Read James 5:1-20

“Confess your sins to each other and pray for each
other so that you may be healed.”
(James 5:16)

Thoughts… I don’t think James is promoting the idea that you stand up in front of the congregation and blurt out all your sins from the past week—bad words, dirty thoughts, rotten attitudes and dark deeds. While that may be very entertaining to everybody else, it probably will not have the intended results James had in mind.

I suspect James is speaking of being in accountable relationships, perhaps a small group of some kind where the conditions have been cultivated for redemptive confession to take place. That’s why I am a firm believer that every Christian needs a small group of two to four (perhaps a few more, but no more that eight) where relationships have developed enough that this kind of open sharing can take place.

That kind of group does not happen overnight. It takes time. It takes a track record of confidentiality. It takes the absolute certainly that your fellow group members will have your back. It is a safe place. It is a place where you know that the others have your best interests in mind. And it is a place where you have given your spiritual partners permission to look deeply into your soul, ask you penetrating questions, and hold your feet to the fire for the integrity and purity of your spiritual walk.

Do you have a group like that? If you don’t, ask God to bring people into your life with whom you can develop that kind of deeply authentic community. Then do the hard work of cultivating openness and accountability with them. I have done that now for years, and would not even begin to think of doing life any other way. It is one of the activities of my week that keeps me spiritually grounded.

They (whoever “they” are) say that confession is good for the soul. That’s true. But it’s good for the whole, too…the whole person. Confession and repentance will lead not only to cleansing of your heart, it will bring release to your mind and perhaps be the catalyst that speeds healing to your body.

“If you have sinned, you should tell each other what you
have done. Then you can pray for one another and
be healed. The prayer of an innocent person
is powerful, and it can help a lot.”
(James 1:16, CEV)

Prayer… Lord, thank you for the people that you have brought into my life who are not afraid to look me in the eye and ask me penetrating questions about the condition of my heart. Give them constant courage, deeper insight, and an overflow of grace.

One More Thing… “The confession of evil works is the first beginning of good works.” —Augustine

Read James 4:1-17

“Instead, you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will,
we will live and do this or that.’”
(James 4:16)

Thoughts… James is saying that one of the big mistakes we can make in life is to do our planning without God. He describes this kind of person in verse 13: “Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’”

Did you notice there is not a single mention of God in this person’s planning? This guy knew what he wanted and how to get there, but he didn’t bother to check it out with God first.

It’s not that James has a problem with planning—he doesn’t. What he has problems with is presuming. It is good to have dreams and goals—as long as you include God and establish them prayerfully. The problem with the person in this verse is that he forgot to include God in his planning. He just presumed that God was okay with what he had in mind. But he didn’t seek God’s advice or approval first. He had operated independently from God.

That’s a pretty common sin. And it can lead to some very serious and negative outcomes in our lives. The great Russian author Alexander Solzhenitsyn wrote prolifically on the horrors of the Russian Revolution, where 60 million Russians died, attributing this nightmare to one simple fact: “Men have forgotten God.”

This is what James is talking about. You can be a believer and forget God in your daily life. It’s possible to love him but leave him out of the picture when it comes to planning your career or running your business or pursuing your education. And when you do that, in effect, you become a practical atheist.

If this is such a common sin, then what is the solution? Very simple: Include God in your goal setting. In fact, you may need to stop what you are planning right now and ask God what he thinks about it.

If you are buying a home, purchasing a car, making a career move, hiring an employee, beginning to date, ending a relationship — what does God have to say about it? Do you even know? If you haven’t gone to God first, then you need to seek his forgiveness and be willing to back away from that commitment, if possible, if he hasn’t given you the green light.

Verse 15 says, “Instead, you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.’” The starting point to bringing your life under God’s control is to put everything through the “if” filter mentioned in this verse: “If” it is the Lord’s will…

These early Christians in James’ day really began to catch on to ordering their lives by seeking the Lord’s will first. They came up with a Latin watchword to remind each other of the importance of actively putting all of life into God’s hand. It was Deo Volente: “If God wills.”

In fact, in many periods of history, the believers would end their letters with “D.V.”, Deo Volente. Then would they respond to, “If God wills” with another phrase, “Carpe Diem: Seize the day.”

What a great way to live: “If the Lord wills, I will seize the day!”

Prayer… Lord, your will—no more, no less. That’s what I desire!

One More Thing… “The will of God will never take you to where the grace of God will not protect you.”

Read James 2:18-3:18

“If we could control our tongues, we would be perfect and
could also control ourselves in every other way.”
(James 3:2)

Thoughts… When James uses the word “perfect,” he doesn’t mean sinless. The word “perfect” literally means mature and healthy. And your tongue is what gauges your spiritual health. Just think of your tongue as a spiritual dipstick, measuring the level of your spiritual vitality.

Jesus explained it this way in Matthew 12:34, “For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.” In other words, your words simply display what you already are. Your words direct where you go; they can destroy what you have. But most of all, they disclose who you are—the real you!

If you’ve got a problem with your tongue, it’s much more serious that you think: What you really have is a heart problem. A person with a harsh tongue has an angry heart; a negative tongue comes from a fearful heart; an overactive tongue—an insecure heart; a boasting tongue is from a prideful heart; a filthy tongue has an impure heart. A critical tongue reveals a bitter heart.

On the other hand, a person who is always encouraging has a joyful heart. One who speaks gently has a loving heart. Someone who speaks truthfully has an honest heart.

