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Christian Devotional – November 13, 2015
Read James chapter 4 VERSE: James 4:1–What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? TRUTH: When we are all following God’s desires, we will all have unity. However, when we break away and start to look after our own personal desires, we start to see the fighting and the quarreling among people. As our personal desires battle against our desire to please God, we will feel the battle within us and it will come out as fighting and quarreling with ourselves and each other. Are we at peace with others? If not, we need to go back and review if we…
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Christian Devotional – November 12, 2015
Read James chapter 3 VERSE: James 3:18–Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness. TRUTH: There is a difference between a peacemaker and a peacekeeper. Peacekeepers are typically willing to do anything or say anything just to avoid a conflict or a confrontation. They will compromise their beliefs in order to maintain the status quo in a situation. On the other hand, a peacemaker is someone who is actively looking for ways to bring peace to situations of chaos. They find ways to bring in the Prince of Peace to situations knowing that without Him there can’t be true peace. Peacemakers are the ones who will reap the…
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Christian Devotional – November 11, 2015
Read James chapter 3 VERSE: James 3:17–But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure, then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. TRUTH: The difference between Godly wisdom and earthly wisdom is very easy to see. Earthly wisdom often says that you must take care of yourself, seek to put yourself first, step over others to get what you need. In stark contrast to that Godly wisdom seeks to put others first, be full of mercy, submit to others. As we choose our actions today, which path of wisdom are we choosing? Do our actions reflect the world’s wisdom or God’s…
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Christian Devotional – November 10, 2015
Read James chapter 3 VERSE: James 3:15-16–Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual demonic. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice. TRUTH: So many things can be corrupted by envy and selfish ambition. That question for power that feeds our pride will drive people to do things that originally would never have considered doing. As we are going through our day, what motivates us? Are we seeking to be better than someone or something? Do we want to show someone up? These motivations, which are often praised as wisdom in the world today, are the key…
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Christian Devotional – November 9, 2015
Read James chapter 3 VERSE: James 3:14–But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. TRUTH: This verse, just following one about the importance of humility and wisdom, goes even further. People are to have the good deeds and do them with humility. However, we must be honest with ourselves about our motives. If we do not have pure motives but instead have bitterness or pride in our hearts, we should be seeking God’s repentance, not boasting about our deeds. Are we honest with ourselves about the motives that we have for the things that we do. If…
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Christian Devotional – November 8, 2015
Read James chapter 3 VERSE: James 3:13–Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. TRUTH: Wisdom is seen in two places. First, our actions display wisdom or our lack of it. What we do matters and is a perfect opportunity to display to those around us what we are thinking about. Second, our attitude displays our level of wisdom. It’s not enough to just do the right things, the way we do them matters as well. Do we have the right motives and are we acting out of humility or pride? RESPONSE: Father,…
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Christian Devotional – November 7, 2015
Read James chapter 3 VERSE: James 3:11-12–Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water. TRUTH: We must be one or the other. As James concludes his section over the evils of the tongue, he’s already reminded us of the dangers of positive words and negative words coming from the same mouth. Here, he’s reminding us that if we are saying that we are of Christ and that we belong to Christ, then the words that come out of our mouth should be a…
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Christian Devotional – November 6, 2015
Read James chapter 3 VERSE: James 3:10–Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. TRUTH: It’s been very easy for people to borrow the old adage and talk out of both sides of their mouth. They say one thing to one person and something different to someone else. They praise God and curse others. How does that happen? People have not taken control of their tongue. We must realize that God is the only one who can help us to control what we say, but we must be willing to let Him. Otherwise, we will end up continuing to do the…
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Christian Devotional – November 5, 2015
Read James chapter 3 VERSE: James 3:9–With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. TRUTH: James is showing how we use the tongue for double purpose. We praise God and thank Him for everything that He has done. Then we also curse those around us, the very people that God loves, made in His own image, and came to die for. The question is, how can we love and praise the one and curse the others with the very same tongue. This is why we need God to tame our tongue so that we use…
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Christian Devotional – November 4, 2015
Read James chapter 3 VERSE: James 3:7-8–All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. TRUTH: James continues explaining how deadly and dangerous the words that we say can be. It is so easy to allow our tongues to get ahead of our brains and the words come crashing out of our mouths before we actually think about them. Once said, they can never be unsaid. We have to make a conscious effort every day not to allow our tongues to run away with…