KJB Daily Devotion – Following Jesus Through Every Chapter
Date: Thursday, November 23, 2017
Chapters: Book of James
Message: Never Give Up
Hello My Friend,
The Book of James contains five chapters and was written by James, Jesus’ half brother as would be in the flesh. This epistle (letter) mentioned with Joses, Simon and Judah, and often in the Acts of the apostles is known as the general epistle because it was not addressed to a particular church. The purpose of the letter was to comfort believers who were undergoing trials for their faith. What we are to learn from the book is that faith is the foundation of our works, but faith without works is dead. “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.” – James 2:26.
I was offered this job, and to be honest I do enjoy the work I do, but it is not at all what I was told it would be. One day I worked for eleven hours driving from store to store and only ended up getting paid for five hours of that time. Talk about discouragement, you work hard and do not even get paid for it. When things like this happen you feel like throwing in the towel and giving up the fight, but we who are saved are stronger than that because we have Christ living in us, and as long as we live here on earth He will not let us give up. Everything we go through is a reminder of the fact we are His and need to be following His Word.
“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.” – James 1:17-24.
“and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.” For years I led what I thought was a pretty boring life, I was an independent, strong, responsible, dependable, hard worker, helped my family, helped people, and stayed out of trouble. Then one day I decided I needed something, a man in my life, I wanted to be married and started dating in hopes that I would find the man that would become my husband. Well, I found a guy, and fell hard for him because he was a handsome and very charming man. That man turned out to be a nightmare, but it was too late, I already fell in love with him and did anything he wanted so I could keep him. One day, I saw myself and did not even know who I was, it was then that I realized I did need a man in my life, Jesus Christ. You know, we can do so many things that are good, but without faith it means nothing. This is what James is talking about here, works can only go so far, we need faith also if we want to live.
“Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works. Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God. Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only. Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way? For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.” – James 2:18-26.
“so faith without works is dead also.” Regardless of what we do, faith and works go hand in hand. Think about it, would you make an effort to do something if you did not have faith that it would all work out? As Christians we are going to be tried, we are going to face trials, we are going to suffer heartache and affliction, some of our own doing, some from others. Everything that we go through tries our faith and it is usually during the trying of our faith that we benefit the most. As much as we would like for God to intervene He will not stop someone’s freewill, whether it is good or bad, but He can give us peace and comfort through the trying of our faith. We have to realize that the things we go through are not a punishment from God they are to give us wisdom and a deeper understanding of Him, not necessarily the why of what is happening.
“Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.” – James 3:13-18.
“But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts,” I will admit that for years I have had this bitterness in my heart over the man that I was in that bad relationship with, and that bitterness kept me from enjoying a lot of things. Well, a couple of weeks ago that bitterness subsided after I met someone and that man spoke to me because he saw a picture of us. For the first time in years I am free and no longer in bondage to my past. You know, bitterness, anger, fear, hurt, all these things hinder us from a lot of things, even moving forward and doing the what God calls us to do, and until we get those things under control we will struggle.
“Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that. But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil. Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.” – James 4:13-17.
“Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow.” The older I get the more I understand this, we do not know if we have tomorrow, all we have is today and therefore, we are to make every day count. Oh, how many days that I could have done something of value, instead I wasted because of my bitterness. Of course, it is good to plan for the future, but we must not forget about today. As long as we live for today with the hope of tomorrow, Jesus will give us the strength to endure all things. “Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” – Philippians 4:11-13.
Jesus Christ Magnified: “Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.” – James 5:7-8.
Today’s Prayer: God, It can be so difficult to keep going when faced with affliction or perhaps even a broken heart, but You can give us the strength to keep going no matter what we are facing. Lord, give us Your power, grace, love, comfort, and the peace we need to keep going. Increase our faith in You, help our unbelief, and let us not forget all You have have blessed us with, even the little things, and the blessings You have waiting for us as we endure these trials. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina
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