So if you have a tongue issue, you need to deal with your heart problems. How?

To begin with, you’ve got to get a new heart. Mouth control begins with a heart transplant. Ezekiel 18:31 says, “Rid yourself of all the offenses you have committed and get a new heart and a new spirit!”

Painting the pump doesn’t make any difference if there is poison in the well. You can change the outside, turn over a new leaf, but what you really need is a new life or a fresh start. You need supernatural surgery from the Great Physician

David prayed in Psalm 51, “Create in me a clean heart, O God.” Maybe you ought to pray that prayer right now, because God is in the heart transplant business. Ezekiel 36:26 says of God, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”

Then once God gives you a new heart, ask him for help every day. You need supernatural power to control your tongue. You can’t do it alone. Your life is a living proof of that. That’s why we’ve got to daily ask God to help us. In Psalm 141:3, the psalmist prays, “Set a guard over my mouth, O Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips.”

That’s a great verse to memorize and pray every morning: “God, muzzle my mouth. Don’t let me be critical or judgmental or harsh today. Don’t let me say things that I’ll regret.” If you ask God for help, he will.

Finally, the solution to mastering your mouth is in the discipline of thinking before you speak. Back in James 1:19, we were told, “Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.” One quick and two slows. In other words, engage your mind before you put your mouth in gear. Control your thinking and you’ll control your speaking. Control your speaking and you’ll control you whole life. And the best way to control your thinking is by filling your mind with the Word of God. What goes into your mind, gets into your heart, and what gets into your heart, comes out of your mouth.

There are 800,000 words in the English language, 300,000 are technical terms. The average person knows 10,000 words and uses 5,000 in everyday speech.

Why don’t you make a commitment to use all 5,000 to speak life with your tongue.

Prayer… Lord, help me to use every single word today to bring glory and honor to you and life to those around me.

One More Thing… “Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.” —Mother Teresa

Read James 1:19-2:17

Do not merely listen to the word, and so
deceive yourselves. Do what it says.”
(James 1:22)

Thoughts… You probably went to church this week and listened to the Word of God taught by your pastor. So here’s the deal: What did he say, and what did you do with it?

The biggest problem, as I see it, with the church in America, is that we are spiritually educated well beyond any corresponding level of obedience. We have become connoisseurs of fine sermons but we fall well short of any real implementation of their content in the real world of our everyday life.

That is a sure way to spiritual lethargy, and I’m sure you don’t want that for your life. I certainly don’t. So here is a suggestion: Take a notebook with you to church, write down the main points of the message, and before you leave the service, write down at least one point of application that you will seek to implement that very week.

Try that for one month, and see if it doesn’t upgrade your experience of church…and cause some spiritual growth to kick in as well.

Prayer… Lord, never let it be said of me that I talk the talk but I don’t walk the walk when it comes to my Christian faith. Help me to be a doer of your Word. And if I ever become guilty of hearing but not doing, give me a kick in the spiritual backside to jumpstart my obedience.

One More Thing… “The golden rule for understanding in spiritual matters is not intellect, but obedience.” —Oswald Chambers

Read James 1:1-8

“When troubles come your way, consider it
an opportunity for great joy.”
(James 1:2)

Thoughts… Benjamin Franklin said it this way, “those things that hurt, instruct.” In review of the growth in your life, you have probably found that to be true, as I have. The best lessons in life have come from the things we wouldn’t have chosen for ourselves: a failure on a test, the break-up of a romance, the loss of a job, the denial of a dream.

Of course, in every road bump there is a choice either to get bitter or to get better. It all depends on our response to these challenges and difficulties. If we choose the better route of patiently and joyfully enduring our trials, here are a few of the God-ordained growth outcomes that James mentions:

• Maturity—Verses 2-4: Patiently and redemptively enduring trials takes us through a cycle from pain to patience to perfection.

• Wisdom—Verses 5-8: Painful trials always cause us to scratch our heads and seek guidance for a way forward. For the believer, this is always an opportunity to go to God—through prayer, by his Word, and through his people—to ask for wisdom. And God will always give it in liberal amounts.

• True Riches—Verses 9-11: Trials have a way of reminding both poor and rich that wealth and material things are fleeting, but our relationship with God isn’t. When everything else fades from view, the true richness of belonging to God is all the more appreciated.

• Eternal Reward— Verses 12-15: Patience in suffering will be rewarded with the crown of life on the day we stand in eternity before God. This life will soon pass, and eternal life will begin. Enduring suffering for a season—even if it is an entire season of life—will seem like a blip on the radar a billion years into our eternal life. Bad happen to me so that good things can happen in me so that eternal things can happen through me.

• Sundry Gifts— Verses 16-18: Suffering redemptively also has a way of helping us to appreciate the variety of God’s gifts that we might otherwise overlook. We become much more sensitive to life, and thus, much more grateful to God.

Suffering is never much fun. No one in their right mind would purposely choose it. But when it finds us, if we dedicate ourselves to going through pain redemptively, then the reward will be the joy of our spiritual transformation.

Prayer… Lord, thank you for those things that I have suffered. They have hurt, but better yet, they have instructed. They have helped. They have caused me to move closer to you. And you have stood by me through them all, sustaining and strengthening me. I am forever grateful.

One More Thing… “Pain may indeed constitute God’s megaphone to rouse a deaf world to surrender.” —C.S. Lewis