things. Every decision where those things reside, will cause us to make very bad mistakes concerning our lives, our children's lives, those in the workplace and out on the roadway!
WISDOM hates pride, arrogance, corruption and deceit of every kind! So wisdom will not dwell with those things. Every decision where those things reside, will cause us to make very bad mistakes concerning our lives, our children's lives, those in the workplace and out on the roadway!
Psalm 4 teaches this from the Living Bible: 4 These wicked men, so proud and haughty, seem to think that God is dead. They wouldn't think of looking for him! 5 Yet there is success in everything they do, and their enemies fall before them. They do not see your punishment awaiting them. 6 They boast that neither God nor man can ever keep them down-somehow they'll find a way!
7 Their mouths are full of profanity and lies and fraud. They are always boasting of their evil plans. 8 They lurk in dark alleys of the city and murder passersby. 9 Like lions they crouch silently, waiting to pounce upon the poor. Like hunters they catch their victims in their traps. 10 The unfortunate are overwhelmed by their superior strength and fall beneath their blows. 11 "God isn't watching," they say to themselves; "he'll never know!" TLB
BUT God does know and He keeps watch on the evil and the good: Proverbs 15:3: 3 The eyes of the LORD are in every place, Keeping watch on the evil and the good. NKJV
1 John 2:15-17
15 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For everything in the world-the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does-comes not from the Father but from the world. 17 The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever. NIV
NO CONTAMINATION
Being without spot might seem hard! But in reading on in 1 John 2 we find some things to keep in mind. I have heard some say that they believe once saved, always saved. I do not believe this is true. I have seen people in the church, who loved the Lord and when that windfall come in, they traded His glory of that new home and new car...........to never return to worship Him in the corporate worship. I have seen those who just refused to do the word of God...........who started out strong or so it appeared and move farther away from Him. I believe we are to guard our eye gate, ear gate, and especially that mouth gate. For James even mentions the importance of guarding the tongue too!
James 3:5-6
5 Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. 6 The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. NIV
James 3:5-6
5 Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. 6 The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. NIV
Remember, James wrote that it was the last hour. If it was the last hour when he lived, how much closer are we to THE coming of Jesus Christ now? Those that remain, who receive that implanted word that saves our souls is done for His glory and brings blessings to us. Those who remain the committed to God and His Word are knowing that Christ is near to His coming, indeed!
John said that the anointing from the Holy One causes us to reside in truth. It is in that "special" place, we recognize that which is the lie. Because no lie comes from the truth. We are to reside in truth.
Anyone today who denies that Jesus is the Christ, is the one who denies the Father and the Son. (John 2:20-25)
Eternal life is for those who have the Father and the Son. We are to guard that which remains in us.
There are too many today stepping aside and not giving the scripture about truth concerning those things that seem to plague the news. There are those who try to find a group of people who will agree with them about men with men and women with women. Yet I have not found that in the Bible. Those who participated in that were talked about as in Sodom and Gomorrah. Hailstones and fire rained down on those from what we find in the Old Testament..........Genesis 19:23-28
23 By the time Lot reached Zoar, the sun had risen over the land. 24 Then the LORD rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah--from the LORD out of the heavens. 25 Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, including all those living in the cities--and also the vegetation in the land. 26 But Lot's wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.
27 Early the next morning Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the LORD. 28 He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, toward all the land of the plain, and he saw dense smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a furnace. NIV
Now remember that God loves people. They are created in His image, but the sin He certainly hates. Read on: Proverbs 6:16-19
16 These six things the LORD hates,
Yes, seven are an abomination to Him:
17 A proud look,
A lying tongue,
Hands that shed innocent blood,
18 A heart that devises wicked plans,
Feet that are swift in running to evil,
19 A false witness who speaks lies,
And one who sows discord among brethren. NKJV
The Living Bible states this: Proverbs 6:16
1 John 2:29.....
Now remember that God loves people. They are created in His image, but the sin He certainly hates. Read on: Proverbs 6:16-19
16 These six things the LORD hates,
Yes, seven are an abomination to Him:
17 A proud look,
A lying tongue,
Hands that shed innocent blood,
18 A heart that devises wicked plans,
Feet that are swift in running to evil,
19 A false witness who speaks lies,
And one who sows discord among brethren. NKJV
The Living Bible states this: Proverbs 6:16
16 For there are six things the Lord hates-no, seven: haughtiness, lying, murdering, plotting evil, eagerness to do wrong, a false witness, sowing discord among brothers. TLB
haughtiness: self-importance, pride
lying: being untruthful about someone or something, giving false statements
murdering: without excuse or without justification
plotting evil: planning to hurt someone, devising something wicked against another
eagerness to do wrong: passionate for the wrong thing, intent of going against rules
false witness: a perjurer, a liar, a false testimony
sowing discord:planting those seeds of strife, disagreements, feuds
haughtiness: self-importance, pride
lying: being untruthful about someone or something, giving false statements
murdering: without excuse or without justification
plotting evil: planning to hurt someone, devising something wicked against another
eagerness to do wrong: passionate for the wrong thing, intent of going against rules
false witness: a perjurer, a liar, a false testimony
sowing discord:planting those seeds of strife, disagreements, feuds
1 John 2:29.....
In the writing John has here, is that which is of God is the truth, He also states that when Jesus returns for His own, that we would not be ashamed at His coming. Our confidence is to be in God ......that He is righteous, and then we do right...........we have been born of Him. (verse 29)
Will any of us be ashamed at His return? Does He not see and know what we are doing?
