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Christian Devotional – October 4, 2015
Read James chapter 1 VERSE: James 1:22–Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. TRUTH: We can spend our entire lives learning God’s Word and reading. We can hear great sermons and wonderful preaching. But, if we don’t ever take the truths we hear or read and actually apply them to our lives, we’ve deceived ourselves and the truth is not in us. We have to apply the information to our lives. We have to take the truths and allow God to use them in our lives daily to shape us and change us and make us more like Christ. Don’t deceive yourself…
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Christian Devotional – October 3, 2015
Read James chapter 1 VERSE: James 1:21–Therefore, get rid of all the moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you. TRUTH: We have to make a conscious choice what we are going to accept and what we are going to get rid of in our lives. Each day we are presented with options and we have to make a choice. As the verse says, evil is prevalent all around us and if we are not consciously choosing to get rid of it, it will influence us and cause us to fall. Only the Word of God is…
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Christian Devotional – October 2, 2015
Read James chapter 1 VERSE: James 1:20–because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. TRUTH: In the previous verse, we say that we should be slow to anger. This verse gives us the why. When we get angry, our anger and the results of our anger don’t bring about the righteousness that God desires from us. There are times when God gets angry, about sin, about injustice, and when we get angry about the things that god gets angry about, that will bring about righteousness. However, most of our anger and most of the times that we get angry, it’s because of human, selfish, and prideful reasons.…
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Christian Devotional – October 1, 2015
Read James chapter 1 VERSE: James 1:19–My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry TRUTH: In this fast-paced society, we try to be quick about everything. Unfortunately, that often means that we are quick to get angry as well. When we are faced with a situation, do we seem to have a short fuse that results in us saying or doing things out of anger? We must realize that if we are to be quick to do anything, it should be quick to listen. Which will we be quick to do today? RESPONSE: Father, I…
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Christian Devotional – September 30, 2015
Read James chapter 1 VERSE: James 1:18–He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of first-fruits of all he created. TRUTH: God made a decision to offer us a way of salvation through the life, death, and resurrection of His Son Jesus. He did not have to do this and He made the choice based solely on His grace and mercy. As we accept His gift of salvation through Jesus, we become an example to others of what the power of Christ in our lives can do. Will we be a witness to others so that others might choose to accept…
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Christian Devotional – September 29, 2015
Read James chapter 1 VERSE: James 1:16-17–Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. TRUTH: We should never get confused about where the good things in our life come from. God is good and He is the author of all good things. He doesn’t change and so the good things that He is able to bring about in others lives, He is able to bring about in our lives. We can often get deceived into thinking that we “worked” to provide these good things. Or, sometimes…
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Christian Devotional – September 28, 2015
Read James chapter 1 VERSE: James 1:15–Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. TRUTH: Yesterday, we learned that we have evil desires and that is where our temptations come from. When those desires have a chance to take hold and grow and influence us, we act on those desires and that is what is sin. When we sin, the result and consequence is death (Rom 6:23). Our sins start in our mind and with what we will allow ourselves to think on and to consider. Are we giving room in our mind for our evil desires to…
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Christian Devotional – September 27, 2015
Read James chapter 1 VERSE: James 1:14–But each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. TRUTH: As we learned yesterday, God doesn’t tempt us. So what does tempt us? Our own evil desires are what leads us into temptation. We have a sinful nature and we crave the things that satisfy our own desires instead of God’s desires. As we give in to those temptations, we are sinning. Satan loves to use our own desires against us and present us with opportunities to give in. We must be focused on God and on obeying and pleasing Him. Only by placing our faith…
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Christian Devotional – September 26, 2015
Read James chapter 1 VERSE: James 1:13–When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone. TRUTH: This is important to remember as we are facing temptations that seek to pull us away from God. God is not the author of the temptations. He is not trying to make us slip up and fall. God does occasionally allow us to be tested so we have an opportunity to learn and grow, but as we will see in tomorrow’s verse, those temptations often come as a result of our own selfish desires. Today, when we face temptations, we can…
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Christian Devotional – September 25, 2015
Read James chapter 1 VERSE: James 1:12–Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him. TRUTH: We are going to go through trials; this verse all but promises us that. However, the importance is not to push our way through the trial or try to muscle our way in the circumstances. We are to stand. We are to simply stand up under the weight of the difficulties so that we can experience the blessings of the Lord. As we stand firm, we will receive the crown of life…