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Christian Devotional – November 24, 2015
Read James chapter 4 VERSE: James 4:12–There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you–who are you to judge your neighbors? TRUTH: God created all things, so therefore, He is the only one who is able to judge all things. He made a way to save those who have accepted His gift of forgiveness and He will be the one to judge people. We are to simply hold to the truth that God has given us and to be focused on promoting that truth everywhere. We must realize that leading others to the truth is not judging them, but is leading…
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Christian Devotional – November 23, 2015
Read James chapter 4 VERSE: James 4:11–Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister or judges them speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. TRUTH: We’ve just been talking about the importance of humbling ourselves before the Lord. If we are truly humble, then we will be humbling ourselves before our fellow Christians as well. We are no better than any other Christian and we must remember that God loves all of us. How are we speaking about other people in our church? What words do…
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Christian Devotional – November 21, 2015
Read James chapter 4 VERSE: James 4:10–Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. TRUTH: Another statement that seems so contrary to the way we think. Go lower to go higher. However, God looks at our hearts. As we submit ourselves to Him and seek to honor Him, He will raise us up and trust us with greater and greater responsibility. At the end of the day, the truth comes down to this: if you want to get ahead, you must first come behind. Stop exalting yourself. Leave the exaltation up to God; He’s much better at it and His exaltation lasts much longer. RESPONSE: Father, I…
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Christian Devotional – November 21, 2015
Read James chapter 4 VERSE: James 4:9–Grieve, mourn, and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. TRUTH: This sounds so contrary to what we typically hear people say. In this case, with the context of the verses before it, we need to get rid of the sin in our life. Often, we become prideful and find joy and laughter at the expense of others. We begin to feel that we are improving if we are stepping on others. Instead of feeling built up by this, we should be grieved by how we are treating others. As we seek to come and draw near to God, these…
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Christian Devotional – November 20, 2015
Read James chapter 4 VERSE: James 4:8–Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners and purify your hearts, you double-minded. TRUTH: As we come into a relationship and fellowship with God, He will come near to us. How do we draw near to Him? That is answered in the remaining part of the verse. First, we need to examine our actions (wash our hands) and ask for forgiveness for those actions that do not line up with God. Second, we must purify our attitudes (our hearts). The motivations for why we do what we do is just as important to God as…
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Christian Devotional – November 19, 2015
Read James chapter 4 VERSE: James 4:7–Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. TRUTH: Submit and resist: two things that are very hard for us to do. We don’t want to think about submitting ourselves to anyone or anything, and yet if we are honest, we know that god knows more than we do and is in control when we aren’t. We are in much better hands if we will submit to Him and His will for us. Resisting the devil can also be very difficult when he tempts us with all the things that we think will bring us happiness because we…
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Christian Devotional – November 17, 2015
Before we jump into our devotional today, I just want you to be aware that something new and exciting is coming! More information will be available next week, but I wanted everyone here to be the first to know. Stay tuned!!! Read James chapter 4 VERSE: James 4:5–Or, do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us? TRUTH: James is asking a question of his readers. Basically, he’s asking, “Do you think God is a liar?” You see, scripture indicates that God is a jealous God who longs for His own people and desires to have our love…
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Christian Devotional – November 16, 2015
Read James chapter 4 VERSE: James 4:4–You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. TRUTH: No matter what we think or what we try to tell ourselves, it really is one or the other. We cannot have love for both the world and for God. We are either for one or for the other. So many people try to walk a line of loving God and following Him, but still flirting with the world and trying to love those things as well. It’s simply not possible. They…
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Christian Devotional – November 15, 2015
Read James chapter 4 VERSE: James 4:3–When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. TRUTH: Yesterday we were talking about how our desires can lead to quarreling and fighting. Today, it’s a reminder about our motives for asking. When we come to God and ask for things, why do we want them? Here James indicates that the people have not been receiving what they’ve asked God for because they are asking for things selfishly, only wanting them so they can spend it on their own pleasures. Are we only focused on ourselves or are we…
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Christian Devotional – November 14, 2015
Read James chapter 4 VERSE: James 4:2–You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. TRUTH: James just finished talking about the fact that our quarrels and fights come from our desires that battle within us, now he says that the way these desires lead to that is because we get angry when we don’t get what we want. We set our mind on the fact that we deserve something or are entitled to something and if we don’t get it, we get mad and start…