James the half brother of Jesus

Hey All,

I hope you all have enjoyed reviewing a few of the Psalms over the last few weeks. We will continue to do this from time to time as there are 150 of them and we have only scratched the surface. I have read the Psalms many times in the past but seldom have I broke them down to determine what is God saying to us in those verses, as we can read the bible in so many different ways. The Holy Spirit has been tugging on my heart to start reviewing the book of James. I have avoided this, looking at the old testament prophets instead and yet my mind kept coming back to James. So let listen to what God is saying to us and begin the book of James.

What do we know about James?

While there were two disciples named James, the author of the book of James was the half brother of Jesus see Mark 6:3. James was the leader of the 1st christian church of Jerusalem made up of Jewish people not Gentiles. This book has many examples of how we are to live.

Let’s look at James 1:2-8 Consider it all joy my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have it’s perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach and it will be given to him. But he must ask in faith without doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. For that man ought not expect to receive anything from the Lord being a double minded man, unstable in all his ways.

We all do it! Even though we can recite Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, and then I hear that voice saying, oh ye of little faith, Luke 17:6 If you had faith of a mustard seed you would say to this tree, be uprooted and planted in the sea and it would obey you, but when we are in that time in our lives we are exactly in the place that James says above. We are being tossed and turned in the ocean of life letting every comment, thought and action of others take us away from what we know God has in store for us. Why? Because the devil does not want us to succeed. So if we do not have the wisdom needed, what does James tell us to do? Take it back to God in prayer! Such a simple task! Lift up our problems to the Lord! Why? Because God will give us the wisdom to overcome the storms we are facing in life. These storms as we see in the first part of this verse are more than just challenges to test our faith. God wants us to be strengthened every time we endure a storm so that we might become perfect. When I see the word perfect, think wait a minute, I can never be perfect as only Jesus lived His life in perfection. The word perfect hear means to be whole or one with God. You see God knows we all live imperfect and broken lives and that we try to go around and fool each other that everything is perfect everyday of our lives. When we turn our storms of life over to God and watch Him calm the troubled waters in only a way that he can it strengthens us and makes us whole so that we can be bold in our faith to others. So many times the storms we create are our own. Lord what if? Lord I am unsure of the future? Lord I don’t see a way through this one and then all of a sudden God opens your eyes and you see the path right in front of you. Coincidence? I don’t think so! It sounds prophetic and yet it happened again to me today. The very thing I have been so verklempt about appears to have a very real solution in the very near future. Did I know deep down that God had my back? Absolutely, but I still had to get bounced around in those waves to get my attention.

So to wrap up

Father God, thank you that you are a God of second chances so that is as it says in James, I may not be a double minded man unstable in all my ways. Lord help us to turn to you for everything we need or are concerned about in prayer. Father I thank you for the many gifts you freely give to us on a daily basis without us asking for as You take care of our ever need. Forgive us of our sins! In Jesus name we pray. Amen? AMEN!