Will any of us be ashamed at His return? Does He not see and know what we are doing?
I surely love what John wrote in 1 John 3. He speaks of the great love the Father has lavished on us to that we should be called the children of God. Amen.
The world does not know God, so the world will not know us. In His appearing for us, His own, we shall see Him as He is. And everyone of us.............who has this hope of His return, purifies ourselves, just as He is pure. But anyone who lives according to the world, and lives not according to His Word sins against God. For John goes on in 1 John 3:4.....of the lawlessness which is sin. For anyone who lives in Christ Jesus will not keep on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen Him or known Him.
THEN John adds: do not let anyone lead you astray. He who does what is right is righteous, just as He is righteous. He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work. No one born of God will continue to sin. This clearly shows that which is a child of God and that which is the child of the devil. For anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother.
Yes, it all comes back to love others. It is about loving everyone above ourselves. It is loving our neighbors, any person of any age and any color. We are to love our family members even we do not understand them. In truth, our lives should mirror that of God's Word. If it does not, then we must find out why it does not do that!
We are not to conform to the pattern of this world. Not sure anyone would remember paper dolls and their clothes. But they were precisely cut out........and you could dress the doll in whatever clothes you had at the time. They were printed out or stamped with cutters to give the outline of an outfit, a coat, a hat or even mittens, and boots or shoes. But there was no other lines. There could be no movement in arms, in the legs or even with the head. That is what I think of as anything that pertains to the world. It will do anything for you, not take you anywhere except further into more sin. And that sin will hold you there! It will dress you, and keep you there. It will try to help you remember all the party times but not the tragic moments of those party times when making a wrong decision.
Transformation is key! Transformation applies to any job, any thing we work at, any thing that can be transformed as to.....our own lives, our families, our marriage, our job, a new God idea for creating something new as to the workplace, even a new God thing applying to ministry and prayer! It is finding out how God does things..........and............Transformation is.......a change, a conversion, revolutionary move, a turn around that moves us from mediocrity and the mundane to the living an adventurous life with God. We are not to be conformed to the way the world does things, but become those empowered by God to bring and revolutionize in a dramatic and far-reaching way of touching people with God's love. Our minds are to be renewed to change and most people hate change. But we can see the rotation of the earth that brings on the 4 seasons. That spin on things brings changes like it or not.
There are certainly a lot of folks jumping in those mud puddles today, they are jumping into things that God hated, but He sent His son of Love to bring love to a dying people. We are to find that Love by looking into the perfect law of liberty. We are to submit to God, resist the devil and come near to God. For when we seek God with our whole hearts, He comes near to speak with us. We are to purify ourselves of the things of the world. Not be double-minded............walking both in the world and with God.....that does not and will not work.
Walking on that fence between the world and God is dangerous. A book still out that has lasted several years is a good one to read. It is " 23 Minutes in HELL" by Bill Wiese....It is one man's story about what he saw, heard and felt in that place of torment.
This being October and seeing how those "horror" flicks flood the viewing audience, especially on a few channels, I wonder what their thoughts, those who truly love the "horror" flick would think about hell knowing that hell is real and that it is forever. After reading through this book again, I am thankful for Jesus and that He wanted me and you to be with Him for an eternity..........in heaven and not in hell!
Walking on that fence between the world and God is dangerous. A book still out that has lasted several years is a good one to read. It is " 23 Minutes in HELL" by Bill Wiese....It is one man's story about what he saw, heard and felt in that place of torment.
This being October and seeing how those "horror" flicks flood the viewing audience, especially on a few channels, I wonder what their thoughts, those who truly love the "horror" flick would think about hell knowing that hell is real and that it is forever. After reading through this book again, I am thankful for Jesus and that He wanted me and you to be with Him for an eternity..........in heaven and not in hell!
Our desire should be to leave the world behind. For everything in the world----the cravings of sinful man, the lust of the eyes, and the the boasting of what he has and does----comes not from the Father but of the world. THE MAN WHO DOES THE WILL OF GOD LIVES FOREVER. AMEN.
We are not to change His Word, but follow it. We are to adhere to truth and leave the false. We are to abide in Him, and as we do.........we are transformed into the man and woman He planned for us to be!
We are not to change His Word, but follow it. We are to adhere to truth and leave the false. We are to abide in Him, and as we do.........we are transformed into the man and woman He planned for us to be!
People must know truth to not only survive but thrive in this world today! Our expectation, yes our hope, is in the One True God who made heaven and earth. Who gave us His Son, the Son of His love for us to have a life with HIM forever. I hope to see you there!..........in eternity with Him! Shelley
You can also visit my Youtube channel The Voice of Prayer for more teaching at http://bit.ly/1tNyBhV
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